Battle Bears

[Essex]

I stumbled across this game on the Market and I like it! It's in the same vein as Heavy Gunner but with a playful twist and better aiming. Graphics are great, the weapons are fun to use, and the challenge is intense.

There are some sound glitches and I had one force close, but the game is a free beta. The final version should be much more polished. I think we have reached a tipping point in Android gaming where iPhone/Pod/Pad developers seem to be exploring Android, which is good for us Android gamers!

I just hope the developer of Battle Bears ports "Battle Bears-1" and "Battle Bears: Go" to Android soon. Check out "Battle Bears" from your Android phone:

http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.SkyVu.BattleBears

**10/2/10 Update**

 

[lekky]

hoping to try it, but FC's at the splash screen on my desire

 

[Essex]

hoping to try it, but FC's at the splash screen on my desire

Based on some of the comments in the Market, you aren't the only one experiencing force close issues... The game is a bit glitchy at the moment. It takes a long time for the game to load after the splash screen is displayed. On my phone (EVO), it takes about 10 to 12 seconds to load up. I ALMOST gave up on the game before it even started! Glad I stuck with it though, as this is clearly a high quality game. Luckily the game is still free while the dev works out the kinks. Don't give up on it yet!

 

[lekky]

yeah keeping it installed for updates, but hte install being 24mb will put some people off too

 

[Essex]

I think I'll keep this installed so I can get every single update. Based on his work on iOS, I'm optimistic that this developer will have Battle Bears on Android kicking serious a**!

 

[mjblaurock]

Working pretty good on my Droid X. Sound is a bit off and like previously stated, the load times take a bit. All in all, a decent game. I would gladly pay for this game just to get rid of the ads!!!

 

[StuartTheFish]

The controls aren't right yet, and you can't quit out mid game. Not tried the updated version yet, but if the only thing that's changed is ads then I don't think I'll bother.

 

[diS]

I really do like the game.

The controls showed on video's where you use your left thumb to aim and right to tapp the screen and shoot doesn't work properly.
But the other control option is quite nice!

It keeps me busy when I'm bored

(HTC Desire)

 

[BattleBear]

Hey, I typed "android battle bears" into google, saw this thread, and had to comment!

I'm developing Battle Bears for Android at SkyVu Pictures. I wanted to say thanks for your positive support. The Android Market is a new frontier for us at SkyVu and we're very excited to be exploring it.

That said, lol, I know there are some issues like seemingly long load times (around 10 seconds to start the game up). I think I got it down to six on the newest build I'm working on, but I'm still looking for a way to improve it.

The devices we test on are the Droid (Android 2.2), Droid X (Android 2.1), Evo (Android 2.2), and Nexus One (Android 2.2). On those devices, the game is able to run and be played. What sucks is, there are cases (such as in this thread) where on one person's phone the game works, but for another person using the same model phone, it doesn't work (see lekky and diS in this thread with htc Desires).

The game's 24MB might seem intimidating, but this is because our art team at SkyVu puts a lot of work into our models to make them look good. We like making quality games. The size is necessary and whether it's 24 MB on the market or a few MB on the market that will connect to another place on the internet and download our assets when you go to play for the first time, there will be 24 MB stored on your phone SOMEwhere. However, rest assured: If you're using an SD card in your phone and have enough space on it, the game will look to install there first (Android 2.2 supports installing to SD cards).

Thanks again for your positive support. I'll probably be creeping this thread/forum now. I'd love to answer any kind of questions or listen to any comments you have.

-Marc
Android Developer
SkyVu Pictures

 

[CheeseJam]

I got the error "low on space" when downloading this game on my HTC Incredible. This is the first time I have received this glitched error from a game on the Market.

 

[diS]

Good to see the developper intrested in comments and questions from the users

There is one thing I do not quite understand about the game.
Those weapons... Perhaps it's a good thing to include a small review of the weapons with what they do when you want to upgrade them.

 

[jim2point0]

Can someone post a screenshot or something? I always hate when people announce a game without screenies. hmph.

 

[BattleBear]

CheeseJam: I don't know what to say except: Check your available space. I can't imagine why it'd tell you that you have low space unless you are using almost all of it. Also, even if it is a glitch, I can't see it being within the scope of our problem. It would most likely be an Android problem. Also, since we actually just got the game tested on an Incredible without such an error, there's not much I can do.

diS: Well, to be 100% honest, the game is a port from the iphone. There were cut-scenes that explained everything (had a story arc, and made the game much more enjoyable). Due to the market's file size limit, I had to strip the game down to the BEAR (we make bear puns all the time) essentials. We're working on a way to get it all in there though. Don't worry.

 

[An UrgeTo Dance]

Okay I have played this game on some of my friends iphones, and I have played the beta on my phone (Evo). With the beta a lot of the story line, yes their actually is one, is not there. They have a lot of videos in-between almost every level in the full version. Aside from the long wait time loading, the adds, and the story being left out this game is amazing, I see why it was voted best iphone game.

@BattleBear could you happen to give us an estimated full game release date, I would much appreciate it.

 

[thedrizl]

looks interesting and would like to give it a try, but it has been absent from the market and appbrain for the last three days. is it only for devices running 2.2?

 

[TrojanZ]

Thanks for the game BattleBear. I'd love to give a comment but the game crashes before it even starts. Using N1. Also another thing i would like to suggest is to make the game to move more mb over to the sdcard. I've got about 9mb internal for the game after moving to sdcard. Looking forward to this game though

 

[BattleBear]

@An Urge To Dance: I'm sorry, but I am unable to give a release date for the full version at this time.

@thedrizl: I am honestly not sure why you can't see the game on the market; however, I know that you're not the only one. It *MIGHT* be that the game can only be seen by people using Android 2.2 because we tried looking for it on an Incredible (Android 2.1) and couldn't find it. Then the Incredible got Android 2.2 and voila! We can see the game in the market with it. It's very weird/strange/odd.

@TrojanZ: I'll look into it, but I don't think I have control of how many MB I can transfer. It will likely stay this way. Again, I'll look into it, but don't get your hopes up :/ Also, why/how does the game crash on your Nexus one? It works fine on all three of ours. This kind of stuff just baffles me. Are all phones not created equally? (har har)

Again to everyone: Thank you for your positive support and comments/suggestions/etc. It is greatly appreciated by all of us at SkyVu.

-Marc

 

[diS]

Also, why/how does the game crash on your Nexus one? It works fine on all three of ours. This kind of stuff just baffles me. Are all phones not created equally? (har har)

Well I guess it has something to do with the firmware?
Debranded or branded? Or rooted and non-rooted devices?

Don't know anything else that could be different.

 

[StuartTheFish]

diS: Well, to be 100% honest, the game is a port from the iphone. There were cut-scenes that explained everything (had a story arc, and made the game much more enjoyable). Due to the market's file size limit, I had to strip the game down to the BEAR (we make bear puns all the time) essentials. We're working on a way to get it all in there though. Don't worry.

The best thing to do would be to make the initial apk file small for the market, which then downloads all additional content from elsewhere the first time you run the game. That's how all the big games are installed on android. And even if someone ISN'T using android 2.2, the initial apk can install on the phones internal memory, with the bulk of the data left on SD card when it downloads it.

And what's going on with the controls? Are they off because it's still a work in progress, or is this how they're going to stay? The ability to quit out mid game would be nice too, and no ads! Unless you end up doing a demo and full version of course, then leave the ads on the demo.

 

[Essex]

The ability to quit out mid game would be nice too, and no ads! Unless you end up doing a demo and full version of course, then leave the ads on the demo.

The latest update removed the ads. It's okay, go on and update

@ Battle Bear: What are some of the challenges, that you face as a developer, in connection with porting your (high quality) iOS game to Android? Just curious...

 

[BattleBear]

@StuartTheFish: Yeah, that's what we're working on, actually. We are working on refactoring things in the project to allow for downloading from external sources.

The controls They ARE being looked into/still being tweaked. There's some weird issues though that leads us into answering Essex.

@Essex: Hands down, the biggest challenge I'm facing is the fact that there are many different phones running Android. Lets take the controls for instance. They operate differently on each phone. No two phones (different models) feel the same. With iStuff, there is a standard which, I have to admit, is nice for developers. I think we were spoiled in that regard, lol.

Another challenge is the size restriction on our game, lol. Doing what Stuart said, hosting costs are offloaded to us. We also need to look into security and other issues.

 

[BattleBear]

Oh, and as for exiting mid game: You ARE able to go to the main menu, then quit. Or do you want a button to just completely quit the game while playing?

 

[TrojanZ]

@TrojanZ: I'll look into it, but I don't think I have control of how many MB I can transfer. It will likely stay this way. Again, I'll look into it, but don't get your hopes up :/ Also, why/how does the game crash on your Nexus one? It works fine on all three of ours. This kind of stuff just baffles me. Are all phones not created equally? (har har)

The game starts with the splash screen (where there's bears at the top looking all pumped up, and shooting and the "Skyvu Pictures" at the bottom), then it would just exit the game. Weird huh. Anyone else having this issue or am i isolated?

Don't know if roms have anything to do with it but i'm using cyanogen 6.0 with my N1.

 

[diS]

Don't know if roms have anything to do with it but i'm using cyanogen 6.0 with my N1.

Well that's what I'm guessing is the problem...

I have my custom HTC Desire without rooting.
Where as Lekky has a rooted Desire with a ROM.

I assume the problem, why one Desire can run it and the other one can't, has to do with that.

btw, Battlebear, I'm really enjoying the game so much! I can't put away the game.
Those cute bears got to die

I can't wait till more updates come and eventually the full game!

 

[StuartTheFish]

Oh, and as for exiting mid game: You ARE able to go to the main menu, then quit. Or do you want a button to just completely quit the game while playing?

It wouldn't let me go to any menus until I actually finished playing a level or dying.