Empire of the Eclipse has been APPROVED by Apple!

[Leedot]

Cheerio - The big size increase came from all the video tutorials. We've talked a little bit about recreating them as programatic animated sequences now that we have access to a tool that can create that sort of thing. It's do able but a non trival amount of work so we'll have to see how much demand there is.

As for the battle sequences they didn't make it into the game but are still on the to do list. Our current priority list for updates is [1] Cross game global leader boards [2] iPad native client and then [3] visual combat.

[zarkwizard]

@zark 222mb?! I remember when it was sub 30mb =p did the fight sequences make it in?
For clarification, the size is absolutely no problem for me.

Bigger is better.. at least that's what she said... Ok I couldn't resist..

There are a couple of things that made the ipa larger. The main thing was the video sequences. We went back and forth over that, and if we should do web videos, or embed them in the app for a "smoother" transition, and if they didn't have an internet connection, or limited connection we didn't want to have it stream to use bandwidth. Since you may want to watch a video more than once. We have tried very hard to keep the traffic foot print small.

The fight sequences are probably 90% coded, the graphics are done. It knows there is a fight going on, it has details of the fight, but when we went back to the drawing board with the app last year after the feedback from the first beta, we made a LOT of changes to how things were going to work, including battles. There are a lot of other changes that went in to the app, and we just didn't have the time by the end. It's one of the first things on our list to add.

So far I think the sequence of additions is, leader boards, iPad, battle seq, then other specs, and more abilities, items.

The big thing I needed to get done before a lot of that was the new galaxy manager. It's much more powerful and is aware of a lot more going on. I also needed to get some other code done to handle some of the other data. Most of which is close to being wrapped up now. As much as I'd like to play D3, I don't have the time..

I personally am looking forward to some of the new features and additions coming to the game, and I'm excited to heard feedback to know how else we will be able to improve the players experience.

[Cheerio]

I think embedding the videos is the right call. People won't play the game if they dont understand it and facilitating that understanding is important. I'm also a fan of the current priority list (especially since I'm on an iPad!)

[DickDastardly]

The iPad timing would have been perfect if you'd released this week, iPhone will go June 1st, so i'm slowly transferring all my bits to the iPad!

Looks like i'll be playing it stretched for a few weeks!

[Cheerio]

The iPad timing would have been perfect if you'd released this week, iPhone will go June 1st, so i'm slowly transferring all my bits to the iPad!

Looks like i'll be playing it stretched for a few weeks!

Speaking as someone who played stretched the entirety of the beta it's really a good experience anyways. The extra large squares are seriously helpful.

[zarkwizard]

Actually I test the current game a lot on my iPad3, and I know Tsagoth does the same on his.. It uses the Retina graphics and it looks really sharp. Although I must say I also like the new layouts for the iPad, it really uses the space in landscape. In the future you will be able to play the game in Landscape, or the current iPad mode for portrait.

Finishing the iPad display is a huge priority.