Asteroidy

Quick, simple, fun retro space shooter filled with lasers, asteroids, tractor beams and aliens.

If you're struggling with iCloud storage space, you should inspect the size your camera roll is taking.

I just had an issue with it, after seeing a huge >5 Gb backup space being reported, and only a few dozen pictures and short movies left on the camera roll!

So I plugged the iPhone and instead of using iPhoto to import and delete, I opened up the Image Capture app. To my surprise, there were up to 1500 images there. After a Select All and Delete, everything is now back to normal and my iCloud storage is breathing normally again!

I still haven't got the brand new iPhone but Asteroidy has been updated to take advantage of the 4" screen that comes with it.

I don't anticipate any problems as the whole game ran without a problem once the project was updated to support the new resolution!

Another update was to bring back the ads and make the game free again. I guess eras go by quickly! ;)

1.7 is out and it marks the end of an era.

Most of the bugs have been ironed out and a few things have been added to make the game more complete (such as adding a Boss or double firing).

It started out as a free app with ads in it. 

But ads have several disadvantages, both to the gamer and also developer:

Ads consume resources: battery and bandwidth.

Its dificult to show relevant ads when you're shooting UFOS...

As a result of 2, revenue is almost nil.

Managing iAds and AdMob is time consuming. Time that would be better spent developing the game.

Ads just don't work with casual games!

Asteroidy just got fitted with two extra laser weapons that activate when you tap faster. What's the catch? Well, it only works when you have full power and that means that whenever you get hit by something, that double firing capability won't be restored until you pick up a yellow star!

Also, enemies are a bit harder to kill but that's just to make things more balanced with the new weaponry. 

As some of you may be aware, whenever the game is paused or you get killed, there is an ad banner on the top side of the screen.

Until now I've only had iAds running, but since the fill rate is so low I decided to fill the gap with AdMob, and that means almost everybody will start seeing those ads.

I'm not sure this can justify the number of hours I put on this project, but the learning and the fun in doing it are invaluable!

Moving forward, there are plans for a 2.0 release of Asteroidy and I'd like to lay out some ideas about it.

Exploring the concept of dialogs even further

Adding the concept of asteroid harvesting (For those golden rocks) with a companion ship that you also need to protect.

Introducing levels - Namely, close to the ground of a planet such as Mars, or even one of its moons.

Allowing the adjustment of difficulty (easy, medium, hard)

New graphics, and by new, I also mean more professional looking!

Asteroidy has been out on the AppStore for little over a month and I'd just like to summarize a few key figures about this game:

short of 500 downloads

3 application updates, now at 1.4

255 download of updates

5 ratings, averaging 4.5 stars

After the initial surge I'm now getting about 40 new downloads a week, which is a lot better than my expectations. WOW!

Download by country is as follows (Top 4):

China 35.7%

United States 10.9%

Russia 9.3%

Germany 7.0%

What seems to look like the final development of Asteroidy 1.x is now out the store! 

Asteroidy has been downloaded in 44 countries in just under a week. Thank you!

Let me just give you a glimpse of the the top 5:

United States (33%)

Spain (7.2%)

China (6.5%)

Russia (5.4%)

Germany (5%)

As posted before, the next version will have a boss spaceship for you to fight. Here's the plan:

A boss is really hard to destroy/kill

It will be taken down piece by piece