DraCola Dash: My new, free iOS game in time for Halloween!

[DaveD]

 

For the last couple years I've been working with some friends on a new iOS game, DraCola Dash. It's a simple runner game with a Halloween theme. My part in the project was to help concept the game and create all the art for it. It features multiple background stages, powerups, some cool music, addicting gameplay and it's free! So download it, have fun, click on a couple of the ads that pop up from time to time (hey, we gotta eat) and tell your friends about it. Here's some of the art from the game:

 

 

 

 

 

Download it here for free!

More info and pictures at my Behance page.

Thanks for looking.

[toptenmaterial]

Wow, these images look gorgeous!! I'll download it tonight and post my thoughts. Thanks, dood!!

[+SpiceWare]

Something odd here:

 

 

iPhone 5S. Also happens on my iPad Air.

 

It's in an odd mix of portrait and landscape.

 

I've confirmed the rotation lock is not on (other programs rotate as expected). I've also tried rebooting the iPhone, no change.

Edited October 14, 2014 by SpiceWare

[+Nathan Strum]

Same here - can't get it to run on either my iPhone 5 or iPad Air. Everything is chopped, just like Darrell's pic. Couldn't figure out how to get past the title screen until I swiped left. It appears to be stuck in portrait mode.

[DaveD]

Oy vey. That's embarrassing. Thanks for the heads-up. I've contacted the programmer. I know that it was tested on several devices but I also know that the game was in development for about 2 years now. There have been a few OS's and different devices released in that time. Hopefully we can get a fix out before Halloween still. Anyway, thanks for looking!

[DaveD]

So the programmer has already looked into it and thinks he's identified the problem. Apparently it's a known orientation issue with Unity and iOS 8 and there's a patch available. He hopes to get it updated next week. Our iOS 7 devices seem to be okay. I assume you're both on 8?

 

Thanks again for you "early adopters" and helping us through the hiccups. And thanks for the compliment on the art. It was a fun game to design and I'm looking forward to it being complete. Again.

[+Nathan Strum]

Yep - I'm on iOS 8. Good luck sorting it out! Hopefully it's a quick fix.

[+SpiceWare]

Yes, on iOS 8

[TPA5]

I can't seem to find it on the App Store, is it down for now or is it because I'm on the Canadian store?

[DaveD]

It's been removed temporarily until we can get a fix for OS8. The game was actually submitted and approved a couple months ago and we were sitting on it until we got closer to Halloween. While we were sitting OS8 came out. Oops. I'll bump this thread once it's available again. Thanks for the interest!

[DaveD]

Let's try this again, shall we? The app has been updated to work properly with iOS 8. It's still free and in time for Halloween! Let me know if you have any other issues with it. Otherwise I hope you enjoy it!

[+SpiceWare]

I saw that it had updated, made it to the village! It's fun and challenging.

 

The ads are rotated wrong:

 

Rotating to Portrait then back to Landscape causes the ad to show correctly.

[+Nathan Strum]

It's pretty fun. I managed to get halfway through the village. Love the artwork - especially the '57 Chevy. Nice, clean look to everything.

 

It would be helpful to know what could kill you. It took me a few games to figure out the sun would catch up to me, and I didn't know what the garlic was until it had killed me twice. Also, what does the mist power-up do?.

 

Still needs some bug fixing - it will occasionally get stuck on the Loading screen, so I have to kill the app and re-launch it.

 

 

And it seems that sometimes I'll only half-jump, causing me to plummet to my death. I don't know if I'm catching on something, or my thumb's slipping off the control area, but it happens fairly frequently. Maybe it's just by big, clunky thumbs.

 

Also, I have yet to encounter a single ad… not that I'm complaining, mind you.

[DaveD]

Thanks for playing!

 

As for the rotated ads, apparently they're placed by a third party and their rotation isn't entirely under our control. The ads generally are supposed to appear very infrequently, I think after you clear a stage and something like a 1 in 10 chance otherwise. That loading screen almost looks like an ad is trying to appear. I've seen that before after clicking an ad and returning from the app store. It usually clears itself after a few seconds.

 

The jumping thing may in fact be your thumbs slipping. This happens to me too, especially on the iPad with extra space around the 2x zoom display. That's why we put the Run & Jump icons there at the start of each stage. I was against this at first since I thought it was intuitive but now I see it helps.

 

Meet Steve. He's a vampire.

 

 

 

The Platforms Steve encounters are:

 

- Stable platforms. These are good and Steve can stand on them all day until the sun comes up. They vary for the stages Steve is in.

 

- Rising Platforms. When Steve lands on these he can ride them up as they rise.

 

 

- Falling Platforms. These are unstable and will drop after Steve is on them for a second or so.

 

- Ice and Gum platforms will cause Steve to speed up slightly as he slides across them or slow down when he steps in the gum.

 

 

The Hazards Steve must avoid include the typical stuff vampires don't care for:

 

 

- The sun. It constantly approaches slowly from the left. Spend too long on a screen and the sun gets closer. At first it will scorch Steve as a warning then eventually turns him to stone and dust.

 

- Garlic, Spikes and stakes. Garlic grows from some platforms. The stakes will start to fly at you from the right later on. The spikes hang from platforms and need to be avoided when jumping underneath them.

 

 

 

[DaveD]

Powerups are also at Steve's disposal. The meter in the upper right shows how much energy is left for each powerup. Collect DraCola's to refill this meter.

 

- DraCola. Nothing like a refreshing beverage when running from the sun.

 

- Flight. Tap and hold jump to keep Steve flying. Letting go of jump causes Steve to lose altitude.

 

- Double Jump. This allows Steve to do a double jump.

 

- Mist. This temporarily turns Steve into a transparent mist and makes him immune to anything that might touch him like spikes and stakes. He can even run right through garlic in mist form.

 

- Cool. I'm not gonna tell you what happens when Steve gets this. But it's cool.

 

 

As Steve advances through the game collecting powerups and completing goals he can also earn Powers. These are similar to Powerups but are permanent abilities. They range from unlocking powerups, SPF to make him more resistant to the sun's harmful UV rays, extra speed, ability to predict where/when flying stakes will come from and lots more goodies!

 

 

[DaveD]

Now available for Android:

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jnamobile.dracoladash&hl=en

 

Enjoy!