Empire of the Eclipse has been APPROVED by Apple!

[Leedot]

Well folks it looks like we've finally made it through the submission process unscathed and Empire will be available 'soon'. I say soon, and not immediately because we may have to delay the release by a week for marketing purposes.

Obviously, we'd like to push the release button right this second but sometimes timing is everything; the better Empire does the more resources we'll have to devote to it so it's important that we get it right from the start.

Hopefully we'll be able to give a concrete date in the near future but worse case scenario this shouldn't delay us passed 5/24.

[lordxorn]

Well folks it looks like we've finally made it through the submission process unscathed and Empire will be available 'soon'. I say soon, and not immediately because we may have to delay the release by a week for marketing purposes.

Obviously, we'd like to push the release button right this second but sometimes timing is everything; the better Empire does the more resources we'll have to devote to it so it's important that we get it right from the start.

Hopefully we'll be able to give a concrete date in the near future but worse case scenario this shouldn't delay us passed 5/24.

YESSS!!! CONGRATZ!!! Too bad on the week, but totally understand. Get the word out, I will see if I can give you some free press @www.spacesector.com

[brenlen]

Fantastic news! Congratulations!

[Chris]

Damn u. Double damn u for delaying the release. Yep u lot suck.

[AntiHaze]

Damn u. Double damn u for delaying the release. Yep u lot suck.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3rz1xwdTe1qfssyl.jpg

[shadowkhai]

Hooray! I suppose if I've waited this long, a few more days to get it done right won't hurt. :)

Kudos to you and your team for surviving the arduous Apple submission process.

[Marked]

Want it, want it, want it, now, now, now. PLay play play!!!

CONGRATS to all of you.

I also will put the word out where I can. I got some resources.

Soon I kill you all and take your space monkeys.

[avalon12]

Wow, today is my birthday, to get this news on this day is one of the best presents i could get! Congratulations!

[DickDastardly]

Excellent news. Always new third time was a charm!

I can not wait to play, it's been a long road, and I hope you all had a few beers to celebrate.

[Supamand]

Great news!
Just curious though, does the launch delay has anything to do with Diablo 3 coming out today?

[zarkwizard]

Great news!
Just curious though, does the launch delay has anything to do with Diablo 3 coming out today?

Actually yes it does.. Blizzard called us up yesterday after we put out the news and begged us to hold off the release. They didn't want us to hurt their customer base. We totally understand it has taken them 10 years, and us 3, so we felt we should hold off as a courtesy.

You totally reminded me, I have a collectors edition reserved.. They probably won't let me play till the leader boards are done... and the iPad version.. and the update.. and the etc.. At least I'll be able to look at the collectors edition box..

Actually it has nothing to do with that... There are reasons for the delay, but we can't talk about it...

[DickDastardly]

Actually yes it does.. Blizzard called us up yesterday after we put out the news and begged us to hold off the release. They didn't want us to hurt their customer base. We totally understand it has taken them 10 years, and us 3, so we felt we should hold off as a courtesy.

You totally reminded me, I have a collectors edition reserved.. They probably won't let me play till the leader boards are done... and the iPad version.. and the update.. and the etc.. At least I'll be able to look at the collectors edition box..

Actually it has nothing to do with that... There are reasons for the delay, but we can't talk about it...

Reasons imposed by yourselves or outside influences?

I think regardless the importance of timing is crucial with anything like this. It's had some press now it needs more!

[zarkwizard]

Reasons imposed by yourselves or outside influences?

Outside... More info will be forth coming I'm sure. At any rate the latest date is May 24th 12am (Just as the 23rd turns to the 24th...). It may be sooner though.. just depends on a couple of things.. :)

[lordxorn]

I can certainly understand everyone's excitement and possibly frustrations, but correct me if I am wrong Zarksoft, when publishing on the Apple App Store there are some considerations you must take as a business. Zarksoft is a business, and if we want them to continue to bring us more gaming strategy goodness, they have to be successful on launch day. The more successful they are on launch day, the possibility of them getting EOTE featured goes up. So they have to now hype the game, now that it is approved, so that will happen.

[Tsagoth]

It's not that big a deal. The Atari 800 w/1MB Axlon board needs a new PS and we have to wait for a new one to arrive. My 256K 800XLs aren't quite good enough to run the game.

[Supamand]

I just picked up my collectors addition of D3. The scull with soul stone is wicked!

[DickDastardly]

Itchy fingers..... want... to.... play.....

Is it the 24th yet?! :o)

[Marked]

I heard a rumor thats its on the release list for tonight

Sigh.... Touch arcade jumped the gun

"KHANNNNNNNNNN"

[AntiHaze]

Apparently it's out in New Zealand....

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=134894

Also, the Verge is saying it's supposed to be out in North American at 11:00pm EST, which is in 18 minutes....

*fingers crossed*

*EDIT: Nevermind.....

[Cheerio]

Apparently it's out in New Zealand....

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=134894

Also, the Verge is saying it's supposed to be out in North American at 11:00pm EST, which is in 18 minutes....

*fingers crossed*

*EDIT: Nevermind.....

@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.

[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.