Devlog: GRAZE: Edge Rush, and building a game where you score by almost dying
Hey everyone. I am the solo developer behind GRAZE: Edge Rush, a one thumb arcade game on iOS, and I wanted to write up where the game is and where it is going.
The idea
GRAZE runs on a single rule: you score by almost dying. You hold to rise and let go to drop, and the game rewards you for skimming as close to the obstacles as you can without touching them. Play it safe and you barely score. Ride the edge and your Heat multiplier climbs fast, and the whole screen starts to glow with it. I wanted a game with no fat on it. One thumb, instant restart, no ads, no in app purchases, ever.
How it started
I started making games in the small pockets of time around my son being born. He is 10 months old now, and the early mornings and quiet nights became the hours I taught myself to actually ship something. GRAZE is the first thing I have put into the world, and honestly the scariest and best part has been watching real people show up on the leaderboards.
The latest update
The last few weeks were all about competition and making it stick.
- Daily runs. Everyone on earth gets the exact same course each day, and it resets at midnight. The daily leaderboard becomes a fresh fight every morning.
- Daily Wins counter. Finish the day ranked number 1 and your win total ticks up. It lives on its own Game Center leaderboard, so your wins are permanent and visible to everyone, and they survive updates and reinstalls.
- All-time rank on your home screen, pulled live from the leaderboard so you always know exactly where you stand.
A lot of the recent work was invisible plumbing. Scores you set with no signal now queue up and post automatically the moment you reconnect, and your best scores and win totals follow your Game Center account so you never lose them. Not glamorous, but it is the stuff that makes a leaderboard feel trustworthy.
What is next
More ways to compete, and small touches that make chasing a score feel even better. I am building this in the open and I read every piece of feedback.
If you want to try it, GRAZE: Edge Rush is 0.99 on the App Store, one time, and that is the whole deal. If you run today's daily I would genuinely love to know what score you got. How close can you get without touching?
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