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Doodle Jump DC Super Heroes offers a not-so-serious Batman
Doodle Jump DC Super Heroes is the Batman game iPhone deserves, but is it the one it needs right now? Who cares, it's a cute re-skin of Lima Sky's bouncy vertical platformer that swaps in batsuits, arch-nemeses like the Joker, and bat-powers that include the bat-grappling gun, bat-copter and... er, bat-trampoline. Still, nothing beats an old-fashioned bat-climb. It's free to download right now (in-app purchases are tied to crystals that you can collect by playing), and the Batman episode is one of a number of DC Comics installments coming to the game. According to Warner Bros, future updates will include Superman and Wonder Woman, along with their respective galleries of rogues. And if that's not enough mobile DC Comics tie-in for you, there's always the roster of heroes coming to Puzzle and Dragons next week. [Image: WBIE]
Doodle Jump bouncing to 3DS, DS this year
Lima Sky's tilt-controlled mobile favorite Doodle Jump will hit the Nintendo DS and 3DS later this year in a pair of retail releases from Doodle Jump for Kinect developer Smoking Gun Interactive. Doodle Jump Adventures for the Nintendo 3DS boasts a platform-exclusive Adventure mode featuring 48 levels, unique power-ups, and all-new boss battles, in addition to an Endless Mode. The Nintendo DS version, Doodle Jump Journey, is a more traditional take on the series, offering up the original mobile game's Classic, Jungle, and Space themes in Endless Mode.
Doodle Jump for Kinect bounds to Xbox Live Arcade next week
D3 Publisher announced that Smoking Gun Interactive's motion-controlled Kinect adaptation of the iOS hit Doodle Jump will launch for Xbox Live Arcade on June 28. Doodle Jump for Kinect features the same endless, vertically scrolling action that defined the iOS original, but this time, players will have to physically move side-to-side in order to guide the Doodler's ascent. The Kinect version introduces three new worlds not found in other ports, and also offers a selection of all-new power-ups and boss encounters. Doodle Jump for Kinect will be priced at 400 Microsoft points ($5) when it premieres next Friday.
Doodle Jump for Kinect keeps it down to $5 this summer
Doodle Jump for Kinect on Xbox Live Arcade will launch for 400 MS Points ($5) this summer. Smoking Gun Interactive will adapt Lima Sky's popular vertical platformer to Kinect, adding "three brand-new worlds, treacherous bosses, challenging achievements, engaging power-ups and intuitive gesture controls." Those gestures include lateral full-body movement and "a flap of the arms" to control flying, just as you would in real life.
Rumor: Doodle Jump for Kinect heading to XBLA next month [Update]
It shaped smartphone gaming in the early days of the App Store. Today, it's available on nearly every capable mobile device. It may even be lurking at your local arcade. Next month, a Kinect version of Lima Sky's runaway hit, Doodle Jump, could be coming to Xbox Live Arcade, according to a recent Australian ratings classification and evidence uncovered by self-proclaimed Xbox Live Marketplace watchdog, "Lifelower." The Australian Classification Board confirms Smoking Gun Interactive as the developer behind the upcoming Doodle Jump for Kinect. Lifelower, meanwhile, has obtained boxart and a gallery of purported screenshots, suggesting that the game is nearing completion. Lifelower expects the game to launch near the end of June at 400 Microsoft points. A Kinect adaptation of Doodle Jump was first announced back in 2011 when creator Lima Sky outlined its plans for expansion after surpassing 10 million paid downloads on mobile platforms. We've reached out to developer Smoking Gun Interactive for more information. Update: Doodle Jump for Kinect will be available on Xbox Live Arcade for 400 MS Points sometime this summer.
Daily iPad App: Doodle Jump for iPad
Doodle Jump, created by Lima Sky, is one of the first indie success stories to emerge from the App Store. It's a simple tilt-based vertical jumper that has you navigating your Doodler up a series of platforms without falling. Doodle Jump has enjoyed great success as a time-waster and, after a long wait, the classic iPhone game has been ported to the iPad. So how does this tablet version compare to the original? The gameplay on the iPad is refreshingly similar to the iPhone. The tilt-play, familiar characters and scenes are all there. Gamecenter support is present, too. The biggest difference is in the iPad itself. The larger tablet device provides a wider playing field, but is unwieldy to hold and tilt for any period of time, especially since you have to play in portrait mode. There is no landscape. Eventually, you do get accustomed to the size, but I have to admit that I prefer the smaller size of the iPhone. Besides the size, there are two other differences between the iPhone and iPad game. First, the iPad includes an exclusive submarine level that's not present on the iPhone version. Second is the use of cheats. The common ones used on the iPhone do not work on the iPad, so there's no Easter bunny level. For fans of the game, Doodle Jump for the iPad is an excellent companion to the iPhone version. It's exactly what you expect - a version of Doodle Jump for the iPad. That's not bad as most of what you know and love is now available on the iPad without having to double the pixels of the iPhone version. Doodle Jump for the iPad is available for US$2.99.
Doodle Jump for iPad available now (Updated)
Doodle Jump, the wildly successful iPhone platforming game, is at last coming out with an iPad version. Doodle Jump for iPad should be launching on the App Store later today according to developer Lima Sky. The game features the same addictive jumping and shooting gameplay as the iPhone original, but optimized for the iPad's much larger screen. The playing field is a great deal wider than that on the iPhone, both horizontally and vertically, which in my testing has meant I've been able to achieve much higher scores than anything I've gotten on the iPhone version. It's a bit more awkward to tilt an iPad around than an iPhone, but it's still a lot of fun to play. I can tell what I'm going to be doing for the rest of today... Lima Sky hasn't given us any word on pricing for the iPad version yet, but we'll update this post with that information after the app goes live on the App Store later today. Update: Doodle Jump for iPad is available now for US$2.99.
Doodle Jump celebrates two years, 10m downloads, heading to Kinect
Doodle Jump was one of the first really big hits on the App Store, and two years after release, it's still rolling right along. Lima Sky has announced that the app just hit 10 million paid app downloads, and it's about to get featured in a Universal film as well. Angry Birds has gotten a lot of headlines lately, but Doodle Jump seems to share almost as much awareness among the massive iOS audience. Plus, Lima Sky is pushing the franchise forward -- an iPad app is still being created and set to be released soon, and the game is coming to Microsoft's Kinect system for the Xbox 360. There's no information on how that will work just yet, but presumably players will be able to use their body to control the little guy, perhaps by leaning left or right on camera to make their way up the various platforms. The iPhone app will get a multiplayer update as well. Doodle Jump is already quite popular, and in the short time frame that iOS has been around, it's already one of the classic apps. It'll be interesting to see how the property grows as developers push forward this year.
Doodle Jump drawn to Kinect release
Lima Sky's often-imitated mobile hit Doodle Jump is going to make you jump, jump, in an upcoming iteration. The developer has announced that a Kinect version is on the way. There are no details about this console port yet, like a release date or even how you would play that. Tilting your body to control the direction of the character's movement, we suppose? In addition, Lima Sky is marking the app's two-year anniversary with other forthcoming Doodle Jump additions, including a multiplayer update for iPhone, an iPad version, and tie-in toys and comic books. Presumably the comics will have a bit more narrative depth to them then "Doodler jumped up onto platforms forever."
Doodle Jump creator backs off of other 'doodle' devs
We wish more stories ended this way. Yesterday, we told you about warnings issued by Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky and Apple to App Store developers with "doodle" in the title of their games. Today, not only has the sketch hunt (zing!) been called off, but Lima Sky's Igor Pusenjak, who admits he was overreaching, has taken the time to write a lengthy explanation of the situation, submitted to PocketGamer.biz. We're happy to see this particular situation resolved as well as it seems to be but we can't shake the feeling that, considering the clone-heavy nature of the App Store, this won't be the last story of this sort we'll be covering.
Lima Sky responds to trademark battle around the word 'Doodle'
This one's complicated but interesting. A few days back, it was revealed by the developer of an app called Doodle Monster that Doodle Jump creators Lima Sky (we've talked to founder Igor Pusenjak before) was trying to enforce trademark rights against any app on the store using the word "Doodle" in its name. That creator originally planned to step down and change the name, but the creator of another app called Doodle Hockey instead spoke out to say that Lima Sky had no business claiming the word "Doodle" itself, that there were pre-existing properties and trademarks on the word, and that "everyone with an app containing the word 'doodle' in the title needs to stand up to Lima Sky's threats." Now, Pusenjak himself has spoken out on the issue, and he says that he's retracting the original notice from the App Store. But he does hold his position on the word "Doodle," saying that "there was absolutely no rush to call a game 'Doodle Something' until Doodle Jump became famous. Then many developers began jumping on the bandwagon whether their game had any doodled elements in it or not. They were simply trading on the fame of Doodle Jump, for which Lima Sky has a trademark." Pusenjak admits that there is a trademark in the system before Lima Sky's, but says that the company's complaint on the App Store was designed to protect Doodle Jump against anyone else's attack. At any rate, legal action aside (and it doesn't appear as if there will be any), Pusenjak has agreed to step back from the restrictions, which even he agrees went too far, and says that he's simply trying to avoid customer confusion -- any developers creating games that might be confused with pre-existing IPs should simply have to change them, not remove games entirely. That seems to make sense, so hopefully that agreement will stand without further clashes.
Doodle Jump dev and Apple warn other 'doodle' apps
In what's sure to be the killing blow for Joystiq Publishing's upcoming Doodle Doodle: The Doodlin' Doodle Game, Doodle Jump dev Lima Sky and Apple have begun providing trademark warnings to developers of iOS with "doodle" in the title. As Pocket Gamer reports, the teams behind Doodle Monster and Doodle Hockey have received the missives, but there are almost certainly others on the way. Lima Sky, it should be noted, does not have the rights to the word "doodle," but rather just trademarks for the full title "Doodle Jump" and its central character's design. Bryan Duke of Acceleroto (Doodle Hockey) is attempting to rally other doodlin' devs not to kowtow to Apple and Lima Sky, saying "If we all stand together on this, the little guy won't be so little. I'm fighting this. You should too." You'd have to be pretty naive to think many of these devs aren't trying to piggyback off of Doodle Jump's success, but it's a tricky legal area with such a common word as "doodle." Our advice? Next time, stick a "Q" in there somewhere.
Doodle Jump updated to Doodlestein Halloween edition
I know I'm extremely late to the game, but I only just downloaded and started playing Doodle Jump two weeks ago. Since then, I've become addicted to it, both on my iPhone and iPad. Doodle Jump has been updated to version 1.24, which introduces a new Halloween theme: Doodlestein! The update includes new monsters (zombies, vampires, and witches among them) in the Halloween theme, plus broken bone platforms and a broompack (a jetpack made from a witch's broom). Doodle Jump developer Lima Sky also announced that the next version of Doodle Jump will support Game Center. Now the only thing I'm waiting for is an iPad version of the app. Version 1.24 of Doodle Jump is free to those who have already purchased the app; for everyone else, Doodle Jump is US$0.99 in the App Store.
Interview with Doodle Jump's Igor Pusenjak, part 2
In part one of our interview with Lima Sky's Igor Pusenjak, we talked about how his Doodle Jump game became so successful, and how other game designers might be able to replicate its success. In this part, however, we get a little more concrete -- Pusenjak discusses current and future updates to the game (there will be an underwater content pack out this summer), as well as the long-awaited iPad version and how it will be different from the iPhone game. Bad news: it won't be universal, so if you want to play it on the iPad, you'll have to buy it again. But Pusenjak explains why, and according to him, it'll be a very different experience anyway. Read on for part 2 of our interview.
Interview with Doodle Jump's Igor Pusenjak, part 1
There are a lot of successful apps in the App Store, but perhaps there are none more successful than Doodle Jump. Igor Pusenjak and his brother have propelled their simple game about a doodle flinging himself into the sky, platform by platform, all the way up into the top of the App Store charts. They've stayed there longer than any other app, pulling in almost as many sales as there are iPhones to go around. Now, in addition to all of their monetary success, Pusenjak and his brother have also picked up an Apple Design Award; this simple little game is now critically acclaimed as well as being one of the top-grossing iOS titles of all time. I sat down with Pusenjak last week in Los Angeles (just a few miles away from where the traditional game industry was holding their E3 expo) to talk about the past and future of Doodle Jump and how they've found such great success. This is part one of the interview, and it talks about the business of the App Store and how Lima Sky has done what they've done. Part two will be posted on the site later today, and will explore future updates to the game and the long-awaited Doodle Jump for iPad.
GDC 2010: From rags to riches on the App Store
While we weren't able to stay the whole time (the life of a TUAW blogger at a covention is varied and hectic), the iPhone Game Developers' Luncheon at GDC 2010 was a pretty enlightening experience. After a little varied networking among guests, hosts PlayHaven, Cooley Godward Kronish (a law firm that specializes in startup companies), and MplayIt started up the panel discussion. The iPhone developers in attendance were Igor Pusenjak of Lima Sky (the creators of the very popular Doodle Jump) and Bryan Mitchell, a solo developer who created a game called Geared that's risen to the top of the App Store charts. The most interesting thing we learned at the luncheon (in among a lot of legal talk about forming corporations and copyright law) was where these two developers came from. Mitchell was a filmmaker who had to work construction "after film work dried up in Las Vegas," and decided to jump in on the app business to make extra money. His game only made a few bucks a day at first, but after spending a little on advertising, Apple featured his game in "What's Hot." After that, he was off to the races.
