Pokémon GO Rockets To The Top Of The App Store

As most will probably now know, Pokémon GO is the new Augmented Reality game from developer Niantic, and is available for all mobile devices. The game was originally released in Australia and New Zealand then very shortly afterwards the US, taking the number one spot in less than a day on iOS, and in just four days on Android.

Nintendo have always been cautious about going into the mobile gaming market, but with the massive success of Pokémon GO, the company have now had a glimpse of the potential growth the mobile market can offer.

As well as hitting the number one spot in record times, the game has been making some serious money via in-app purchases, and the incredible surge in Nintendo’s share prices gave a 36% bump in just two days. This is the largest increase the company has seen since 1983 with the initial release of the Famicon (Family Computer) in Japan.

The new app has gained so many users in such a short space of time, that it’s now getting close to overtaking Twitter, in terms of daily activity. The continuing spike in players hasn’t been all good news for everyone, as most are experiencing serious issues with the servers going down every few hours, and what many have reported as a “lack of Pokémon” when out in the wild. Niantic have kept people updated via their Twitter account, and as of a couple of hours ago Tweeted –

With the new update available we should now see less of the major issues, but the firm have said they will continue to work on it. All this being said, one issue for many is that the app still isn’t available in all territories like the UK, and a delay has been confirmed till they are satisfied with the games stability. As well as fixing certain issues, CEO John Hanke confirmed they will be adding new features such as trading your monsters with friends, and said “It’s kind of a core element”.

The app has been out for a little over a week, and has already become a part of my daily ritual, with it’s unique go-out-to-play experience, and the need to “Catch em’ all”.

SNIKT!

Pokémon GO Players Finding Pokémon in Strange Places

Players of the newly released Pokémon GO have begun their quests to become a Pokémon master, and in their spare time have been sharing some incredible shots via Twitter and other social media.

Pokémon GO is a new augmented-reality (AR) game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices. The game is free-to-play and allows people to capture their favourite pocket monsters in the real world, but this has proven to be quite a unique experience for some users, like this accidental fry-up:

The perfectly Exeggcuted shot:

For a lot of users, taking a bathroom break has proven to be quite the ordeal when they find its occupied:

Probably best to leave this Rattata alone:

Some of people have even had Pokémon interacting with their pets…sort of:

A few trainers have been searching a little too far and wide, finding themselves in some strange places, most recently a police station. It seems like it started to become a bit of an issue when the station had to issue a kind request to users:

The app first went live in Australia and New Zealand and is now available for those in the US, but sadly there’s still no news on when the UK and Europe will be able to start training.

To go with the app, avid trainers will be able to purchase a small wearable bracelet called the Pokémon Go Plus. This notifies them of nearby monsters via a Bluetooth connection which will light up and rumble once you’re close, but at the moment it has a rough release window of late July 2016.

SNIKT!

Dynasty Warriors Coming For iOS And Android

The legendary tactical action game is making it’s way into the mobile game market. The upcoming Dynasty Warriors will be free to play and totally designed for mobile gaming so it’s not a conversion of some older title. Nexon Korea is producing the new app in cooperation with Dynasty Warriors publisher Koei Tecmo and developer XPEC Entertainment, the new Dynasty Warriors should be available later this year.

The game looks pretty sweet, and if you are not familiar with the franchise yet, this should be a perfect way to see if you like it. It should also be great for the old time fans, at least this is what the developers believe.

Nexon Korea’s Jiwon Park  has been reported saying:“Dynasty Warriors is a beloved and fan-favorite franchise that has endured for nearly two decades and gives Nexon Korea another triple-A title for audiences around the world to enjoy,[…]Fully enhanced for mobile while retaining the feel of the console versions, Project Dynasty Warriors will immerse hardcore gamers and deliver everything that made the Dynasty Warriors series a beloved global masterpiece.”

Play with passion!

auburn.geek

 

Indie Games Part 3: Honey Bee

Today I’m introducing to you a new, fun puzzle game called Honey Bee. The cute game is made by Pelangi games and once again, an interview with the game’s creator will be attached to the end of this article. I love puzzle games but I’m a bit picky about them, so when I say that Honey Bee is really worth trying out, you know it’s got to be true! The music in the game is definitely a big bonus when it comes to relaxing, it really is quite soothing.

Honey Bee is a fun, simple and relaxing puzzle game. Here’s why:
• Fun: Because ‘Honey Bee’ will offer you an enjoyable, yet entertaining challenge to simply pass the time or exercise your puzzle-solving mind.
• Simple: Combine, combine, combine, that’s all there is to it! It’s an easy learning curve, the short tutorial will quickly get you started.
• Relaxing: Play ‘Honey Bee’ at your own pace. There’s no end goal to aim for or a count-down timer to race against! Just chill-out and enjoy the music.

Features:
• Combine tiles of the same kind together to form bigger tiles.
• Unlock features to help you advance.
• Expand the board as you level up.
• Compete with friends for the highest score.
• Post your highest scores to the leader board.

How far can you go? Play on your holiday. Play on your commute. Play while lounging around. Play for free now! No in-app purchases required. At all! We really mean it!

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Here is the promised interview with Alan:

1) Where did you get the idea for your game, and how did you start?

It happened when I was searching for a game that I could play to past the time during the boring bits of going away on holiday. You know, like whilst sitting in an airport lounge in eager anticipation of a relaxing long haul flight, or waiting for my Wife on the other end of the duty free shopping zone. By serendipity I came across a puzzle game called Big Maker, which filled this space quite nicely. Most gamers would liken the game mechanics of Honey Bee with the very popular 2048 puzzle games, but the closest relation is actually the relatively little known Big Maker game. The game had a wide audience appeal but there were little things that I felt could be improved to enhance the overall experience. I thought no further of it and allowed the ideas to incubate in my head. Fast forward a few months later and I found myself downloading Unity, almost subconsciously and proceeded to go through the tutorials. Just as I was getting a reasonable grasp of Unity and felt empowered enough to build a game of my own, I discovered that my initial game idea of a MOBA management simulator had already been done and was already in early access. My heart sunk in this revelation as I had invested lots of time to get to the point where I was finally able to build this game. In hind-sight this was a blessing in disguise as the scope and resources required for a management style simulation game would have made for a rough introduction to game development. That very same night, I revisited the Big Maker ideas I had parked away all those months ago and said to myself, “Why not?”. Why not remake the game with a fresh look-and-feel and bring my own innovations to the mix. I quickly built a minimum viable product of what was to become Honey Bee, tested its playability and was determined to bring the prototype up to polish and launched on the Google Play store.

2) What were your expectations for the game? Was it everything you had hoped for?

Honey Bee had shown lots of promise during its development and I knew I had something special when my Wife was hooked on playing early versions of it. On more than one occasion, I had to pry her away from playing on my dev tablet just so that I could play-test it myself! Since then, I had the aim to design Honey Bee for her in mind, and reasoned that if she enjoyed it then her friends will likely enjoy playing it too. However, most level-headed people would know that for a game without a marketing budget and from an unknown developer would have required the help of a minor miracle for it to become a overnight success. So from very early on I set my expectations to what would be reasonable and realistic. Since launch, the game has received a gradual uptake in players and it is my hope that these players would enjoy the game enough to share with their friends and gain some momentum. Amusingly, there is already an emergence of competitiveness for the highest score between players of the same social circle, but maybe that’s just me *laughs*

3) What was the hardest part in making your game? How about the most fun part?

My adorable Toddler clutching her favourite Peppa Pig puppet book doing everything she can including disconnecting my laptop power cable to get me to read to her for the 7th iteration…that morning. All the while trying to debug a mind-bending recursive function for my game-over checker. But seriously, I think effective time management and having the right work life balance can be tricky at times. Working in a hectic home environment with lots of distractions is something I had to adapt to very quickly. Often times though, these distractions away from the computer screen were in themselves productive, as it allowed me to mull over a programming problem I was trying to solve, or brainstorm over the design of a feature I was working on. Integrating 3rd party plug-ins can also be frustrating. Despite them being open-source, I felt little or no control over them without spending a large amount of time understanding the code more intimately. I guess I preferred working on my own mess rather than other peoples. Not naming names *smiles*. The weekly Friday afternoon music hour was a time we set aside to wind down the week and find the backing soundtrack to Honey Bee by streaming through dozens of songs. I knew I had a hit if my toddler was happily dancing to a song, and those made for very fun times. She’s a very silly dancer, such is the pejorative of any toddler really. It was also fun watching my ordinarily nonchalant wife put in solid sessions of Honey Bee and her frequent outbursts as she made gaming mistakes. I knew at that point she was fully engrossed and wasn’t even thinking about it as a game that I was making, but rather just a game she was entirely engaged in. That was pretty funny to witness in a strangely perverted way.

4) Is making games a hobby, or do you want to earn your living with it? 

I guess for now it’s a hobby foremost, unless it somehow is able to substitute a stable job with a steady income on which my young family and I depend on. On the other hand, the immense satisfaction of being able to handcraft an idea into existence is a rarity, and I suppose if I was able to turn it into a living it would become the ideal dream lifestyle. If I’m fortunate enough perhaps one day it might happen.

5) Do you have any other game projects at the moment?

There are plans for a an iOS port of Honey Bee and a possible make-over of the artwork if Honey Bee finds some success. In the meantime, there’s still a long list of work to be done so that’s going to keep me busy for a little while longer. I do have a bunch of game ideas that I’ve been scribbling away on and plan to bring to life once Honey Bee is completely done. My wife suggested that I make a game called ‘Happy wife, happy life’, but when I prompted her on details she couldn’t give any beyond the games title.

6) Anything you’d like to say to people who dream of making games?

Just go for it! The trend for games development has become more accessible to a wider group of people with game engines like Unity, and the wide array of open source software allows you to comfortably create assets of your own. It is truly a collaborators paradise we are living in and I think the time has been ripe for sometime now for indie developers to showcase some pretty cool stuff with very little start-up capital. With such a rich plethora of resources available on the internet, we are spoiled for choice and many of the obstacles that once was are now removed with game publication made increasingly easier. If you have the passion and perseverance and If your dream keeps you awake at night, it deserves to be brought into reality.

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Honey Bee is downloadable from Google Play Store, just click this link! or search: Honey Bee puzzle game. You can also follow PelangiGames on Twitter.

Play with passion!

auburn.geek