Thursday, October 30, 2014

Razor Wings

We're formally announcing boss battles for Super Tiny Monkey. There is a planned total of 5 bosses for the game, and we'll reveal them one at a time. We'd like to introduce you all to the game's first boss: Razor Wings.



Razor Wings is an eagle experimented upon by Dr. Zoo. Continuous experimentation brough about the discoloration of his feathers and turned red-maroon. He's larger than ordinary eagles, which can also be attributed to the experiments done to him. He has the laboratory tag BZ-1497, and one of the five favorite creations of Dr. Zoo. He is also very loyal to his master. He will be the first minion to be dispatched by Dr. Zoo in an attempt to recover the escaped experiment BZ-1538, A.K.A. Goggles -- our Super Tiny Monkey.

The following images are actual in-game shots. Because the game is still in development, these images are not representative of the final product. 



True to his name, Razor Wings can harden his feather that can cut like a sharpened blade. It's even more dangerous when he throws them towards a target. He can throw these feather blades in any direction, and with varying velocity. Fortunately for our hero, he can use the shield to deflect these blades and send them back to Razor Wings.

Red featherblades can be deflected using shield

White featherblades cannot be deflected!
Aside from his feather blades, Razor Wings can also use his wings to send a powerful gale force towards his target. Unlike his feather blades though, he takes a little more time building up the wind around him. The whirlwind he projects cannot be deflected, and is stronger than his feather blades. These whirldwinds will bounce around the screen and simply die out eventually. They can also hit Razor Wings.



Aside from projectiles, sometimes he will also resort to melee attacks. He will use his powerful claws to damage his target. This attack is his strongest, but also poses a high risk for him as he becomes very vulnerable to Goggles' power dash.


Power Dash at the right moment

Finally he has the "Raining Blade" ability. He will fly up the sky, far from our hero's reach, and his feather blades would start raining down. While it's not his most powerful move, it poses no risk for him, and it's quite difficult for the player to dodge it.

The "Raining Blade" is his ultimate attack
The screenshots shown are not final. Scoring will be different from the normal "Adventure" mode in that the number of platforms you pass by are not counted at all. Instead, you will be scored based on the number of combos you were able to perform while dealing some damage to the boss. Your damage per hit is also part of the calculation, as well as your remaining life.

The release of this boss will have completed "Act 1" of the game. I will talk more about our plans regarding the episodic nature of Super Tiny Monkey on future articles. Until then, please stay tuned and bookmark us to keep yourself updated on our progress.

-- LJ


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

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Super Tiny Monkey 0.2 is LIVE


Version 0.2 of the new runner/ platformer hybrid from Hobbi Games is now ready for download. For those who already have a copy, update your game now! If you're reading this and still doesn't have a copy, what are you waiting for? You can download and play the game for free right now! Just click on the image below to go to the Play Store page.


So what's new in this update? You can read the detailed changeset from our past blog entry. Click this link.

And please be reminded that the game is still relatively far from completion, and what we're distributing is a DEMO version. Your feedback, comments, and criticism of the game is highly valued and we really would like to hear from you.

We're working on the IOS version and real soon we'll be able to run a closed public test for iPhones and iPads.

-- LJ

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

Saturday, October 18, 2014

STM: October Status Update


We've been working hard these past few weeks to assemble our planned updates for the game. Since we've release our public demo last month, we're very excited to announce the following improvements to the game. These new features will be available for you to enjoy once we publish them in the Play Store. Expect it to arrive this October!

Watch the video where I personally walk you through the new features of the game.



If you don't feel like watching the video, you can just read on as I explain the details of the update.

You can expect the following changes and additions that will come with the update:

Character Upgrades

With character upgrades players will feel the sense of progression. We borrowed some elements from the RPG genre and allow the player to power up their character.




Just keep earning EXP and leveling up to unlock ability tiers. You can then purchase the upgrades using the golden bugs you've been collecting in the game.

Continue System




A standard feature of Endless Runner games, the continue systems allow the player to optionally continue his/her run in case his character died or get caught. Continuing the session will require 1 Rainbow Butterfly. These butterflies are acquired as quest rewards. Player can also get more butterflies in the shop.

In-game Shop

Through the in-game shop players can buy convenience items such as golden bugs or butterflies. It is not our goal to tighten the cost of objects to force players to buy stuff, rather, they're here only for those who lack the time for earning the currencies. If you feel the game is getting skewed towards the favor of the shop, let us know!



Items in the shop are bought with real money. Soon cosmetic items will also be sold here.

New Quests



We added 16 new quests for levels 8-10 players. As with before, these are optional missions that provides not only additional goals, but additional sources of EXP, golden bugs, or butterflies.

Improved Power Dash

The Power Dash may now be used as an offensive weapon. At the moment, only the flying eagles can be brought down with the power dash. In the future, many more types of obstacles can be countered by the player not only using power dash, but by other offensive skills as well.

Dodge them or take them on?


The game is still far from what we would consider a finished game. We chose to let the public play the demo with these updates to gather more user feedback so we know where to improve the game more. We've been listening, and we're very thankful for all your support!

-- LJ


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

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Hobbi Games Goes to PGF




Despite growing up on video games, I've never been to a Games Conference before.  I don't know why that was the case; could be a conflict in schedule, a venue too inconvenient for me to make the trip to, or maybe I'm just cheap that I didn't want to spend some money for the tickets. Finally I've decided that things should change. I love gaming, and now that I'm working my way up the games development ladder I should expose myself to these things. Attending the Philippine Game Festival is the first time I ever got to experience something remotely comparable to international events such as E3, PAX, TGS, or GDC.


SMX Mall of Asia

The conference was held in SMX Mall of Asia. Me and my wife took the two hour drive from Bulacan to Pasay City to get to the event venue. It was a two day event (Oct 3-4), but we only attended the 2nd day, as it was the only time we're available. We arrived at the event place around lunch time, so it's not surprising to see fewer people on the floor.






If I'm not mistaken this is the fifth PGF, and understandably, the venue is much smaller than the more prominent game events, like E3. Hopefully someday though, the Philippine gaming industry would pick up and grow even bigger. Also, this is an indies only event, unlike in E3, where the big publishers have the money to set up gigantic TV screens, and hire booth babes. No, there are no booth babes here. It's all about the games and devices!

Speaking of devices, I tried the much anticipated Occulus Rift. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a virtual reality headgear. You wear it like a heavy pair of goggles, and the screen is presented to you in full 3 dimensions. You literally feel like you are in the world. I remember stepping up the edge of a cliff and my fear of heights crept up on me for a second. I managed to jump across though.




Some devices are pre-configured for near or far sighted visions, but actually you can configure it anytime. I'm 20/20, so I didn't try them.


Jacque tried it. She felt dizzy after

Most Occulus games on display were horror games. We didn't try those. We went with the one adventure demo being developed by Secret 6.

Then there's the mobile games. I was especially keen on them because as you know, we're developing our own mobile game right now, and I wanted to learn how to set up a booth and promote a mobile game on places like this. While their demonstrations are in tablets, they still brought some TVs to help promote the game. Some have a single device with them, some have many on display, mainly because they have more than one game to showcase.


Kooapps's booth

IGDA Manila's booth

Pop Puff and Away showcase

The Face Mountain booth

A Mascot! The guy inside the suit was a former officemate, but I forgot his name...

Boomzap's booth. They have a couple of games on display
The games we had the chance to try are good; inspiring even. It's nice to know that games awareness in this country is continuously growing and we're moving from a purely consumer community to independent producers. I hope someday a triple A developer and publisher would hail from the Philippines, and go toe to toe with Square Enix, Ubisoft, and even EA.

Lastly there are PC games. A couple of titles on display are familiar to me, because I've seen their campaign on Kickstarter.


Wild Season by Quickfire Games


I wanted to try the Quickfire Games booth, but their game seemed addicting that no one was gonna leave anytime soon. Their game Wild Season was on Kickstarter and funded since last year. It's a Harvest Moon type of game, which Jacque and I loved.

GDAP booth


There's also the GDAP booth, where I could have been a part of (just assuming, hahaha). I tried two demos: the first is a JRPG, and the second one is some zombie first person game.

Wish there was more laptops there

We went through the booths counter clockwise, and so the last booth we got to visit was the Graywalker's Purgatory booth. It's a full 3D turn based tactical RPG. Think Final fantasy Tactics, The Banner Saga, and so on. I didn't get the chance to try it, but according to their kickstarter page it's set in a post apocalyptic world, so it might immediately interest the Fallout fans out there.

We didn't stick around for long. The trip back home would have been very painful if we got caught up in rush hour. By 2 pm we were out of there. Sadly, we couldn't attend any of the scheduled conference because of this. All is good though, we got shirts, magazines, notebooks, and even snacks as freebies!






All in all the experience was fun and worth it. We'd be willing to attend the next gaming event and pretty soon, hopefully we'll be up there with our own booth!



-- LJ


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

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