White Beach Escapade

After a five months since release, we finally have half of the next Act done for Super Tiny Monkey!

First of all, sorry about the pacing. You know how this goes; I have a full time job and I'm only left with so much time to devote on this project, with my wife lending a hand when it comes to testing and back end development. This upcoming game update is the result of five weeks worth of work spread across five months.

So, what's new with STM? What does this long overdue update bring?

First on the list is the removal of the dreaded "death on fall" mechanic. No longer will you instantly die when you miss your jump and fall to the ground. Instead of dying, your character will just continue jumping on the ground. We've been getting feedback about how the fall death makes the game much more difficult, and leans the game towards un-fun than challenging. That being said though, don't get too comfortable just watching your character leap across the ground-- we added ground traps that will appear from time to time, to keep players on their toes. Also, there's that poacher chasing you who will easily catch you if you stay too low.

Be careful of these spiky plants!

Next, and this is a big one, is the brand new map called White Beach. Our hero manages to flee from Rico the poacher and get out of the forest, only to end up in a beach filled with territorial monkeys, inexplicably aggressive sea gulls, and falling coconut fruits. It is here where Goggles will continue his adventure into the unknown world, and continue his escape from Dr.Zoo.

The new map isn't just a copy of the first map. While it retains the core gameplay of jumping from one platform to the next while avoiding obstacles, we added a new game mode: the "Ride" mode.

A few seconds at the beginning of the map, you will encounter a new friend.

I'm a fan of SHMUPS, and Gradius is on of my childhood favorites. Obviously, I'd be inspired to make at least a mini-game based on it. At some point in your adventure, you will meet a new character, Beaks the Hornbill, who will introduce the player to the Ride mode. All you have to do is catch up to him and you'll be taken up in the sky.

Ride mode

As with Gradius, you control Beaks directly by swiping you finger on the screen. Beaks will keep following the touched area. Your usual power up buttons will be relocated to the right side of the screen, but the other two power ups (Shield and Power Dash) will be removed, with only the Spitoon remaining. An Eject button is also provided if you wish to prematurely get out of this mode. While in this mode, you can collect golden bugs not found on land, either avoid or shoot enemies that come at you. Shooting enemies has the incentive of spawning more golden bugs. When you do get hit, you will automatically eject from Ride mode, but don't worry, Beaks will reappear after some time.

It is important to note that while in Ride mode, your Score will not increase. You will play Ride mode ideally when you're looking to collecting golden bugs.

Now let's go back to land. White Beach maps introduced new obstacles the player must deal with. Aside from the staple poacher that keeps chasing our hero, there are now actual monkeys in the game! Unfortunately these monkeys are territorial and unfriendly. They don't like it when you step on their trees. You can either avoid them or bring them down with your Spitoon or Power Dash.

There three types of territorial monkeys, each with their own behaviors. It's better to get to know them yourself, so I wont spoil them for you.

There are also sea gulls on land, so always be on alert!

You think those coconuts are harmless? Look again.

The update also added 30 quests to the game, and unlocked the next level of power upgrades (when you reach level 18).

The White Beach map is available to all players, with the minimum level requirement of 16. True to the STM design, each act is composed of two maps. This map will be the first half of the act, with the Boss map currently in development. You can follow our updates from our website, Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter. Follow us!

Here's a sneak peak of what we have so far on the Boss map:

Get the updated game from Google Play.


-- LJ

To contact the author, just send your e-mail to hobbigames@gmail.com

Super Tiny Monkey: Act 2 Screenshots

A new batch of screenshots for Super Tiny Monkey: Act 2, fresh out of the oven. Enjoy!

More details coming soon! Just give us some time to put in all the new enemies and obstacles.

-- LJ

To contact the author, just send your e-mail to hobbigames@gmail.com

Super Tiny Monkey Act 2: White Beach

It has been a few weeks since we released Super Tiny Monkey on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. The days that followed were spent on delivering an update that would improve user interface and resolve the bugs that were found quickly after release. Now that Apple has finally reviewed and approved of our update for the iOS version, it's time for us to get back on track and start won the promised Act 2 of the game (and soon, all subsequent Acts up to Act 5).

I wanted each Act to feel unique in terms of gameplay. We (yes, you who have played the game!) already know that the premise of the game-- just navigate through the platforms, avoiding obstacles and outrunning Rico the Poacher. It sounds repetitive by nature, so I never stopped thinking of ways to spice things up for the new maps that we're going to deliver.

First, Act 2 will no longer take place in the same old Forest Edge map. If you've played the game, you will notice from the map selection that Act 2 has a beach backdrop:

Secondly, the new map, which will be called White Beach map, will feature a brand new set of obstacles. Aside from Rico the Poacher pursuing you, everything else will be new. This map will have rivaling territorial monkeys that will knock you out if you ever stepped on their tree, while some will even hurl stones at you when you get in their range.

Lastly, the new map will introduce a new game mechanic-- the "ride" mode. This isn't anything new or innovative by itself. In fact, this type of gameplay has been known to be mixed in with other sidescrollers as well (Megaman, TMNT, etc.). In this mode, your character will ride a bird, and this will give the player a new gaming experience, with a new control scheme and yet again a new set of obstacles.

This is a work in progress!

So here's the basic idea: at the beginning of Act 2 Goggles and Paru will meet a new character named Beaks the Hornbill. Every once in a while during a run, Beaks will appear and the player can choose to ride on him or let him pass by. Upon riding Beaks, they will climb up in the air above the trees, and the camera will follow them. Welcome to the "ride" mode!

The "ride" mode, also a work in progress

Remember Gradius? Oh boy, that's one of my all time favorites. This new "ride" mode is inspired by that game in case it isn't obvious yet. Much like in Gradius, you cannot collide with any other creatures or projectiles running across the screen. In order to avoid these new set of obstacles, you control Beaks by swiping your finger across the screen. Beaks will move in the same direction as your swipe, so there's no more tapping or gliding in this mode. All the power ups that Goggles has learned are still usable here, and you can choose to be a defensive or offensive player. When you do get hit however, Beaks will be knocked down and you will eject yourself, only to fall back down below the trees. From here on normal gameplay and control scheme will be used and you can only hope for Beaks to appear again soon.

Beaks the hornbill concept art

So that's the gist of the first part of Act 2. These are all still works in progress, and now would be a great time to get your feedback. What do you think of the design? We'd be happy to take on comments and suggestions.

Hopefully I can work on a prototype real quick and show you guys a working gameplay footage. Until then, see you around!

-- LJ

To contact the author, just send your e-mail to hobbigames@gmail.com

Super Tiny Monkey Out Now!

After months of hard work, labor, and skipping lots of weekend nights-out, we're excited and proud to announce that Super Tiny Monkey is finally out now on Android and IOS devices.

You play as Goggles, the experimental tarsier who managed to escape from Dr. Zoo’s laboratory and your goal is to run away from his poachers and minions who are sent to capture you. You must leap, glide, dash, or dive from one platform to the next to get as far away as possible. The crux of the gameplay revolves around avoiding obstacles. You will begin with the most basic of control, which is simply tapping on the screen as you pass platforms by-- not unlike a rythm game. As you progress and your character levels up you will open up more control options such as gliding, diving, dashing, and at higher levels you gain access to super powers that will help you conquer the increasing difficulty of the game. There are two game modes: the endless platformer (adventure) mode and the unlockable boss battle mode. Megaman has been such a huge inspiration for me, still one of my all time favorite games to date, and hopefully this shows on the boss battle experience.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who helped us along the way. Thank you for testing the game and giving us feedback. The game wouldn't be as awesome as it is today if not for your help, and while it's finally out for everyone to enjoy, our work isn't over yet! There's still four acts to expect and we've actually began working on Act Two.

The game is FREE to download and play, and is available on both Android and IOS platforms (iPhone, iPad, tablets). Here are the download links:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/super-tiny-monkey/id919522710?ls=1&mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hobbigames.tinymonkey
You can also simply search for "Super Tiny Monkey" in the App Store or the Play Store.

To get in touch with us, or to follow further development of the game, you can bookmark our website:

http://www.hobbigames.com

So what are you waiting for? Download the game now and start leaping, gliding, and diving for your survival!

-- LJ

To contact the author, just send your e-mail to hobbigames@gmail.com

Beta Tester Rewards

The game is almost ready for release. As is standard with BETA tests, we'll reset everything and have a fresh start when the game releases. Of course, we're not simply forgetting all you BETA testers who helped us through the development of the game with your feedback and bug reports. As our way of saying "Thank You" we're offering some sort of reward for all who downloaded and will download and play the game until the time of release.

Here's how it'll work:
1.) You have to have downloaded and played the game at least one time since we started beta until before we release the upcoming update.
2.) You must perform the update from the device that you used to play the BETA version on. The reward is device bound, not account bound. After it gives you the rewards, then it will be tied to your account.
3.) You must perform an UPDATE. If you had previously played the game but uninstalled it, or wiped out the local data from you device, then you won't get the rewards. We suggest that you download and play at least once as soon as possible.
4.) This is for Android only.

So there you have it. Once again we thank all of you for your contribution, and we're so excited to deliver the release version of Super Tiny Monkey: Act One.

-- LJ

To contact the author, just send your e-mail to hobbigames@gmail.com

STM: December Status Update

Despite the long December holidays, we're still hard at work on Super Tiny Monkey. I really don't know myself how, but we managed to put in quite a number of new features in time for our target release date. I'm personally excited to tell you all about these latest additions to the game.

Here's the video that shows all the new features of the game:

In case you couldn't watch the above video, don't worry. Just read on and don't hesitate to drop a few comments afterwards.

Acts and Storytelling

If you've been following the game development from the start, you'll recall my previous article about the game's plot. We want to put this backstory in the game itself, and we've decided that the most feasible way is to present it using comic strips.

The comic strips come in full color. While they don't have speech bubbles, we try to make each panel come alive by adding sound effects and contextual animations. These strips tell the story for every Act in the game, and acts as the prologue for their respective maps. We believe that by adding these fluff pieces gives the game more depth and personality.

Unlocking Boss Maps

I mentioned in a previous video that the Razor Wings map will be available to players at level 15. Some people felt that it will make the game a little too grindy. After some reevaluation, we decided to lower this requirement to level 11. We adjusted the player's progression and by level 10, you would have learned all the abilities at their basic level. All that will be left for your character's improvement will be upgrading these abilities.

Future boss maps will have the option of purchasing them to be unlocked. For Act one however, it is not possible to unlock the Razor Wings map by purchasing it, as we don't want the players to bypass the crucial learning levels.

Spitoon Super Power

The third and final super power our hero can learn is the Spitoon. It's basically a bullet fired by the player that travels in a straight horizontal direction. This gives the player a long range offensive option, and while it's much cheaper than power dash, it's also weaker.

Just like the power dash, it can bring down enemies (eagles, and boss, at the moment) but not poacher Rico, or the poacher hanging by the trees. Future maps will feature more of these enemies that can be brought down using offensive powers.

New Side Quests

As with the Forest Edge map, the boss map will also have its own set of quests. They're also entirely optional, although I'm sure players will inevitably complete them as they play.

Game Assistant

One thing we observed from the players during a public demo is that when they die twice or thrice too early into the game, they give up, stop playing, and move on. While it is our goal to make the game challenging, we don't want to discourage new players. Instead, we want them to feel welcome into the game. This is how we came up with the game assistant.

The game assistant is basically a tutorial system, only we didn't make a separate tutorial map. The assistant will appear from time to time, usually at the beginning of a run, in order to teach the player the basic controls, and of any new abilities that have been unlocked.

Your assistant is more that just a tutorial. He's an actual game character with a personality of his own. His name is Paru, the rainbow butterfly. Aside from teaching you how to play the game he also give his accounts of the events and experiences of our hero. We want to design a cute, lovable, yet witty side character in Paru.

We're almost ready for release with Act One; we're just polishing some stuff here and there, so hopefully all will be ready for release this month. To keep yourself updated of any news and announcements, all you have to do is subscribe. As usual, you can follow us from the links below:

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-- LJ

To contact the author, just send your e-mail to hobbigames@gmail.com