The Tanooki » Brian Hefele

Development on Addicube set to begin

Brian Hefele — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:48:43 +0000

I just recently learned about Addicube, a concept for a seemingly adorable Flash game that has been raising money via Kickstarter in recent weeks. Well, it seems that a few days ago they met their goal, with money still coming in. This means that development on the game is all set to begin, which, based solely on a short description and the above concept art, excites me to no end. The concept art speaks for itself – cubes with giant mouths and bug-eyes – awesome, right? But even adorable cube-creatures need gameplay for support, and this is where things get interesting…

Addicube promises to be a mixture of virtual pet and resource management. Long story short, you have cubes and algae. Your goal is to feed your cubes the proper amount of algae. This becomes difficult when your cubes undergo cellular division, and you have to carefully manage who’s getting how much algae. Improper diet can cause a variety of behaviors which continue to affect how willing your cubes are to move around, eat, etc. The completed project will be a Flash game – perhaps not the most serious of platforms, but one which has seen strong players in casual gaming over the past few years. The game will presumably be free to play, with the source code released under an (undisclosed) open source license and the art assets released under a Creative Commons license – yet if you think it’d be worth paying for, donations are still being accepted for the next 6 days.

Codeveloper Corvus Elrod’s blog, Addicube on Kickstarter

The Glowing Void features lots of glowing, lots of voids

Brian Hefele — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:12:37 +0000

The Glowing Void is an upcoming iPhone title by Assyria Game Studio which looks pretty promising. It doesn’t have any fancy graphics to speak of – just large glowing orbs, and what looks to be a strange interlacing effect. It has a very simple premise – build voids by touching a point on the screen, holding longer to grow the voids larger, and ultimately fill up 70% of the screen. Of course any simple premise needs a simple obstacle, like a bunch of bouncing red dots. Tilt your iPhone to affect the in-game gravity if they’re getting to close to your growing void. Simple controls, simple gameplay, simple graphics. So I hope that this game ends up being one of those deceptively simple ones, addictive because picking them up and playing them is the easiest task in the world, but mastery is elusive. Perhaps I’m hopeful because the overall premise – filling up the screen, avoiding a bouncing enemy – reminds me so much of Qix, a game which I spent countless hours of my youth attempting to conquer. Ah, memories. Pricing and release date have yet to be announced, though we do know that leaderboard support will be implemented via Agon Online.

The Best Presents Always Come In Small Packages!

From Assyria Game Studio, the developer who also brought you the popular Future Racer, Picnic Panic and Woolly The Jumper, also for Apple iPhone™ and Apple iPod touch®, comes “The Glowing Void”, a simple yet highly addicting game where your objective is to create voids!

To play the game you must fill up at least 70% of the screen with as large circles as possible while avoiding a number of red dots of an unknown entity. The game is made harder because the red dots are dynamic and bounces around all over the display. The control mechanism is highly unique: You touch the screen to begin, avoid the dots at all times, and the longer you keep pressing, the larger the void (circles) become, and the more points you score before letting go! Tilting the device will alter the direction of gravity, allowing the red dots to be trapped by circles or voids already created! If you get hit by a dot, a life is lost, and by completing 70% of the screen you progress to the next level. It’s entertaining; it’s simple, and its fun!

As you become better at the game and progress throughout the levels, additional red dots appear making the game increasingly difficult. The game includes a unique “Burst” mode in which the circles or voids fade away after being created, and your focus is on achieving the maximum score with only 3 lives.

Additional features include high-score tables using Agon Online, and support for Twitter and Facebook. (a)void the red dots at any cost when The Glowing Void becomes available on the App Store!

A limited number of exclusive preview builds are available prior to release. Journalists interested in writing a first-look preview are encouraged to provide their UDID to Adam Green from Assyria Game Studio:adamgreen@assyria-game.com

Additional information about the games from Assyria Game Studio is available by a visit to their website:www.assyria-game.com.

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Slage – it’s like DOFUS with more action!

Brian Hefele — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:31:52 +0000

Ankama Games has announced a new title, Slage, which is a bit of a departure from their other work in that it is slated to be a hack’n'slash RPG, focused more on action. Just like their other unreleased title, Islands of Wakfu, Slage is based on the world of Ankama’s debut title, the MMORPG DOFUS. The artwork and overall style of the game will still tend toward the cute, vibrant appearance of DOFUS as well, only with some blood thrown in for good measure. Said blood will be completely optional, available through a parental lock, because violence is only violent when it’s bloody! Blood or no blood, I personally have always enjoyed the graphical style of DOFUS, but I think I’d be more inclined to play a hack’n'slash interpretation than I would the MMO. While Ankama is describing the game as ‘frantic,’ having an ‘adult dimension,’ and an ‘action game [with] some choice elements of role-play,’ other details such as single/multiplayer status and pricing have yet to be revealed. The PC (any love for us Mac users, Ankama?) game will officially be introduced April 17-18 at Ankama Convention #5.

Roubaix, France – April 9, 2010 – Ankama announces the development of a new game, Slage, which will represent a departure from its past productions.

Slage is a PC Hack’n'Slash that shines a
whole new light on the world of DOFUS and Wakfu – it’s cute, but brutal at times.

The name of the latest game was revealed on Ankama http://www.ankama-convention/S after an
intense teasing period. There were 3 million hits on this page in a little more than a day!

Slage is a PC Hack’n'Slash. It combines the richness of the world of DOFUS and Wakfu, including its
varied characters and cute, colourful style with a more adult dimension and more frantic, bloodtinged
action.

Slage is of course aimed at DOFUS fans, but all followers of Hack’n'Slash and action-RPG will enjoy
this action game, which includes some choice elements of role play.

Slage will be the second game after Xbox Live Arcade’s Islands of Wakfu (unreleased) to make use of all Ankama’s know-how in a real time game!

The game will be introduced as a world premiere during Ankama
Convention#5 on April 17-18 in Paris, where 30,000 visitors
are expected.

Every 15 minutes, visitors with a premium pass will get access to an exclusive presentation of the game, introducing a version with no blood. Parental lock will enable or disable blood in the game, in order to make it accessible to all audiences.

Presentation to the press will take place on Saturday April 17 at 3pm.

Players can follow the development team and the game on the official Facebook page and Twitter.

I love the Peregrine. It’s so bad!

Brian Hefele — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:31:38 +0000

Well, now that I’ve gotten my Power Glove reference out of the way, it’s time to get down to business – Iron Will Innovations has officially launched their new glove peripheral, the Peregrine. Unlike Power Glove, Peregrine looks to have gotten things right – touch one of three points on the thumb to one of five points on any finger, and the Peregrine sends the appropriate command to your computer. The glove itself is made of breathable fabric, and is hand-washable – the electronics for the device are all housed in a small pod which magnetically attaches to the glove to receive sensor data. Magnetic attachment means that the pod simply breaks away rather than snapping the cable when you hop out of your chair to get a burrito. The device behaves as a standard HID Keyboard, giving it the benefit of cross-platform compatibility as well as maximizing software compatibility. Heck, I wouldn’t mind having one just to use inside Creative Suite. All in all, it’s nice to see a concept that was once the laughing-stock of the peripheral world making another go at it, armed with years of technological advances as well as reflection upon the failures of the past. Peregrine is available now for $149.99.

The Peregrine

PALO ALTO, Calif. and LLOYDMINSTER, Alberta – April 1, 2010

Iron Will Innovations today announced the official launch of the Peregrine: a wearable glove that allows users to control their favorite games just by touching their fingers together. The innovative gaming peripheral retails for $149.99 and can be ordered directly fromhttp://www.ThePeregrine.com/ – the company began shipping gloves to fulfill the overwhelming demand for pre-orders today.

“With countless hours of product testing and testimonials by professional gamers, we are proud to announce that PC users have a new tool in their arsenal to best their opponents,” said Brent Baier, CEO of Iron Will Innovations, the think tank founded to bring revolutionary products like The Peregrine to life. “The Peregrine is a game-changer. No more scrambling for keyboard commands during intense battles, just pure unadulterated destruction to get that win.”

The Peregrine is sleek and easy to use. The glove is form-fitting, rugged and hand-washable, and functions with standard keyboard drivers on all operating systems. Gamers can plug the glove in and start playing immediately, or use the software for in-depth customization. Users simply touch their thumb or palm to any of the 18 TouchPoints on the tips and joints of their fingers to perform more than 30 programmable actions.

Anyone who orders the Peregrine will gain access to The Summit – a special members-only section of the website with tips from pro gamers, new key maps for the latest games, and more.

Tilt To Live getting additional gameplay modes

Brian Hefele — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:24:35 +0000

A few weeks ago, One Man Left launched their iPhone arcade title, Tilt to Live, and I became hopelessly addicted. It never really occurred to me that every good arcade game has a handful of modes, from your basic mollycoddling newbie mode to your hardcore, full-on attack mode. Tilt to Live has no such modes… yet! But One Man Left has announced an update coming April 24 which will address this issue, adding a ‘Code Red’ mode and a ‘Gauntlet’ mode. ‘Code Red’ spawns red dots at full throttle as soon as you’re dropped into the game – perfect for serious gamers who don’t want or need to ease into things. ‘Gauntlet’ mode is a bit different, doing away with the normal orb weapons and turning the dots into a sort of obstacle course. This mode looks to employ the same sort of ‘dots toying with you’ humor as the normal game does, and it seems to me a welcome addition to an already excellent game.

One Man Left

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Machinarium: Collector’s Edition released

Brian Hefele — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:19:31 +0000

Today marks the day that Amanita Design’s Machinarium is finally available on retail shelves, badged as the “Collector’s Edition.” For those who never heard, or who may have forgotten, Machinarium is a beautiful revival of the point-and-click adventure genre, in which puzzles only take place on one screen at a time (no frustrating back-and-forth when you discover you should have picked something up, a common curse of the genre) and useful objects are subtle rather than blatantly standing out from the background. Additionally, you must move your robot protagonist near any object before you can pick it up. All in all, the game, which had previously been download-only, makes for a wonderful example of the genre, without many of the typical failings.

With that said, one might wonder what the incentive is behind this retail version. Aside from getting the game on physical media, you also get a CD of the soundtrack (MP3s of the soundtrack came with the download version as well – though the CD has 5 bonus tracks), a printed walkthrough, an A2-sized poster, and the object that may have me repurchasing the game – a 54 page book of concept art. If, for some reason, you’ve been holding off on purchasing Machinarium, the collector’s edition may well be worth it for the book alone – especially since the $20 price tag is the same as the download.

Brighton/London/Paris – 5th March 2010 – Lace Mamba Global today announce that Machinarium: Collectors Edition is now available online and at all major retail outlets for purchase.

With the phenominan of the download and stunning reviews averaging 85% (Metacritic 04/03/2010) the “Collectors Edition” has given the lovers of Machinarium the option to purchase a whole bag of goodies including (A2 poster, separate music CD, MP3 download, 56 page walkthrough) and Lace Mamba have seen this become an instant success.

As of 4th March 2010 Machinarium: Collectors Edition was sitting pretty on Play.com’s pre-order chart at number 8 above the likes of AAA franchises such as “Splinter Cell” and “Crysis 2″ which Lace Mamba are delighted about.

Lace Mamba’s UK Sales Manager Glenn Hayes says of this ” We are really excited about the release of the “Machinarium: Collectors Edition” and it shows that with the right marketing tools independant games can be a success. We have seen the pre-orders in the last week rise constantly and to achieve top 10 pre-orders on Play.com is a massive pat on the back for everyone who has made this happen. UK retail has also been very supportive over this product and we are looking forward to the success that it will bring over the forth coming months”

Machinarium is a point-and-click adventure in which gamers take on the role of a robot who has been exiled to the scrap heap. Players must use logic, collect important items, and solve environmental puzzles to get the robot back into the grand city of Machinarium so he can rescue his girlfriend, save the head of the city, and defeat the bad robots from the Black Cap Brotherhood. Dialog is expressed via gestures and cartoon thought bubbles the hand-drawn visuals of Machinarium are what earned the game the “Excellence in Visual Art” award.

The retail version has released at £19.99 and will include a huge array of added materials including:

Stand alone CD with all of the games music plus 5 extra never heard before bonus tracks!

54 page concept art document

A2 poster

Printed walkthrough

Machinarium has continued to receive rave reviews from the media with an average score of 85% and has been voted one of the most outstanding games of 2009 and 2010.

Tilt to Live (iPhone/iPod Touch) – Review

Brian Hefele — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:53:44 +0000

I spent a lot of my youth on some very early consoles – Atari 2600, Intellivision, Vectrex – while my friends were busy with their shiny Super Nintendos. I have since played my way through many a modern console, and many a genre, but suffice it to say, I’m quite familiar with and nostalgic for classic unbeatable, high-scoring, and occasionally maddening arcade titles. The iPhone and iPod Touch provide an interesting platform and paradigm for gaming – no buttons means that controls need to be innovative (compared to what we’ve been using since the 70s) and the pocketable nature means that games generally should tend toward the casual, pick-up-and-play variety. What do those two things have to do with one another? Everything, when One Man Left’s title Tilt to Live is up for review.

A brief introduction – Tilt to Live is a game where you tilt your device to move around. You move around to avoid or kill red dots that continuously spawn on screen. There will always be three weapons on-screen for you to use. Weapons are not collected and then used later (remember, the only control is tilting to move), rather they are run into and immediately activated. If a weapon hangs around on-screen for too long, it disappears and is replaced. Which weapons spawn when and where is seemingly random. Scoring is primarily done through the killing of dots, and the more massive the kill, the more combo points you receive.

With the basics out of the way, I’d like to say that Tilt to Live is a shining example of what arcade iPhone gameplay should be, a perfect blend of arcade sensibilities and pick-up-and-play speed. To be honest, I questioned the pick-up-and-play nature of the game, until I actually observed the time I spent on any given play. Even my best games only lasted me 2.5-3 minutes! But due to excellent pacing, games rarely feel as short as they are. The first wave of dots is small and slow, lazily following you around the screen. But more and more come, and soon they’ll be coming in tight formations and joining together to form a game of pong that you don’t want to get in the way of! The timing of this progression is spot on, I never felt like I was stuck in easy mode, nor did I feel unprepared for the stampede I was about to take part in.

The graphics are basic, but still exceptionally pleasing to look at. The sound effects fall into the same boat – not groundbreaking, but still quite astounding for a game which is so focused on gameplay. The weapons are all fun to use and fun to unlock. A word about this – more powerful weapons are unlocked as you continue to replay the game and win awards. Once unlocked, they could come up at any point during a game – powerful weapons are not reserved for the latter movements of the game. This works well, allowing you to learn to excel at the basics before you graduate to bigger weapons and better strategies. The awards are numerous and humorous, adding an extra motivational level of replay value to a game which is otherwise focused on beating your high score, and those of your friends. Speaking of your friends, online leaderboards are in place using AGON Online, providing for some convenient competition. One final thing that just feels right about this game is the collision detection. It’s ‘forgiving’ in the sense that you can easily thread the needle through a tight dot formation, but grabbing your next weapon is never a chore.

Now we come to the lesser points of this game, which are few and far between. The controls can be a bit strange at times – the game allows you to calibrate it to any position, but some simply don’t work that well. Some positions feel more like you’re tilting the device at all times, whereas some require tilt for vertical movement, but more of a steer for horizontal. Fortunately calibration is easy, and you can see how any given calibration will work before getting into the action. I realize this is largely due to the axes that the device’s accelerometers recognize, but I was still bummed at the difficulty I had playing in bed. This is quite minor, and for the most part control is very responsive. The one complaint that truly has me pulling out my hair at times is the nature of pausing. To pause the game, you tap on the screen. Anywhere. Even the very, very edge, right next to where you’re holding the device. So, during a particularly intense moment of play, when you really make a squeeze at the device, you’re bound to accidentally pause. To resume, you need to tap a particular button, which generally means that when you resume, your tilt won’t be the same as it was before you paused. I have run into this countless times, and I think One Man Left could cure it by simply shrinking the recognized tap boundaries, just a little!

The bottom line is that Tilt to Live is iPhone arcade gaming at its finest. It makes great use of limited controls, it has just the right pacing for both the serious gamer and the casual, and most importantly – it’s a world of fun. The game is available now on the App Store for 1.99.

*This game review was written based off of a copy of Tilt to Live supplied by One Man Left for review purposes.

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In-development platformer Mimeo has four times the nostalgia

Brian Hefele — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:39:46 +0000

Shaun Inman might not be the most familiar name in the game development realm, having made a name for himself with his web analytics software, Mint, and his RSS software, Fever. That’s not to say that Inman has shied away from games – he currently has a beautifully pixelated strategy board game in the App Store known as Horror Vacui. Yet his current project, Mimeo and the Klepopus King really stands out as a work-in-progress worth watching.

At its core, Mimeo is part pixel art showcase, part evolution of a Mario clone, and part amazing soundtrack courtesy of an NES sound chip emulator. That’s a lovely start, but the meat of the game is what shows oh-so-much promise: the world starts out using two-bit, black and white graphics, upgrading to 4-, 8-, and 16-bit aesthetics as the player collects game cartridge power-ups. The resolution of the current world affects more than just the graphics, with additional platforms appearing and enemy behavior changing as the world changes. To this end, the game could properly be seen as a bit of a puzzle-platformer. Seen above is the 4-bit rendition of the title, check the Mimeoverse link below repeatedly to get a feel for the aesthetics of each resolution. Also worth checking out is Inman’s blog post on the matter, featuring a short video and samples of the music. Inman estimates the game will be ready for the 2010 holiday season, available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Mimeoverse, Mimeo on shauninman.com

Full body gestural control coming to the arcade by way of Silhouette

Brian Hefele — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:12:30 +0000

I’ll be perfectly honest with everyone here – it has been a long time since I stepped into an arcade, and even longer since I stepped into an arcade that didn’t specialize in vintage machines. In recent history, any arcade that I’ve seen has basically been a collection of rhythm games (a genre which I fail miserably at) and one or two always-occupied air hockey tables. With consoles what they are today, I rather thought arcades were a dying breed. But if there’s one thing that could get me into a current arcade, it would have to be a controller-less machine which relies on 3D cameras coupled with gesture-recognition software that turns my entire body into the interface. Titan 4 Games wants to ‘[evolutionize] the out-of-home coin operated industry,’ and they think that said machines are the way. To this end, they have licensed Silhouette from 3D gesture-recognition developer Softkinetic for the coin-op market. The title is a rhythm game, where players must match their positions to those of person-shaped holes in a series of progressing shapes. Being a rhythm game, I will certainly fail miserably at it. But I’d still love to try, I imagine the initial play would be a magic moment akin to the first time I held a DS or played chess with a Microsoft Surface.

BRUSSELS, Belgium – February 25, 2010

Softkinetic Studios SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Softkinetic SA, today announced that Titan 4 Games has licensed the rights to Silhouette™, a controller-free rhythm video game, for the coin-operated market.

Titan 4 Games designs, manufactures and markets gaming terminals for the coin-operated amusement market. With the goal of evolutionizing the out-of-home coin operated industry, Titan selected Softkinetic’s iisu™ 3D gesture recognition software platform to develop a line of next generation, gesture-based video game systems. Silhouette will be the first of many 3D camera games from Titan, and is a natural step in the company’s strategy.

“Silhouette is the first title created by the talented and experienced team at Softkinetic Studios. Our team focuses exclusively on 3D camera technology, and Silhouette takes full advantage of the new technology,” said Cyrille Wagner, Softkinetic Studios’ technical director. “Thanks to the physical gameplay, the controller-free 3D camera technology, and Titan 4 Games’ expertise in developing for this market, the game is immediately fun, accessible and ideally suited for the coin-operated space.”

“Titan 4 Games has always been at the forefront of innovation in the development of engaging coin-operated solutions,” said Milind Bharvirkar, president and chief executive officer, Titan 4 Games. “Softkinetic Studio’s game Silhouette provides a unique, controller-free experience in real time and in full 3D. With our extensive experience at creating and marketing coin-operated games worldwide, Titan 4 Games will ensure that our customers looking for a new experience can play an extraordinary game that they cannot yet access in their living rooms.”

Silhouette challenges players with a series of rapidly approaching shapes, each containing a different person-shaped opening. In order to successfully pass through each musically driven challenge, players must pose and contort their bodies to guide their in-game avatars through the shapes. The game will be released into coin-operated amusement facilities in Europe and North America in the near future.

In parallel, Softkinetic Studios is in discussion with video game publishers in order to position Silhouette for the home market (PC, video game consoles and next generation set-top boxes).

About Softkinetic SA
Softkinetic is the leading provider of natural interfaces that transform the way people interact with the digital world. Softkinetic enables a fully immersive, transparent and intuitive user experience by providing a 3D real-time gesture recognition middleware to interactive digital entertainment, consumer electronics, health care and serious games companies. Softkinetic, iisu, and Interface Is You are trademarks or registered trademarks of Softkinetic S.A. For more information on Softkinetic please visit http://www.softkinetic.net

About Softkinetic Studios
Softkinetic Studios is the world’s first application and video game development studio focusing exclusively on gesture-based content and applications. Softkinetic Studios is a wholly owned subsidiary of Softkinetic.

About Titan 4 Games, LLC
Titan 4 Games, LLC is a worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. Titan designs, manufactures and sells innovative, cutting-edge, high-profile interactive coin operated games for the worldwide coin-operated market. To date, the team from Titan has developed 19 products that have been voted #1 and has been recognized with the “Best Product of the Year” award from the American Amusement Operator Association. For more information, visit www.Titan4Games.com

Tilt to Live released for iPhone/iPod Touch

Brian Hefele — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:40:00 +0000

Yesterday, One Man Left released Tilt to Live for the iPhone and iPod Touch, a game which is probably better described by its name than the developers’ summation of “a catchy little iDevice game about the genocide of red dots.” The game, it seems, would have the player frantically tilting their iPhone in order to move around a little arrow. Players try to avoid red dots, and collect weapons which can be used to eliminate the aforementioned red dots. Tilting moves, and moving allows you to live – not tilting pretty much ensures death. The graphics (check the gallery after the break) look decent enough, bright and playful, and the devs seem to have a bright and playful attitude as well. Overall reviews so far seem favorable, which leads me to believe that this game could be well worth the $1.99 asking price – available on the App Store now.

Tilt to Live at One Man Left, iTunes Store

Tilt to Live – iPhone Game Released 2/24/10

“The game is super addicting […] so be warned.” - Trevor Sheridan, appadvice.com

“Start stockpiling coffee and energy drinks now” - Chris Reed, slidetoplay.com

Watch our demo video to see Tilt to Live’s intuitive control scheme in action!

http://www.onemanleft.com/tilttolive/index.php

Released to the App Store February 24, 2010, Tilt to Live is a frantically fun, arcade-style app that’s incredibly easy to pick up and play. You’ll both stay alive & destroy waves of enemies JUST by tilting. Gone is the usual clutter of onscreen buttons, because all of our weapons activate on contact. Outsmart & lure a horde of enemies over to a nuke orb, then ram it to blow them away! There are 8 weapons total in the release, ranging from spike shields to cluster missiles, ice blasts, and black holes. The five most impressive must be earned by completing a few paradigm-shifting Award challenges.

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Lead designer of a boy and his blob reflects on title’s successes and failings

Brian Hefele — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:35:56 +0000

Sean Valesco, lead designer of a boy and his blob for the Wii, wrote up a four-page piece for GamaSutra discussing what went right and what went wrong with the project. The title was WayForward’s first boxed game for the Wii, which itself caused trouble – their tools and workflows weren’t set up to handle such a major undertaking, and poor coordination of outsourced teams caused delays. At the same time, trying not to think too big worked to their advantage – a small team kept bureaucratic nonsense out of the equation and forced individual team members to be strong. A small team also helped ensure a common vision of the end product. Interestingly enough, the decision to release the game as a boxed title rather than WiiWare was the biggest turnoff for me, as a consumer. For me, this changed the game from a release-date-buy to a whenever-I-get-around-to-it title. The whole article is worth a read, full of insight into the process of developing such a game, and seems potentially useful to anyone just getting started in video game development.

GamaSutra

iPhone flick-racer PicoGP available now (with an early-bird discount!)

Brian Hefele — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:49:23 +0000

Mad Monkey Studios’ PicoGP, an interesting take on an F1 racing game, has hit the App Store for an introductory price of 99 cents. The game is turn-based, and on any given turn drivers shift into gear before flicking their finger on the iPhone/iPod Touch’s screen. The flick determines your vehicle’s trajectory, the chosen gear influences the speed. Mad Monkey says that ‘you can only switch 1 gear per turn,’ which I assume means skipping gears is out of the question, requiring the player to think well in advance. Up to six players can play on a single iPhone, or individual players can compete against their ghosts in time trial mode. Play can be taken online via Facebook, and Chip & Dare is holding a competition as we speak, with real-world prizes to be had. As players progress, new cars with unique characteristics become unlocked, always welcome in such a casual game. Reviews aren’t in on the App Store yet, but the game looks fun and at 99 cents won’t dent the wallet much. Act quickly though, the price tag is merely introductory and is slated to jump to 2.99 at some point in the future.

Mad Monkey Studios, PicoGP on iTunes Store

Mad Monkey Studio’s PicoGP is available now on the Appstore at special introductory price!

February 10th, 2010

PicoGP, the first flick racing game on the iPhone is available for immediate download on the AppStore.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!

Welcome to the world of PicoGP, the funniest F1 racing game ever made.

Do you remember how you used to flick marbles when your were kid? It will be enough!

PicoGP is a perfect mix between dexterity and strategy.

Select your gear, choose the best trajectory and flick your car with your finger! But you can only switch 1 gear per turn, so you’ll have to foresee curves and use the best trajectory to win the race! PicoGP features unlockable cars with unique characteristics that will let you choose your own driving style! Complete the 3 championships to win the ultimate car: the Dominator! But be careful, your opponents will get more and more aggressive! Perfect your lap against your own ghost using the time trial mode and challenge your friends over Facebook!

When you feel ready, you can compete against the best PicoGP players in the world thanks to the Chip & Dare Championship and win Formula D and Pitch Car board games! Please visit www.chipanddare.com to check out the rules and rewards.

Best of all, you can play all the game modes with up to 5 friends on the same iPhone! So get ready to play!

Affordable facial animation from FacePro comes to Unreal Engine

Brian Hefele — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:10:58 +0000

FacePro, developers of the REV facial animation interface and providers of a $5/second animation service, have announced today that the service has been expanded to support Unreal Engine 3. This should come as welcome news to independent developers – remember when Epic launched the free Unreal Developer Kit, based on UE3? Since UDK uses the same FaceFX facial animation engine as UE3, low-budget developers should be able to include affordable, high-quality facial animation in projects developed with the free package. The FacePro workflow essentially consists of testing whatever rig the developer supplies, and then using the web-based REV interface to create the final character animations. The files are then downloaded and imported into your 3D tool of choice – which now includes Unreal.

FacePro

PRIEST RIVER, IDAHO – Feb. 10, 2010 – FacePro has announced the expansion of its low-cost facial animation service to game developers using Unreal Engine 3.

“UE3 includes the FaceFX® animation toolset, and since we use FaceFX as part of our streamlined production pipeline, it makes sense for us to offer Unreal developers a dedicated program” said Rod Stafford, President of FacePro.

Included in the new UE3 service is facial rigging, FaceFX setup, and pre-production testing.

“The FacePro UE3 service offering is unique, because it leverages the powerful integration of FaceFX technology in Unreal Engine 3. FacePro is adding world-class service to an industry leading technology platform,” according to Doug Perkowski, CEO of OC3 Entertainment, creators of FaceFX.

Working closely with OC3, FacePro has developed new techniques for creating highly realistic facial animation, and developed the innovative REV animation interface to streamline the process and reduce production costs – to only $5.00 USD Per Second.

For more information, please visit www.facepro.net

Location-aware treasure hunt game, ’1000: Find ‘em All!’ available now

Brian Hefele — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:10:06 +0000

Glu Mobile announced today the availability of their new iPhone/iPod Touch game, 1000: Find ‘em All! It seems the game is very much like the DS title Treasure World in that it’s a location-aware treasure hunt, augmented reality in the sense that your game world and your real world are intricately linked, with each making the other more immersive. The location-awareness will use either the iPhone’s A-GPS or the iPod Touch’s Wi-Fi to determine where you are. As you wander around your world (your real world), you’ll see items around you (1000 items total, ranging from “a half eaten jam sandwich to a monkey with a typewriter”) which you can then pick up. Additionally, you can make your way to specific Wi-Fi hotspots which will bring up in-game ‘gifters,’ who will provide you with items. Finally, you can simply walk around an in-game world resembling that of classic top-down action-adventure games, hunting for items. In this sense, the game seems a bit more active and involving than Treasure World, which lent itself to passive play. While I can’t say which approach will ultimately mesh the virtual with the real in the most immersive way, I can say that I’m looking forward to checking 1000: Find ‘em All! out – available now for $2.99 on the App Store.

1000: Find ‘em All (iTunes Store link)

San Mateo, Calif. – February 4, 2010 – Glu Mobile Inc. (Nasdaq: GLUU), a leading global publisher of mobile games, today announced the availability of its 1000: Find ‘Em All! app on the App Store. The app lets iPhone and iPod touch users explore and discover items in the game’s fantasy world by navigating the actual, real world around them. Players can collect 1000 weird and wonderful items in three unique ways: GPS mode to explore the real world; searching for Gifters in the game world using registered real-world Wi-Fi hotspots; and interacting with the virtual game world.

“No matter where the day may take you, we designed the 1000: Find ‘Em All! App to be played in bite-sized portions and to make the world around you a bit more interesting,” said Alex Galvagni, CTO & SVP Global Product Development, Glu Mobile. “The app seamlessly integrates the players and their real world locations with the game itself, making the player’s actual location an essential part of the game. 1000: Find ‘Em All! brings GPS gaming on iPhone and iPod touch to the next level and we are excited to add another highly inventive game to our original portfolio of apps for iPhone.”

There are 1000 items – Find ‘Em All!

The goal is to search for virtual items that encompass a wide range of fun characters and gifts that players discover through a combination of physically traveling and exploring the world around them, as well as by seeking out Gifters. Gifters are special characters that appear in the virtual world, depending on the location of Wi-Fi hotspots in your actual, real world location. For example, when performing a search within the game, players might find a list of local cafes or hotels with hotspots near them. Each hotspot will create a character in the game, which in turn will provide a new item.

Players can also find items by exploring the real world using the innovative GPS mode in the app. Activating this mode while on the move will reveal a map of the player’s current location covered with collectable gifts. Walking towards a gift will add it to the player’s collection. The gift could be anything from a half eaten jam sandwich to a monkey with a typewriter. Each trinket and gizmo is one part of the collection of 1000.

The 1000: Find ‘Em All! App is available for $2.99 from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

For live updates, follow Glu on Twitter at www.twitter.com/glumobile or become a Glu fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/glumobile.

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Indie game developers asked what the iPad means to them

Brian Hefele — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:07:22 +0000

Over at BoingBoing, Brandon Boyer had a chance to pick the brains of a handful of indie game devs, including Adam Saltsman (Canabalt), Colin Northway (Fantastic Contraption), Kyle Gray (Henry Hatsworth), Steph Thirion (Eliss), Simon Oliver (Rolando), and several others. Their takes on what the iPad means to them as game developers are short but enlightening, and tend to reinforce many initial reactions and observations about the device. For better or for worse, the iPad is essentially just a ginormous iPod Touch, which many devs seem to think is a step in the right direction – the multitouch capabilities have made for a positive gaming user experience, while the additional screen real estate of the iPad will open up new possibilities and help prevent the awkward situation of larger games being forced down onto a smaller screen. While many have panned the device’s lack of a camera for video chat, Phil Fish of Polytron echoed my thought precisely – the lack of a camera washes away any potential for augmented reality overlays in gaming, something that is impressive enough on an iPhone, but would be spectacular on the larger scale iPad. Even if you’re sick of the buzz surrounding the new device, the article is well worth a read to glean some insight on the potential implications of a new platform.

BoingBoing

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