Forums » Games » Code Crackin Carl : TapJS enabled!

We wanted to make a quick demo game that showed off an implementation TapJS with appMobi.

It's available in the iPhone App Store http://itunes.apple.com/app/code-crackin-carl/id439759843?mt=8

and on Desktop at http://codecrackincarl.tapjs.com/

Nice! It's kind of like Biolab and Portal with a little Dr. Mario

Pretty cool... first comment from the App Store is a bit disappointing though.

"I really, REALLY want to like this game... but it's SOOOOO jittery. Even on my 4th gen... with some performance optimizations, this could be one hell of an entertaining game! "

When we did our testing we didn't see any major problems with performance, but then again we made this game in a short amount of time so we'd have a demo of TapJS in the appstore for E3 :/

When we are past Beta testing with Direct Canvas, I'll make sure to integrate this game with it and repost.

In the meantime if you see any glitches in the game, let me know :)

It's choppy, but not "SOOO jittery". It's not as smooth as it should be. I can't get my game any higher than about 20 fps, and it averages about 15.

I know when I release my game to expect the same criticisms that this app received.

Can't appMobi release a beta version that will allow developers to turn on DirectCanvas at start up? (or some other mechanism to enable/disable it)

I'm not sure if I can release an app that goes this slow and not have it seen as inferior to the average game in the App Store or Android Market.

It's VERY frustrating to play on Desktop or I'm doing it wrong.

Buttons to jump/vortex are on the left side of the keyboard(x,c,v) and move buttons are on the right side of the keyboard(key arrows) and you have to hold the mouse as well to aim.

So basically to fluently play the game you need 3 hands. 1st hand at X,C,V; 2nd hand at key arrows and 3rd hand holding the mouse.

I think you should revisit your game design document, 'game controls - desktop' part.

I suppose it's good to play on touch screens, but desktop.. alt+f4. add WASD controls ?

That's a good point I over looked.

When playing on desktop, I usually stop to pick a place to shoot but I think W (jump) A(Left) D(Right) might be a way better solution with Q as vortex 1 and E as vortex 2.

Thanks for your input Alex, I'll let you know when the controls are changed.

Controls are updated, I still need to replace the opening screen to let the player know the correct controls, but the game-play seems a lot more intuitive!

Thanks again Alex :D