Last week, SuperSugoiSoftStudios released the second alpha version of IABO at Anime Season, an anime convention at our town.
We've made a new version containing a series of improvements (better mana bar, better border stars (that indicate how many sweeping power is left), smoother and slower background clouds movement, better powerups distribution, cloud movement is a little bit more predictable - but still deadly!) and with an awesome new feature: five new character! The players can now choose from six different colors, each one with a different personality!
We've also made sure that each character with its own color dyes the clouds when the clouds touch them or when they use sweeping power.
The copies of IABO were distributed to the local community via CD (DRM free), which included the game for Windows, MAC and Linux, the IABO manual ("the 4S of IABO Maneuvering") in pdf and a bookmark featuring one of the six characters. We've also distributed rainbow bracelets for those who passing by our table.
Everything was the most hand-made as possible: we designed, printed, burned and packed all the cds and extras ourselves.
The reception was overwhelmingly satisfying. People from all ages and backgrounds played and play-tested IABO, and some groups even held mini-competitions to see who could stand longer in the game or who could make more points.
For the next event (probably to be held in August) we plan even more features, character and unlockables.