It’s that time of year again where we go back and update all of our apps for the holidays! It’s amazing how many things build up with all of Apple’s new hardware and OS versions. We keep good track of everything throughout the year, and program them all in during October for November releases. All apps except Nova Golf, Disc Golf 3D, and GL Golf will be updated in the next few days. Those three games are excluded because they’ve already had all of the features added over the last few months, and actually have additional updates almost ready for January! Keep your eyes peeled, it’s especially hard to notice now with Apple’s new automatic app update feature

Nova Golf and Disc Golf 3D have been updated to version 1.09 on and are now live on the iTunes and Mac App Store.

Nova Golf
1.09
*****
New in-game helpers, power boost and recovery shots
Character clothing pack available as in-app purchase
Level overdrive, level up past the maximum level, available as in-app purchase
iPhone 5S/5C compatibility
Performance optimizations
Green reading dots show during close approach shots
Increased maximum level from 50 to 51
Requires iOS 6.0+
Fixed bug where unspent credit notification could prevent new games from playing
Fixed errors on tournament scoreboard screen
Increased character texture resolution
Moved sun down in sky to be more visible
New affiliate links, removed Linkshare

Disc Golf 3D
1.09
*****
New in-game helpers, power boost and recovery shots
Character clothing pack available as in-app purchase
Level overdrive, level up past the maximum level, available as in-app purchase
iPhone 5S/5C compatibility
Performance optimizations
Increased maximum level from 50 to 51
Requires iOS 6.0+
Fixed bug where wind near ground could blow discs away
In-app purchase items added (Lite)
Fixed bug where unspent credit notification could prevent new games from playing
Fixed errors on tournament scoreboard screen
Increased character texture resolution
Moved sun down in sky to be more visible
New affiliate links, removed Linkshare

GL Golf has been updated to version 2.43 on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and is now live on the iTunes and Mac App Store. Please allow up to a day for the update to become available as it is still propagating through Apple’s system. The shareware version has also been updated. Check the Product Page for more information

2.43 (iOS)

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Online monthly four-round tournaments
Character clothing pack
iPhone 5S/5C compatibility
New 18 hole course
Restored access to pro shop on iPhone/iPod (Lite)
New text engine for in game HUD
Added carry/roll distance stats for each shot
Added option to remove ambient sounds
Fixed auto look after holing out on multiplayer games
Requires iOS 6.0+
Less memory usage, increased stability
Better organized pro shop screen
Fixed random holes scores from not showing correctly
New icon (Deluxe)
Fixed potential crash after submitting scores at the end of a round
New top menu banner for iPad
Spin/Loft/Fade modifiers no longer changeable in backswing
Fixed stray ball icon rendering during shots
Removed Barnyard Blaster and Pinball Massacre ads from iPad menu
New affiliate links, removed Linkshare
Fixed pars on Oak Tree CC
Fixed three holes on Old Andrews

2.43 (Mac)
**********
Character clothing pack for in-app purchase (MAS)
Extra mulligans available for in-app purchase (MAS)
Added a new 18 hole course
Fixed +- par scores on tournaments
Option to turn off ambient sounds
Spin/Loft/Fade modifiers no longer changeable in backswing
Fixed auto look after holing out on multiplayer games
Fixed bug where saving/resuming tournaments could lose progress
Fixed end game scorecard player names
Fixed memory leaks that could cause crashing after many rounds
Fixed several holes on St Andrew’s New, Borden Pass, and Oakmont
New affiliate links, removed Linkshare

We’re almost done with a pretty cool volumetric fog effect for Nova Golf and Disc Golf 3D. Check out the screenshot. This will appear on random holes and will fill in low points on the hole with fog. Right now it’s enabled on the Mac and we’re going to test different iOS devices to see which ones can run the effect fast enough.

Today everyone is lucky enough to get an iPhone 5s at 8 AM through AT&T. Since we are located in a small town, there was only a short line in front of the store at 6 AM.  Thanks to one of the Apple store employees who told us about Picozip, an online website, where you can go to get your iPhone unlocked, we did not have to wait for the demo to commence at the store. We’ve already been hard at work updating our games for the new hardware, now we can finally verify what we’ve done and submit updates to Apple. We expect the iPhone 5C to run everything just like the iPhone 5.  

Nova Golf and Disc Golf 3D will see the biggest improvements from the new hardware. We’ve already ran the apps at full quality and they look just as amazing as the Mac versions! That’s at a smooth 60 frames per second under some heavy scenes. All of our other games already ran at full speed on the iPhone 5, so the 5S will enable other goodies such as multisampling and anisotropic filtering, all while at maximum resolution.

We’re happy that Apple has discontinued the iPhone 4. As great of a devices as it was back in 2010, it has begun to show its age and really chokes on our new golf and pinball games. With the iPhone 4S as the entry level model we no longer have to worry about a poor user experience due to slow frame rate and lower visual quality.

Keep an eye out for updates on the app store to take advantage of these new features! The increase in frame rate comes free with the current versions, but the enhanced quality requires an update.

Anyone having issues playing the July tournament should upgrade to the latest version 2.42. Tournaments now run over four different courses, and this requires the latest version. Hurry and download the free upgrade, there’s still time to finish all rounds!

Nuclear Nova Software is proud to announce Golf Tour Free – Golf Game, a freemium version of it’s hit title GL Golf. Golf Tour Free is a full featured version of GL Golf with all 40+ courses available, with each round requiring a coin to play. Coins are generated once daily per launch, and more can be purchased through in-app purchase. Golf Tour Free is also ad-supported, the ads are small can easily be turned off with a couple of coins.

Golf Tour Free is an alternative to both the free lite and paid versions of GL Golf. While the lite/paid model dominated the app store years ago, more recently the freemium model has taken over. Benefits include access to all courses at no cost!

Golf Tour Free can be downloaded on the iTunes App Store for free Here

Description – “Meet Golf Tour Free, the top free golf simulator game for iOS! Enjoy over forty unique courses with realistic gameplay and crisp 3D graphics. Golf Tour Free allows you to customize your golfer’s appearance as well as club set, and with multiple tees and pin locations no round will be the same. Challenge yourself and your friends with online leader boards, or play with up to four players on a single device. Other great features include adjustable seasons, different tee times, multiple difficulty modes, mulligans, shot shaping, match/stroke play, and more. Golf Tour Free requires coins to play, which are generated each day or purchased through in-app purchase.”

GL Golf has been updated to version 2.42 on the Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and is now live on the iTunes and Mac App Store. Please allow up to a day for the update to become available as it is still propagating through Apple’s system. The shareware version has also been updated. Check the Product Page for more information

2.42 (iOS)

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Improved water graphics, wave animations
Added a new course, Borden’s Pass
Different player clothes/skins for multiplayer games
Ambient sound effects
Added pin and tees to mini-map
Clamp mini-map to edge of screen
Removed unneeded code and improved outdated code
Fixed in-game scorecard
Fixed several holes on Hackinow and Rocky Grove
Fixed a bug where the pin could show through terrain
Better memory management for less crashing

2.42 (Mac)
**********
Improved water graphics, wave animations
New club upgrades with in-app purchase
Tournaments now use different courses each round
Added a new course, Borden’s Pass
Different player clothes/skins for multiplayer games
Improved text engine – Non-fixed width fonts and less character glitches
Ambient sound effects
Added carry/roll stats for each hit
Added pin and tees to mini-map
Fixed several mini-map issues
Removed floating trees in some areas
Removed unneeded code and improved outdated code
Fixed crash after bouncing over cup using old club models

Nova Golf and Disc Golf 3D have been updated to version 1.08 on and are now live on the iTunes and Mac App Store.

Nova Golf
1.08
*******
New course available for in-app purchase – Bethpage Black
Four new balls available in the pro shop for credits or in-app purchase
Fixed Nova Desert hole 10 pin d on lower terrain quality settings
Improved distance control on partial-power shots
Different player skins for multiplayer games
Better display of vertical distance to hole
Higher resolution textures (Mac)
Water has current and wind surface flow
Fixed a potential crash changing profiles
Computer players shoot more realistic scores based on tournament round difficulty and tees
Reduced memory use for less crashing on older devices

Disc Golf 3D
1.08
*******
New course available for in-app purchase – Desert Beach
Different player skins for multiplayer games
Fixed disc in celebration/failure animations
Better display of vertical distance to hole
Tomahawk throw less accurate
Higher resolution textures (Mac)
Water has current and wind surface flow
Fixed a potential crash changing profiles
Computer players shoot more realistic scores based on tournament round difficulty and tees
Fix invisible discs on replay
Reduced memory use for less crashing on older devices

We’re currently pushing out updates for all Pinball Massacre, Pinball Shuffle, Barnyard Blaster, and all of their respective Lite versions. Expect one a day for the next week, improvements below –

Barnyard Blaster
1.05 (Mac)
**********
New grenade model
Fixed Challenge button on main menu
Code base revised, faster and less buggy

1.05(iOS)
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Shadows for iPhone5+ and iPad 4th+ generation
New grenade model
Code base revised, faster and less buggy

Pinball Massacre/Shuffle
1.06 (Mac)
*********************
Text Engine – Non-fixed width fonts
Fixed broken HUD on fixed camera mode
Optimized textures for faster performance
Code base revised, faster and less buggy

1.06 (iOS)
*********************
Text Engine – Non-fixed width fonts
Higher resolution textures
Optimized textures for faster performance
Code base revised, faster and less buggy