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Game updates today: The Blockheads, Heroes of Order and Chaos, and Borderlands 2 on Mac
There are a number of big game updates today on both Mac and iOS that are worth picking up if you happen to have the apps installed. First up, the excellent The Blockheads has a big multiplayer update coming, which will allow players to host multiplayer worlds with up to 32 people (which means 128 possible blockheads) in a single world at a time. The update also comes with a free Mac-based server app, which can host worlds for various devices and save items, structures and even queued actions. There's also lots of new content to find, and a map view that provides a nice overview of everything. Developer David Frampton tells us that the server app is being developed for Windows and Linux, too, and the Android version of the app should be on that store soon. Gameloft's free iOS MOBA Heroes of Order and Chaos also has a big new update, with new heroes to play, and a new 5v5 steampunk-styled map. There's also a new matchmaking system, and the game has introduced weekly tournaments, so you can win some real prizes if you're good. And finally, Aspyr tells TUAW that it has released the latest Borderlands 2 DLC, called Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, day-and-date on the Mac along with the PC version. You can buy it for both PC and Mac through Steam for US$9.99. This is a long-awaited expansion for the popular open world shooter, and Aspyr has timed out the port exactly with the regular PC version, which is very impressive.
Majic Jungle's The Blockheads charges on
Developer David Frampton is one of our favorites around here at TUAW -- he made a big splash on the App Store a while ago with Chopper 2, but these days he's working on a huge sandbox app he's made called The Blockheads, which is a Minecraft-style game where you can explore a world with the titular characters, making and building items and contraptions from the items that you can find and collect. The Blockheads is doing very well for Frampton -- he says the game has seen over four million downloads so far, and it's definitely the biggest project he's ever worked on. The game's gotten even bigger after a recent update that allowed "backgrounding," too. When the game first arrived, you had to basically watch your Blockheads perform their tasks, and leaving the app caused the task to pause as well. I mentioned this in the game's inital review, and while the game was still a lot of fun, longer tasks could be very annoying. Frampton says he agrees that requiring the app to stay open while those tasks were running could be annoying, but during the game's initial development, he just wasn't sure if backgrounding could work, "whether I could do that or not." The game's monetization depends on using time crystals to skip past tasks as well, and Frampton included the ability to bring in a few different characters at a time, which he hoped would help people with the waiting periods. Unfortunately, he says, "only 1% of players warped in a second Blockhead," which means that most of his players didn't use the tools he'd given them to make the waiting more bearable. That convinced him he had to find a solution, and the backgrounding patch went in recently (along with a price drop on actually bringing in a second character). Frampton says the change has helped him, both with exposure for the app as well as growing the audience. "Everything doubled," he says about making the change. As for what's next in Blockheads, Frampton has a huge list of features, both from things he wants to do as well as fan requests. There's a tutorial coming into the game, to smooth out the initial player experience, which he feels can still be a bit confusing. Fans on the message boards have asked him for the ability to create signs (because right now there's no way to see what's in the game's chests until you open them up), but Frampton isn't sure that's a good idea. He's more interested in providing "shelves," which would be storage items where you can see exactly what's being stored at just a glance. Currently, there is two-player local multiplayer, but Frampton says that Game Center is really causing problems with any larger multiplayer game, as the system is not very good at keeping game sessions running when one player leaves or enters. So multiplayer is up in the air for now, though Frampton says it's definitely a possibility at some point in the future. In other future plans, he says he'd love to bring more complicated machinery to the game, like copper wiring, elevators, and even electricity. Fans have asked for more goals, so he'll be filling out the endgame as well. But unlike Minecraft, says Frampton, he doesn't want the game to "end" at all. "I can keep adding more and more games to it," he told me. One idea he has is to allow players to build up technology to the point where they can travel to other worlds, which would obviously open up a whole new set of resources and areas to explore. That's all in the distant future of the game, however -- Frampton is just brainstorming ideas, not simply working on actual features for that yet. Still, The Blockheads is definitely a popular title, and Frampton says he personally is excited by the process of creating and developing this game, in a way that he wasn't with Chopper 2 or his other titles. If you haven't gone to check out The Blockheads yet, you can find it on the App Store for free right now.
The Blockheads changes the game with a major update
The Blockheads is an excellent game by New Zealand developer David Frampton, also known as Majic Jungle Software. We covered it when it first released earlier this year, and the game has now picked up a really substantial update. iOS updates in general happen pretty often these days (I think I have about nine sitting in my iPad from just the past week or so), but this one is fairly significant, in that it really changes how the game itself works. In addition to some new items, bugfixes and the ability to now run four different characters at the same time, the biggest part of the update is that instead of having to be in the app while your characters perform various actions, the app will now run in the background, which means you can set something to run and then go and do something else outside the app. That's literally a game-changer, because it means the previously boring task of just waiting for items to be crafted or combined has now gone away. In other words, even if you didn't get into The Blockheads before, it's probably time to give this one a look again. It's free on iPhone and iPad.
Daily iPhone App: The Blockheads is another great take on sandbox survival
We mentioned developer David Frampton's new iOS game The Blockheads when it arrived last week, but just in case you haven't gotten a chance to see and play it yet, here's one more spotlight on it as our Daily iPhone App. The Blockheads is a really great game -- it's Frampton's take on Minecraft, with a touch-friendly iOS 2D look, and a number of interesting innovations that change the game up quite a bit. The biggest of these is the game's queue system -- unlike Minecraft or the great Junk Jack, you don't control The Blockheads' protagonists directly, instead you give them orders to walk around the world or dig up a certain square. This means the game is slightly more abstract than other survival sandbox games, letting you as the player focus on what you're building rather than tapping away on a certain block. Blockheads' biggest weak point is that the game does cling to a very realistic view of the world: Your Blockheads needs to sleep every night, and after a little while, finding food in the wasteland-like world becomes a priority. Building some items can also be slow -- the game is completely free, but relies on a "time crystal" mechanic for in-app purchases that can be a bit annoying when some tasks take an extremely long time. But aside from those small quibbles, The Blockheads is a really amazing title that's available right now for free on both iPhone and iPad. Frampton has tweeted that the game has already seen a sizable amount of success, and it's much deserved -- he's a talented and hardworking developer. If you missed this one when it arrived last week, don't make the same mistake again this time.
Minecraft-like builder The Blockheads arrives from Majic Jungle
Majic Jungle Software, the developer behind Chopper 2 for iOS and Mac, has released its latest game at last. The Blockheads (free) is a "2.5D" take on the exploration and building formula of Minecraft, offering a large block-based world but presenting it from a side-on view rather than a first-person perspective. Unlike the similar Junk Jack, however, The Blockheads still uses polygons to render the game world. The gameplay should be familiar to anyone who's played Minecraft. You hack away at resources to gather them, then combine them to craft new materials in order to build shelter, clothing, tools and more. While the game is free, there are in-app purchases in the form of time crystals that can be used to speed up the collection of resources. There's also a one-time in-app purchase that can be used to permanently reduce the amount of time required to gather things. The Blockheads seems perfectly suited to touch devices, and in fact, may play even better than its inspiration because it doesn't require 3D movement. It runs in portrait mode on the iPhone and iPod touch, making it playable with one hand. On the iPad, it's full screen in landscape orientation, making the most of the tablet screen. Two players can collaborate within the same world via Game Center, and the game supports voice chat. If you've given The Blockheads a shot, share your thoughts -- or even drop a link to a favorite screenshot -- in the comments!
