April 22nd, 2013. Swirling became available for the iPad in early April, 2013, and although it has only been out for a few weeks, an update is now in the planning, thanks to some excellent feedback from some early players. What follows is a list of feature candidates for an update from 1.0 to 1.1.
- 'Marathon' game-play mode. This mode would provide a continuous challenge as opposed to a level-based approach. The original level-based mode would be kept.
- A 'live' tutorial that would show the various techniques a player would have to learn to become efficient at playing Swirling. The live tutorial would present pre-canned simulations along side textual descriptions of the technique being shown.
- Alternative player input. Swirling currently uses tilting (accelerometer input) as the primary way of moving Aeolus (the cloud that blows the wind). A touch-only technique would be added that avoids the need to tilt the device. This would also give the player far more freedom to find their own comfortable playing position. The tilt input technique would be kept.
- Redesign of the main menu to accommodate new game options, game option switches and the tutorial.
This list is not complete, but highlights some of the main features under consideration. It is expected that Swirling 1.1 would become available late Summer, 2013.
