Bug Reports

[CommanderData]

With each new version released of Rogue Touch we're sure at least one of you will manage to find an obscure bug that we missed in hundreds of hours of playtesting! Please use this topic to post details about potential issues found.


**** Before posting here ****

The #1 cause of trouble with any iPhone/iPod touch application is not enough available memory to run in. The first thing you should do if you see a problem is to restart your device. You can do this by holding the power button and "slide to power off", or by pressing the power and home buttons for approximately 10 seconds.

For the technically inclined: Available RAM is not how much free space you have on your device. You may have 7GB available on your 16GB iPod, but Apple only uses about 50MB for running user's programs including Safari and Mail which stay open after you stop using them. This will bring your available memory dangerously low, to the point where almost any app or game you try to run would have problems. A restart will free up that memory until the next time you use Safari and Mail.


**** OK, it's not a low memory problem, now what? ****

If you think you have identified a real problem with Rogue Touch, please post the details!

It would help us a lot to know the following:

1) Type of Device: iPhone / iPhone 3G / iPod Touch / iPod Touch 2nd Gen.
2) Which firmware version: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.21?
3) Is it Jailbroken: Yes / No
4) Describe the problem, and how to reproduce it if known:

If any reproducible bugs are found we'll do our best to correct and issue an update to Apple as soon as possible. We're committed to providing you a fun, hassle free gaming experience!

[Ihateants]

iPhone 3G. Firmware 2.2.1. Not Jailbroken

I haven't been able to reproduce it yet since I'm still on my first game but when I first ran Rogue Touch and started a new game the app crashed after entering my name. The second run worked fine.

[CommanderData]

Ihateants, maybe you can tell us if you've rebooted your phone recently? Or do you use Safari and/or Mail a lot on it? That sounds an awful lot like a low memory problem, one we've seen ourselves- once you submit your name a lot of new data is created in the background (generating the dungeon, and so on) that can cause a problem on well used devices!

We're always looking at ways to reduce memory consumption. Prior to the release of 1.0, our early test versions of Rogue Touch used twice as much memory! We had to reboot regularly at that point... Now it plays much nicer with lower requirements.

If it happens again, or you have any additional info let us know.

[Ihateants]

I hard quit Safari and Mail before I ran it for the first time so I doubt it was low memory. (8 second home button press in each app quits them fully and frees up the memory). Rebooting is not something I plan to do every time I want to play a game.
It ran fine on the second go too.
Perhaps you could add a debug setting we could activate when having problems that displays the current free memory.

[Jessica]

You definitely should not need to hard reboot or force quit all the time. The memory requirements for Rogue Touch range from 5 to 15MB under normal play, so in most cases it isn't an issue. We'll chalk this up as a random glitch for now since you didn't experience it again, but definitely don't hesitate to get in touch if it becomes a regular problem.

I'll do a bit of research on displaying memory requirements- Maybe a popup box could warn you of potential trouble before you even start the game

[CommanderData]

I don't have much to add, Jessica's got it explained pretty well there. I like the idea of a popup low memory warning too! Let us know if you have any more trouble...

[Ihateants]

I ran into a bug this morning that has the potential to be a bit more serious but I don't know how to reproduce it. Last night I left my character on I think floor 12. I'd explored most of it and just had my armour hammered by an Aquator. I pressed the home button to quit out and left it at that. This morning when I resumed my game I was back at the entrance to that level and nothing was explored so I'm guessing it didn't save when I pressed the home button. I haven't had it happen since.

[CommanderData]

Ihateants, that description sounds like the save that occurs when you push home or take a call failed to happen. I think I mentioned it here somewhere that there's a secondary emergency backup save that happens at the start of each level, so the clues line up. We'll try to see if there is a particular reason for it

[DaveH]

Here's one I think is legit:

When fighting one of those water monsters, if you get hit once and it damages your armor, then on your next turn you take off that armor, the water monster gets to attack again before the armor is off, thus damaging your armor twice. Not fair!

You've done a great job, and I look forward to future releases -- especially a port of angband if possible!


-Dave

[CommanderData]

Here's one I think is legit:

When fighting one of those water monsters, if you get hit once and it damages your armor, then on your next turn you take off that armor, the water monster gets to attack again before the armor is off, thus damaging your armor twice. Not fair!

You've done a great job, and I look forward to future releases -- especially a port of angband if possible!


-Dave

Dave, I know it's not really fair, but believe it or not that's actually one of the features of the original Rogue. Your armor actually takes two turns to remove, which means everyone gets an extra whack at you while in the process of removal! There are some various Rogue FAQs and Wikis out there, but we'll be implementing our own here soon to cover some of the many special details of the game.

I think Angband is definitely high on everyone's list for a future project. That probably won't happen for a while in any case, but don't give up hope We're going to continue improving Rogue Touch for quite a while... I'll make an announcement soon with features that are coming in the first update (already in progress).

Thanks for the encouragement!