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GDC 2011: Tatem Games' Carnivores and RoboSockets
Tatem Games is a mobile games studio out of Ukraine that's been making games since the mid-'90s. They originally started with PC games, CEO Igor Karev told me here at GDC 2011, but lately the company's focus has been on the iPhone and the iPad. "It's about timing," Karev says, "we can make cool games, and not spend two years on them." The company's biggest titles are the Carnivores games, a series of 3D "hunting" games (though the titles have grown to encompass more than just killing things) that started out on the PC and have since garnered 3.5 million downloads. The Carnivores games have a dedicated user base, and Tatem closely follows customers' advice, structuring updates around iTunes comments and input. There is an update due out soon that will bring more mythical creatures into the games, as well as new weapons to use and a new game mode requested by users who don't want to kill the animals; it'll be a photo hunting mode instead, letting the player wander the world with a camera rather than a gun.
TUAW's Daily App: RoboSockets
RoboSockets by Tatem Games is pretty impressive -- it takes one of the oldest game genres out there, the falling blocks puzzle, and puts an interesting new spin on it. The idea is that you're in charge of a far-away planet full of robots with only a little energy left in each, and you've got to chain them up together to power up and eventually save the planet. The robots (all square, of course) drop from the top of the screen, and you can drop them wherever you want. But they each have sockets that have to be connected, and once you connect five in a row, they'll explode, providing you with power to finish the level. It's fun and well done -- the sockets provide a nice bit of complexity, and special items and power-ups that come down as you go along mix up the gameplay well. The robots are cute and well-designed, and the music and art do a fine job of filling in the background. The tutorial is clear and simple (though some of the English is a little off -- forgivable, as Tatem's based in the Ukraine), and full Game Center integration is a nice bonus for sure. RoboSockets is only US$0.99, too, so if you're at all interested in the gameplay, it's worth checking out. We'll be talking with Tatem next week at GDC, I believe, so stay tuned for more on what we can expect from them in the future.
