As Disco Dodgeball nears launch, I’ll be adding Steam trading cards to the game and to make things interesting I’ve reached out to a wide variety of fantastic artists from around the world and will have them each create a trading card in their own personal style and interpretation. In the works are things like a pixel art de-make, a Dyscourse crossover, and an illustration of the ‘Early Years’ of the dodgeball robots.
Disco Dodgeball just hit 3 million views on YouTube! 90% of those views can be attributed to the top 10 videos, many of which are made by people with millions of subscribers. But the game is also popular with a ton of smaller channels – there are hundreds of individual videos and it’s awesome to see that people are excited enough about the game that they want to share.
In order to make this happen, I just started by sending over keys to some smaller channels. They’re generally very receptive to playing new games, and a lot of YouTubers watch other channels to see what kind of content is popular so it basically just spread to larger channels from there. I was also able to get a few very large videos simply by sending an email to the channel’s business address. Fortunately it’s the kind of game that is easy to get into, is visually exciting, and also great fodder for doing cross-channel collaborations, so that’s probably a good part of the reason it’s gotten good traction with that community.
To close out October I decided to have a week-long Disco Dodgeball charity battle royale to raise some money for Doctors Without Borders, who are currently heavily involved in the fight against Ebola in West Africa. The game was put on sale for half off for the event. During the week I encouraged streamers to battle other channels in grudge matches, and at the end all of the proceeds were donated. I was able to raise $480, and hope to do similar charity events in the future.
Disco Dodgeball was mentioned in Ars Technica’s ‘30 Games to watch in 2014’ list: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/05/the-ars-indie-showcase-30-games-to-watch-in-2014/2/. Kyle Orland said, “It’s a welcome change from the point-and-kill simplicity of the semi-automatic weapons in most shooters….If there’s any justice in this world, there will be a truly competitive Disco Dodgeball scene among pro gamers in the near future.”
Disco Dodgeball was shown at this year’s PAX East in the Indie Megabooth. Thanks to sponsors Intel and Alienware, I was able to create an amazing LAN setup with four computer stations battling each other while broadcasting a roving spectator camera on a widescreen TV facing the conference crowds. I got to meet a bunch of streamers and YouTubers in person that I had previously only met online, and watch a ton of people enjoy the game. One high note in particular was seeing parents and their kids playing together, and often the kids would return for multiple rounds later in the day. I also got to have a chat with Markiplier, one of the largest YouTubers / streamers who has covered the game. The whole event was exhausting but very rewarding.
I got to chat with John and Landon over at Big Sushi about Disco Dodgeball: http://www.bigsushi.fm/episode-136-erik-asmussen-robot-roller-derby-disco-dodgeball/ I talked about the game’s inspiration, the magic of googly eyes, and my future plans for the game.
The newest game from 82 Apps’ Erik Asmussen is now live in the App Store – PWN: Combat Hacking!
This fast-paced strategy game is inspired by ridiculously over-the-top hacking scenes in action movies, where maladjusted heroes and idolized villains engage in digital kung-fu as they launch cyberattacks at each other in 3D virtual reality.
By combining this electrifying pseudo-hacking style with skillful, strategic, and quick-reflex action, PWN: Combat Hacking delivers an intense and challenging experience that will leave your pulse racing.
