ROE Mobile, Developer's Log

Earth date 4.26.2013

HELLO FELLOW STRATEGISTS!

Realm of Empires mobile companion app is almost ready to launch! Some of you have already downloaded it, in fact, in spite of the big “DO NOT DOWNLOAD” sign and a whopping $1.99 download cost which we thought would discourage everyone! :)

As you may have read in my previous developer's log post, we've developed the app in HTML5, thus allowing us to be on more mobile platforms quicker. We will be launching on Android first, then soon after that on the iPhone.

Launching on Android first, soon on the IPhone

Next, we hope to bring the app to BlackBerry and Windows 8 devices. We will also modernize the desktop version – including releasing our amazing new map! The desktop version will get much, much quicker and easier to use - prettier too. :)

>> The good, the bad and the ugly - what works well, what will get better <<

As alluded to in my previous post, we had hoped to offer you very similar game play on mobile as on

desktop. We wanted all power features to be there, and we wanted to make it easy to perform all the functions in your empire.

Unfortunately, we are not there... yet. Many power features are still missing, like summary pages or mass features. Also, the interface -this is critical to understand - is not yet optimized for managing a large empire. We had so many issues and interesting hurdles with cutting edge HTML5, that we've decided to first concentrate on getting things running well in general. In this first release, we've focused on the early game play – up to about 10 or 20 villages.

Things like recruiting all troops from one page, or upgrading all buildings on one page are not yet available. Why? Because its a lot more manageable to work out many wrinkles with fewer pages, popups, and interface functions.

So when it comes time to defend against 100 attacks, or recruit in 100 villages, please don’t get frustrated – it will become easier to do shortly!

>> AWESOME NEW NOTIFICATIONS! <<

Mobile devices give us a chance to send you important notifications such as incoming attacks. This is much more reliable than email. I am very excited to be able to offer you much improved notifications system that allows you to select what notifications you want.

Ever wondered if a person you are stewarding is under attack? Well, now there is a notification for this! The account owner must enable attack notifications, you must enable steward attack notifications, and voila! You will be a very good steward. :)

We were really focusing on creating a snappy interface. I believe we've achieved that on IPhone. Android is still lagging a bit behind IPhone as to HTML5 support and the game runs slower. We will keep working hard to improve performance and optimization!

Data entry on small screens is not easy. We wanted to provide really innovative ways of entering data for such functions as attacks, communication, recruitment etc. Again, this is hard to make perfect and we are still perfecting the interface. Over the next little while, you will see this improve significantly with a few innovative solutions already in the works for things like attacking.

>> Game play not the same on mobile as on desktop <<

The important things to keep in mind is that the game plays differently on the phone than on the desktop. There is no way to simulate

a large/multiple screens + multiple browser tabs + keyboard and mouse experience on small devices. It is very hard to allow you to send attacks with the same precision and volume as on the desktop. It is much harder to write long emails on a small mobile keyboard. We are already working on many improvements but we  also hope you guys can provide us with a lot of feedback and ideas - the sooner we get the app in front of you guys, the sooner we'll be able to make it better.

If you primarily play on the desktop, this will be a companion app for you. But we plan to offer realms for mobile devices only and we are really excited and eager to find out how the game-play will change when played exclusively on the mobile!

So, please keep in mind that the mobile app is still in its infancy and please take the time to send in your feedback. Please download the app when it becomes available, and help us make it better!

Oh, and before I forget – please give us a good ( ideally a 5 star! ) rating on the app stores! We know we've got lots of wrinkles to work out, but a good rating will go along way towards a better RoE. We love making this game for you guys, and enjoy playing it ourselves, but we have a very limited advertising budget and rely almost exclusively on word of mouth promotion. If you like the game, and want to see it grow and be awesome, please give us a 5 star rating! Many thanks in advance!