Cipher Prime's pill-popper, Intake, on Steam after hitting Humble Bundle
Intake has no business being as fun as it is, considering its super-simple premise. I first got a taste of Intake at GDC, during the second annual Indie Press Mixer, where I can state without shame that I had a blast popping pills to some of Cipher Prime's famously sick beats. That's the premise of Intake – split the Dr. Mario-esque pills as they fall from the top of the screen, while ensuring your clicker is tuned to the correct color. Super simple and super addicting.
Intake is out now on Steam, on sale for $9 through November 13. It launched with the Cipher Prime Humble Weekly Sale in October, alongside some of the studio's established games, including Splice, Auditorium, Pulse and Fractal. The bundle ended up selling 41,529 units, studio co-founder William Stallwood tells me.
"It's the best marketing tool we have," he says. "The guys who run Humble Bundle are fantastic. They help us launch and test and are very supportive. If we don't make any money, we still get to feel good – it's for charity."
Besides, Stallwood says, getting on Humble Bundle is a measure of success: "I'm not sure the real value of a Humble Bundle is the money. I would say it's the exposure. It's almost an indie 'you've made it.'" Getting on Steam is also an indicator that a studio is doing something right, and Cipher Prime now has four games there.
