Releasing 1.1

#1

We really want to release 1.0.4 (or 1.1) ASAP, but without a clear list of things that must be done before that, it’s hard to actually get to a releasable stage. Everyone thinking they’re not the one holding it back (since most of us need to do something), can lead to people either not working on their part, OR, working on something non-essential for the release. We’ve already got lots of things for a new release, most of them are mostly finished, but they need to be polished up and/or tested more, plus there’s a few bugs that need fixing. So anyway, this post is to keep track of what exactly needs to be done; I’ll edit it as things get done or as more things are suggested. I’m including already finished things as well, both so the finished status can be disputed, and so we can see how many new things will be in this release.

[size=14pt]Translations[/size]
We have at least 3 translations that are complete currently (which amazes me - thanks for translating, guys!). I have made automatic selection of language work on iOS, I think it works on Mac as well, and it does work on Linux. It needs to be done on Windows though. For any translation to be used on iOS, we will need our description and screenshots translated, and I think we should get native speakers to test the translations to see if they’re good enough (since they’ll be on by default).
Things that need to be done:

[ul][li]Translations of iOS description (we may have changes to the description, and we will have new “What’s New”) (done for the 3 translations at 100%)[/li]
[li]Do something about the menu/skip button being untranslatable, and possibly the logo.[/li]
[li]Make translation selection work on Windows.[/li][/ul]

[size=14pt]Arcade Mode[/size]
Arcade mode is currently working pretty good on PC, however, only Coin Race and 1 other level have actual scoring. Coin race is also fairly broken by the different aspect ratios of iOS devices; in terms of game area, normal is 400x300 (pixel-doubled on PC), iPhone/iPod is 480x320, and iPad is 512x384, which means the Coin Race levels aren’t one full screen. Another issue is that with no camera movement, you end up covering your character with your thumbs on the controls, which makes it incredibly hard to play.
Things that need to be done:

[ul][li]Make all arcade levels have some kind of scoring mechanism.[/li]
[li]Fix problems with Coin Race on iOS. (done as far as I know)[/li]
[li]Integrate scoring with OpenFeint somehow. (seems to work)[/li][/ul]

[size=14pt]Achievements & OpenFeint[/size]
We have support for achievements now, and DDR has implemented a bunch of them. I have implemented achievements in OpenFeint, with 1 test achievement working; I need to put the rest of them into OpenFeint, but I’m waiting until we’ve got a definitive set to do that. OpenFeint allows you to see the achievements you’ve unlocked, but we need an interface for that on PC as well. Also, I don’t think much testing has been done on the achievements yet, which would really be good… Also, we totally need one for bouncing on an enemy 10 or so times in a row. :wink:
Things that need to be done:

[ul][li]Make interface for viewing achievements on PC.[/li]
[li]Test achievements (they’ve been tested some).[/li]
[li]Add them all to OpenFeint. (done)[/li]
[li]Submit to OpenFeint for testing.[/li][/ul]

[size=14pt]iOS Stuff & iPad Support[/size]
In this release we want to support the iPad, and also have new controls, since people continue to complain about the controls being hard to use (though some do like them). So far I’ve worked on some meta control-scheme stuff, and made a new 2-arrow (rather than 4) control scheme for iPhone/iPod, and have tested it a little bit, but not enough. I’ve made the beginning of a 2-direction control scheme for iPad, but I want to get a good iPod one working first, to base it on. Otherwise, iPad support seems to work (but of course, will need testing).
Things that need to be done:

[ul][li]Make and test new controls. (they seem good to me)[/li]
[li]Art for new controls[/li]
[li]Test on iPad. (seems to work)[/li]
[li]On iOS the menu button overlaps achievement display. I think achievements should just go on top.[/li]
[li]Fix iOS 3 support. (done)[/li]
[li]Fix context controls not drawing in some situations.[/li]
[li]Once the controls are finished enough, adjust the instructions to represent them.[/li][/ul]

[size=14pt]Bugs[/size]
These are just general bugs that need to be fixed before we can release:

[ul][li]Assert bug(s) with Frogatto changing solidity. (probably fixed)[/li]
[li]Jump super high when you bounce and press jump at the right time.[/li]
[li]When jumping as soon as possible after landing, you jump, but only really low.[/li]
[li]Spin attack and spit enemies sometimes doesn’t do damage. (maybe fixed)[/li]
[li]Some enemies erroneously do or don’t stay on platforms. (probably fixed)[/li]
[li]It’s possible to stand on objects which are meant to be bouncy. (not fixed, but not critical)[/li]
[li]It’s possible to get “stuck” on a cliff, in such a way that you can stand on the edge, walk towards the high ground, and go nowhere. (probably fixed)[/li]
[li]Some background bugs on iOS; most notably, when you go too low in a level, an out of place solid color shows up in the middle of the background. (couldn’t reproduce last I tried)[/li]
[li]Frogatto HUD icon only displays when in the air, when lights are in view in Nene’s basement.[/li][/ul]

#2

Bugs:

  • on iOS, the “menu” button overlaps the achievements display. Possible solution would be to move it over and make it part of the coin/score HUD block.
  • when zooming in on speech, the background gains a black gap between the sky and the gradient of the horizon
  • for arcade mode, we want a stripped-down UI that doesn’t show the coins on the ascension levels, because coins are useless there. More importantly, we could customize the general UI, and have it check flags to see if it should show coins, points, or both.
#3

[list]So, some solutions.

[ul][li]“Fixed” the camera on the coin race.[/li]
[li]Added Crimson Penguin’s achievement idea.[/li][/ul]

#4

Disabled roll move, which should skip the crash related to rolling to a wall.

#5

I played through the campaign mode again after a long time, using trunk at near r4430, and noticed several things that in my opinion would be nice to address before the next release.

[ul][]In the titlescreen at least, if Frogatto jumps repeatedly off the left screen edge, the controller object activation sound (formerly only heard on dialogues) can be heard.
[]Frogatto gets bouncy when standing on certain tile formations. The best example I can think of is the rocky platform at the middle of test.cfg, although I also saw this during regular gameplay. Just try to stand right at the middle of the rock 1.
[]Spitting creatures onto flying shooting plants does not always work well. There appears to be a degree of randomness involved on whether the plant will die along with the projectile, or just the projectile alone.
[]The Milgram bunnies are again killable by just spin-attacking them, which IIRC was something we deliberately removed to create more complicated puzzles with their cannonballs or other throwable objects lying around. Spin-attacking them also causes the unwanted side-effect of increasing the bunny?s horizontal speed with every hit. They were supposed to stay put. (Spin attack was removed)
[*]Milgram?s homing/swirling missile is not animating properly ? only its particle effects work.[/ul]

This is pretty much all I can remember right now.

#6

Addendums:
- I think the regular spitting plants aren’t hurt by being spat at someone, or something.

#7

From memory as I’m not home at the moment.
1) Thrown thunder melons are not exploding other thunder melons (but are hurting enemies IIRC) Fixed.
2) Spin attack is hurting some enemies, like fumpers. Rendered moot by removal of the spin attack.
3) Milgram slab is causing asserts when killing Frogatto. Fixed.

#8

Fixed.

Tentatively, the level_controller plays that sound every time it is triggered. To prevent it, you do, in the instance:
on_triggered=“swallow_event()”

I don’t know if this is a good design; the alternative would be manually triggering the sound. I think the sound works nicely, so I’d like to keep it for significant events (e.g. complete elimination isn’t on the table as an option).

#9

Basically levels should be designed not to have very narrow ‘points’ and no sharp peaks on hills. Ever platform should be at least a tile of pixels wide. This will avoid this problem.

David

#10

I’ve fiddled with Frogatto’s on_stuck function, so he slides off those points instead of jumping on them. This is a much more subtle behaviour, so I think it’ll be OK if we use the ^ tile formations sparingly. :slight_smile: Of course, this behaviour only asserts itself if frogatto is on solid ground.
Please let me know if there are any issues.

#11

I’ve added in scoring for the first arcade level on each machine. Is this the direction we want to go?

#12

Note for 1.0.4: http://www.frogatto.com/forum/index.php?topic=210.msg1096#msg1096 (More Joysticks Patch).

#13

Stuff for 1.1:

[ul][li]Translations of iOS description (we may have changes to the description, and we will have new “What’s New”)[/li]
[li]Do something about the menu/skip button being untranslatable, and possibly the logo.[/li]
[li] [/li]
[li]Make all arcade levels have some kind of scoring mechanism. (mostly done)[/li]
[li]Fix problems with Coin Race on iOS. (maybe fixed now)[/li]
[li]Integrate scoring with OpenFeint somehow. (seems to work)[/li]
[li] [/li]
[li]Test achievements (and possibly make more).[/li]
[li]Add them all to OpenFeint. (done)[/li]
[li]Submit to OpenFeint for testing.[/li]
[li] [/li]
[li]Make and test new controls. (testing now)[/li]
[li]Art for new controls[/li]
[li]Test on iPad. (testing now)[/li]
[li]On iOS the menu button overlaps achievement display. Fixed by a mild hack to make the button not display if an achievement is being displayed[/li]
[li]Fix iOS 3 support. (done)[/li]
[li]Fix context controls not drawing in some situations.[/li]
[li]Once the controls are finished enough, adjust the instructions to represent them.[/li]
[li] [/li]
[li]Assert bug(s) with Frogatto changing solidity. (probably fixed)[/li]
[li]Fix broken textures in 16-bit downsampled color mode.[/li]
[li]Fix issue with descending slopes onto flat ground briefly causing loss of contact with the floor.[/li]
[li]Add challenge to down the rabbit-hall.[/li]
[li]Remove references to pressing UP for high-arc shots on iOS[/li][/ul]

Non-critical bugs:

[ul][li]possibly nerf plane boss for lack of high-arc shots, or enable high-arc shots on iOS[/li]
[li]Jump super high when you bounce and press jump at the right time.[/li]
[li]When jumping as soon as possible after landing, you jump, but only really low.[/li]
[li]Spin attack and spit enemies sometimes doesn’t do damage.[/li]
[li]Some enemies erroneously do or don’t stay on platforms. (probably fixed)[/li]
[li]It’s possible to stand on objects which are meant to be bouncy.[/li]
[li]It’s possible to get “stuck” on a cliff, in such a way that you can stand on the edge, walk towards the high ground, and go nowhere. (probably fixed)[/li]
[li]Some background bugs on iOS; most notably, when you go too low in a level, an out of place solid color shows up in the middle of the background.[/li]
[li]Frogatto HUD icon only displays when in the air, when lights are in view in Nene’s basement.[/li][/ul]

Stuff for later

[ul][li]Make translation selection work on Windows.[/li]
[li]Make interface for viewing achievements on PC.[/li]
[li] [/li]
[li]Make mini-OST for mobile devices’ 20mb limit[/li]
[li]Set up game to use mini-OST selectively[/li]
[li]Set up “in-app purchase” to unlock the full OST.[/li][/ul]

#14