Througout making Gum Drop, I've solicited tons upon tons of feedback from people from different groups, male, female, hardcore gamer, casual gamer, non-gamer, etc ... They've all given me constructive feedback and insight into making the game easier to understand and fun to play. The female group in particular has always had a keen eye on making the game more approachable. My Girlfriend pointed out early that the colors I had in the game were unapproachable and hostile at times. Then a female friend of mine suggested that the shooting mechanic I had implemented in the game actually distracted the player from what was fun, which was the SMASH mechanic. Another female friend of mine pointed out I had too much text that nobody will ever read in the game. It's not saying that guys cannot notice these issues but it seems that females are more vocal about it.
Well, other than that short blurb, progress on Gum Drop is moving along at a steady pace. I have now addded survival mode, which will pit the player against a endless swarm of enemies that the player will have to face. I've also locked down the number of levels to be 20 for the normal gameplay. There will be 20+ unique enemies that the player can fight. I've also decided to completely remove any sort of story in the text I have in the game. The game has been diluted along production but I will re-distill it to it's purest form which is "Fun" I've also decided to remove the Gum Drop collecting missions, as smashing stuff is the front and center of the game now.
Hopefully the game will be out in Xbox Game Communities come Summer/Fall