JetpackJoyride
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'Fruit Ninja' studio removes 'designer' as a role
Fruit Ninja studio Halfbrick recently fired its final two designers, as reported by Kotaku Australia on Monday. This marks a structural shift for the company: Halfbrick doesn't plan on hiring new designers and instead wants its artists, programmers and other employees to work on game design together, Chief Marketing Officer Nicholas Cornelius tells Engadget. "The roles were made redundant and not laid off," he says. "This is because of a change in the way teams will work at Halfbrick."
Halfbrick wants to watch it all burn with Colossatron: Massive World Threat
The makers of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja want you to destroy the planet. From the halls of the first annual PAX Australia comes Colossatron: Massive World Threat. Sure, the game's whole mass-destruction-via-aliens concept sounds a lot like Rampage, but as the announcement trailer shows, it's oh so much more. Players take control of a modular robotic snake, using all manner of upgradeable weapons and abilities to wreak wanton top-down chaos on an unsuspecting populace. The goal? Causing as much property damage as possible. Think of it as a modern take on Godzilla with a campy anime slant and you're mostly there. The Queensland, Australia developer's latest will be playable at its booth for the duration of the show. Can't make it to the expo? Skip past the break for the debut video.
Jetpack Joyride finally lands on Windows Phone
Android, iOS, Windows 8, BB10. Jetpack Joyride, which has been available on the aforementioned platforms for quite some time, is no stranger to mobile or desktop users -- unless you're using Windows Phone. Despite the fact that Microsoft announced the free game seven months ago when Windows Phone 8 was officially launched, smooth rider Barry Steakfries is now finally collecting coins and getting electrocuted on the mobile OS, and will do so with Xbox Live integration. It's no Halo, but it's still a solid timewaster.
Daily iPhone App: Danger Boat is an endless runner on the waves
Most of the iOS buzz around this time last week was from the great Ridiculous Fishing, but there was another new release last week that I really liked and it's Pixelocity's Danger Boat. Vlambeer's big hit deserved all the attention it got, but Danger Boat was overlooked, I think -- it's a really well-made app as well that's simple but offers a lot of fun. "Boatpack Joyride" is probably how I'd best describe this one. It's a endless runner where you guide a boat along a watery course, trying to dodge obstacles, collect coins and use powerups while staying alive for as long as possible. Just like Halfbrick's famous endless runner, this one is well-polished and controls very well (you tilt back and forth to slide your boat around, and while I usually don't like tilt controls, this is done about as well as it can be done), and there are plenty of extras and powerups to spend with all of the coins you pick up. You can upgrade your powerups, you can buy booster items to give you extra benefits or you can buy new boats or places to race out of. There are a lot of fun details in this one, too, from the waves that kick you around to the various environments you race in while playing. Danger Boat is completely free and supported by in-app purchases, so there's no reason not to try this one. If you missed it during that Ridiculous Fishing rush, make sure you give it a good look now.
Halfbrick teases a new game called Fish Out of Water, more coming at GDC
Halfbrick Studios has posted a quick teaser for a brand-new game on its website, but here's all we know. It's got something to do with fishing. As you can see above, the creators of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja have something wet and colorful planned for their next title, but outside of a fishy pun (and a title, "Fish Out of Water"), they're keeping the title submerged for now. The buoy floating by says the game will be fully revealed in six days, which means the company will be telling us all about the game at a meeting during next week's Game Developers' Conference. Which is convenient, since TUAW's already got a meeting with them all planned and ready. It's hard to believe it, but Halfbrick hasn't released a completely new game since Jetpack Joyride, which originally appeared on the App Store way back in 2011. So Fish Out of Water, whatever it is, should be exciting to see.
Apple announces Apple Design Award winners at WWDC
Corrected to list Where's My Water as an iPhone winner and D1 Drum Machine as an iPad runner up. Apple has announced the winners of this year's Apple Design Awards at the WWDC conference, and 2012 is apparently the year of games on the Mac. Two games, Deus Ex and Limbo, have claimed both spots in the Mac ADAs this year, which is the first time in my memory that two games have done so. Games have won before but usually it's in specifically game-centered categories, and productivity apps are usually highlighted. This year it's two games that originally started out on Windows and Xbox, which is pretty crazy. Drawing app Sketch is also highlighted on the Mac. The iPhone winners are Where's My Water and the great game Jetpack Joyride, with the National Geographic's National Parks app as a runner up. D1 Drum Machine is a runner up on the iPad, where Bobo Explores Light and Paper took the win. And both of the student winners are on the iPad: Da Windci and Little Star. All of these are really great apps that highlight some fine examples of what Apple developers can do. Apple has picked this out of the bunch to represent their highest design values. Congrats to all of the winners on their great success!
Jetpack Joyride goes to the dogs
Man, Halfbrick's just not giving up on Jetpack Joyride. We just recently had a huge gadgets update for the game that added all sorts of tweaks to the jetpack action, and now here's another big update, out today, that gives Barry Steakfries a canine pal to run around with. Flash the Dog is coming to the update, and as you can see in the trailer below, he's cute as all get out. Flash will help grab coins and break piggy banks for you, and he'll even ride along, both in his own little jetpack, and by hopping on the various vehicles Barry can acquire during his run. There are a few new other gadgets as well, including headphones that remix the game's music, and a "turbo boost" gadget that will add rings to hit for an extra burst of speed. Jetpack Joyride was a really high quality game when it first launched, and Halfbrick has really gone above and beyond the call of duty with all of these updates since then.
BlackBerry gets its game on at BBW, scores Jetpack Joyride and Sonic
One of the things BlackBerry has never really had going for it, is a deep games catalog. Now, that isn't about to change in one fell swoop, but things are about to get a lot better at BlackBerry World 2012. RIM's head of gaming, Anders Jeppsson, took to twitter to let the world know about the impressive pile of titles heading to the PlayBook and BlackBerry 10. The biggest names are certainly Jetpack Joyride, from Halfbrick (the studio behind Fruit Ninja), and Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. Other games in the pipeline include Galaxy on Fire 2 and Star Marine, while Tomb Raider fans can get down with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light starting today. Keep an ear out for more to hit during this week's BBW.
Halfbrick working on new iOS game, 1.3 update for Jetpack Joyride
Halfbrick Studios' Phil Larsen is a happy guy. Not only has his company scored a huge hit with Fruit Ninja (with over a million copies sold on Xbox Kinect alone), but the studio's Jetpack Joyride is a hit as well, garnering over 19 million across various free and paid incarnations. Halfbrick, says Larsen, is working on a new IP for iOS that we'll see by the end of the year. Until then, the group is working Jetpack Joyride version 1.3, which introduces an entirely new feature: Gadgets. Gadgets are perks that can be added to Barry's jetpack. They're purchased with coins picked up during play (which ties in to the game's in-app purchase system) and tweak the gameplay in several ways. For example, the "Freeze-o-matic" allows Barry to slide farther when he dies. The "Flying Pig" turns slot machine coins into pigs that explode into fireworks of rewards, and a gadget called "Gemology" converts coins into gems, which give five times the reward when collected. You can have three gadgets running at a time, and when they're all combined, they can either help a lot (by making some very challenging missions relatively easy), or make the game crazier than ever. Gadgets aren't just add-ons to the jetpack. They affect the game in several ways, which Larsen says will allow Halfbrick to expand the game a lot going forward. Fifteen gadgets will be introduced when the update goes live, with more coming after that. "We can definitely support this game lots more." I asked Larsen about the Jetpack Joyride knockoffs on the App Store. Larsen shrugged them off. "They're not as good as Jetpack Joyride, so why bother?" he asked with a smirk. Halfbrick is an independent company, though obviously it's been growing, even as the Australian game economy is in a downturn. Larsen says the developer has about 57 employees right now, and given the games' popularity, they could stand to grow a bit more. But Larsen also says Halfbrick isn't interested in being purchased by a larger developer, either. Of course there have been offers, but in the end, he says, "We like what we do." Taking a deal with a larger developer might upset that, so it definitely seems like Halfbrick is more interested in making its own games than pitching in, no matter how big the potential payoff may be. As for that impending new iOS title, Larsen won't say much more than that he "...would love to release another iOS game this year." Certainly Halfbrick is working on something (and maybe even more than one thing), but the current focus is Jetpack's update. As for whether a new game would be paid (like Fruit Ninja has been) or freemium (like Jetpack Joyride has been for most of its success), Larsen said both strategies are still valid, depending on the game. "We've made more money on Fruit Ninja paid than we've ever done" selling Jetpack Joyride's in-app purchases, says Larsen. "We can sell games and we can do freemium. Does that mean Fruit Ninja's more universal? Probably yeah." Larsen admits that Jetpack Joyride could probably have skewed more towards a casual audience. It originally started paid and then was sent free to find its audience. But it's hard to second guess Larsen and Halfbrick given all of their company's success, and Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride still set quite a few bars for app quality on Apple's App Store. The company has done really great things so far -- we're intrigued to see just what's coming next.
Daily iPhone App: Blot
There's a lot of buzz around cloning apps lately. Zynga recently received some flak for making a clone of Tiny Tower, and there's a big lawsuit around Triple Town and its clone Yeti Town. I would argue that there's a right way and a wrong way to clone an idea. Blatant rip-offs are obviously wrong. The right way is to lovingly borrow some of the core mechanics of a certain game, but add in your own aesthetic, insight, and style. Blot is an example of the latter. Ostensibly, it's a clone of the very popular Jetpack Joyride. You play as a little ink blot that's flying along, tapping the screen to make it rise, fall and collect power-ups and coins. One could argue that Blot is a ripoff of Jetpack Joyride, but aesthetic is unique, combining some beautiful hand-drawn environments with a bouncy, joyful soundtrack. The game employes new ideas, too. For example, the inky spot can combine with colors for extra abilities, and the upgrade system is even more complex than Jetpack Joyride's, allowing you to pick up mechanics that can completely change the way the game is played. I would also argue that Blot's rewards are too spaced out. Even after several runs, I haven't collected enough coins to "buy" anything interesting. But everything else in the game is very well done, and the little add-ons (like Blot's hilarious costumes) are worth chasing down over time, even though that curve is steep. Blot is available now for US$0.99 as a universal app. It does borrow from Jetpack Joyride and what you might call the "hover Canabalt" sub genre, but its infectious style and unique features make it worth a download.
2011 Best App Ever winners announced
Jeff Scott of 148 Apps has announced the winners for the Best App Ever for 2011, and you can review at the official site right now. Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick was the overall winner in the iOS devision (which is a great app, but probably also benefited from actually promoting the Best App Ever vote inside the app itself). There are several other winners across various categories like Most Innovative (Codea), Most Useful (Amazon Mobile) and Best Time Killer (Tiny Wings). Scott tells us that 148 Apps received a record 1.5 million votes this year, which is three times the total of last year's choices. Before voting began, there were 287,643 nominations across 7,243 apps. This year also featured Android winners in many categories, but Scott says that iOS topped the Android votes by a factor of 10:1. The Best App Ever awards are always an excellent check of what's available on the App Store, so review the list and find some great new apps. Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to 148 Apps for putting the whole thing together.
Jetpack Joyride zooms to the top of TUAW Best of 2011 game app voting
Barry Steakfries has to be one happy camper today. The hero of Jetpack Joyride (US$0.99) from Halfbrick Studios was the runaway (or shall we say fly-away?) winner of the voting for the best iPhone game app of 2011. Barry's adventures trying out experimental jetpacks came away from the TUAW Best of 2011 voting with 39.2 percent of the votes, handily beating second-place winner W.E.L.D.E.R. That $1.99 word game was surprisingly popular as well, grabbing 26.9 percent of the reader voting. Many thanks to the TUAW readers who nominated their favorite iPhone game apps and then voted in the competition. Congratulations to the team at Halfbrick Studios for winning this category in the TUAW Best of 2011.
TUAW Best of 2011: Vote for the best iPhone game app
The nominations are in, and the poll is ready to go! The TUAW Best of 2011 awards are all about you -- the readers -- and what you think is the cream of the crop of Apple or third-party products and software. To vote, select one entry from the top nominations made by readers. We'll be announcing the winner in just a few days. Vote early and often! TUAW is asking for your vote for the best iPhone game app of 2011. The apps that made it into our final voting have provided hours of fun for millions of iPhone users. The first app on the list is Jetpack Joyride (currently free) from Halfbrick Studios. Barry Steakfries, the protagonist of Jetpack Joyride, would love your vote. This app has a 4.5 star rating out of 5 possible with over 15,500 ratings on the App Store, so it is an incredibly popular iPhone game. Next in the lineup is the popular word game W.E.L.D.E.R. (US$3.99). This app has been a past iPhone Game of the Week on the App Store, and according to Tested.com, it "takes Bejeweled, Boggle, and Scrabble and smelts them into one mining-themed word puzzle." Want a board game in your pocket? Ticket to Ride Pocket ($0.99) has sold over 2 million copies, achieved Apple Game of the Week in Europe, and was #1 in the strategy games category in 32 countries. I'm betting that we'll see a lot of votes for Ticket to Ride. Scribblenauts Remix (currently on sale for $0.99) is another big hit in the App Store, gaining a 4.5 out of 5 rating with over 10,800 total ratings. It's one of the few games out there -- perhaps the only one -- where you can create just about any sort of object. The latest update even supports creating objects using voice dictation on the iPhone 4S. Our last entry in the voting for the best iPhone game app of 2011 is Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing ($1.99). It's an app that made it into an iPod touch ad, and it features Sonic the Hedgehog and a bunch of other SEGA characters racing in cars, monster trucks, bikes, planes and bananas... Be sure to vote for the iPhone game that you think is the top for 2011. The winner will be announced in a few days. %Poll-72086%
App updates roundup: Jetpack Joyride, Spelltower, more
Thursday on the App Store brings another round of new app releases, as well as some big updates. We've got news on some of those releases elsewhere, but here are a few of the app updates currently waiting for you in the App Store on your iOS device. Jetpack Joyride has gotten what Halfbrick calls "our greatest update ever" with a new mission system, a new forest area to play through, and lots of other add-ons and tweaks. Great game, only 99 cents, so go grab it if you haven't yet. Anomaly Warzone Earth is another great title that now boasts iCloud syncing for saved games, as well as some graphical and gameplay tweaks. Spelltower (above) is getting a (surprise!) universal update that brings this really terrific and well-designed word game to the iPhone's smaller screen. Minecraft for iOS hasn't updated yet, but Mojang has lots of plans for future releases. Zombie Gunship has gone free, as has The Adventure of Timmy. Pix'n Love Rush has an entirely new mode to play with, and the graphics look a little different at night apparently. Rebuild is a nicely polished strategy game for iOS that will push an update soon that includes support for the original iPad, as well as Game Center support. Attention, Alec Baldwin: Words with Friends for iPad has gotten an update with a few new metrics for showing how well your words are doing. And speaking of Zynga, that company's Poker app has been updated too, including some changes that make it much more independent of the Facebook game. There's lots of new content for some of your favorite apps this week. Not all of these are live just yet, but stay tuned, they'll be posted soon.
Daily iPhone App: Sea Stars
Sea Stars is Hothead's latest game on the App Store, and it's really good. You play as a little fish who can swim and jump through water with a touch of the screen. Your goal is to swim as far as possible while avoiding obstacles. It's quite fun and well done. There's just one big issue: The game is basically Jetpack Joyride. Now, it's not exactly Jetpack Joyride, since you're not riding a backpack, and in practice, the controls are more or less upside down from JJ's float-up-when-touched controls. But the other similarities are undeniable. First, you collect coins which can be spent on upgrades (coins can also be bought via in-app purchase). You'll also find "friends" which work like JJ's vehicles, making you survive an extra hit and switching up the control scheme. Finally, the obstacles move and turn like the electric spheres in Jetpack Joyride. It's possible Hothead was working on this before Halfbrick's big title, but not likely. This game is essentially Jetpack Joyride re-skinned. That's not necessarily bad. Jetpack Joyride is a great game, and if you've already prestiged in that one a few times, Sea Stars will definitely float your fish (though I do have to say that I don't understand the "hurt your tail" reference when the game ends, whatever that means). But this is a blatant ripoff. I would rather have seen Sea Stars try to improve on Halfbrick's great formula rather than borrow it. Perhaps I'm complaining too much, especially considering the app's current price. Sea Stars is a great title that just happens to be free thanks to a promotion in the App Store right now.
Get Jetpack Joyride for free from Apple via Facebook
I've never heard of a deal like this, but we'll take it anyway. Halfbrick's great game Jetpack Joyride (one of the best iOS games of the year, honestly), is being given away for free by none other than Apple. You have to be a Facebook member, but if you 'like' Apple's official App Store Facebook page, you can get a code that will nab you a free copy of the game from the App Store. The one catch is that you have to essentially allow Apple access to your information on Facebook, but all it's asking for is to have that information (which might be public on your profile anyway, depending on your settings). It's worth nothing that the company doesn't ask for the right to post things on your profile, though those concerned about that probably won't take the deal anyway. At any rate, as long as you're OK with seeing your name attached to Apple on Facebook (and this is an official Apple account), you can get a free Jetpack Joyride code! Enjoy.
Jetpack Joyride hits 350k downloads, releases free update
I think that Halfbrick's latest title, Jetpack Joyride (formerly known as Machine Gun Jetpack), is one of the best games I've played this year, and apparently I'm not the only person who ran to pick it up -- the game has earned over 350,000 downloads in the short time it's been available. To celebrate, the company is dropping a new free update for the game today, featuring a brand new vehicle called Mr. Cuddles (which happens to be a fire-breathing dragon), a "fruit jetpack" based on Halfbrick's popular Fruit Ninja title, and a new skin featuring "Honest Phil," a character designed after Halfbrick's real-life Chief Marketing Officer Phil Larsen. All of those items are available in the game's in-app store, where you can buy them with coins picked up in the title itself (or extra coins bought via in-app purchase, if you don't want to put the time in, and have some extra money sitting around). Jetpack Joyride itself is available as a universal app for just 99 cents -- if you haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should.
Daily iPhone App: Jetpack Joyride
After a few conventions' worth of teasing and a last-minute name change, Halfbrick Studios' latest, Jetpack Joyride, is available as a universal app for iPhone and iPad. I'm ready to call it one of the best iOS games of the year. Of course, I'm a big Halfbrick fan, and I think the running title Monster Dash is their best game until this one (though Fruit Ninja obviously racks up some points for them as well), so this game ends up being particularly up my alley. But it's really a terrific game -- extremely well polished, with great mechanics, tons and tons of replayability, and pretty much everything you'd want in a pick-up-and-play iPhone title. The idea is that you're Halfbrick's main man Barry Steakfries yet again, this time strapping on a Machine Gun Jetpack to try and escape through a lab, and you need to get as far as possible without blowing yourself up. On the way you can collect powerups, spin tokens, and coins, and each of those tweaks the gameplay. Powerups are all vehicles, which change the game's controls for a bit and provide you with an extra shield in case of explosion. Spin tokens add chances at a post-game slot machine, with available bonuses for both the current game and your next go, and coins can be spent in the in-app store (and purchased via in-app purchase, though you never really need them) on extra skins, vehicle add-ons, and other custom items. Jetpack Joyride just oozes style and expertise -- there are also missions that you can accomplish while playing to earn stars, which implement a nicely-paced progression system (complete, I'm told, though I haven't gotten there yet, with a prestige system to boot). And of course there's integrated Game Center, so you can compete with friends and the world on best distance and other stats. Jetpack Joyride is easily on the short list for best iOS games of the year, and might even top it, depending on what else comes out. At just US 99 cents, it's one of the best gaming deals anywhere right now. Get it, without reservation.
Machine Gun Jetpack now Jetpack Joyride, out September 1
Halfbrick Studios has sent out a notice that they've made a name change on their upcoming iOS title. Machine Gun Jetpack (which we've been watching pretty closely here at TUAW) is now called Jetpack Joyride. Apparently the game itself hasn't changed, but the name is different -- so you know what to look for in the App Store. And fortunately, the wait on this one grows ever shorter: The title is set to be released on iOS just a scant week and a half from now on September 1. I've been really impressed by Machine Gun -- sorry, Jetpack Joyride -- every time I've seen it, so this will definitely be one to watch for.
