Gnome More War Update 1.0.5

In my previous blog post I talked about my plans for the June update. Truth is, I had planned for a late June or early July release for update 1.0.5. I was so optimistic that I thought I'd be able to set aside 2-3 hours everyday to work on the update. How foolish of me.

Excuses won't get me anywhere, and I guess all that matters now is that I pulled through and the update is out now on the Google play store!

So let's break down what's included in update 1.0.5.

Analytics

While the game is continually getting downloads (especially from Vietnam, of all countries), I've always wondered why the game only got 8 ratings so far, and only 4 reviews. Looking at the leaderboards, I could tell players have gone as far as the second map, which is kinda cool. At least there's a number out there who didn't just download the game and uninstalled after a few minutes of play.

I want to know how the players approach the game. I believe that if I can identify the parts of the game that makes the players drop it, I will be able to work on them, and hopefully improve the game's retention rate. Fortunately Unity has built-in features for analytics so it didn't take much to add one to the game.

Special thanks to my wife, Jacq Gutierrez for implementing Unity Analytics. You are awesome!

Squirrel Gnome

The game is lacking variety on flying creatures, I had always thought. I had always planned on slowly adding more and more enemy types post-launch. I always wanted to add an enemy that would glide across the screen and would occasionally spit out bullets at the player. This should force the player to move around and try to dodge the incoming bullets. Say hello to the Squirrel Gnome.





Lemur Gnome

Later on in the map, Squirrel Gnomes will start calling their more dangerous and annoying cousins: Lemur Gnomes. They basically do the same amount of damage and can easily be dispatched with a single hit. The only problem is that they are faster and moves around quite a lot.






Gnome Chieftain

This one definitely took the most hours to implement. The game has no existing boss encounter, so I had to do a lot of additional coding on top of new artwork and some code refactoring. It was a lot of fun though!

Chieftain appears on waves 10, 20, and 30. For his first two appearances, the player won't be able to kill him as he will escape when his life gets very low. He also have multiple sets of attacks and has changing attack patterns depending on his life force level. I won't spoil it to the players...it's best you find out for yourself!

Eagrett Cart Skin

Defeating the Gnome Chieftain will award the player with a brand new cart skin: Eagrett. It's more of an eagrett inspired cart made of wood than an actual eagrett mount.

Aside from the highlighted features, I also updated the loot collection animation-- enemy drops are actually being shown to be collected by the player, accompanied by a sweet "collect" sound effect. The player is also now rewarded with power ups, an upgrade card, and a free cart skin up to the 20th wave. I hope it incentivises the player to keep going and explore power ups and upgrades. 

You can download the game from the Google play store.

-- LJ

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

Tiny Monkey Escape

Hello everyone, it has been a while...especially to those following us exclusively through this website!

A lot has happened since last year, but I've only been able to post my updates on Facebook and Twitter. Honestly, I'm finding it hard to be a developer, designer, artist, and publicist. It's inevitable to favor one role above others; or to have a least desired one.

Anyway, why did I suddenly decide to show up again? Well, I'm excitedly working on a new game (that is not Super Tiny Monkey)...but before we can get to that I must first get you guys up to speed with a few things.

First, Hobbi Games has partnered with Play Play Fun for at least 4 games. Their role will be as our exclusive publisher for mobile and non-exclusive publisher for web games. The first project we collaborated on was Super Tiny Monkey, re-branded as Tiny Monkey Escape.

I didn't take down my previous articles on Super Tiny Monkey, because TME is basically it, with a changed title. As you know, the game is not finished yet (story wise), but we released it and hoped for a monthly update, optimistically speaking. I'm at least glad to let you guys know that we have delivered a new map (5th in total) post-release-- our first major patch.

What does our first patch do?

Well, aside from the usual bug-fixing and performance optimizations, the highlight would have to be the new map called "Island Town".

TME's map selection screen

In this map, the player will be facing new (and old) obstacles and enemies-- all bent on catching or killing our tiny friend.

Rico the poacher is still after you!

Remember the poacher on the trees in Forest Edge? They're back, but this time they'll be hiding behind trash cans, so instead of looking up, keep your eyes down this time!

Trash can snipers

A new type of obstacle; these snipers hiding inside trashcans will shoot down our unsuspecting hero. Watch out for those bullets!

Avoid the hornets

Live wires dangling must be avoided (or use the shield)

A familiar friend is also once again here to help. Beaks the Hornbill will fly our friend up in the skies to gather golden bugs. But as usual, no place is safe for Goggles and his friends.

Even pelicans are out to get you, it seems

I actually enjoyed designing this map more than the previous ones. Looking back, I could have implemented similar obstacles to the older ones, but this map just inspired me to add more and create variety.

Who let the dogs out?

This update is live and was actually put up a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had the time to get this write up done by then, but I'll do better next time. If you want to play this map, you'll have to pass the level requirements, which means you'll have to play the earlier maps first.

So get downloading now:

-- LJ

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

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 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:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hobbi-Games/670225326384827
Google+: https://plus.google.com/104154087080746442207/posts
Tumblr: http://hobbigames.tumblr.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs-QGA3pIyNXgpztnyRRBqA
Website: http://hobbigames.com/

-- LJ

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

Hobbi Games at ESGS 2014

After experiencing game conventions for the first time at PGF 2014, I kept wanting more. A little over a month has passed, and here we are at another gaming event. This time it's the E-Sports and Gaming Summit. For those who have yet to hear about this, the event's main draw are about e-sports tournaments. Aside from these tournaments, however, they also gave the indie developers a chance to showcase their games for the visitors to play. IGDA Manila was given a booth and Hobbi Games was a very honored recipient of an invitation to be one of the exhibitors. For the first time, we are attending an event as as an exhibitor!

IGDA Manila exhibitors

IGDA's lineup consists of Warrior Defense, Barber Hero, Caves & Chasms, Project CQB, Super Tiny Monkey, and Fizz + Hummer. I gotta say, aside from our own game, the lineup amazed me. The quality and fun factor of the games in our booth has transcended the image and appeal of local indie games, at least in my mind.

Sponsors and showcases. Can you spot the STM logo?

From time to time I sneak out of our booth and let my partner do the work, because I wanted to check out all the other games. It would have been such a waste if I didn't get to try them out, no?

Quickfire Games was here, and just like with PGF, they're showcasing Wild Season and Hayaku Ninja. Finally, I had the chance to play both games. Playing Wild Season immediately reminded me of the Harvest Moon days, what with a farm, a mayor, and a bunch of single girls that I'm sure you're bound to have a relationship with. The game is still in alpha, so it would be too early to make judgment calls on anything. While Wild Season has a relaxed pace, Hayaku Ninja is the opposite. It's got a frantic "catch falling stuff" (in it's case it's falling mochi) gameplay, and a boss battle to boot.

As I wander around I also took pictures of other booths and their on-going events.

Other games that I was also able to try were Super Awesome Quest by Boomzap, Nightfall by Zeenoh Games, Limbones by St.Benilde, Kaloka by Pepe Berba, and Jumping Jean by Javi Almirante. I wanted to try more games, but as an exhibitor myself, I have to get back to work!

St.Benilde booth. I remember when I was making DOS games in college...

Boomzap booth. I got reconnected with an old colleague here

Zeenoh games with their horror game Nightfall

"Kaloka" is a must try. The title is very apt.

Jumping Jean. I enjoyed playing this.

Going back to the IGDA Manila booth, people are just pouring in. Maybe it's because we're showcasing good games, or was it because we're next to the snack station?

Some media reps also came in to try our games. I felt especially nervous around them, because I don't know how to be a salesman! I built my career around software engineering, and selling my own product is a first for me. Getting interviewed is also a first for me.

Haogamers was here

TooMuchGaming was also here

The event went for 2 days, and considering the drive from and back to Bulacan, manning the booth, standing and walking around for an entire day, it was exhausting to say the least; but it all paid off when I think about the great experience I had talking to fellow developers, industry veterans, and the players themselves. Hearing their feedback on how they enjoy the game is such a fine feeling that just wipes all the exhaustion away. On the other hand, listening to their comments, suggestions, and advice made me so happy, because it proves that they are interested in what I offer. I may have been making games for more than 10 years, but it was primarily  just a hobby, and I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to designing commercial games. I also don't have a full understanding of the market yet.Their words gave me direction and motivation. You guys are simply awesome!

Mr.Evan Spytma, Regional Country Manager for Unity Singapore

Me talking to Mr. Nimit Panpalia of POKKT. We had a very insightful conversation about market standards and business sense. I was so lucky to have met him. Also in the frame is Mr. Evan Spytma playing Project CQB

To celebrate each day of the event, we at Hobbi Games went out to dinner.

A special shout out goes to the 4 winners of the Super Tiny Monkey t-shirt!

Jose Rafael Dimatera

Jan Michael Lim

Jerome Delos Santos

Rafael San Antoni [sic]

-- LJ

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