New Game BattleFruit ready to test from FruitPot developers

By Eduardo FruitPot, 15 June, 2021

Forum
iOS and iPadOS Gaming

Hello, we are the developers of FruitPot, Westopia, and Smash the Gangs, and are glad to announce that we have a new game for iPhone and iPad almost ready to launch on the AppStore, and today available test with TestFligtht. The name of the game is BattleFruit and it’s based on the game Battleship, but with many additions. In this game, you are a cook that has to catch pieces of fruits from your opponent. Fruits lay on a gridded board and there are different types of kitchen utensils to catch the fruits.: like the fork, which hits only to one cell of the grid, the knife, which hits three cells on a row, and also the spoon, the tong and the blender, that work in different ways. Boards have different shapes and sizes, as do fruits. It’s a funny game with fast matches and 100% accessible with voiceOver. If you want to participate in the TestFlight we will be very grateful, we need some feedback about voiceOver accessibility, the gameplay and playability in general and, of course, any suggestions are welcome. You can reach us at [email protected].
Here’s the public link to TestFlight:
https://testflight.apple.com/join/Q7KRct77

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Comments

By Blind angel 444 on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

I’m a beta tester and I’m having trouble with playing for the first time. I can’t choose the utensils.I want to play, but I’m confused.

By KE8UPE on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

Hi,
I just started testing as well, and am in the same exact position as the previous commenter.
I read the help file, but it still doesn't make sence.

If the developers are on here, can you help us?

By Blind angel 444 on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

Every time I try that, the audio ducking notification. Audio ducking turned on and audio ducking turned off. Is this a bug?

By Siobhan on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

I hate audio ducking which now makes me think i should check. But to play swipe around and flick up, if it says something different, rotate around to "actions". It's confusing and i hope the gameboard is better laid out. The vertical navigation should work on here but it doesn't really. I stopped playing Westopia because of the difficulty of it. I'll keep playing but yeah.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

Hello there, thank you very much to all of you for testing the game. In order to improve the usability and the controls, I need your impressions and suggestions. As KE7ZUM said, the idea is basically to highlight the cell and swipe up and down to reach the available actions. This works for me with standard VoiceOver settings but I would like to know if there are some settings that interfere with the controls, as well as this ducking audio and overlapping voices or sounds that I struggle to identify as a problem or as a feature. Please tell me suggestions of how would be your ideal controls of the actions remembering that, counting both boards, there are up to 200 buttons on the screen at the same time. Of course the best solution is the simplest one and I want to implement it. Thanks again, you can reach me here or by email at [email protected]

By Missy Hoppe on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

I tried playing this game last night, and as others here have said, it doesn't seem to work. I can navigate right and left through the cells, but double tapping them doesn't do anything, and flicking up and down doesn't do anything either. Do I need to turn on vertical navigation? It used to be in my roter, but I took it out at some point; would happily put it back if it would help. I'm using an iphone 8 Plus if that makes any difference. I do not have hints enabled as they are annoying, particularly on my home screen, but maybe I could set up an activity so that they are only on for this app? or maybe put hints in my roter? Anyway, I'm planning to try this game again, but my initial impression was that it was very confusing. Thank you very much for making another accessible game, though. Your hard work is extremely appreciated, and I'm sure it'll be an awesome game once I figure it out.

Thank you for your feedback. Definitely double click on the cell button should do something, probably throw a fork to the cell. I didn’t know about vertical navigation, maybe that would be a good solution, although the idea was to hoover the cursor over the board getting the info. Vertical navigation could help people using those tiny keyboards. I’ll try to improve the info label on the right of the boards by adding the position of the fruits and their status. Thanks again, have a nice day.

By ming on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

just test it.
and it isa tern base games.
and I think if it can automatically switch the player.
it can be good.
need to press the shef 1 or shef 2

By Eduardo FruitPot on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

In reply to by ming

Hello ming, you can try to activate auto turn speed on settings. There you can choose fast, slow or off. That’s the automatic change of player. Please let me know your thoughts about this. Thank you very much.

By DrummerGuy on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

Well, let's see if I understand correctly what's going on on the board.
The way I see it, it is divided into two sections.
1/2 of the board is yours and the other half is the other chefs.
For example, if you touch one of the items or buttons on the other half of the board, it won't work because you are on the wrong half of the board.
You have to trail up-and-down with your fingers to see where your half of the board begins and so on.
You will find the buttons that say chef number one and chef number two.
It just took me a little while to figure out how to use the options or the different actions of each button.
When you flick up or down it will tell you what your arsenal is and, let's say you want to use the fork, as soon as you hear fork, double tap and you will hear The sound as the action is taking place.
Well, I hope that helps.
I actually love this game. It is really cool.
Thanks, Eduardo, for one more excellent game.

By Siobhan on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

I played twice now. After finally figuring out how to play, there's a turn where I assume an ice cube is used, the game literally freezes up. The other chef doesn't turn, so I have to give up and that's it. Now as for the board. i wouldn't have two sections, I mean not to poke fun but the game it's based upon doesn't have it set that way probably for a reason. I would create one board, and like the other game, either place the fruit manually or automatically. This can b done before gameplay starts. Then when the game starts, you only see the other side, Chef two's board. Let me know if anyone wants it like that.

By Blind angel 444 on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

I still haven’t been able to play. I love it and I’m frustrated that I can’t play. Audio ducking is still a problem with all games. I don’t know how to use the roader, when I tried it was broken. I want to play this game now!!! 😡

There's a bug that freezes the game, and I have yet to find it.
The one single big board in the middle of the screen was the idea until my testers (family members) started to play, and there was some rejection. The original Battleship game shows always both boards at the same time and therefore this disposition facilitates the initial understanding of the game and also the progress of the opponent at a glance. For the next version, I've changed the buttons of the chef 1 board to simple labels, and maybe on settings, there could be a switch to reduce the size of the lower board, and increasing the upper's one.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

In reply to by Blind angel 444

Please don't get frustrated with this game, remember that it's just the first version of the beta, it contains bugs and crashes sometimes. Regarding the sound ducking issue, I don't know how to fix it, all labels should be spoken via VoiceOver, some of them automatically when they appear. If you find an important text that mutes, please tell me. Thanks.

By Siobhan on Monday, June 14, 2021 - 16:58

In reply to by Eduardo FruitPot

Thanks for responding to me. I forgot about old games of yesteryear when you would see both boards. but having smaller screens for the most part, for me, it's difficult to find exactly where my board stars and the other is. Maybe next version show only the opponent's board? Somehow you can view yours but like i said the way it's laid out, is confusing. Plus maybe a sound tutorial so people know what's what? Not ecactly needed in this game, but in the others you developed it would help.

By Ornella on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

I'm late to this but I will download and test and give featback if I find anything that needs fixing. but if its like the battleship game you are supposed to see your board to place your stuff and then when the game starts you can view the opponent's when playing. Meaning that if you're attacking then your target's board should only be viewed on the screen so there won't be a mix up.

That's what I was trying to identify earlier. I hadn't phrased it that way. thanks for helping clear that up. ;)

By Yvonnezed on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

This is a really good game, not that I'm any good at it, but I'm really enjoying it. About the only thing I'm having trouble with is locating the directional buttons for knife when I use it. Maybe some kind of message to tell you you're supposed to choose a direction, too, since it took me a while to realise it'd done anything and wasn't broken.

I've been testing it all morning on my iPad, and I think it's great. I honestly wouldn't change much about it, although I'll have to try it on my phone at some point. I suspect when the multi-player mode is activated, the multiple boards thing mightmake a lot more sense. If I'm lucky my son is still young enough that he'll play it with me 😏.

Let's see if I can help with a couple of tips. Audio-ducking, I'd either turn it off in voiceover settings, or add it to the rotor so you can toggle it. As someone else said, I never use it at all since it's a pain.

Vertical navigation does work, although due to the way Voiceover itself works it tends to disable itself and flick back to the actions rotor when you flick sideways. About the only suggestion for that is put it as close to one end of the rotor as you can so turningback to it doesn't take too long.

Sadly, though, as with all grid based games like this, the only thing you can do is practice and try not to get frustrated. It's not always easy to think spacialy but it's worth it.

By Blind angel 444 on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

When I tried it, I was taken to my iPads main screen. I don’t get a settings option for the game.

By KE7ZUM on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

I don't think there are suposed to be settings for the game as of yet. i did get settings I believe, I'll have to take a look.

By Ornella on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

There are settings. but its mainly to turn the music and sound volume on or off. There is another option in there about colour schemes. Now if the board is confusing for some, if you play by touch you should find what you're looking for with out having to do much swiping. Someone talked about audio ducking and weirdly enough its not affecting me at all. I don't have to set my roatar to actions and when I swipe up or down I am able to choose if I want the blender or other utensels. One thing that I've noticed with this game and wistopia and sometimes even fruitpot, is that when I play for like 5 minutes or so, my phone gets hot very fast. My battery don't go down fast its just that my phone gets hot quickly. If it helps, I'm using the old SE. Something I want to add just to make sure. So we are making a smoothy do we need to know the ingredients needed or its just any fruit that we pick because I have a great idea for different modes and maybe for different games in the future. I will just put one for now. Before playing a round, the game tells us what to make. Then it says the recipe. or we can swipe to read it. Example, strawberry smoothie. Requiered ingredients, strawberries, ice cubes, oranges bananas. Something like that.

By Yvonnezed on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

I really have no clue about audio ducking. It just isn't an issue for me at all in any part of the app.

As for the settings, what's it's meant to do is leave the app and open the settings app with the battle fruits settings thing selected, at least that's what it's doing for me on my iPad and my iPhone.

The one setting I'd probably change is the auto-switch players one. It's much easier than having to press the player button after each turn.

By Ornella on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

I started a new game and I'm not able to choose the forks. Meaning that in order to be able to use them, I have to use out my knives, blenders spoons and tongs. Before this release that never happened. Also vertical navigation isn't working much for me because its showing me some spots but I can't get to the ones I want quickly. So I'm playing by touch.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

In reply to by Ornella

You are right, the fork is not in the action list anymore, because now you can throw them by double-tapping directly on the cell, it's the main action. I hope this helps.

By Yvonnezed on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

As I said before, the problem with vertical is a Voiceover one. It will work but auto switches to the action setting when you swipe left. What I've done is make sure it's at the bottom of the rotor so if I want to use it I just twist left.

The way I tend to play is touch roughly where I want to go first and then slide my finger around.

By Blind angel 444 on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

I don’t know how to change the utensils? I want to switch up some.
I can play it now!!!

By Ornella on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

Thanks for replying about the fork. I figured that out after starting a new game. I can't use my knives. When I double tap it, its not showing me where to choose where I want to aim. Before it would let me choose upper part or lower part. When I double tap the knife, voice over says button and when I tap on it I get nothing. So now my knives are wasted. So far since playing I only lost one game.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

Once you've selected a cell, if you double-tap, a fork flies onto the cell. If you want to throw another utensil, you can swipe vertically through the actions that are the different utensils you have available. If you choose a knife, you have afterward to select from up to eight buttons around the cell with the different directions to cut, but from the next version, when using VoiceOver, this step will be solved with IA and the direction that gets more hits will be automatically applied. Little by little the game is becoming more user-friendly and more fruit-unfriendly. Thanks for the feedback and for testing the game.

By Ornella on Wednesday, July 14, 2021 - 16:58

Thanks for the explanation about the knives but even when I choose the knife, and I find a cell where I want to throw it, a fork ends up being used so hope it gets fixed in the next update. Before this version I was able to use the knife. I really love this game. I hope we get a restaurant game in the future but this is a good start.

By David Standen on Saturday, August 14, 2021 - 16:58

I downloaded the game yesterday and it is awesome. Thanks Eduardo for creating another wonderful game.

By Sabrina on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 16:58

I was really unsure because I hate the normal battleship game but I love this one because it has much more content. Much more challenging and advanced.
I have encountered a bug thoough where I get everything stop working because I tap an invalid square and th'en I cannot do anything.

By Brooke on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 16:58

I've even shocked myself at the amount of time I've spent playing this game. I'm loving it! I did notice one bug that has been mentioned. If you accidentally tap on a square that has already been filled or is out, the game gets stuck. It tells you to wait your turn no matter where you go but your turn never comes, Lol.

By Brian Giles on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 16:58

Yep, I've noticed the same thing. You have to close the game and open it again, which means you have to restart the game over. Hopefully they can fix that. I also had the game crash once, but don't know what triggered it.

I've also noticed the game music isn't consistent. Sometimes it plays and sometimes not. Also wish the game settings can be in the app itself, instead of sending you out to the main iOS settings app.

It's actually a better game than I first gave it credit for.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Tuesday, September 14, 2021 - 16:58

Hello there, thank you so much for your bugs report. Last weekend I’ve made a new release published hours ago, that hopefully solves the issues and suggestions made by you and the TestFlight users. Please, download the last version and tell me anything you would improve from the game, especially regarding usage. Thanks again.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Thursday, October 14, 2021 - 16:58

Hello there, I’m glad to tell you that we are getting no crashes reports with the latest version of BattleFruit. As you all noticed, at the beginning the game crashed quite often but on the numerous updates, we’ve finally managed to reduce the crashes. Please give the game a second try if you got frustrated with it in the past. We’ve added some extra background music, more recipes, a chat for multiplayer, and other improvements that make the game more enjoyable.
This doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped improving the game, we’re still open to your suggestions.
Also, we’ve noticed that there’s no AppleVis App Directory Entry for BattleFruit, if only one of you were so nice we would be very grateful. Thank you very much.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Sunday, November 14, 2021 - 16:58

In reply to by Ornella

Hi Ornella, thanks for the tip, I've been looking for it on AppleVis several times, but I didn't found it until you told me. Best regards.

By Eduardo FruitPot on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 - 16:58

Hello there,
As many of you helped me a lot in the past, I gladly present you FruitPot 2 beta test. The finished game should be on the iOS App Store in the next few weeks, but now you can test it beforehand and help me again.
FruitPot 2 is the new version of the loved fruit machine FruitPot, with similar gameplay and already with 15 mini-games that you’ll unlock by buying the items from the stores of the mall. The theme of the game is the 80’s, with corresponding graphics, items, songs, etc.
The game should work seamlessly and allow you to progress through the game, there are still some minor elements missing and also some of the effects sounds are provisional, and for the moment, only in English.
Although being almost ready to launch you’ll probably find some minor bugs. We need to know all kinds of errors that you can report as well as any suggestions. Besides the gameplay errors and crashes, we also need some feedback regarding the playability with VoiceOver, the game should be 100% enjoyable with accessible technologies, please tell us any incongruence or anything that’s not clear at the first try, like voices that overlap, missing information, unlabelled buttons, etc.
Following this text, you’ll find a link to the TestFlight page, where you’ll be able to download the latest version. This game doesn't need any registration or gathers any personal information, it doesn't even need an online connection.
Thank you so much for your help.
Best regards,
Eduardo

https://testflight.apple.com/join/sdjO2oBh