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‘OK K.O.’ is a brilliant cartoon with a game to match
With his small, boxy stature and pin-thin legs, K.O. doesn't look like much of a superhero. But that's the whole point of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, an animated series from Cartoon Network. The titular character is a powerhouse-in-training, full of naive wonder and a hunger to pummel bad guys. He works in a convenience store run by Mr. Gar, one of the world's greatest superheroes, alongside fellow rookies Radicles and Enid. Together they battle the mischievous robots sent from a factory called Boxmore across the road, learning about friendship and hard work along the way.
The Morning After: Monday January 23, 2017
It's Monday morning, and Samsung's had some explaining to do. The full investigation into its Note 7 battery woes is out. Meanwhile, we test health gadgets that push supplements, and take a look back at Obama's tech legacy.
'Below' is hiding more mysteries than you think
Capybara Games made a classic mistake in the middle of developing its latest game: announcing the release date too early. Capy unveiled Below, a moody and mysterious exploration experience, back in 2013. A year later, the team revealed plans to release it in 2015 on Xbox One and PC. And then, 2015 came and went. "Microsoft gave us a really good opportunity to show it for the first time a long time ago," Capy Creative Director Kris Piotrowski explained during GDC this week. "Then we went home and kind of realized the game was like 100 times bigger and more complex than we anticipated."
Canadian Indie Bundle on Steam: Superbrothers, Shanks and more
Our brothers and sisters in The Great White North are getting some time in the spotlight today with a new bundle on Steam. The Canadian Indie Bundle packages together games from Klei Entertainment, Capybara Games, Gaslamp Games and more for $14.99.Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Shank and Shank 2 highlight this Canadian Indie Bundle, joined by Space Pirates and Zombies, Waveform, Hoard, Dungeons of Dredmor and Capsized. Many of the games in the bundle offer SteamPlay between Windows and Mac OSX.
Sword and Sworcery EP: 350K units swold
iOS title Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP has sold 350,000 units life to date, Capy president Nathan Vella revealed at GDC 2012 today.The long-form game, which took 18 months to develop, has done incredibly well on the app store, despite having "small amount of birds, no fruit, limited water," which have all become cliche requirements for iOS success."Everyone isn't a demographic," Vella noted. "Target a niche due to iOS scale, niches can be huge."He said two-thirds of all sales were on the iPad universal app and that three quarters of revenue were made on the universal app. He also noted that the title going on discount only accounted for 10 percent of sales, meaning the game had a potential audience that was willing to pay full price for the experience.Vella feels Sword & Sworcery is a good case that longer experiences can fit on the iOS platform and targeting "everyone" isn't the only way.
Capy posts ideas from its internal game jam, and they all sound pretty good
Given the talent of the folks at Capy Software (who've made the excellent Critter Crunch, Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes, and most of the programming behind Sword and Sworcery), you'd expect them to prototype an interesting game in less time than it takes some to develop a full game. You're partially right -- they made seven.All seven games from Capy's internal game jam are now listed over on the company blog, and to a title they all sound pretty good. The Final Act has the player acting on stage to win a battle, Ferret Wings features Captain Farris the Ferret fighting against Adolph Hamster, and Jetman Adventures (above) is described as "a kind of touch screen Panzer Dragoon/Defender hybrid with Fruit Ninja influence." Yes please!Unfortunately, these are just prototypes developed over the two-day period of a game jam, so they're all unfinished (one turn-based tactical game, for example, didn't get any further than having just one unit), and most likely unplayable by the public. But one of these might plant a seed for Capy's next title, and when that flower blossoms we'll be happy to stick our noses right in it.
TUAW's Daily App: Abundante!
Abundante! is an excellent little original puzzle title. The main mechanic reminds me of the great Critter Crunch, but it's not exactly the same. Instead of feeding animals that match up, you're lifting and placing gems of various colors; you line up a certain number of gems together, and they'll all fall down into your basket. What you get is a colorful and rewarding little puzzler with well-polished graphics and relaxing gameplay. There's quite a lot of that gameplay, too; there are over 100 story levels to play through and three different modes to check out. Abundante! started as a PC game, I believe (and you can also download it for Mac), but it's available on the App Store right now for US$2.99.
Indie Fund created to help fund indies
A group of well-known independent studio vets has formed a new fund for other independent developers. Members of 2D Boy, Number None, thatgamecompany, Capy, Flashbang Studios and AppAbove Games have banded together to create the appropriately named Indie Fund, which they hope will become "a serious alternative to the traditional publisher funding model." The fund will ideally help independent studios "get financially independent and stay financially independent." The Indie Fund is already backing some unnamed projects, and the group plans to reveal more details about the fund at GDC next week. Specifically, 2D Boy's Ron Carmel will host a panel at the conference entitled "Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked." The panel will focus on the "adversarial" and "unhealthy" nature of the relationship between developers and publisher and, naturally, what could be done to improve it. Expect the panel to be included in Joystiq's GDC 2010 coverage, which begins next week. [Via GamePolitics]
Developers on avoiding the 99 cent App Store price
I've become a big fan of game developer Capy (formerly Capybara) in the past few months -- their releases of Critter Crunch on iPhone [iTunes link] and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes on the DS have won me over quickly. But I'm not sure I agree completely with their co-founder, Nathan Vella, about what he says in this Gamasutra interview. His opinion is that the push towards the 99 cent price on the App Store is "the single most frustrating and terrible thing about App Store pricing." He says the dollar price point is stifling, and he praises developers like Canabalt's Adam Saltsman for sticking with a higher price point even when their games are simple. I do agree with Vella on one thing: no developer should sell an app for less than it is worth, and dropping to 99 cents to increase sales doesn't work anyway. But certainly there's a place for 99 cent apps on the store, and I know personally that a 99 cent price point will open me up to try apps I'm not sure about, especially apps that I might be interested in but that don't offer a free trial. Clive Downie of ngmoco says as much later in the article: it's about the balance between providing choice for your customer and supporting yourself as a developer. In the end, Vella knows what he's doing: he doesn't say that 99 cents is always the wrong price, but that you should always stick to your guns and ask your customers to pay the right price. If a game is worth $4.99, or $6.99, or even $9.99, developers will find that customers who care about the quality are willing to pay for it. [via IGN]
Indie devs struggle to find the perfect iPhone price
The ease of getting your game onto the iPhone is something of a double-edged sword for indie devs. On the one hand, it's an amazing opportunity to get your pride and joy in front of millions. On the other, though, the amount of competition is pushing prices way lower than some devs are comfortable with. Or as Nathan Vella, co-founder of Toronto-based Critter Crunch/Clash of Heroes developer Capybara Games, so directly put it to Gamasutra "The push to 99 cents is the single most frustrating and terrible thing about App Store pricing." Read the full piece if you'd like a better understanding of why indies are pricing they way they do. Though we understand their frustration, we're surprised there's not more hand wringing about all those free games littering the App Store, since we know so many people who refuse to pay cash for any game on the mobile platform. Do you have any purchasing guidelines you try to stick by?
Best of the Rest: JC's picks of 2009
Muramasa: The Demon Blade Muramasa appealed to me in a way that Odin Sphere didn't, thanks to an emphasis on combo-heavy sword action instead of planting and whatever. And the RPG elements that are left, like the sword upgrades and cooking, are not only fun, but simple enough that I can get right back into the game after a long break and still know what is going on. Also, I don't mean to be shallow, but the fact that Muramasa is the most beautiful game of 2009 helps me be positive about it.
Snap Judgment: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
Having received my copy yesterday, I've only been able to put a few hours into Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes for DS. However, I can already tell that it's going to become an obsession, at the expense of things like other games and interacting with my family. Critter Crunch developer Capy has created an incredibly engrossing game that melds the best aspects of both strategy RPGs and puzzle games. %Gallery-63309%
Capy's latest: Sword & Sworcery EP, a 'brave experiment in I/O cinema'
One day after the ship date of its DS game Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, the newest project from Critter Crunch developer Capy has been somewhat revealed: a collaboration with artist Craig "Superbrothers" Adams and singer Jim Guthrie, called Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. We aren't sure exactly what this is: the description on the site describes it in terms like "a brave experiment in I/O cinema" and "a crude videogame haiku about life, love & death." It appears to be for the iPhone platform, and the "EP" in the title suggests a short-form experience. Whatever it is, we desperately want to know more, as you will after you watch the teaser after the break. [Via GameSetWatch]
Hands-on: Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
The most pleasant surprise -- and quite possibly our most favorite game -- from Ubisoft's "UbiNintendo" event was for Nintendo DS. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is a fresh new direction for the classic RPG franchise, and, from what we played, it's a good direction to be heading in on the handheld.Clash of Heroes is being developed by Capybara Games of Critter Crunch semi-fame, so we weren't surprised by its combat's similarity to a puzzle game -- specifically Critter Crunch. Sure, it's a different approach for the genre, but, combined with a very JRPG art style, lush visuals and an actual story, it just ... works.
Might and Magic Clash of Heroes coming to DS August 2009
Oh Might and Magic brand, how we've missed you! We really hoped that this wouldn't be the swan song for your venerable RPG series and Ubisoft didn't disappoint. The company has just announced Might and Magic Clash of Heroes, coming to DS this August.Now, we'll admit that we weren't necessarily hoping for a puzzle RPG developed by Capybara Games (you know, of Critter Crunch fame?). But at least there's two-player peer-versus-peer mode, so that's something, right?%Gallery-63309%
