Thursday 20 June 2013

Hooves Reloaded: Public Beta

It has been a busy few months with the release of Hooves Reloaded for Android in public beta.  Just wanted to take the opportunity to again thank our beta testers for their assistance during closed beta.  They provided some great feedback that helped us refine and modify the game before broader beta release, helping us identify and fix some pesky bugs and get a better idea of how the game would operate 'in the wild'.  Being original Hooves of Fire players was a distinct advantage as well, they were already well versed in most aspects of gameplay.

There are still a few bugs to iron out in Hooves Reloaded and some interface changes to implement, so stay tuned. The race list, user profile and horse profile will be getting a facelift.  We are also pulling together a global leaderboard so players can see where their stable is ranked.

We have learned a lot through the planning and development of Hooves Reloaded and also through the development of the original Hooves of Fire.  Hooves Reloaded puts some of those learnings into practice.   We wanted to make a game that players will enjoy playing and that they will want to play against their friends. It had to be lightweight, yet detailed enough to be engaging on the mobile platform.  Developing for the mobile platform presented technical and design challenges for our developers but it has also broadened their experience and depth of knowledge. 

We are keenly interested to hear from players of Hooves Reloaded about what they think of the gameplay as some elements are quite a departure from the original Hooves of Fire game.  While it may appear to be a less complex game, some aspects of the game have actually become more complex behind the scenes e.g. breeding.  This may not be immediately apparent to players, but as they progress in the game the differences will be more marked.

Some 'loopholes' have been tightened up.  No more 'cheap' wins in Open rooms to get your horse to Group 1.  A Group 1 horse actually has to win races at the correct level to progress.

Hooves Reloaded is still a work in progress and we will continue to refine elements to reach our goal of enjoyable, engaging gameplay.

You can download Hooves Reloaded from the Google Play store here:   https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.rubberducksoftware.HoovesOfFireReloaded