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Temple Run VR gets Demon Monkeys in your Oculus-wearing face
The Temple Run games have virtually defined the endless runner genre, so it's fitting that virtual reality defines the latest entry, Temple Run VR. Designed for the Samsung Gear VR (a more portable version of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset that substitutes a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 for its screen), Temple Run VR puts you into the first-person view of an explorer who steals an ancient idol and is subsequently hunted by Arctic Demon Monkeys. Well, it won't win any awards for best writing, but sometimes you just want to get straight into the action. "We're thrilled to see this new virtual reality technology in the hands of consumers, and are inspired by the potential for new game experiences," Keith Shepherd, co-founder of developer Imangi Studios said in a press release. "It's been a pleasure working with Samsung and Oculus to bring Temple Run VR to life, and we can't wait to see what players think of the chase." Temple Run VR is now available to download via the Gear VR's digital storefront for free. [Image: Imangi Studios]
Temple Run 2 adds Usain Bolt, because it can and why not
Dev Imangi Studios announced it's signed up Jamaican sprint star Usain bolt to be a playable character in Temple Run 2, probably the biggest proof yet beyond hard figures that Temple Run is a completely massive thing. The world's fastest man and Olympic gold factory is available now as an in-app purchase of 99 cents, but only for a limited time. Of course, being Usain Bolt, he has a unique power-up that combines the speed boost with the coin magnet; we're not sure there's a better analogy for his lucrative life. Meanwhile, Temple Run 2 has been a similarly lucrative record breaker for Imangi, taking just 13 days to become the fastest-ever mobile game to reach 50 million downloads.
Temple Run 2 travels to the land of Oz
Disney and Imangi Studios are collaborating again with Temple Run: Oz, a mishmash of Temple Run 2 and the coming film Oz the Great and Powerful. The two previously played nice on Temple Run: Brave.If you've played Temple Run 2 – and it would appear at least 50 million of you have – this latest version has the same running, jumping and sliding gameplay, but now with a yellow brick road.The gameplay isn't just confined to the wizard's inexhaustible stamina; there are sections where players will be tasked with guiding a hot-air balloon. Unlike Temple Run 2, which is free, this movie tie-in will set you back $1, but comes with 1500 coins of in-game currency.
Disney releases Temple Run Oz, another branded take on Imangi's hit
Just last week we were talking about Disney's potential for originality with a brand new Toy Story app, and now here the company is sticking like glue to some old habits. Disney has released a new app called Temple Run Oz, which, as you might imagine, is a mashup of Imangi's famous Temple Run game with Sam Raimi's upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful movie. Temple Run: Brave (which combined the first Temple Run game with Pixar's Brave) is still available on the App Store, but this new version is much closer to all of the innovations spotted in Temple Run 2, which means it has curvy pathways, more powerups and various goals to go after and complete. It's not a bad game at all, actually, and like Temple Run Brave, Disney has added in some original gameplay, in addition to the Oz-based sounds, graphics and content. Instead of just dodging trees and cliff dropoffs, you also duck under flying monkeys, and you can jump in a big balloon to tilt your way through the air and collect coins. There are weekly challenges as well, and while the game isn't significantly different from Temple Run (you're still running, swiping and tilting), it does feel a little more substantial than just a reskinned game. The price is also interesting: It's available for US$0.99. That's a buck more than the free Temple Run 2 (which I'd recommend as the better game), though it's likely only for a certain launch period, as you get 99 cents worth of in-app currency when you buy the game. Temple Run Brave is still 99 cents as well, so maybe the price is part of the agreement between Imangi and Disney. Whatever the reason for the pricing, Disney saw a fairly big hit with Temple Run Brave, but it'll be interesting to see what the market is like with four different (!) versions of Temple Run now on the App Store.
Temple Run: Oz the Great and Powerful (apparently) landing this month on iOS
There's no place like home Twitter to let announcements slip before you're supposed to, because even if you delete a tweet, chances are good someone's already seen it. Such was the case when a Disney PR rep in France prematurely announced that the company is planning to release Temple Run: Oz the Great and Powerful on February 27, a tie-in with the Sam Raimi film set in L. Frank Baum's fantasy universe due in theaters March 8. The tweet was subsequently yanked, but not before being noticed by the sleuths at Superannuation. We have to admit that the land of Oz would at least make a visually striking setting for a new offshoot of Temple Run, much like the Scottish Highlands from Pixar's Brave did for Temple Run: Brave -- another collaboration between Disney and Imangi -- released last year. Hopefully the new game will include enhancements and mechanics found in the recent Temple Run 2, with some Oz staples added for good measure. After all, running away from flying monkeys just makes sense. [Via TouchArcade]
Temple Run 2 sprints and slides past 50 million downloads
Temple Run 2, the mobile infinite runner, has surpassed 50 million downloads in just 13 days. This breaks a record established by Angry Birds Space, which went on to achieve the coveted 50 million downloads milestone in 35 days.After its debut on iOS January 17, Temple Run 2 reached 20 million downloads in that first weekend alone; it was ported to Android by the following week and is also available on Kindle Fire. The original Temple Run has been downloaded over 170 million times, 2.5 million of which happened this past Christmas.
Temple Run 2 dashes to Android
Temple Run 2, having already achieved 20 million downloads on iOS, is now available for Android devices. Those rocking vanilla Android gadgets can snag the game for free from Google Play, while Kindle tablet owners can grab it from the Amazon Appstore. Just make it quick, there's a monster on your tail.
Daily Update for January 21, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Temple Run 2 racks up 20 million downloads in less than a week
Imangi Studios has struck gold with Temple Run 2. The developer's latest iOS endless running game has been downloaded more than 20 million times since its release just four days ago. In fact, 6 million of those installs took place within 24 hours of launch on January 17. The free game's success isn't totally surprising given the immense popularity of its predecessor, which was downloaded 2.5 million times on Christmas Day alone. We've been having a lot of fun with the game -- it's pretty hard to put down, frankly -- and according to Imangi's co-founder Keith Shepherd there will be some reasons to keep playing well into the future. In our interview with Shepherd last week, he revealed that the company plans to add new content to Temple Run 2 down the road as it continues to work on its next, as yet unannounced iOS game.
Temple Run 2 downloaded 20 million times over weekend
Temple Run 2, the sequel to infinite runner Temple Run, was downloaded in excess of 20 million times over the four days since launch. The free app was chased down six million times on its release date alone."We are thrilled players want more of the Temple Run universe, and we hope to grow and expand the game over the coming months," said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of developer Imangi.The original Temple Run has been downloaded over 170 million times across various mobile platforms. The sequel is available on iOS devices at the moment, with an Android version scheduled for later this week.
Temple Run 2 out now on iOS, Android targeted for next week
You can slide, jump, and cart your way through Temple Run 2 from today, as the game is now available on the App Store for free. As for Android, developer Imangi Studios told Polygon it's aiming to bring the sequel there sometime next week.Unsurprisingly, Temple Run 2 doesn't reinvent the wheel that spun the original to over 170 million downloads. There is a noticeable bump in visual quality, minus the occasional pop-up which thankfully doesn't incur slowdown. In addition to expected increases in obstacles, power-ups, achievements and so on, there are also mine cart and zip line sequences to mix up all that endless running a smidge.Also out today is Final Fantasy All The Bravest, Square Enix's frenzied iOS take on Active Time Battle. It's available on the App Store, priced at $3.99.
Imangi surprises with Temple Run 2: interview with developer Keith Shepherd
Imangi Studios is one of our favorite game developers: Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova are a husband and wife team that have made some great titles for iOS, including Harbor Master, Max Adventure and the company's biggest hit, Temple Run. Since going freemium (and getting extraordinarily popular), Temple Run has turned Imangi into a very successful company, both with the original game's in-app purchases, and with a series of ports and spinoffs, including the Disney-powered Temple Run Brave. Now, without any previous announcement, the company has released a full-fledged sequel, Temple Run 2, on to the App Store, available right now as a free download. "It's going to be sort of a surprise announcement," says Keith Shepherd, who chatted with TUAW earlier today. "Being a sequel kind of gave us the opportunity to start fresh and use what we'd learned." Shepherd says Imangi wanted to "level up the look and feel of everything" with the sequel, but of course the couple was also dealing with the success of their first game, and the arrival of their first child at the same time. "We have a baby now in the house that's impacted our own time," says Shepherd, "and we decided if we were going to do something bigger that we'd need some help from other folks." So they decided to two add two more people to the core team of three, joining forces with another developer called FuzzyCube software. FuzzyCube hosts a few developers who've formerly worked at Microsoft's Ensemble Studios, and Shepherd says having their expertise around definitely makes Temple Run 2 look better than ever before. "It takes place in an all-new world and environment, and I think you'll be blown away by how great it looks," he promises. The game's look and feel isn't the only big upgrade: There are also new powers and abilities to encounter in the endless runner, and Imangi decided to accept some fan feedback and fill out the game's characters a little bit. In the original game, characters were only cosmetic, but in the sequel, each character has their own ability that players can power up and use at a certain time. "It adds a little bit of a strategic element" to the action-based gameplay, says Shepherd. Those abilities can also be powered up by the game's new currency: gems, in addition to the coins players earned in the original. Temple Run started out as a paid app, and Imangi only switched it to freemium to try and shore up some flagging popularity. But of course once the game went free, Temple Run found some huge success, and Shepherd says Imangi has decided to start out free with the sequel. That extra currency is designed to keep players playing -- "We are using the gems more for some of the consumable type things," says Shepherd -- but Imangi also wants to make sure that the freemium aspect of the game doesn't get in the way of players enjoying it. "What happened with Temple Run 1 from a gameplay standpoint is that we really ran out of things for people to spend their coins on really fast," Shepherd says. "But we followed that same path of being really generous with coins in Temple Run 2." Fans of the first game should love the additions to the second, but even if not, Shepherd says the original title won't be far away. "We're keeping it on the App Store," he says. "It's a classic at this point, and we don't want to remove it for folks who want to continue playing the original. We do have some plans for some things that we want to add to it still, and obviously we do have some plans for adding things to Temple Run 2." Imangi, like a lot of successful app developers, has known for a long time that updating a game post-launch is a great way to keep it popular, and Shepherd says that "with Temple Run 2, we completely rewrote the entire game so that it would be easier." Finally, Shepherd tells us that while this Temple Run sequel is the current focus, we'll still see some more original titles from Imangi in the future. "I think in the short term, we have a lot of work still to do on Temple Run 2 and Temple Run, and we're probably going to have most of our focus on that," he says. "But I think we're really itching to work on a new game too. That's why we got into this business: To really enjoy making games. We always have ideas that we're kicking around," he promises, "so you'll see some more things in the future." Temple Run 2 is now available on the App Store for free.
Temple Run 2 launches tonight in US, UK [update: it's out now!]
Update: Temple Run 2 launched worldwide, and is now available on the App Store.Temple Run 2, a sequel to the mobile infinite runner Temple Run, is scheduled to hit the US App Store late tonight, Touch Arcade reports. The game hit the New Zealand App Store for free today and is set to launch on iOS devices in the US at 11 p.m. EST, according to Touch Arcade. The original Temple Run has been downloaded 170 million times and is available for Android devices, too.The above video shows off Temple Run 2's gameplay, including all a generous amount of swipes, double taps and tilts to run through some fresh levels. Members of the Touch Arcade forums note that the sequel will hit the UK at midnight tonight, as well, so people worldwide limber up those tapping fingers.
Temple Run 2 appearing today on the App Store
Uber-popular game Temple Run's surprise sequel has hit is about to hit the US App Store. Released earlier today in the New Zealand App Store, Temple Run 2 builds on the success of the first Temple Run, while ratcheting up the graphics, physics and gameplay. TouchArcade got its hands on an early copy of Temple Run 2 and the site says that everything users loved from the first game is still there. Namely, that's our hero running his butt off from scary monkey monsters. However, Temple Run 2 builds upon its predecessor in leaps and bounds. The game takes place during a perpetual dusk in a floating temple in the sky. All the graphics have been improved, but the real pleasure in Temple Run 2 comes from its more fluid movements. In the first game, turns were made very mechanically -- at 90 degree angles. Temple Run 2's environments are more hilly and curvy and turns and movements have a more real, natural feel. Also the game adds other improvements, like stretches where you're operating a mine car and the ability to play as four different characters. Temple Run 2 is available now as a free download. Stay tuned -- we'll have an interview with Imangi Studios, the creators of both Temple Run versions, on the site later on this evening.
Temple Run downloaded over 2.5 million times on Christmas day
In the world of impressive holiday sales numbers, Minecraft doesn't stand alone with its 453K Christmas sales. Imangi Studios Founder Keith Shepherd recently tweeted that Temple Run was downloaded over 2.5 million times on Christmas day.The numbers divide up pretty cleanly, too, as Shepard noted that a million downloads came from iOS devices, another million from Android and the final 500K from Amazon. Of course, this is all a drop in the bucket compared to Temple Run's 100 million download mark, which it crossed in early August.
Temple Run races to 100 million downloads
Imangi Studio's Temple Run has achieved 100 million downloads across iOS and Android. We'd describe what the game is about, but from those numbers it appears you either already know or could simply turn to the person next to you and ask. Breaking it down, the free reflex actioner has had over 68 million downloads on iOS and 32 million on Android."We never imagined that the game we were making and loved would be so well received around the world," said Imangi co-founder Keith Shepherd. "The last year has been incredible for us, and we are grateful to fans of the game."To celebrate the milestone, all Imangi's games released prior to Temple Run are free for a limited time. That's... well, according to a quick glance at the App Store, it appears to be all their games.
Daily Update for June 4, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Disney taps indie studio for Temple Run Brave
Disney Mobile has made a number of really smart moves over the past few years (starting with acquiring Tapulous, all the way up to allowing a game tester to make them a great game). Now here's another brilliant move: they've signed a deal with developers Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckynova (also known as the very nice married couple behind Imangi Studios) to help them make a Brave-branded version of Temple Run. The game itself is actually being put together by a third-party game developer, but Imangi had input on the finished product, and the deal has actually been in the works for quite a while, even before Imangi saw all of its astronomical success with the golden idol running game. Imangi told me at GDC this year that they were being careful about choosing partnerships, but apparently this partnership with Disney met with their approval. Temple Run Brave should be in the App Store for 99 cents on June 14 (though my guess is that given how popular Temple Run has been as a free game, it'll drop to free soon after that). Disney has shown a lot of insight into the App Store in the past, and this latest deal with a very hot indie studio is no exception.
Temple Run makes a daring escape to Android
Temple Run, the game inspired by (UNSPECIFIED ACTION ADVENTURE MOVIE)'s famous Idol Temple scene, is now at home in a new edifice: Android. Don't worry, Android owners, this is the real Temple Run by Imangi Studios, and not the crummy clone that was culled from iOS.The freemium game requires Android 2.1 or higher, and can be downloaded right here. Is anyone else still confused by "Google Play?" We get that mixed up with "Google Plus," which is also home to casual games, all the time. What was wrong with "Android Market?"
Imangi finds success, and more choices, with Temple Run
Imangi Studios' Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova have been making solid games on iOS for years now, from their original hit Harbor Master and their charming dual-stick shooter Max Adventure. But it wasn't until Temple Run this past year (which I first saw in an off-the-record prototype form at GDC last year) that Imangi really hit it big. The freemium game has over 40 million players already, and it's consistently sitting up among the top-grossing spots on the App Store. Imangi's perfectly happy with that success, if not a little overwhelmed by it. "This is ridiculous, what is happening," says Luckyanova. Temple Run actually came at a great time for the couple -- they've just purchased a house, and they have a baby on the way, so they'll definitely be busy ove the next few months, even without a new game. And Shepherd says that's the plan: While Imangi has "a lot of ideas, they're all on the back burner for now." The current goal is to push Temple Run as far as it will go. First things first, that means an Android release -- Imangi has announced the game will arrive on that platform on March 27. After that, says Shepherd, you might see Temple Run in a few other places, including the Mac App Store, and somewhere on the web, in a browser-based form. The couple has also had requests for versions of the game on PC and Facebook, so they're considering those as well. The issue with having this kind of success on the App Store, however, is that once you get a popular game up and running, your inbox starts to fill with all kinds of offers: Merchandising, porting, offers for other markets, and different amounts of money that come with each. Imangi says they're considering all of these, but their main goal is to stay as independent as possible. "We like being independent," says Shepherd. The couple have always had an artist working with them as a third developer, and have since brought on a few more people to help with support and other tasks, but "we're not trying to grow," they say. And that's the biggest issue with selling the company itself. Certainly, they've had offers from bigger publishers, but "if we were to really sell the company," says Shepherd, "we'd have to grow the team a lot." And while they admit extra resources might be nice, Imangi still seems perfectly happy as a core team of two. On iOS itself, Temple Run is getting an update in the next few weeks, with more objectives to take on, possibly more environments to run through, and some "powerup stuff" as well. But outside of that, Imangi is taking a well-deserved breather on development at the moment, and focusing on simply growing all of the business they have. What advice do they have for other developers searching for freemium success? "You need to start with solid work," says Luckyanova. Imangi's been putting good games together on iOS for a while, and so it was probably only a matter of time before one of their titles was able to pay off.
