Ascraeus Promo Video and Artwork

Here's a promo video that Josh and Dan from Estate put together for Ascraeus. Intriguing, no? Follow the links at the bottom to see the higher quality version and a bunch of videos they've done for their various music projects.


Ascraeus The Game from Estate on Vimeo.

Also, here's the artwork for the upcoming soundtrack release:



Ascraeus on the App Store.

Contract Technical Difficulties (Resolved)

Ugh.

Had some technical difficulties with our contract to sell paid apps on the App Store. I had contacted Apple about migrating my initial individual developer account to a company account in order to sell stuff under my new LLC about a month and a half ago. It took them maybe a week and a half to take care of all that, but, after it was done, I got a paid contract for the LLC approved, submitted Ascraeus for publication, and, eventually, had that approved.

So, things we're going fine...for about a week. Apple contacts me on Monday morning to say that they've migrated my individual account to a company account (again!). Oh no. Bad feeling about this. Yep, they invalidated my existing contract. So, I resubmit all the various bank and tax info they need, and then wait. Four or five days go by. Emails are sent, and go completely unacknowledged (why do I have to include this follow-up ID if no one's going to actually, you know, follow-up?). This whole time Ascraeus is sitting on the store, but, if anyone should happen to click on it, it will tell them that Ascraeus is not available in their country's App Store. Great. Good thing we hadn't done any real promotion yet. I would have been flipping out had that been the case.

Finally, the new contract was approved, and everything seems to be fine again. But, Apple is clearly having lots of trouble with the App Store on many levels. Ridiculous app rejections, long approval wait times, no established process for renewing developer contracts, and now random account migrations with no warning that leave your apps sitting unavailable on the store.

Hopefully, they'll clear things up soon. I love developing for the iPhone, and there's all sorts of great functionality coming in iPhone OS 3.0, but, currently, everything that takes place after you've written your app is a nightmare.

Ascraeus on the App Store.

Ascraeus Released!

Ascraeus is the product of a serendipitous collaboration between three friends: a programmer from Chicago, and two music producers from Minneapolis.

Josh and Dan: "We should join forces to create an iPhone app of sprawling, epic beauty."

John: "Fantastic! I'm already working on a game that would greatly benefit from some professional audio production."

Part memory game, part twitch-arcade game, and part fantasy voyage through an extra-dimensional audio dreamscape, Ascraeus will transform your dreary morning commute. Deploy your headphones and let Estate's exclusive, original soundtrack wash over you.

How to play:

- Blue, green and yellow targets float around the screen in paths of ever-increasing complexity.

- Touch the targets to prevent them from exploding.

- Exploded targets emit particles which are absorbed by any remaining targets. Chain reactions may occur.

- Accuracy is strongly rewarded. The score multiplier increases as your touch streak grows. "Work smarter, not harder."

- White bonus targets provide point and multiplier increases.

Features:

- Colorful, attractive graphics complete with mesmerizing particle effects.

- Unlimited levels of play.

- High scores list.

- Exclusive, original soundtrack meticulously crafted by Estate.

Ascraeus on the App Store.