Battle Academy 2 Early Access Program is now available

[enric]

The most annoying part of being a IOS player is the lack of modding ability on IOS - I still can't get my head around why we can't - even if we had to use a PC to put the different elements together surely there is a way of designing just the battle maps on IOS.

There is no file management system on iOS and so no way to get your maps off your device to share with anyone else so if we did allow you to create scenarios you wouldn't be able to do anything with it. We'd like to have the infrastructure in place to allow you to do this but it requires a complete cloud system like the PBEM system which we don't yet have and also has issues of hosting content created by users that others might find offensive. Most mods are not just created with the editor, they require text changes, scripting, new art and models, none of which is possible on the iPad as you cannot insert any of your custom content in to the game. These are the reasons you rarely if ever get any scenario designers on iOS. Fundamentally the issue is iPads are designed for playing games not making them.

I would not start a discussion about, but "There is no file management system on iOS " is not true.
And, yes, you can create files and share with others. There are full of apps that do that already.
Another thing is that to implement this will be a considerable programing effort for BA, and probably not profit.

[kingt]

I understand that you guys have limited options when dealing with such matters, and I don't want unofficial iOS versions of the game, or stuff that will get you in trouble with Apple. But I also don't want to pay for the same game twice just to play it on the platform that I actually want to play it on.

What if you soft-launched the game for free X days ahead of the actual launch. You'd then direct message everybody that purchases the EAP with a unique link to the App Store to download the game for free, which would let you track downloads so that nobody abuses them. The link would be valid for 24 hours or so, then the game would be updated with a price increase, and then you'd notify the press about the game. That way only the EAP buyers would get the game free of charge plus the few people that find the game via the App Store by mistake - maybe not including certain keywords for it would limit the game appearing in App Store searches.

I understand, but while we would love to be able to have an EAP on the iPad it's just not worth trying to jinx around Apple to get it done. Who knows what they might consider to be underhand?

Cheers

Pip

I was referring to the full game, soft release it for EAP PC buyers for free, then change the price back to what you want to charge for it.

[pipfromslitherine]

The most annoying part of being a IOS player is the lack of modding ability on IOS - I still can't get my head around why we can't - even if we had to use a PC to put the different elements together surely there is a way of designing just the battle maps on IOS.

There is no file management system on iOS and so no way to get your maps off your device to share with anyone else so if we did allow you to create scenarios you wouldn't be able to do anything with it. We'd like to have the infrastructure in place to allow you to do this but it requires a complete cloud system like the PBEM system which we don't yet have and also has issues of hosting content created by users that others might find offensive. Most mods are not just created with the editor, they require text changes, scripting, new art and models, none of which is possible on the iPad as you cannot insert any of your custom content in to the game. These are the reasons you rarely if ever get any scenario designers on iOS. Fundamentally the issue is iPads are designed for playing games not making them.

I would not start a discussion about, but "There is no file management system on iOS " is not true.
And, yes, you can create files and share with others. There are full of apps that do that already.
Another thing is that to implement this will be a considerable programing effort for BA, and probably not profit.

Iain wasn't being precise, as he's not the one actually doing the technical side, but the key is that to seamlessly get things on and off the iPad is a non-trivial task. And given how poor a platform it is for doing the actual modding it's just not a good return for the work.

Cheers

Pip

[pipfromslitherine]

I understand that you guys have limited options when dealing with such matters, and I don't want unofficial iOS versions of the game, or stuff that will get you in trouble with Apple. But I also don't want to pay for the same game twice just to play it on the platform that I actually want to play it on.

What if you soft-launched the game for free X days ahead of the actual launch. You'd then direct message everybody that purchases the EAP with a unique link to the App Store to download the game for free, which would let you track downloads so that nobody abuses them. The link would be valid for 24 hours or so, then the game would be updated with a price increase, and then you'd notify the press about the game. That way only the EAP buyers would get the game free of charge plus the few people that find the game via the App Store by mistake - maybe not including certain keywords for it would limit the game appearing in App Store searches.

I understand, but while we would love to be able to have an EAP on the iPad it's just not worth trying to jinx around Apple to get it done. Who knows what they might consider to be underhand?

Cheers

Pip

I was referring to the full game, soft release it for EAP PC buyers for free, then change the price back to what you want to charge for it.

Unfortunately that would effectively be a "buy something outside the appstore, get something inside the appstore free" which is explicitly forbidden.

Cheers

Pip

[LandMarine47]

Another thing is, will the frame rate issues on user mods be better on BA 2? I can barely play the Shceldt anymore because it's gotten so bad, frame rate is making my app crash

[pipfromslitherine]

The key issue is the texture formats in user mods. I guess we could (as the tools are free anyway) put up a readme on how to make your mods iPad friendly. I will add it to my list and we can see if it helps with the issues you are seeing.

Cheers

Pip

[Mrseanroper]

I wish I had Parallels on Mac, the suspense is killing me!

[kingt]

Ok, so it appears I only considered a single possibility - making the iOS version free of charge. What if it was the other way around?

Players pay for BA 2 EAP, then buy the iOS version as well, then Slitherine can either a) return the money for the EAP PC version or b) offer in-store purchase for a PC/Mac game for the same value as the BA 2 EAP.

I really want to play the EAP, but don't want to purchase BA 2 twice in order to do that.

[IainMcNeil]

Apple ban you for "incentivizing" a purchase in the app store in any way which is effectively what this would be. Its seen as a way to manipulate the rankings.

Apart from anything else the work load it creates for us is unmanageable. Cross platform support is a big task we don't have time to deal with through the development.

This really cant happen unfortunately guys.

[kingt]

Reviving this topic, as new information is available.

In iOS 8, Apple will allow devs to offer up to 1,000 beta invites (that's distinct users not number of devices). That's a lot better than the previous 100 limit.

Also, one more feature for developers is to sell apps in bundles in the App Store.

Any plans to a) launch a broader BA2 beta for iPad once iOS 8 is available (unless BA2 comes out before iOS and/or b) to bundle Slitherine apps inside the App Store? For example sell BA+BA2+others at a discount price than buying each one independently?

[pipfromslitherine]

Interesting. I have not had a chance to go through all the 8 changes yet, but I am sure we will take advantage of it! I am expecting we will run an iOS Beta for BA2 for sure, though not sure when as yet

Cheers

Pip