We finally got Drag Tag Smash HD out the door (and about time too!).
Hopefully with any luck it will pass Apple's certification and we can then get ahead on our iOS title....Ongaku iOS (working title :P).
If you haven't heard this is a rhythm action game, but this one has the extra added bonus of a music analyser, which right now we have working and it is pretty sweet. AudioSurf eat your heart out ....nar i kid, AudioSurf is great and if we can ever be as popular as that game then I'd be happy.
Hopefully I'll get some art and videos in so we can start showing more of this game (right now the build is pretty rough).
Drag Tag Smash has been downloaded over 10,000 times over the last week! Thanks Openfeint :D.
O.k so all these downloads are free, but people are playing it and are loving it. Don't take my word just check the reviews on the Drag Tag Smash page in iTunes.
The next goal...hit 10,000 downloads with Drag Tag Smash HD for iPad ;). And for each download you make you will be rewarded with +1 Karma.
Be sure to post some witty comments here or on our Facebook page (facebook.com/smashmouthgames). It would help us a lot to hear what you have to say about the games we make.
Now back to fabulous and outstanding...documentation -_-!
Hello again...I should really post stuff on here more often, but if I did then I couldn’t get other works done, then people would start firing missiles at me and not the nice kind.
Any who things have been pretty hectic preparing for the recent PR release and all the gubbins to make Ongaku sell at discounted price. Then there’s the stuff with Drag Tag Smash and making sure Openfeint get their assets and stuff all prepared and then there’s all the posting of messages to tell everyone its happening. I need a clone :/.
We’ll like it says on our website, we have a new game in development called ‘Pixel Beat Complete’ and it’s a 2D rhythm action game, which is going to include some nice little RPG bits where you can evolve the game graphics around you and the character. The following text contains advertising like information and product descriptive descriptions describing the product...
Pixel Beat Complete is a fusion of rhythm action and RPG gameplay for iPhone and iPad. Players create and evolve a custom character using music from their iTunes library. Starting off the game as a Pixel, earn EXP Shards from playing levels created from the music, then spend them to either evolve the character’s resolution or buy more music from the iTunes library. When the character evolves, the rest of the game world evolves too, both in terms of graphics and gameplay features. These include the ability to create characters of your friends and keep them in Pixel Place or Pixel Prison. Pixel Beat Complete features:
---Create, Play and Earn
Create avatars and play the game with your choice of music from your iTunes library to earn EXP.
---Unlock Everything!
Spend the EXP to evolve the game-world, from graphics to gameplay.
---Good or Evil; your friends will find out!
Use your camera to collect your friends for Pixel Place or capture them for Pixel Prison.
To go with this we have some early concept video footage here...(please forgive the quality)
O.k. now that you know a little more you are a little wiser for reading :). Oh yeah and we also have a high depth version of Drag Tag Smash for iPad, which is imaginatively named ‘Drag Tag Smash HD’.
Our 3rd review on Appspy.com, which is a pretty big iPhone review website. Hopefully more big reviewers will do Drag Tag Smash in time *fingers crossed*. The score is 3/5 which isn't perfect, but it is fair and fair enough that you should be taking a look at least.
Please comment here there and everywhere so we can hear your views.
Finally the game has been reviewed and the results have come back...brilliant! :)
In the past few days Drag Tag Smash has been reviewed on two websites and is expecting a new review very soon. The currently published reviews already speak highly of the game, so we're definitely expecting more of the same.
That’s right I saw a Nintendo 3DS first hand last weekend at a promo event at the Cube Gallery in Manchester. The event featured real life Street Fighter and Resident Evil stunts plus footage of games at launch and in development.
You can check out these snippets in super low quality video camera footage (sorry) on our YouTube page.
Real Life Street Fighter:
Managed to get the best bit of this brilliant, ridiculous fight.
Real Life Resident Evil:
Shot in 'Cloverfield' stlye.
Nintendo 3DS Game Line-up:
Sorry it cuts off short, my phone ran out of memory :(.
From the line-up of games on release the majority are the typical Nintendo brand and re-made games currently out. Now this isn’t a bad thing because it’s safer to sell games people know and love, see what the reactions are then bring in all the original titles later down the line. The only original title there that Zuby saw was Kid Icarus and although I didn’t play the game, he told me that it was brilliant.
I was on Street Fighter 4 3D, which was very cool. Simplified gameplay for casual users yet still challenging enough like the console version. New camera perspective was interesting and working very well with the 3D effect. My only main criticism from a console to handheld perspective of the game was that I couldn’t perform any special attacks from the known button combinations. Instead I had to resort to the buttons on the touch screen, which when pressed would carry out the move. I don’t know if this was my lack of skill or if it was just designed that way, but in any case it’s definitely a game you should get for a launch title ;).
There was also Resident Evil Mercenaries which simply put was the actual ‘Mercenaries’ mode you got from the Resident Evil 4 game. For originality it’s a no, but that didn’t stop the game looking mighty impressive in 3D and the controls were surprisingly good. There were few instances where the camera decided to play stupid, but overall another good game.
After that I got on to Ridge Racer and Pilot Wings, which there was a slight problem. For me when I got to these games, the 3D effect on the avatar being in the middle caused me to go cross-eyed and distracting me from the game. Adjusting the slider down a bit did help, but the 3D effect became minimal and otherwise pointless, so I turned it off. Now this was just me so whether or not this happens with other people I don’t know, but for me it made the whole 3D effect redundant. Still the game’s were simple and typically designed for a drifting and flying game and were otherwise o.k. to play.
Now there were only 30min sessions with the console so for the last 10mins I checked out the other 3DS capabilities. The camera included simple mini games where after you took the picture of someone’s face, they became the enemy in a simple point-and-shoot game. This was a revival of the classic Gameboy Camera which if anyone owned probably knows how much of a laugh you can get from it. The Augmented reality was o.k. (I guess), but I’ve seen loads of augmented reality before, so this to me was another version of the technology. However this seemed to be applied in a more accessible manner so perhaps future games could apply this as a standard mechanic, who knows. Other cool demonstrations included live TV broadcasting in 3D and 3D films, which they didn’t show, but included big names such as Disney and Dreamworks.
All in all the Nintendo 3DS has been better than my first expectations, however I personally don’t think I’ll rush out and get one just yet. If more original titles come out or a price drop is on the horizon, then that might tempt me to get one.
If you have a different view of the Nintendo 3DS then be sure to post a comment :).
It was a struggle last night with internet problems, but it’s almost ready. Openfeint has been integrated into DTS and now it’s at a stage of testing and adjusting numbers for achievements.
Here's a few screen shots...
Annoyingly this is the first time I want to play DTS more than ever now because of the addition of worldwide score boards.
I need to decide now if I should get an iPhone 4 or perhaps settle for the latest iPod Touch, hmm...
I can imagine anyone who follows gaming news has come across the whole Playstation 3 hacking issue, but now it would seem the console you own may not actually be your own. This article on gamesindustry.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-01-28-whats-mine-is-theirs-article) describes how apparently the disclaimer that appears for the Playstation Network (which probably 99% of us don’t read) includes some sort of clause where Sony can automatically ban your account or ‘brick’ your console when they please. Now this is also partly because when you purchased your console and thought you owned everything on it, turns out that Sony have the right to modify, add and remove stuff on the console at will whenever it releases updates. Now you think you just won’t do an update, but that’s where Sony gets you by forcing you to update, or refuse access to the online store and other multiplayer options. In terms of being banned this can apparently be caused by being a better player than everyone else...weird I know.
Not that Sony is out targeting everyone, but apparently such events will happen when you’re using offensive or abusive language which is fair enough. However one thing that is a bit unfair is when someone reports you for minor upsets like “taking all the ammo”. Now I’m yet to meet someone who was banned for playing a game better than everyone else, but when I do I’ll be sure to laugh-out-loud :P. Now as for how long you’re banned for is a mystery, but apparently the time is decided by Sony themselves, so for anyone playing a lot of online PS3 games and they end up getting banned there’s always Xbox 360 you can go to...I’m just saying.
Honestly though when it comes to the piracy thing it’s such a long debated battle that to me it has no definitive answer (like saying which is better, pie or cake). I can see what Sony are trying to do and on one hand people are “taking advantage” of what the Playstation can do, which Sony is trying to put a stop to. On the other hand, the view of “ownership” seen by many people is that when you pay for something, you own it to do whatever you like, and if that means hacking it to turn it into a super computer then why not. The last thing I reckon Sony should do is brick a console since that doesn’t solve anything other than the fact the person will either buy another one, or buy an Xbox 360 (or a Nintendo Wii).
Now I don’t agree with the people that just download a bunch of games they easily could have purchased because that’s just plain stealing, especially if they don’t buy the game later on. For all other instances that pirates and hackers exist whether it’s for Homebrew software, supplying games that no longer exist in the shops, providing access to games to regions in the world that might not have access to a popular title, this all helps the gaming community grow and experiment with new things.
All in all it seems like a battle Sony will inevitably lose and cost loads of money if they continue with their struggle. To be honest though, when I first saw that PS3’s could install an OS on to the console, I had a feeling that function would backfire on them and they definitely shouldn’t have tried disabling it. Ah well.
O.k. I’ve uploaded a bunch of videos of gameplay featuring Ongaku's music analyser capabilities (which is also called the Tune-A-Matic in game). Please check them out and try out the demo which has the music analyser built in. You can find more gameplay videos on our YouTube page at: http://www.youtube.com/user/SmashMouthGames?feature=mhum
If anyone has any interesting videos of them playing with the music analyser we would all really like to see it :).
I know students have something to protest about, but I thought it was all taken care of during that big week some time ago where the government decided on the student fees.
I’m sat here in the middle of town and I see blues-and-twos screaming past and helicopters flying low with mini- guns and missile launchers attached, and Typhoon attack planes carrying MK-82 payload bombs and naval missile cruisers armed to the teeth backed by a Vanguard class nuclear submarine ... oh wait that last bit may have been a bit exaggerated. After so many protests I try to make the situation more interesting in my head :P.
In any case it’s another day of arguing and possibly riots (hopefully not though). How much longer though will this go on for?
Found this website through gamesindustry.biz about a new initiative to fund indie projects by public donations (http://www.8bitfunding.com/).
Here's a trailer from one of the games on the site!
The idea is that you post your idea for your concept and then the people have the option view and choose to donate various amounts in an attempt to get it developed. The developers of the projects post their videos of why you should support them along with information about the game thus far and how much they are looking to raise. Amounts so far are ranging from $1000 to $20,000 (bit ambitious I think), and donating has other benefits provided by the developer such as free copies of the game, loads of art content or even being featured in the game.
I checked through the ideas and at the moment all are in early prototype stages with some mainly having artwork and concepts. There were some curious ideas and one or two…not-so-good ideas. Being a new thing there isn’t much on there yet, but it looks like a good idea and adds that incentive for the bedroom developer to go forth and finish a game, which potentially could go on sale to a big platform. For any other bedroom developers out there it’s definitely worth a look and wouldn’t hurt to post ideas on anyway just to see if people are interested enough to donate money.
What makes this whole thing particularly special, especially from a developer perspective is the feature of having, and I quote, “…unlock a Steam Play version of the game for PC or Mac for free by linking PlayStation Network and Steam accounts…”. This could mean epic possibilities for cross platform games on PC and console and, like me where I buy games across all platforms, could one day keep playing my favourite games sat in-front of my desk or my couch .
Question is, will Microsoft want to incorporate Steam into their system? Personally I don’t think they will since doing so could harm their already successful Xbox Live system. However saying that it will make for an interesting battle of game catalogues. Where Xbox already has an impressive online catalogue, collaborating Steam and Playstation titles together could overtake the Xbox’s lead…come April we might find out.
).
.