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Everplay Interactive plans a solid lineup this year
Developer Kris Jones started out his iOS game design career at a company called Thunder Game Works, which made a popular early App Store game called Trenches before the company connected up with EA as a publisher. These days, Jones runs his own studio of twelve people called Everplay Interactive, and they've created some really great games for iOS, including Spell Sword (one of my favorites), Free 2 Die, and the simple but devious 1001 Attempts. Jones met up with me at GDC last week to chat about what he's working on now, and he and Everplay have a full plate of different titles incoming. Ace of Blades is probably the highest profile release he's working on: It's a Spell Sword followup that turns the original arena-based survival game into a full action adventure title. Ace of Blades has you exploring a 2D platforming world, fighting new enemies and facing down puzzles, as you collect a number (probably four, says Jones, but that may change) of blades with different magical abilities. Ace of Blades looks very impressive -- Jones admits that he and his team did "bite off a lot," as obviously a full action platformer game takes much more content than Spell Sword's more focused arena levels. But the title does look excellent, and it should answer a lot of the requests fans have sent Everplay about being able to explore the world that Spell Sword hinted at. Ace of Blades is due out sometime later this year, probably around May or June, according to Jones. Before that, Everplay has another game called Lumber Jacked, arriving later on this week. Lumber Jacked is a more hardcore speedrun platformer, similar to (though even a little tougher than) the excellent games Mikey Shorts or League of Evil. You play a lumberjack (obviously) who can punch and jump his way through a series of levels, aiming for the fastest time possible. We'll have a closer look at Lumber Jacked when it arrives this week. And finally, Jones showed me one more game Everplay is working on, called (at least tentatively) Bill Killem. The name is obviously a joke on Duke Nukem, and the game is somewhat similar to Duke's early 2D adventures, with one major difference: It's endless. With the world ending in the background Canabalt-style, Bill Killem runs along a 2D foreground, jumping gaps and shooting enemies as quickly as he can. There's an explosion chasing Bill the whole time, but grabbing collectible items in the environment will keep that explosion back and allow you to keep playing (similar to crossing through checkpoints in older racing games). This title is relatively early in development, still -- we'll probably see it out sometime after Ace of Blades, says Jones. It seems like fun, and Jones says it might be free-to-play as well. Most of Everplay's titles are releasing at a premium price of 99 cents, so Bill Killem (if that's what it's called) might be an interesting experiment. All three of these games look like solid titles. We'll look forward to seeing all of these games and anything else Everplay is putting together for the rest of 2013.
Gamescom 2011: Transformers Universe reveals the Brawler
Gamescom, roll out! At this week's convention, Jagex set up a Transformers Universe booth to demonstrate some of the customization that will be in next year's game and give players a taste of the choices they'll be making when the game goes live. The team also used this opportunity to talk about the first revealed class, the Brawler, and show concept art of these hulking piles of scrap metal and stubborn perseverance. Senior Producer Kris Jones says that the Brawler will be the front line of defense in a fight: "Players who like to engage as the tank in co-op team play will be drawn to this Brawler Class. The strength and resilience of this class makes it the perfect choice for those who like to get up close in a battle environment, for those who like a good brawl." You can check out the Brawler in the gallery below. Transformers Universe is slated for a 2012 release, and interested players are encouraged to sign up to receive more info about the upcoming beta. %Gallery-126338%
Jagex shares more details about Transformers Universe
Amidst all of the toy previews and Hall of Fame inductions at this year's BotCon, there's another element for fans -- an early look at Transformers Universe, the upcoming MMO developed by Jagex. And while the game is certainly not in a playable state just yet, the fine team at Tformers.com has put together a video interview with executive producer Kris Jones, showing off the early stages of character creation and discussing the game's future for development. Transformers Universe is confirmed to take place within the current "Prime" continuity, but as Jones explains, the staff has been working closely with Hasbro to try to include as many signature characters as possible from the franchise's 27-year history. There's talk about hundreds of different parts for characters to choose between for customization as well as the possibility of fans uploading parts and decals to help personalize individual Transformers. Prospective fans should take a look at the full interview -- it's an early look but the sort of thing that should be of significant interest to longtime franchise enthusiasts.
WWDC 2010: In the Trenches with Thunder Game Works
Thunder Game Works kindly came by to meet up with us this week at WWDC, and Michael Taylor and Kris Jones of the company behind the popular Trenches iPhone game. They shared some insight about what they saw this week, offered us a chance to see concepts of the iPad version and check out a brand new title they're working on. What we saw was pretty impressive -- Trenches is a well-polished take on the castle assault genre, combining fun WWII-style troops and weapons with real-time line-drawing strategy. And Thunder is not only learning as they go, but seems very committed to taking their successful title and turning it into a full-fledged franchise on Apple's iDevices. The main game is on sale right now for 99 cents, and there's a free version (with some "training" features) also available. Between the two versions, the company has seen over 1.5 million installs of the game. Still, when the iPad came along, they had to think hard about whether or not they wanted to bring the game over. "We were very cagey about whether or not we wanted to go to the iPad," Taylor told me.
