We’ve just released our first update for Mechadroids!

This release was primarily for bug fixing so we’re having to push the reset button. Don’t worry though because this will bring a balance change to the game! In addition to that new features have been designed are on their way. To obtain the update all you need to do is launch up Mecharoids and it will automatically detect that there is a new version. All you need to do then is select update!

If you haven’t been able to install Mechadroids due to being on Android 2.1 you can now visit the download link to install as we’ve extended our support to your version.

Here is the changelog.

New Features:
- Support Android 2.1+
- Daily battle reports

Changes:
- Improved identification of human players in the attack list
- Game play balancing

Bugs Fixed:
- Infinite crash-loop due to poor signal.
- Fix remote crash logging.
- Escape special characters in client.
- Persist login data when focus is lost.
- Fix login activity resuming correctly.
- Fix attack list bug

Enjoy!

War… war sometimes changes. Tonight we released Mechadroids to the closed alpha testers! We’ve been playing the game during the evening; we’re stealing credits while attacking each other with some insane weaponry.

Alpha testers will receive an email with details on how to play when they have been accepted. We are having some small issues with our emails being sent into spam folders so please check there before taking out your rubbish! If you’re a tester please log feedback at Deadworld Feedback. If you have any problems with your login or our websites please email us at info@deadworldstudios.co.uk.

The next few weeks will be used to balance Mechadroids ready for our big release onto the Android Market. Once there anyone with an Android phone will be able to download and play Mechadroids.

Remember for more information visit the Mechadroids information page and the Mechadroids site! Good hunting alphas!

We’ve been incredibly busy since the annoucement of Mechadroids.  Most of this has been to do with infrastructure work and when we say infrastructure, we’re talking about everything that aids in game development, release and support.  It’s taken a lot of effort and a lot of time.  Reason being is that we want our procedures to support multiple projects, not just one, so a generic approach needs to be taken.

Initially, when we were developing Root Access and released the alpha test, we developed all our infrastructure around that specific project.  It wasn’t necessarily the right way of doing it, but it was the fast way of doing it.  In the end we made more work for ourselves when we started developing Mechadroids as we had to extend our infrastructure systems or clone them for Mechadroids.  Cloning them would result in duplicate code and more to maintain, it would eventually bite us in the derriere.  Extending was the better option but we figured we’d go back to the beginning and design in multi-project support from the start like good software engineers!  If you’re part of our community or waiting for the Mechadroids alpha test, you’re probably aware of the Deadworld ID system, which is our new single sign-on system for all our games and sites.  This was originally specific to Root Access, but the extra work was put in and now we can be sure that all new sites and projects will share the login system which makes things a lot easier to maintain and much more convenient for you guys!

Now, this post isn’t about the Deadworld ID system.  It is about a new addition to our infrastructure.  We realised we were focusing on our development, testing and release systems but we had neglected to put much effort into the support side of things.  Root Access had a feedback reporting system but was fairly minimal and we realised if we wanted our alpha tests to go as planned and maintain a good level of communication and support with our community we needed to revisit this area.

As a result, we give you the Deadworld Studios Feedback Centre.  Again, this is a complete ground-up rewrite of the feedback system that was built into the Root Access website, but this new site makes use of the Deadworld ID system, supports multiple projects and different types of feedback.  Some of you may notice it looks a little similar to the way Get Satisfaction works, that’s because we were heavily considering using it as it really appealed to us, but with very little revenue coming in we cannot afford it, but we had the skills to develop something similar that would suit us!

Please check it out, if you have any bug reports or suggestions about it… well, you’re already on the right site!