Category Archives: Epic Battle Fantasy 5

EBF5: Mobile Gallery

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Hey guys, here’s some new art thumbnails for the Grand Gallery in EBF5.
Version 2 art didn’t need low-res assets until now.

Android’s app size limit is 150MB, so I’ve had to reduce the resolution on some bitmaps, and compress the music a bit, much like in the web version. I decided that that was preferable to cutting out a few tracks and images. It shouldn’t be too noticeable though, if at all. I’ve heard that iOS has a limit of 200MB, so I guess that version can have slightly less compression. The PC version is around 300MB, for comparison. If Android ever increases the limit, I’ll likely update the game to use less compression.

It’s possible to download more content for an app after installing it, but I’m not going with that approach because:
A) The game isn’t designed to load in extra assets like that.
B) It sucks for the user, since this is an offline game.
C) I was barely over the size limit anyway.
D) Almost no one will bother uninstalling the game if it’s only 150MB.

EBF5: Mobile Update

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Hey guys. On Monday I started writing a blog about why I’ve been so unproductive this year, but it sounded really pathetic, so I immediately got back to work. The interface is almost done for the EBF5 mobile port – I’ve added boxes around all of the buttons to make them clearer for touch controls, everything’s been made larger, and the game is generally totally playable now. I even played around with the vibrate feature during big attacks, but I didn’t like it so I gave up on that.

I’ve started setting up the Google Play Store page for the game, and that’s where things get more complicated. There’s a lot of hoops to jump through to get the app approved, and to add features like ads, in-app purchases, achievements, and mayyyybe even cloud saving. It’s all very technical, but there’s a lot of documentation for me to read, and a lot of services I need to sign up for, and then I still gotta actually program and test the stuff. At least I can re-use the Steam trailer.

Oh, and I’ve only tested the game on my device so far. I’m sure there will be a lot of new problems on other devices.

Overall it’s pretty exciting though.

EBF5 Mobile Pricing Info

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Hey guys, people keep asking about how much EBF5 will cost on mobile, so I figure I’d let you know what the plan is at the moment. (although all of this may still change…)

It’s going to be a free app with in-app purchases for the DLC dungeons, Newgame+, Custom Games, and Cheats/Challenges.

The free mobile version is going to be very similar to the free web version, so it will include the full story content, but it will have the balancing of the latest Steam version, and the new Monster Cards will also be available. There’s gonna be ads after every battle or two – I hear the thing you gotta do nowadays is give the player some incentive to watch the ads, so I may need to tie some extra gold or something to that.

As for the in-app purchases, it’s probably going to be $15-$20 for the full package, with the option to buy the features separately, for example, $5.99 to remove ads, $5.99 for the DLC dungeons, $5.99 for Custom Game modes, etc. So it could potentially be cheaper if you’re not interested in everything.

Anyway, I’m working on the Android version first, with iOS coming a bit later. The game will work best on a large phone with a stylus, but I’m making the interface bigger to make it more user-friendly for smaller phones and fat fingers. There’s not that much work left to do, but I’ve also not been working much lately, so who knows how long it will take. I did say I would have a beta for Patreons soon, so I should at least try to get that done… but I shouldn’t make any promises. I’m sorry for the delays though.

EBF5: 25 New Weapons

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Hey guys, as you know, I’ve been working on the mobile version of Epic Battle Fantasy 5, and this version will be getting some new and exclusive content – an extra 5 weapons for each player, which is 25 in total!

They’re all iconic weapons from big franchises – you’ll surely recognize most of them. I spoke with a copyright lawyer, and it turns out companies can only trademark characters – they can’t trademark the likeness of a basic object such as a weapon. Therefore it’s totally fine for me to use weapons like the Master Sword or Portal Gun in my games.

I’ve always been a big mobile gamer, so I figured that my favourite gaming platform should have the best and most complete version of EBF5. Not everyone has a PC, but you all have phones, right?

Anyway, these powerful weapons will be $11.99 each, and will only be available on April 1st every year. For the rest of the year, they will vanish from your inventory.

I hope you’re as excited about this scam as I am.

EBF5: Big Chungus Interface

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Hey guys, I’m back to working on the mobile version of Epic Battle Fantasy 5.

I’m currently improving the interface for mobile screens, which mainly involves making everything 20-25% larger. This may not seem like much, but that translates to 40-55% more click area, so it really helps.

It may seem like a quick job, but since the UI already took up most of the screen, it’s not possible to simply make everything bigger. In many cases I need to rearrange UI elements, split stuff like Medals, Summons and Bestiary into more pages, and add a zoom-in feature to the minimap. Tooltip behaviour also had to be changed, since touchscreens don’t have roll-over and roll-out functionality like a mouse, but I’ve also added in a “Stylus Mode” option, which basically reverts to the PC mouse controls.

I also had to fix a lot of graphics to display correctly without filters, such as the status and buff icons.

Overall it’s going well, if a bit slowly. I will try to get a beta Android version out in a few weeks.