Jungle Rumble on Joystiq!
Joystiq has been welcomed to the jungle. They posted a little blurb on Jungle Rumble — check it out here!
Category Archives: Studio Press
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! on Oculus Rift
EDIT – What a reaction! We’re flummoxed and beside ourselves! Just check out what a few of our favorite sites are saying about our AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAannouncement:
“When thinking of games that would be both exhilarating and possibly stomach-turning when played with an Oculus Rift, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome is a good candidate. Developer Owlchemy Labs has announced that such support is coming “sooner rather than later” for the base-jumping game.” – Jordon Devore, Destructoid
“Perhaps no game is better suited for Oculus Rift than Dejobaan’s falling simulator, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome.” -Andrew Yoon, Shack News
“This is either the best or worst idea I have ever heard: freefall sim AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome is getting Oculus Rift support. Please pass me that bucket. Thanks.” -Brenna Hillier, VG24/7
“I mean, now that I give the idea some thought, it’s like the two were made for each other… in some demonic nausea factory, inextricably fused by a glue made of congealed stomach acid.” -Nathan Grayson, RPS
“They sent me an early, unfinished version of the game, and their work is amazing. You truly feel as if you’re falling through these amazing environments, which is a scary, thrilling thing to experience.” -Ben Kuchera, The PA Report
—–
Never before in the history of the universe has there been a more perfect combination. This is more epic than peanut butter and chocolate, macaroni and cheese and, yes, even Sonny and Cher. Yes, that’s right, Owlchemy Labs, your friendly neighborhood indie developers (creators of such classics as Snuggle Truck and Jack Lumber) are bringing the epic base-jumping game overflowing with A’s to the Oculus Rift! It’s AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaCULUS!!!
Here at Owlchemy Labs HQ, we’ve engaged in numerous play-tests in our secret Owl Cave and we can easily say (with confidence) that this is one of the most absurdly amazing gaming experiences to date! The all-encompassing sense of free-fall is so intense, the feeling of blasting past buildings for points so real, our very own play-testers have been known to duck their heads, in real life, when large objects scream past their face.
Worry not, salivating fans! This is, indeed, an actual “thing” and will be available as a part of the Steam version of Aaaaa! for the Awesome. AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaCULUS!!! mode will available soooon! If you recall, our intrepid team of Owl Scientists have teamed up with the wonderfully fragrant Dejobaan Games to create AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome, the semi-sequel to the IGF-nominated AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity. You’re in good hands. Or wings.
Ever since the Rift was first announced, gamers (and press) have been asking for this experience to slap them right in the face. Observe all the clamoring:
Is this the Killer App for Oculus? We think so. It is, without a doubt, the Best Thing Ever. But enough boredom with words. Look at these pretty pictures instead!
You can find additional screenshots here!
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaCULUS!!! mode — coming soon.
<3
Owlchemy’s speaking circuit… of SCIENCE!
The scientists at Owlchemy Labs are constantly on the move, heading from conference to conference, sapping the knowledge (and brain fluids) of others, while also sharing knowledge with the community. Here’s a few of our recent and upcoming conference happenings.
Back in March, we headed to GDC ’13 in San Francisco. What a great time! Our talk finally achieved my life-long goal of creating a title so long, people fall asleep before reaching the end. The title was “Continuously Bootstrapping an Indie Studio by Remaining Agile”. Despite the name, it was apparently one of the highest rated GDC talks this year!
Coming up in August is our talk at Unite ’13 in Vancouver, Canada! We’re excited to head out west and geek out about Unity.
Finally, we’re heading to GDC China ’13 in September, held in Shanghai. This should be an awesome opportunity to travel the globe and spread science among the people.
Lot of good stuff coming up, I’d say!
Boston Loves Big Sushi!
John and Landon run a podcast at BigSushi.fm. They talk to video game creators to get the stories behind the games… what inspires us, what troubles us, what our goals are. They have spoken to three of us at the Indie Game Collective.
Trevor Stricker of Disco Pixel:
http://bigsushi.fm/episode-82-disco-pixel/
Ichiro Lambe, Dave Evans and Michael Carriere of Dejobaan, Hybrid Mind and Zapdot:
http://bigsushi.fm/episode-81-dejobaan-games/
Ziba Scott of Popcannibal:
http://bigsushi.fm/episode-61-popcannibal/
Alex Schwartz of Owlchemy Labs:
COMING SOON…
Kids, these days! They phone it in (when they play video games)
Schoolboy me had an orange plastic clamshell that opened up to reveal two screens of Donkey Kong. If you were good, you could jump from the girders on the bottom screen to reach the top screen, and jump on more girders.
But now, poor Nintendo is on the wrong side of a trend. The stock has been floating down over the years like Mario in his raccoon suit. Something disruptive this way comes: That glass slab in your pocket. A smartphone plays games just as well as anything dreamed up by famed Nintendo designer Gunpei Yokoi.
Read it all in the Boston Globe.
Trevor is currently making Jungle Rumble. No classic handhelds were harmed in the creation of this article.
25 Indie Games to Keep an Eye On
Kyle Orland and Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica wrote up an article about recently released or up-and-coming games, and both Drop that Beat Like an Ugly Baby and PWN were mentioned!
“The first thing that strikes you about this game is its extreme similarities to A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, which isn’t that surprising since both titles are from developer Dejobaan Games. Drop The Beat Like an Ugly Baby improves the concept of that first-person base jumping simulator in a number of ways. For one, the levels are now generated from MP3 files, Audiosurf-style, so the pillars and platforms you’re dodging fly by in time with the beat of the music you’re listening to. For another, the interface has been improved to show you just how close you are to the nearby objects that give you points.
The game is currently controlled with a mouse, which provides a much finer experience than the WASD controls. But the developers tell Ars that more control options may be in the final version. As long as I can plug in Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ super-ironically, the controls can work however they want.”
—Kyle Orland“Developer Erik Asmussen isn’t shy about his elevator pitch: to make a game that plays just like the cheesy hacking sequences from ’90s cyberpunk films. PWN drips with the style you’d expect from films like Hackers and Sneakers, from neon backgrounds and phony-looking “cyberspace” settings to big-beat techno and doofy-looking avatar art.
PWN sets two hackers against each other to capture every connected node, and its levels range from simple 2D grids of boxes to intense, criss-crossing arrays that must be spun around in 3D. Tap to control a node, then use a variety of “hacks”—like firewalls, trojan horses, and viruses—to corrupt your opponent’s progress and take over. What could easily devolve into a simple tap-fest does well with a nice balance of superpowers and grid-placement strategy, not to mention a pretty decent campaign full of cheesy ’90s-film writing. It earns its $2 price on the App Store and then some.”
—Sam Machkovech
Read the full article here.
82 Apps releases ‘PWN: Combat Hacking’
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.
“Girls Like Robots” from Popcannibal and Adult Swim
New today: Girls Like Robots, an adorable puzzle game about love and seating arrangements.
Available for iPhone, iPad and iPod now!
Popcannibal is positively gibbering with excitement to tell you that we have partnered with Adult Swim games to publish Girls Like Robots. It has been an amazing year made possible by the support of the Boston Indies community. Now go make some Girls and Robots happy!