TatemGames
Latest
Tatem Games goes freemium with Dream Gym and more
I last talked with the folks of Tatem Games at last year's GDC. The Ukraine-based developer has had a few hits on the App Store already, and this year Tatem Games tells me it's headed onto other platforms. For example, the popular Carnivores game is heading to Android and aiming for release on a major traditional console very soon. On iOS, Tatem has also been caught up in the freemium trend and is working on an engine to develop its own original freemium titles. The first one of these is called Dream Gym, and I got to see a few nonplayable demos of it. It's a freemium time-based title, very similar to Farmville and other popular games, but instead of growing a city, farm, or community, you're growing muscles. Dream Gym is a workout title where you level up both a character and the gym itself, doing various exercises over time to earn XP and money. Tatem has some interesting plans for monetizing the game beyond players as well. There is advertising built in to Dream Gym, and Tatem is hoping to get some in-game advertising funds, perhaps by selling space on in-game billboards and posters. The "workouts" in the game were also all designed by a real-life exercise trainer, so players could follow their 3D avatars and do the same exercises to work out for real. Doing so could lead to real-life rewards; Tatem's rep suggested the game might offer a gym membership for leveling up or similar partnership ideas. If you're not a fan of the freemium farming games, you might not like Dream Gym, but the gym and fitness tie-ins should be interesting. It's set to come out by May or June this year on iOS. Tatem is also planning to publish a completely free title called Fill the Bag: Crazy Catering, a simple arcade game originally developed as a prototype for the company. It's a simple but addictive game where you fill the trays of a series of schoolkids just by tapping on the ingredients each one asks for, then tapping on the kids themselves. It's cute and fun, and Tatem says it will periodically update the app with season-styled skins, both as a gift for fans and to promote the company's other games. Tatem has a few other plans in place for the future, including publishing an iOS game called Epic Stand. It was originally developed for Flash (and you can see it in action online), and it should be out on iOS sometime in April. Clearly, Tatem is keeping busy. We'll keep an eye out for Dream Gym and see how the next few titles from this already quite experienced foreign developer turn out.
GDC 2011: Tatem Games' Carnivores and RoboSockets
Tatem Games is a mobile games studio out of Ukraine that's been making games since the mid-'90s. They originally started with PC games, CEO Igor Karev told me here at GDC 2011, but lately the company's focus has been on the iPhone and the iPad. "It's about timing," Karev says, "we can make cool games, and not spend two years on them." The company's biggest titles are the Carnivores games, a series of 3D "hunting" games (though the titles have grown to encompass more than just killing things) that started out on the PC and have since garnered 3.5 million downloads. The Carnivores games have a dedicated user base, and Tatem closely follows customers' advice, structuring updates around iTunes comments and input. There is an update due out soon that will bring more mythical creatures into the games, as well as new weapons to use and a new game mode requested by users who don't want to kill the animals; it'll be a photo hunting mode instead, letting the player wander the world with a camera rather than a gun.
TUAW's Daily App: RoboSockets
RoboSockets by Tatem Games is pretty impressive -- it takes one of the oldest game genres out there, the falling blocks puzzle, and puts an interesting new spin on it. The idea is that you're in charge of a far-away planet full of robots with only a little energy left in each, and you've got to chain them up together to power up and eventually save the planet. The robots (all square, of course) drop from the top of the screen, and you can drop them wherever you want. But they each have sockets that have to be connected, and once you connect five in a row, they'll explode, providing you with power to finish the level. It's fun and well done -- the sockets provide a nice bit of complexity, and special items and power-ups that come down as you go along mix up the gameplay well. The robots are cute and well-designed, and the music and art do a fine job of filling in the background. The tutorial is clear and simple (though some of the English is a little off -- forgivable, as Tatem's based in the Ukraine), and full Game Center integration is a nice bonus for sure. RoboSockets is only US$0.99, too, so if you're at all interested in the gameplay, it's worth checking out. We'll be talking with Tatem next week at GDC, I believe, so stay tuned for more on what we can expect from them in the future.
