Game Development Blog #69

Game Development Blog #69

"Sixty-niiiiine, dude!"

Sorry... sorry. You do realize that I am from the Bill & Ted's generation, right?

So, I want to change up the format of my blog a little (well, always). I am going to talk a little less Headcase-centric and talk more about the industry, at times. SO THEN:

PAX EAST 2012: I returned from my Boston trip a few days ago. Working up to PAX was harrowing, as usual - I was scrambling at the last minute to get my new GunHead flyers designed & printed, and a general website update in place (minor, but necessary). All told, both things got done satisfactorily. Two things which didn't happen at PAX - game(s) launching (not a shock) and panel speaking (rejected!) Ah well, there's always Seattle! Anyway, the show was kind of a wash really. PAX for most is all about fun-fun-FUN times really, I mean it is a fan-centric show. For me it's just a lot of headache, and a very strange "out of place" feeling which I can't quite put my finger on anymore. I am no longer a "studio guy" so my name really holds no cache with Joe Schmoe - as an independent developer, I am a designer/artist/producer/everything but coder, but for lots of reasons that labels me as "not really a developer" for many reasons (some, including myself, will argue with such an assertion!) And I am certainly not a what one would consider a hardcore gamer anymore, at least not by current standards. All of this adds up to feeling a bit out of place in a convention like PAX. In spite of that, it was good to catch up with some friends and meet some new ones, and also get to talk with some press folks (that's always very cool!) Sadly I didn't get to connect with any other developers, but that's on me really.

GAMES: Well, GunHead continues it's slow lumbering journey through development. I recently mapped out a pretty good development plan to see it through to advanced stages, just waiting for the momentum to get back. As for Trapdoor, I am polishing up the shell right now and wracking my brain to think of a good way to present the tutorial. The game is quite fun and presents well, I just need to wrap up already. iOS build is getting really good traction and that's got my spirits up. Hop Cop is in production at last, although this is really going to be an unusual case for me (more so) than the others so I am not quite sure how to chart it's development properly yet. I feel like I may have kinda "thrown that one to the wolves," but we will see what happens. A couple of other ideas have been living in my brain lately, but this is plenty to deal with for now.

WHAT AM I PLAYING: Yup, actually playing a couple of games lately! Actually, other than my usual go-to (Drop7, of course) I have found my way back to Advance Wars 2 for Game Boy Advance. I loved part I back in the day, it really was my favorite game of the moment when I first got my hands on it. Years passed and I never picked up another, then finally picked up AW2
on eBay and quickly shuffled it into a drawer for.. years. Anyway, needed something to play on my Boston flight and this game has sucked me in all over again, brilliant. I'd recently started on Dual Strike, but gonna let that one sit for awhile I think while I work through this game 1st (yep, here we go again)

WHAT ELSE: I am broke, and stressed, and depressed, so I am actually looking for a fulltime job right now. Headcase is still going strong (and I am still producing), but I need a way to make money and pay rent and all of that stuff. My game is still selling, but nowhere enough to help make ends meet and it's still long enough out before my next big production launches. I was thinking of putting a Tip Jar on this blog but it seems like a waste (not enough views, no one generally tips anyway) but make some noise if you'd actually donate and I will rectify that :) Note that I had one in the Headcase Store for a very long time and not a single donation (I am not complaining, just stating). I do honestly believe that I can make good money with GunHead however, just got to get that game wrapped up 1st ;)

Game Development Blog #68

Game Development Blog #68

"All the news that's fit to print"

I'm back! It's been awhile, as it often is in-between postings for me. So what's going on? Read and find out..

Slow season here at Headcase. Slow as hellllll. To get right to the point, none of my recently talked-about projects are releasing anytime soon; frankly I can't say that I know when they will, either (although they will still see release, and it will definitely happen this year for the majority of them!) Sadly, the issue is what one might expect - when one is not paying upfront for development, it tends to stall. Badly. That's quite unfortunate for many reasons, not least of which is that it hampers my own momentum and enthusiasm to continue on with the projects and then it sort of comes full circle. That being said, I've not let a project die yet and I'm not about to start now! As always, I pledge not to rush something out just to release it fr the sake of getting it out of my life; quality is of maximum importance and so if that stretches the release schedule further than so be it.

As for how things are looking: GunHead is suffering the worst right now, as far as what it's progress should be versus where it is. On the upside, the project is a lot more flushed-out than it's ever been (a lot of the systems have gone past conceptual to implemented at this point) and it still controls great and looks sharp. Lots of assets to build yet, but what's there looks excellent and honestly a huge chunk of work has been figured out, it feels awfully nice to be sitting on top of it.

TrapDoor is moving slowly, it's been stalled for awhile as well but this is primarily my own fault as I've sort of left it sitting on the shelf while my motivation has been frozen. In the meantime, I've come up with some solid ideas to bring it from B+ to A- presentation and I think it will be worth the delay; it's also got my gears spinning about a possible Kinect port as well, and that's got me pretty jazzed actually. Development on iOS continues, including super crazy uprez for the new iPad. I was hoping to launch it (Android version) by PAX but I think I will let it stew a little longer to get it polished up a bit more.

Hop Cop - Have I mentioned this one yet? Once or twice, I think I have! This is a co-production between Headcase and another studio, and it will be an interesting experiment for many many reasons. Sit tight for more news!

Other Projects - lightning struck and I have just had inspiration for a whole new game a couple of days ago (this isn't unusual). Thing is, this one might be one of the easier ones to design and build (super-easy, actually) and it could also be very easy to get movement on the charts with, due to it's nature. It's an understatement to say that I am very excited about this (to the degree that I'd happily drop everything else to concentrate on getting it developed and released). Sadly, I believe there might be some significant technical hurdles which might prevent it from becoming a reality so quickly. Nevertheless, I feel like it's one of those "no-brainer" ideas which hasn't been developed elsewhere yet, however it is only a matter of time before someone else makes this so I am kind of anxious to get moving. I have to talk to some people...

Otherwise, life plods on. With the state of things, I won't lie that my mood is a bit down. I need some good news to kick me back into the positive :) Everything is tight right now, but in spite of it all production continues and progress is being made in one aspect or another, so it's not a waste. I am looking for contract work lately (of any sort) - as I mentioned, things are tight - so if anyone reading this has any kind of hookups, don't be shy.

Off to Boston for PAX next week. Likewise if anyone reading this will be there (media, fans, devs, well-wishers, what-have-you) and would like to meet up, drop me a line somewhere.

Thanks for reading!

Game Development Blog #67

Game Development Blog #67

"Updatey Goodness is Finger Lickin' Good"

Well alright, it's been inside of a month since my last update, this is quick for me! It's 2am, I need to be awake in 4.5 hrs, but I have a bunch of energy so I might as well expend it productively. Here we go-

Things are alright, life is extraordinarily busy as of late, but when is it not. I have been hit by several waves on contract work the past several weeks; on the bad side, it's limited my productivity on my own projects by a significant margin, but on the good side it's enabled me to keep paying rent/buying food/etc. I won't lie, things are particularly tight right now (as much as they've ever been) but I am not in a panic or anything, and got enough income to keep things moving for the near term so I can't complain :) It's just exhausting is all, I'd really like to be able to focus (and do a good, sensible job) on what I'd prefer to do versus what I need to do, but I am really happy/appreciative to get any freelance work these days so I will never say that it is a bad thing!

As for the apps, they are coming along. I fully expected to be finished with both GunHead and Trapdoor by now, neither of which has happened, but they are both in good shape so I am happy about it. I'd prefer to have a draggy process, than run something out the door before its' time and potentially have it be a huge waste all around. This market is particularly unforgiving in such situations, you really need to put your best foot forward every time.

I think I've mentioned recently, we've got the control setup for GunHead working quite wel on iOS and for that I am particularly excited. There's some big hurdles to deal with yet (in that regard alone) as the game still is not presentable enough to demo; when I hand it off to someone with no instruction, they can't figure out how to play it (or muster enough patience to do so). This is not a difficult issue to address, but it is certainly a design challenge unique to this platform, it's bit me once and I won't let it happen again! I need to do a bit of catch up across the board with this app, but very soon (a couple of weeks?) I intend to tackle this issue and knock it out of the park. I am getting a shiver down the spine as I write this, kind of a deja vu "ohh I hope I didn't write these exact same words a month or so ago!" Meanwhile, many of the weapons are implemented now (one of the biggest challenges of a game like this) and they look and play great. Wrapping up a bunch of enemies/obstacles and then it's on to do level design!

I am a bit wary on releasing a 2D platformer to the market as it's starting to be "the new puzzler," but I feel our gimmick is strong enough to carry us. So long as it doesn't linger on too much longer - I'd like to meet the other end of the new month with a lot of these issues solved.

Trapdoor is sitting in stasis, nearly, which is a shame as the thing has been almost finished for some time now. I really feel like it's "a good project which could be really good" and so I am grinding my brain on how to wrap this sucker up. Feature creep is never something you want to do, so I am trying to carefully pick and choose what else to do to get it to the endgame. A significant amount of UI work needs to happen, plus a polish phase - and I am still a bit up in the air about monetization/IAP stuff. I feel that it is a necessity, especially with a game like that, to see some potential for decent return, but really I don't wanna get locked down into putting much more work into the game. I have a burst of energy for GunHead so I've spent a couple of days pouring work into that, but I want to bounce back to Trapdoor and get it to a good spot as well and hopefully just get it solid,nice and quick and clean-like.

What else to say - just really tired, really haggard, but my work drives me and I feel proud of what I am working on, it all feels worthwhile. I am still getting new "killer app" ideas here and there and some stuff that is really exciting to me which I'd like to move forward with as well. One thing at a time.. PAX is coming up in a month, I was hoping to have both titles launched by then but I'll be happy if TD is out and GH is demo-able. Unfortunately my panel proposal got rejected, which is a disappointment, but going to the show can still be useful for me, good opportunity to schmooze and show off my games and socialize. I have a lot of work to do in the short time between now and then!

And with that, I'm off to get some sleep..

Game Development Blog #66

Game Development Blog #66

"Have I Made It Clear That I Detest Coming Up With Blog Titles Yet?"

Hello, heavens to murgatroyd, and all of that good stuff. It's time for another fancy-pants blog update to see about the highs and lows of independent game development, so without any further adieu let's peel this onion open once again, shall we?

Development on all fronts continues along steadily, or as best as can be expected. I officially have too much on my plate (and then some) right now, and it's certainly affecting progress on everything. I am always saying "I don't wanna be the bottleneck of the development process," but, ta-da! Anyway, everything I do, I do for good reason. I'd prefer to have a little bit "bursting at the seams" going on, than "cricket-chirps" if you know what I am saying. On that note:

GunHead - coming rocksteady, overall. If you've not seen it, there's a video capture of the latest build running on Xbox showing on our YouTube page. It's quite early, but should give you a crystal-clear idea of what to expect from this title. I am quite satisfied to say that we've overcome some huge "will this even work?" philosophical quandaries in regards to how this will perform on a touchscreen - the answer is, and not any kind of hyperbole here, spectacularly. We've got it feeling very wonderfully on the current iOS build and I could not be happier, because we are doing something fresh and unique with our control setup and not only does it work, it feels great. I know all devs say this these days as a big selling point "our controls are flawless" on their touchscreen platform games with a virtual D-pad. You are all liars! I have seen some which are alriiiiight, but nothing which has made me feel it's an acceptable replacement for buttons. We've definitely nailed it with GunHead, to this current point.

The downside? In it's (still early) state, I can not yet give the game to a random joe-schmoe and have them intuitively grok they control layout. It's not particularly complicated (this is the point!) but it's also not not something which is immediate in its self-explanation. Research has shown that this is a tough hurdle in mobile development, so we will need to work quite hard to craft a compelling "teach you how to use the controls" experience. Fine. I can do that :)

Trapdoor - likewise, YouTube buddies, there's a very recent build up for viewing on our channel, so have at it if you so desire (and why not?) I'll be honest, watching gameplay video of this particular game may not be exactly heart-stopping, but even in it's current unpolished state the game is already extremely fun; I've been showing it off a bit and more than a few people have told me "I like this better than anything else you have done before." That's at once encouraging and disheartening, as Trapdoor was designed to be a realllly simmmmple game, but then I suppose that is sensible considering the platform these apps are designed for! Anyway, we've been in the home stretch with the Android build for awhile, but I have been slowed down on my work with that as I've been rapidly working to get the iOS port off the ground, it's literally gone from nothingness to actual measurable progress in a very short time (not playable yet!) and, let me tell you, there's worlds of difference between iOS and Android, such as screen real-estate - and so I have been trying to reasonably uprezz all the assets, and still nailing down the design in the meantime. Almost there!

Hop Cop - coming, I finished my docs for this about a week ago, and I was supposed to meet with the staff to get moving on it in the past couple of days, but.. too busy! So hopefully we can get it into actual production next week.

That's about it for production notes. I've always got "180 maintenance stuff" that pops up fairly regularly, and it's a good thing (making money!) but does really make me desire to enlist an intern (hint, hint) to help keep tabs on everything and deal with it a little more smoothly. Also I discussed "Tic Tac Jack" with Ben the other day, and we are hoping to attack that thing in short order near the end of the month maybe. We'll see.

Otherwise... lots on my mind. My birthday was a week ago and my girlfriend was kind enough to get me a Nintendo 3DS, which is actually very very neat :) It's a very slick toy, I'll say that, and something I've been interested in since pre-launch. Now that there's a few solid games out for the thing, I am feeling justified in wanting one! Currently enjoying Mutant Mudds (my favorite!), Mario 3D Land (it's cool, esp if you love 3D Marios - I still prefer the old 2D games though!) and a couple of 3D Classics as well. These are AWESOME, please make more of these. My dream list which will never happen? Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Life Force, Commando (or something along those lines), 1943 would be awesome as well... Double Dragon! Damn now I am sad I started thinking about this stuff.

I never had a DS before, so feel free to send me some suggestions of games to pick up. I grabbed Advance Wars DS which I love already, Days of Ruin and Contra 4 are in the mail.. and back to 3D I won a bid for Starfox 64 and am in pursuit of Shinobi 3DS as well.

PS Vita launches inside of a couple of weeks I believe, I am completely disinterested, there's things I can say about it (both positive and negative) but this post is getting pretty overlong so I think I will sit on it for now. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Game Development Blog #65

Game Development Blog #65

"Fancy Blog Title"

What's up there, Planet Earth. Good to see you all once again. Been about a month, so I suppose it is time to settle in for a couple few and do the ol' update routine. Here goes.

Things are alright. Quite busy over here, as they usually seem to be. I am finding myself without too much free time these days, and though it is ultimately a good thing (it means that I am being productive) that also will allude to a certain level of burnout. I really, really need a break from things soon, because I am having some days here and there where it is just getting quite hard to turn out useful work, and to find the raw enthusiasm to throw myself into it. Just the same, my main projects are shaping up fairly nicely, and that's quite a big motivation if anything (momentum often is!) so it's keeping my sails winded, or however you'd say. On that note:

Trapdoor is finally nearing it's end stage of development for Android, a lot of work has gone into this little project in the past couple of weeks and it's gone from a rough little toy to feeling like a pretty fun game, to be honest! When I have something that's at the point where I can play a full session, GAME OVER, and then instantly restart to try again.. and again.. and again, that's a very good sign (and an excellent feeling as a developer/producer). For me, it's the sign that the soul is intact there, and it becomes much easier to envision the other little elements which must be put in place to enhance the existing game experience, less of a case of "hmm, guess we will tinker with X Y and Z to try and see what happens." Honestly, this game just needs a nice shiny coat of UI and it's ready to call it a day, and I am happy to unleash it. Those interested to see a WIP of what I am talking about can find a preview posted on our YouTube page - it's still fairly rough, but you should be able to get the gist.

I am looking to produce an iOS port of Trapdoor as well. If anyone out there can help, please drop me a line! If you want to straight-out charge me for the work, we can talk - but if you'd be interested to profit share, that would make my life entirely so much easier for the time being!

GunHead - The beast continues development! It's been sidelined a bit as TD has taken the fore, but I have still been actively involved in pushing for this game. At the beginning of the month I started on a mad tear to try and burn through asset production; they are coming along very well, but I am far short of reaching my "art complete by Feb 01 2012" goal. Steady as she goes! Meanwhile, the gameplay is still finding it's footing as we wrestle to properly configure the control layout, great strides have been made in the mobile game in the past few weeks and it's required some heavy re-planning on how certain important fundamental elements will work. We're almost through this phase, but not out of the woods yet. My whole purpose of developing this game is that it must play absolutely perfectly on the touchscreen, which is contrary to the case of any other platformer I've seen on the device thus far (insert my usual rant about lazy, crummy virtual D-pads as a weak accepted norm here). I am very anxious to get through this part and onto the next phase, where we can start laying down the actual level structure (this is obviously dependent on the final control setup to be in place, before we can proceed!) and then there's a whole 'nother chunk of development to battle through!

I'll take this aside to mention that I've been really enjoying having a jailbroken device for the course of this iOS development; waiting on builds from the programer, going through provisioning profiles, getting stuff signed, etc - you can easily skip all of that when you have a JB. My coder can just through the latest raw build up on the DropBox, and I can suck it off of there and install straight to my phone, without ever involving the use of a PC! I just figured out how to do that last week, it's wonderful! Android had spoiled me with that and now I have that ease of deployment on iOS as well. For those interested, you need to use iFile (the Cydia app, not the "App Store" one) to synced to your DB account, then (also in iFile) drop the .IPA where Installous can see it - then install from the latter, and that is it. Marvelous.

Hop Cop - I think I have mentioned this game on my blog a time or 2 in the past. It looks like development of this title is shortly to get underway as well, this will be a vastly different endeavor than my usual method of doing things (do I have a usual method of doing things, actually?) - to the point where it's very likely not going to be a Headcase Games release, but a different label for various reason. Don't worry, still me, still my game! In an insane turn of events, this game might make it to market faster than anything else currently in development right now, but as usual, we shall see. Stay tuned.

Other news: Gearing up to go to PAX in Boston this April, which will be an important time for me as I'll have much to promote (and hoping to have it all launched by then!) I am going through the process of trying to secure a speaking panel for myself and some others at the show, hopefully that will work out (I need that kind of exposure). Lots of talking in the background about plenty of other things, a bit of freelance work to pay the bills in the meantime, and really - just trying to keep my S together. There's plenty more to say about all of this and more, but I think I have said enough for now, and so I leave you. Thanks for reading.

Game Development Blog #64

Game Development Blog #64

"Another year, Another Dollar!"

Hahaha! It looks like I have coined a really appropriate phrase for indie development. Think about it.. Anyway, don't think too long, because after nearly 3 years of "independence" I am finally at the point where I am earning some steady, solid money doing this! Let's not get carried away, it's far, far from a valid amount to actually live on, but our game is earning steady money several months after our feature has wrapped up, and it's definitely better than the $20/month I was getting before. Not HUGELY better, but I would wager that we are officially past the majority of people who try to make any money off modern mobile app development. We are getting about $500/month in sales now (after the app stores take their cut). As I said, not a huge amount of money (and I need to split it up) but considering that I'd expect most devs don't even crack $1k in their lifetime anymore, I think it's a very good sign. So long as the numbers don't die out, that is. We'll see..

Anyway, numbers aside, here's your standard Production Update.

GunHead - coming along nicely. This past summer I'd planned to release this game by November - now it is looking more realistic to expect sometime in February, and to be honest there is quite a lot of work to do yet. But what is there, is pretty awesome. Looks awesome, controls awesome, everything is coming together. I am getting some serious thoughts spinning in my head about how to market the game, and honestly I doubt I will spend under a grand on that. For this type of game I'd say it's a necessity, but I expect to make that back easily. Expect there to be some wild/unusual marketing for this game the likes which haven't been attempted yet for a "little mobile game," as usual you need to get creative in how you sell things or no one will ever know it exists!

Android development is a bit stalled currently, iOS has been going strong but slowed as well, and Xbox is actually sitting in the lead for some time now - but overall I am very happy with where progress is on all the platforms. A lot of work rests on my own shoulders right now (pumping out assets and designs, etc). I am purposely trying to keep the game from getting too design-heavy (if you've looked at any of the material I've previously posted about GunHead, you should understand that designing such a game oughtn't be a Herculean task). I am probably going to post some videos shortly in here (within 1 month's time) so keep your eyes peeled.

Trapdoor - as has always been the case with TD, it's still the victim of a lot of start/stop development - but I really like where it is sitting right now, it's just a fun little game, it's different, it's hectic, very easy to get into and get some immediate gratification from, a perfect title for "2-minute play" on a touch screen - and good for any audience. I really need to buckle down and live in the game for a few days to bring it to the next level, I still think it probably has only a couple of weeks of earnest development left to go in it.

Tic Tac Jack - so, this actually released this past week! I don't think I've even mentioned it in the blog at all - it's been sitting in Ben's head for a good year and a half, and we rushed through development full-steam some months ago (granted, a short and small project). Without getting into details, it released "before it was ready" and launched playable, but verrrry incomplete in all facets (whoops!) I don't think it's still up on iTunes, but it should return shortly following the New Year.

What Else is Going On - lots I guess, I mean it is the end of the year and all! Personally, my time and energy have been largely wrapped up with freelance work (as usual, I am fairly close to being absolutely broke, and that is not hyperbole!) Picking up contract stuff is not exactly "what I want to do" especially when my own developments are fairly well-along in earnest production, but I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to earn a couple of bucks during these otherwise very dry times! Anyway, that's all just wrapped up so I am on my own stuff for the time being, although some other opportunities are out there (day jobs) which I need to put some effort into following up with as well - the sort that are "good opportunities which really should at least be attempted," although my main thrust is still on getting these games wrapped up properly and released.

That's all for now, I will try to get a reflective year-end wrap-up post put up before the year's end. Watch for it - and thanks for your support!

Game Development Blog #63

Game Development Blog #63

"WHERE DID YA GO?"

I WANNA KNOW!

Oh, I am here, alright. Very busy. I was fairly well into the late stages of writing a decent #63 update several weeks ago, when my girlfriend stormed into the apartment and we had a nice little argument about something which made me feel like not really typing in the blog anymore. I think it had something to do with the piles of smelly dishes in the sink, which had been sitting there long enough that I no longer remembered we even had a kitchen..

Well, without digging too terribly far back into the past, let's concentrate on the present, why don't we..

180 - Just kidding! You wanted to hear news, right?

GunHead - ohh, so much is going on with this game, I don't know where to begin! I usually am fairly cryptic (to degrees) about it when I mention in here, so why not start with a couple of screens - which you may or may not have seen elsewhere..






Yeah, so now the cat is out of the bag, and you know all that is to be said about this one! Not even close! Here's some juicy tidbits for you.

- developing for iPhone, Android, and Xbox Live Indie Games
- retro style (duh!)
- release early 2012
- unique new control mechanic unlike any seen before for a mobile platformer

Don't let that last point pass you by, because it really is the clincher. I hate platformers on the touchscreen because surprise surprise, they are horrible. No fun to play at all. If you've played my previous game to any appreciable degree, you might know I have some concern with "how does one design a touchscreen game play to the strengths of such an interface?" There's tons of platformers on mobile, some very nice-looking, and they all have atrocious control schemes that make you wish "oh why doesn't it just have buttons." No more. GunHead will finally "feel" right and not in some lazy-slapped-on way. Even the current prototype feels awesome.

There's certainly a lot more to say about this game, a good amount of which you might be able to deduce yourself between looking at those pictures and having any knowledge about me (a quick scan through my past blogs should say it all really). Stay tuned.

Trapdoor - I was going to post some pics of this as well, but to be honest, I haven't any to show other than some mockups right now! There's an early image floating around on one of our pages though, although I don't think it will really tell you too much. Anyway, here goes:

Trapdoor, as previously mentioned, is actually the very first game I sat down and spec'd out a few years ago, when originally turning my eye to the mobile scene (not counting iFist, although that design wasn't originally my idea anyway). I drew up Trapdoor and 180 came out of my head almost immediately afterward, and I decided to go with the more involved project. As time passed, I've never forgotten "my first" and not for want of "no idea shall be wasted" - it was just a good idea, for several reasons. And especially in hindsight, and consideration of the reception 180 has received. Lots of people like 180, but especially on a mobile platform, it doesn't seem too many have the patience to learn it. With Trapdoor, this is much less of an issue; it really is one of these games where you can fully grok the entirety of the rules within a heartbeat. There's not really a depth of strategy to it, just a tense and building test of reflexes and stamina, and that is fine with me!

As I've plumbed the development of the design, I decided to take many cues from games such as Halfbrick's Fruit Ninja; that title is exactly what a mobile game should be, they really hit all the tenets across the boards. I would love to writeup a breakdown of why that game is so sound on so many levels, but I think I'd prefer to execute such lessons in my own game instead. No, Trapdoor will not play anything like Fruit Ninja at all, but there is certainly some very low-level understanding in the game's foundation going on.

180 - okay, all kidding aside, I do want to mention a bit of what's up with the latest over here. As usual, there is still some reason to talk about this long-in-the-tooth game. We are still using it to chart the path through the various Android marketplaces, and it is enjoying some decent visibility in that regard. We've recently been promoted at the Toshiba App Place (built into their Thrive tablet) and another promotion on another store is not far away either. I am in talks with several other stores to do things there as well, so I am just trying to keep it going as it makes sense to. Mobile markets, and Android in particular, are a very different beast than any traditional way of selling things - once something gets any kind of momentum, it can absolutely keep it's relevance (and grow). Especially with the type of product which isn't necessarily a one-off (and I don't mean for an abundance of updates, necessarily).

We've recently enjoyed promotions on Nook and Amazon, and (to a degree) the new Kindle Fire, although none of this has ended up going much toward my pocket. I am hoping to keep the doors open long enough to introduce my newer products however, and really to keep some more of a steady stream of them flowing through. That's the point of being a small indie!

Otherwise for 180, we still have a very cool Strategy Mode which is partially developed, sitting on the shelf, waiting for a little downtime to be polished up. As I've said, it's different enough (mechanically) to be considered as a whole other game, and I am thinking to sell it as IAP (especially considering the amount of free copies I've already distributed of the base version of the game!)

There's so much else to say in regards to the micro and macro of the industry, but that will have to wait for next time. Thanks for reading!