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Hothead Games looks for a Big Win on iOS
Hothead Games is actually an old company by most iOS standards: As marketing director Oliver Birch told me at GDC last week, the company is actually turning six years old this week. Previously, they mostly made PC and console games (most notably the Penny Arcade Adventures, and Ron Gilbert's Deathspank), but recently, Hothead has been pushing more and more towards Apple's App Store, and Birch says that while Hothead definitely "supports all of the games we've got out there, really, we're all about mobile now." Which makes sense -- between the collectible card game Kard Combat, Jetpack Joyride-alike Sea Stars, and the excellent Gem King (formerly known as Kickin' Momma), Hothead already has a nice run of iOS hits. And the company is now looking to follow all of that up with a new game, out now, called Big Win Soccer. Big Win Soccer is probably unlike any soccer game you've played before -- in fact, it's more of a collectible card game than anything else. The idea is that you have a team of players (represented by cards), and you can activate various stats and abilities on them (also represented by virtual cards). When you play a game against someone else online, you don't directly control the players. Instead, you watch the game play out, and the various abilities and stats you chose to represent your team go into the final outcome. After the game, you can earn coins, which can be used to buy and win even more cards, making your team stronger and better. It's ... an interesting idea, though if you're turned off by the trappings of freemium games, you will find plenty of them here: You have a certain amount of energy to play with per day, and can't play beyond that point, and of course the collectible card system is also driven by (optional, admittedly) in-app purchases. Hothead wants you to spend money, it's clear. While there is a card game to be had here, the strong suggestion to supplant your normal play with money is always there. In its short life on the App Store so far, Big Win Soccer has been a huge success, so much so that Birch says the game melted a few of the company's servers (I don't think it literally turned wires to liquid, but Birch wasn't clear). The overwhelming demand for the game on its server software means that Hothead hasn't publicized the game's launch much, but apparently it hasn't had to, given how many players are trying to log in. Reviews for the title are stuck down around two or three stars only, but most of the reviews talk about the servers going down, not the actual gameplay itself. If the game turns out to be a success, Hothead is all ready to follow up: Birch also showed me Big Win Hockey, and it's probably a safe bet that Hothead will expand the line as much as it can, allowing fans of all sports to play their favorite games through the various card collecting mechanics. Birch also showed off a few other titles, each at various stages of development (including one which isn't quite ready for the press yet, he says). Zombie Air is Hothead's next release -- it's a freemium title that also plays sort of like Jetpack Joyride, but instead of just an endless run game, it actually consists of quite a few different levels, as zombies take to the air to fly in customizable planes across a post-apocalyptic United States. The game has a fun and cartoony look, but the freemium model is very evident here as well -- Birch said Hothead is using a lot of the "learning from Sea Stars" to put this one together. So Hothead clearly has a nice slate of titles ready to go. When the company was working on the console, Birch explained, they used to take twelve to eighteen months to put games together, and these days, "we can make a game now in weeks." Is that such a good thing, though? Deathspank and the Penny Arcade Adventures were both interesting, original titles, not bogged down by the trappings of freemium, and Hothead's latest titles, while very well-produced and colorful, don't skimp on the monetization. Birch agrees the concern is there, but says that Hothead needs to be profitable, and wasn't necessarily so back in the console days. He also admits that the company is learning along with its audience just what works best. "We're trying to work it out," he said: How the audience can really enjoy and appreciate Hothead's games, but also make sure that "we get something out of this as well."
Kard Combat, Spy Mouse, more push big updates
Hothead Games' great freemium card game for iOS, Kard Combat, has gotten a big update this week in the App Store. The biggest new feature is a new "pass-and-play" multiplayer mode, which allows for two players with one iOS device in the same place to play their cards out, and then pass the device on to the next person. Obviously, it requires a little bit of honor on the part of players, but if you just want to play a friendly game of Kard Combat, it's a cool mode to try. Game Center multiplayer has also been added to the game to work inside iOS 5, and there are new UI updates and a few other new features in there as well. Firemint's line-drawing stealth game Spy Mouse has also gotten an update, bringing in new global leaderboards, new challenges, and a few other bug fixes and other tweaks. Kiska, the in-game cat which will help you get past some of the tougher levels, can now also be used once per hour rather than just once per day. Artistic platformer Contre Jour also got a nice update, adding 20 new levels to play through, featuring a cool opposite visual style from the rest of the game. And finally, while it hasn't been updated recently or anything, I'll also just mention that Super Stickman Golf is free today as well. If you haven't picked up this great little 2D fantasy golf game for iOS, now's the time.
Kard Combat gets four new mages and two new modes in free update
Have you already burned your way through the four main campaigns of Hothead's recently released iOS strategy title, Kard Combat? First of all, you need to slow the heck down. How are you supposed to enjoy anything in life if you consume it with such terrible avarice? Secondly, you'll want to update the game through the App Store as soon as humanly possible -- the developer recently launched a massive update for the title, which notably adds four new decks to the mix: Demon, Chaos, Deception and Arcane. These new decks and campaigns (as well as a new Challenge mode and Timed Multiplayer mode) are free to anyone who purchased the full game unlock -- as all future deck expansions to the title will be. We're glad every other TCG on the planet isn't quite as generous. We're not sure the support struts of our house could withstand the weight of all those metric tons of Pokémon cards.
Kard Combat bringing out big update, talks IAP conversion and community
Kard Combat is a recent iOS release from Hothead Games that's been doing very well on the App Store, and the title is set to see its first big update today. Four new mages are being added for players to play through, including card decks based on Demon, Chaos, Deception, and Arcane magic, and two new game modes. Challenge mode adds additional challenges and goals to the standard gameplay, and timed multiplayer requires that multiplayer turns be taken within three minutes, making for relatively quick games. The update also includes a number of new options and features -- most of the standard features will obviously be free for anyone who's already downloaded the app, though of course the new campaigns will be available via in-app purchase. Anyone who's purchased the full game already for US$9.99 will of course get all of the new content for free. As I said, Kard Combat has been doing very well -- Hothead producer Hamish Millar tells TUAW that while they can't reveal actual numbers behind in-app purchases, "we have a very active multiplayer community of which most have made a purchase." The most popular option so far has been the $2.99 purchase for the first four decks. Millar also says that Hothead's very happy with how the game has been received and reviewed, picking up a very committed player community and lots of feedback to go with it. This game's a little more hardcore than something like Angry Birds, so I wouldn't expect it to be quite that big. Still, Hothead seems to have a nice hit on their hands, and the card game model is something already proven to use DLC as a successful way of extending a game's life over a long period of time. Kard Combat looks like it's well on the way to being a very popular and profitable iOS IP.
TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Kard Combat
Kard Combat is a new universal iOS title from Hothead Games, the folks behind the Penny Arcade videogames, DeathSpank, and the iPhone's Bunny the Zombie Slayer. As you may have guessed from the name, Kard Combat is a Magic The Gathering-style card game, where you use a deck of cards that represent magic spells or creatures and fight them against each other. To be honest, Magic the Gathering isn't really my thing, so I can't compare the two super closely. But Kard Combat offers some innovation, I think, in the way the cards are laid out -- any cards summoned to your side first attack cards laid across from them, and then the health pool of your opponent, so there's some interesting positioning strategy involved. You also oversee a few different types of mana that grow over time or based on certain cards you have out, so that provides a lot of complexity to the gameplay. There's a lot of content to play through as well -- four decks, each with their own single player "Tower" campaigns, and then of course multiplayer gameplay. The game's business model is almost tougher to figure out than the actual strategy -- currently, the title is a free download with five single-player missions unlocked, though an in-app purchase of $2.99 will unlock everything. After that, there are more decks and cards to buy, of course, and more to come. In the end, Kard Combat is an excellent little turn-based title. It's definitely worth a free download, and then if you consume all the content there, you can see if you want to dive in deeper.
Portabliss: Kard Combat (iOS)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in. Three times a week, our new Portabliss column will tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: Kard Combat! Considering the microtransactional crossover between traditional trading card games and iOS apps, it's astonishing the two haven't blown up into their own, obscenely lucrative industry. Not that I'm complaining -- my wallet can't afford to be gripped by the plaguing addiction of another Magic: The Gathering or Pokémon TCG. Perhaps that's why I enjoy Kard Combat as much as I do; not only is it an excellent, compelling game, but it also won't send you into an inescapable spiral of bankruptcy, which is awfully nice of it. This mercy is surprising, considering the involvement of Magic creator Richard Garfield, whose influence can be seen in Kard Combat's every mechanic. The game actually plays like a smartly boiled-down version of Wizards of the Coast's TCG: two players summon creatures using mana to attack the opposing team's roster or, with luck, the other player themselves.%Gallery-126811%
Hothead Games settles on Kard Combat, deals out some details
Hothead Games, we have never been this disappointed in you. After you asked for titles for your magically-charged iOS trading card game, and we responded with pure gold like Hocus Poker and Guess Who: Portraits of Power, you went with ... Kard Combat. Sure, it succinctly sums up the free-to-play game's two biggest constituent elements, but we think that moniker could have used a bit of spicing-up. Also, some spell-checking, because "Card" is spelled with a "C," you silly geese. Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield served as a co-designer on Kard Combat, and explained in a press release, "For years I've wanted to create Magic-like experiences for people who play video games. Kard Combat on iPhone and iPad does this and is simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, but with plenty of depth for the hardcore player." Check out the gallery below and the trailer after the jump to see just what kind of depth we can expect from the egregiously misspelled title. %Gallery-126811%
