Greetings, Taernians!
We know perfectly well that you’re very anxious to learn more about the mobile version of Broken Ranks, so we’re here to give you some details. As we promised, we return to give you a general plan for its release here. We’d like you to know what we’re currently focusing on and what exactly is stopping us from releasing it. We assure you that we’d like very much for the mobile version to see the light of day as soon as possible ;) However, the quality of gameplay is the top priority for us.
What awaits us in the near future?
A couple of important testing sessions are behind us, as is the tech launch that allowed us to check the game in real world conditions - on the Play Store itself. It’s a huge milestone and we’re glad we’ve passed it. The tech launches lasted for two weeks and the results were very good. There weren’t too many issues with the game and the players in the Philipines liked it. Many people kept playing until the servers went down and tried to convince us just to release it. The main goal of the tech launch was collecting data on how the game works on various devices to improve its stability.
What changes did we make since the last update from the mobile front? As you may remember (or you can check in the article right HERE), we still had some things to do. Apart from fixing bugs, working on controls and optimization, we also adjusted some game elements to the mobile version (e.g. combat UI, shop windows, equipment) and this we can show you. Here are a couple of screenshots:
When you’re reading these words, we’re testing the mobile version with a larger (although still closed) group. The purpose of these tests is to check the fixes for previously reported bugs, and to make sure to minimize crashes and critical errors on various devices. Why is it so important? Because only when this is over and any new bugs are fixed, we can move on to the next key stage.
We’re talking, of course, about the soft launch that we’re planning to start between March and April and, like with the tech launch, on a non-target market, meaning the Philippines. Why there? Because this market offers a wide variety of mobile devices and network conditions, and also access to a large number of new players which will allow us thoroughly test two things that we want solved before we give you the app:
- Scrutinous verification if we solved issues with the so-called ANRs, or simply “crashes”. Such situations were happening too often on some devices and nobody likes them. And not just the users, Google itself won’t be happy either and we care about its happiness very much. ;) A stable app is one of the requirements that need to be fulfilled for the Play Store to give us the green light. We need to make sure proper stability no matter what device the player is using. During the tech launch, 1 in 50 game sessions ended in a crash which gives us 2%. Our target is <0.3% meaning 1 crash per 300 sessions.
- Check retention with completely new players (meaning how many of them stay with us longer) as it is very important for maintaining population. After all, we want to make sure that Broken Ranks is always full of players to compete or cooperate with.
The soft launch will last at least two months. If indicators are at the right level during this time, we’ll be able to move on to the next stage. If they aren’t, the launch will be extended until satisfying results are reached.
Cross your fingers for everything to go smoothly, because the next step is…
Access to the test version for the current players!
If everything goes according to the plan, we’ll continue expanding our scope to other regions besides the Philippines. This doesn’t mean a full release, but we’ll continue to make Broken Ranks more and more available - you could say that this will be a kind of “beta”. Of course, it won’t be the complete game you know from desktop, but it’ll be very close to the final version and open to your feedback. Some elements will be simply unavailable or unfinished.
At the moment, the mobile version doesn’t even have prototypes of some features: marketplace, arena, exploration, achievements, PvP window, and loot statistics. Some other important screens work but this is their only upside. ;) They haven’t been adjusted (to a smaller or larger degree) to mobile devices yet. This is the case with, e.g. deposits, entering instances, guild windows, rankings, and chats. During the soft launch, we’ll keep improving and adding them to make as many as possible available for the “beta”.
We’ll surely continue to post articles about the mobile version. We’ll also make sure to post the invitation to the “beta” on all our social media channels. Stay tuned!
