Trak4 1.1 Update Submitted for Approval

[Trak4Game]

I submitted the first update to my game, Trak4, on Monday.

In Trak4, the player is trying to beat the clock in matching the tile pattern on the right to the pattern on the left. Players earn points for the time remaining. If they match the pattern correctly, the player gets another round. If the pattern doesn?t match the game is over. The twist is that the player can only see the entire target pattern for the first few seconds of each round. After that the pattern is cloaked in darkness and the player can only see the portion that appears underneath the moving spotlight. If players get stuck, they can press the ?Hint? button to get a quick peek at the target pattern.

Here's what the update will give players

1) 30 New Puzzles - to bring the total number of puzzles to 89.
2) Save State - you can hit the home button on your iPod Touch and the game will remember where you left off so you can come right back in next time you launch the game.
3) Pause - there is a Pause button on the main menu in case you need to take a quick break.
4) Improved Scoring - playing on Harder difficulties is now more rewarding, and playing with shorter time limits gives the player a boost in their score.
5) Graphical Flourishes - New graphics for those bonus scores and a winner effect as your bonus points are adding up.
6) A couple of bug fixes.


You can see youtube videos here, here, or here.

www.trak4game.comwww.twitter.com/trak4game

 

[Trak4Game]

Trak4 1.1. Rejected

I guess I?m a real iPhone developer now - I got my first app rejection email. It?s too bad too, because I got the letter exactly 7 days after submitting it for approval. Had they approved the app instead of rejecting it, it would have flown through the approval process in a short 7 days. Maybe I should look at the positive and hope that Apple is starting to catch back up with demand and approval delays are coming down again. One can only hope, right?

So why did Trak4 1.1 get rejected? The rejection letter was very formal, but at least the app reviewer included a screenshot of the offending artwork. When you hit the solve button and your wrong, a glass breaking sound plays and the pieces crumble. The reviewer interpreted this artwork as the screen breaking, and we all know that you can?t simulate a device failure - evidence in the App Store not withstanding. I guess I can see the reviewers point and it would easily be mistaken for that. But my real problem is that the artwork didn?t change. It?s the same artwork that is on the App Store right now in Trak4 1.0 and the same artwork on the App Store right now in Trak4 Lite 1.1.

At first I fired an email back to the reviewer asking him why the artwork passed first review (1.0) but was now being flagged in 1.1. I mean, how do we know what does and does not run afoul of the programming guidelines if reviewer?s interpretations of those rules change from app to app. But making that kind of argument is pointless, now isn?t it. I?m not married to the artwork that?s in there right now and it was literally a half hour change to replace it with different art and a different sound effect. Why sit there and trade emails arguing the point for weeks and weeks when it?s easier to rebuild and submit with new artwork? So that?s what I did. Call it surrendering to the man if you want, but it wasn?t a fight worth fighting. I need the updates pushed out onto the store, so I need to take the easier road.

For consistency, I developer rejected Trak4 Lite 1.1 and replaced the artwork in that app too. Trak4 Lite 1.1 had only been under review for about 24 hours so it wasn?t that big of a deal to reset the countdown clock on that app?s approval.