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Neil Young leaves Ngmoco
Well it's the end of an era for one of iOS' first big companies. It was just about four years ago that I posted here in this very space that former EA executive Neil Young (no relation) was going to start up a company called ng:moco, and it was soon after that he published the breakout hit Rolando, following it up with the freemium title We Rule and eventually creating an empire (and changing the way a lot of people think about freemium games). Over the years, however, ngmoco has fallen from its peak in popularity, as it was acquired by the Japanese social gaming giant DeNA, and then decided to focus mostly on bringing cheap ports of that company's games over to Android instead. And now, Neil Young and cofounder Bob Stevenson have decided to leave the company, moving on to what they hope will be "their next adventure." They leave Clive Downie in the position of CEO with the company, another former EA VP who's been with ngmoco for a little while now. Ngmoco certainly inspired quite a bit of hate from players -- the company's focus on freemium games left more traditional titles like Rolando in the dust, and its acquisition of venerated Mac publisher Freeverse essentially resulted in the death of that classic brand. But ngmoco's popularity during the rise of iOS is also undeniable, and Young's ideas on freemium gaming have been adopted by many, many App Store game developers working today. It remains to be seen what Young's next project will be, but there's no question that, by starting up ngmoco, he's left an indelible mark on the short history of Apple's iOS platform already.
Handcircus set to return to iOS with free game based on Okabu
Simon Oliver's Handcircus studio was one of the biggest winners in the early days of the App Store. His game Rolando was originally published by Ngmoco back before the company went completely bonkers with social and free-to-play casual games. After Rolando 2 sort of sputtered out into the marketplace, hamstrung by Ngmoco's own strategy, Oliver and his company strayed away from iOS and created a game called Okabu for the PlayStation Network. Oliver is coming back to iOS, according to The Guardian. The company has been working on a new mobile title set in the same universe as Okabu that will again be free-to-play. But before Rolando fans worry, don't forget that the app market changed a lot in the few years since Rolando was released, and Oliver himself has changed as well. "When Ngmoco decided to go free-to-play, I didn't know how to make games like that," he tells the Guardian. "But ideas have been bubbling away for the last couple of years." I'm interested to see what Oliver gets up to. He suggests that Handcircus still may use a third-party publisher to get the game out, which is a little bit worrying. But it'll be good to have one of the biggest original iPhone devs back on the platform with a new release.
Rolando and Rolando 2 updated with Retina Display, on sale now
Ngmoco has surprised us with some updates. Rolando and its sequel Rolando 2 have both been updated for the iPhone 4's Retina Display and have had a few bug issues fixed. To celebrate the update, they're both on sale for just US$0.99. Either one of these is a bargain at that price. They're both very solid, original platformers, designed specifically for the iOS system. What's most interesting about this, though, is that Ngmoco has updated these at all. Rolando was one of the first big titles for the now gigantic iOS developer, but when Ngmoco moved into the We Rule freemium model, the Rolando series was more or less abandoned in favor of games that could use more microtransactions and attract more "DAUs" (daily active users). A lot of Rolando fans were disappointed with that direction, though Ngmoco's We Rule and other freemium games have seen plenty of success anyway. Rolando creator Simon Oliver's HandCircus has been working on a PSN game instead, but maybe with these updates, there's a possibility we could finally see Ngmoco return to the little rolling hero and his series.
DeNA acquiring ngmoco for $400 million
DeNA, a Japanese mobile internet company, is set to purchase mobile publisher ngmoco, best known for Rolando and Topple, for a whopping $400 million. The combination of the two companies, according to the announcement, will create "the world's largest mobile social games platform company." The ngmoco shareholders and employees will receive $300 million in cash and securities, with an additional $100 million contingent on performance milestones. Gamasutra points out that this is just the latest acquisition by DeNA, which has slowly been making selective purchases in the western market. This is also just the latest social media purchase with an incredible dollar figure attached. Disney recently purchased Playdom for over $500 million, while EA acquired Playfish late last year for $300 million. -- oh yeah, and there's also that rumored $100 million investment by Google in Zynga. Now, let us all hold a moment of silence for sanity.
Unity CEO disses Jobs on gaming
Unity CEO David Helgason gave a talk at the Develop conference, going on this week in Brighton, England, and had some harsh words for Steve Jobs on supporting iPhone gaming. Jobs previously said that using "middleware" like Unity to develop iPhone games "produces sub-standard apps," but Helgason fires back that Jobs "doesn't understand the economics of game development fundamentally." Most developers, Helgason seems to be saying, can't be jack-of-all-trades with their code -- they need libraries like Unity to do some of the lifting, especially on smaller-scale platforms like the App Store. Stuart Dredge at Mobile Entertainment is doing a great job of covering all of the other iPhone gaming news coming out of Develop as well -- he's got talks by the developers of Ngmoco's Godfinger, Rolando's Simon Oliver, and Ideaworks Game Studio, the company that brought World at War: Zombies to the iPhone for Activision (that last talk sounds similar to the one we saw earlier this year at GDC). If there's a theme among everything developers are saying, it's probably that they're finding flexibility a must on the App Store -- while an app may be developed with one feature or pay model in mind, things often have to change quickly during development or even after the app goes live. Lots of interesting things to read in there if you're interested in iPhone game development.
GDC 2010: Ngmoco's Neil Young on how freemium will change the App Store world
On the third day of GDC 2010, Ngmoco's Neil Young took the stage in one of the largest rooms at the conference to talk about what his company had "unlearned" in its time in the App Store. Ngmoco has become a large and polarizing figure in the world of App Store development -- after starting out with a big investment from the iFund, it's moved quickly to become one of the biggest iPhone-only developers, and after starting out with a few premium titles like the very successful Rolando, have recently made waves with its "freemium" business model. Young talked about the company's history so far, and went in-depth on Ngmoco's plan for ruling the App Store and why he believes it's the "most significant shift and opportunity for [game developers] since the birth of this business." We've summarized Young's long address in this post. It was pretty incredible -- not only did Young lay out his idea of a clear plan for building and developing a large portfolio of very profitable App Store titles "at scale" (the company plans to release twenty new freemium products on the iPhone in the near future, as well as six titles on the iPad), but he made it very clear that he fervently believes that freemium and the model he's structured is the future of the video game business.
Ngmoco cancels Rolando 3, says it can't fit into a free-to-play model
Here's some unfortunate news out of Ngmoco: The company tells IGN that while there was a Rolando 3 (the second sequel to the very popular and excellent rolling iPhone platformer) in progress, the game has been essentially canceled, and will never see release in its current form. Why? The second game wasn't exactly a sales success (though Ngmoco's Neil Young admits "it's done fine"), and it was that lack of a big splash that made Ngmoco turn the corner into "freemium," or the model of releasing free games that offer in-app purchases for premium content. They've had a lot of success with their Eliminate Pro shooter, and they want to adapt that model for all games: get a few hits for free, spend some real money on in-app purchases for the rest. And apparently when they couldn't bring that model over to Rolando 3, they scrapped the title. That's a real shame -- not every game on the App Store has to be a runaway hit, and Rolando 3 seems like a perfect candidate for the "slow burn"; release it at a price of $5 or $6, and just let it sit there as an example of great gaming on the iPhone (and the upcoming iPad). But Ngmoco has made their decision, and Rolando 3 is no more. They say the series isn't gone for good -- if they can figure out a way to do "freemium" with Rolando, we could see the roly poly guys on the iPhone again. You'd think that paying for a level or two at a time would work just fine, but who knows what Ngmoco's reasoning is on this. If I get a chance to talk with them at next month's GDC, I'll ask. [via Joystiq] Update: Reader Zyber sent us a petition he's started to try and get the game released. Online petitions aren't exactly proven to be effective, but we'll throw our support behind it just the same.
Rolando 3 canceled, but the franchise lives on
After the not-exactly-phenomenal commercial reception of Rolando 2, iPhone developer ngmoco decided to swap to a free-to-play model for all its future titles. It's a model which led to the development of the extremely competent iPhone shooter Eliminate, but the new business model also led to the unfortunate death of the third installment in the Rolando franchise. The developer's co-founder, Neil Young, explained to IGN, "we said to ourselves, 'Look. If we can't make the game free-to-play, we're not going to release it.' And Rolando 3 as it was envisioned at that time was not a free-to-play product." However, don't think you've seen the end of the Loco Roco-esque platformer. Young later confirmed that "at the appropriate moment we'll deliver a new Rolando experience that takes full advantage of everything we've learned from the free-to-play world." Sounds like we'll eventually get a new Rolando and, better yet, it won't cost us any Rolandough.
Rolando 2 out now on the App Store
Just in case you haven't yet heard, ngmoco has released Rolando 2 out into the App Store for the premium price of $9.99. The game's subtitled Quest for the Golden Orchid (in this one, you're rescuing a relic rather than a prince), and though it's not cheap by App Store standards, but on the other hand, it's as quality a game as you'll find on the iPhone. We were big fans of the first one, and the second one ups the ante with a brand new 3D look (though still the same great 2D gameplay), and lots more types of Rolandos to roll and jump and fly and drive around the more than 45 new levels. It's fair to say that if you liked the first one, you'll love this one, and if you've never tried rolling a Rolando around, this is a perfect opportunity to start.There, unfortunately, no lite version of the second game yet, but there is a version of the first one to try, and there are lots of movies to watch over on ngmoco's site, so you can probably get the idea from there. If you're interested in gaming on the iPhone at all, Rolando's on the short list no matter what your tastes are.
Rolando almost removed from App Store
This weekend, ngmoco announced plans to remove the original Rolando from the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store, to allow the sequel to launch on July 1 without competition from its own predecessor. However, in response to a fan outcry, the company has decided not to delist the platformer.Before the announcement of the change of plan, Offworld's Brandon Boyer speculated that the delisting was designed to create "artificial scarcity" for the title, and enticing one final rush of downloads before the game disappeared -- and then making the title available once again when the sequel's sales dropped.In addition to canceling the removal of Rolando, ngmoco has reinstated Topple to the App Store, a game that had also been removed to make room for its own sequel.
DodoGo rolls up LocoRoco with something egg-stra
France's Weezard Interactive is hoping to prove there's room in this world for one more "guide a pack of cute, round characters to the exit" style game with DodoGo. The game, set for release later this year, immediately calls to mind the likes of Rolando and LocoRoco, but offers up some novel new touch interaction ideas.In getting the dodo eggs -- which are, of course, all smiley and bouncy -- through each level, players will need to perform some basic actions (drawing lines to connect pulleys, placing springy launchpads) in addition to a couple of really stand-out gameplay mechanics. Namely, the ability to change the level's topography so the little guys/girls can roll to safety or avoid predators. There also appears to be a decent-sized focus on devising clever plans to do away with said baddies using the various tools and items offered up. (Oh, and we totally love the idea of a "crash test egg" that can be deployed to test a puzzle solution so no "real" dodos are harmed.)Check the trailer after the break and tell us: are you egg-cited?
Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Trailer
Everyone's favorite rolling-based platformer is back! No, not that one. Not that one either. The iPhone one. Rolando. Publisher ngmoco has updated its website with a new trailer for Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid. Not content to merely bring the rollin' and smilin' to a new tropical setting, developer Hand Circus seems to have added a hint of an extra dimension to the game! Rolando is as blissfully side-scrolling as ever, and the sprites remain 2D, but the game is now embellished with 3D environments and a new camera system. What will Hand Circus do for the third Rolando game? [Via What They Play]
Rolando dev claims barriers to publishing much lower on iPhone
Simon Oliver has been a game developer for more than a few years now, so we're going to trust him when he says, "The barriers to publishing, compared to developing for the Wii, or PlayStation Portable, or Nintendo DS, [are] incredibly low," regarding Apple's iPhone. The Rolando developer recently spoke with GamesIndustry.biz and had some interesting things to say regarding the development and publishing processes involved in his massively successful game."There were a lot of aspects in my own skillset that I felt needed work - my C++ was okay, but it was quite seat-of-the-pants stuff initially," he says, regarding development of Rolando. He believes that while "there's not the same level of quality control that you get on XBLA or WiiWare" the games released for Apple's platform are more interesting as "the barrier to entry is so unbelievably low." We've certainly heard this tune before and it looks as though some major players are jumping on the iPhone bandwagon. We're hopeful that the future for the iPhone's developmental wild west can withstand the pressure of big money publishers wrangling up all the mindshare.
Rolando 2 gets a website, regular info updates
Rolando creator Simon Oliver must be a busy man. Aside from the two currently in-development Rolando sequels -- Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid coming in June and Rolando 3 in November -- the developer is also posting regular updates to publisher ngmoco's new Rolando 2 website. Promising new character and environment reveals as well as tours of "exciting new gameplay" on the site, we imagine Rolando fans like us might make this a stop on their daily stroll down internet street. Though we can glean little from what's currently on the site, it seems Rolando 2 players will be encountering a tropical island theme when the game arrives on iPhone this summer. The prospect of that thrills us just as much as it does you -- does that mean we get to take a boat?!
GDC09: iPhone gaming roundup
The Game Developers Conference is on in San Francisco, and game companies are starting to pull out the major announcements on what's coming to the iPhone in the next year. Here's a roundup of all the titles we've heard mentioned already. EA announced a huge lineup of ports from their already popular games: everything from Command and Conquer: Red Alert to SSX to FIFA, Madden, and NBA are all coming in some form to the iPhone. They're also working on bringing over the Wolfenstein RPG and Spore Creatures (which was the DS port of Spore), as well as a big list of casual board games (Scrabble is only the beginning), and versions of Need for Speed: Undercover, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. And most amazing? All of these are due out before the end of the year. Someone's lighting a fire under iPhone developers at EA. id software announced that they're bringing Wolfenstein 3D Classic to the iPhone in an official form -- that one's already been submitted to the store and should be out soon. Click the link below to read on.
ngmoco's Neil Young speaks at GDC keynote
Neil Young (not that Neil Young, the other one), former EA exec and head of ngmoco, fresh from his appearance at the Apple iPhone 3.0 event the other day, showed up on a keynote stage at the Game Developers' Conference in San Francisco to talk about the big, wrapped present that the iPhone and the App Store are to game developers. The platform is "better than the DS, better than the PSP," he said, referring to Nintendo and Sony's handheld gaming devices, because not only is tops in terms of usability (it's "always on, always with you"), and not only is it easier than any other platform to develop for, but the market is gigantic and growing -- unlike Sony and Nintendo's markets, there are no first party titles to compete with.Which makes a lot of sense (and Young should know -- his company is poised to become one of the platform's early big developers). Other game developers agree, too -- according to a survey at Games Beat 2009, the iPhone has beaten out social networks, web-based content and even consoles as the area that has the most potential for gaming. There's no question at all: the future is extremely bright for gamers on the iPhone.
GDC09: Rolando sequel, sequel to Rolando sequel announced
LocoRoco-esque phone tilt-em-up news now, with developer ngmoco efficiently announcing two sequels to the iPhone's beloved Rolando. You know you've made it big when you become a trilogy -- complete with subtitles!According to IGN, Rolando 2: The Quest for the Golden Orchid will arrive sometime in June, followed by the currently unsubtitled Rolando 3 in November. The news echoes comments made earlier by the game's creator, Simon Oliver, who modestly promised "more activity on the Rolando front" for the remainder of the year. Aside from the pair of follow-ups, ngmoco also plans to release a pack of 20 new levels for the original game.If you're unfamiliar with all this Rolando business, check out our review of the game that got the ball rolling on the rolling ball game.
Rolando's Simon Oliver in the Daily Mail
The Daily Mail has reported the story of our friend Simon Oliver, creator of Rolando (whom we interviewed quite a while ago when the game originally came out). Apparently things have worked out very well for him -- the game has sold 700,000 copies so far, Oliver's set to be a millionaire, and he's now, as he says, the head of a game studio that already has a hit under its belt. Very impressive (too bad they still call him a geek).It's stories like this that are pushing the little App Store bubble we've got going nowadays -- every investor with money to spare (not as many as usual, given the current economy) is happy to sink it into releases for the iPhone, and while there is plenty of money being made, not every developer ends up like Oliver (let's not forget he had a quality product in the first place).But there is some good news here: without the App Store and the iPhone platform, this never would have happened. Say what you want about Apple's release policies or their initial "no SDK" choice, but with the iPhone, they've brought development and distribution down to anyone who can dream it.
iPhone It In: Rolando
Anyone who's ever played LocoRoco has been guilty of it. You just can't help but tip your PSP to the left or right, trying for that extra smidgen of incline to get your gelatinous balls of goo rolling, even though you know it has no real effect. But in ngmoco's Rolando, the controls are all about the angle of your system, and it makes for some of the most fun you can have on your iPhone.
Wired's top 10 reader-approved iPhone games
Our friends at Wired recently asked their readers what their favorite iPhone games were, and their list is a pretty darn good overview of some of the best choices for gamers on the App Store. Some of the picks are already well known -- we posted about Trism way, way back, and of course Galcon has been lauded already. And some of the choices are a little wacky -- Cube Runner is cool, but it's not really much more than a tech demo at this point.Still, there are a few gems you may not have discovered yet -- JellyCar looks like a lot of fun, and Topple did kind of get hidden underneath the shadow of ngmoco's other big release, Rolando. It's worth a try if you haven't played it yet.It's notable, as well, that all but the top two choices are pretty simple. As fun as these games are, there's definitely a lot more room for some deeper gameplay on the App Store.
