Merchandise

Tumbleweed Interactive now has a brand new online store, set up together with our store partner Casuallyhardcore.net. If you prefer typing your links instead of clicking you can go to www.tinyurl.com/tumbleshirts!

We’re currently working on a design for a Skybound shirt, which will be available in the near future.

Crouching bug, hidden feature

I’d like to talk a bit about an interesting tidbit that emerged recently, relating to the development of Skybound for iPhone and iPod Touch. Buy it here or try it here.

As you develop a game, a lot of features are bandied about, and we like to believe that the cream of the crop are the ones that end up in the final product. Some features are cut because of development time, some are tested but aren’t fun, and a lot are never implemented because nobody thought of including them.

Sometimes, however, bugs creep into the final product, which actually turn out to become features. Our main coder on Skybound, Håvard, recently met with some people in Oslo and watched them play our game. He then became aware of a “feature” we didn’t know about; the ability to extend the period a cloud stays on screen if you don’t lift your finger after drawing it.

The first thing he did was telling the players that the “feature” was in fact a bug, and it was going to be fixed in the next patch. The immediate response from the players was “Are you crazy? It’s great for when your ball turns red when you’re at great heights!”. This was of course exactly the reason why Håvard felt it’s removal was necessary in the first place.

Håvard was concerned that it made the game too easy, after all, none of us at the office was even aware that it was possible to do that, so we didn’t know what kind of effect it would have on the high scores. After some testing and discussion, we have decided to let the bug graduate from feature high school with it’s diploma intact. It’s a “hidden” feature not many people were aware of, and it doesn’t give you too much of an edge, so we feel it’s ok to let it slide for now.

The fact that we didn’t actually discover the bug is what I think is the most interesting part of this story. It just shows you how much damage a preconceived way of playing a game can have on bug testing. It all worked out fine this time, but I sure hope we won’t have to flush our high scores next time someone comes up with a weird gameplay bug.

Competition still ongoing!

As I announced last week we are still having a high score competition, so keep at it, and with your newfound knowledge of our hidden feature, you’re sure to beat your old score! Once again, the top 3 competitors at both high score lists on march 1st will be able to claim some cool prizes.

Tumbleweed out!

- Kristoffer Jetmundsen