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

Gnome More War June War Plans

Hey everyone!

Not a day goes by that I don't think about what more I can do to make this game more fun for me, and hopefully for you. After launching a somewhat paltry May update, I think now I have enough ideas for a more content-filled one, which I plan to release in July. This gives me the month of June to work on this-- so I must make the best of all the free time I can get this month!

Anyway, here's a snapshot of my post-it notes. Come take a look:

The game is really young, and no one has even played the 3rd map yet. Most players just played the first map, and judging by the leaderboard scores only a few has made it to the second map. I want to improve the experience for beginning players, and hopefully get them to stay. In order to achieve this, I've thought about introducing a number of things: improved rewards, more enemy types, and boss battles.

I think the game should be rewarding players as they progress through the first map. This could also work as an introduction to the game's customization features (i.e. power-ups, upgrade decks, and cart skins). Furthermore, players should be awarded with cart skins when they beat the map for the first time. For these new features I will be adding 4 new cart skins! I will be revealing the designs on my future articles.

Aside from an improved rewards system, I had always planned on slowly adding more and more enemy types post-launch. I was thinking of adding 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. I would call this one the Squirrel Gnome. It's still in the early concept stage. I'll let you guys know more about it on future blog posts!

And finally I think I'm gonna start to push through with my original plan of adding bosses in the game. In case you're not aware, I had launched a crowdfunding campaign at Indiegogo in order to raise funds for the game's further development. While that didn't go as well as I had hoped, it's no reason to just stop updating the game. I already have a few concept artworks done for the bosses, but for the next month I think it's more reasonable to target just one; the others can come in the future.

I will talk more about the upcoming boss, the Gnome Chieftain, on future blog posts, so stay tuned and bookmark this page!

You can check out Gnome More War on Google Play right now!: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hobbigames.gnomemorewar

-- 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 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