Highborn Chapter 3: The Audacity!

It occurred to me today that I was so worried about the blog artwork that I never did a post about Highborn chapter 3: The Audacity, which has been out for iPhone and iPad since late June. I really think it is the best Highborn chapter so far and you'd be a fool to miss it. Remember, Mr. T still pities fools, you wouldn't want Mr. T to pity you, would you?

When brainstorming the backstory Joe, my co-designer and the head of our playtest department, it started with, well Floyd the Arch-Lich has been defeated. Well, what does that mean? We didn’t even get halfway through that sentence when we realized we had hook for chapter 3. You play as Floyd and the forces of Decay as they predictably escape from prison. This also meant interior missions which we thought would be a cool change up. After a round of high-fives, Joe and I set out to plot the missions. We quickly came to the conclusion that the escape from prison plot would start to wear thin very quickly. What would Floyd do once he got out? Would get spend the rest of the missions on the lam or would he have another wild scheme for taking over the world? That is when the second thunderbolt stuck and I realized what the plot would be. He would run for President, which I later changed to Imperial President just to be loopy.

First we needed a new boss. Although we did want to use the old Highborn gang, we didn’t want to make Archie the big bad guy that you had to defeat. We needed somebody that was on the good guy's side, but could still be the bad guy of the story. It took me awhile to figure out who the incumbent Imperial President would be. I have no idea what reminded me of the term “foozle,” which we old-school gamers used to use to describe the generic evil guy you had to defeat in all early role-playing games. Anyway, Foozle became his name he was initially going to be the love interest for Trillian. The reason Floyd was going to run for office was that he had a secret crush on Trillian and was jealous. After awhile I realized we had overdone the lovey-dovey stuff in Chapter 2, so I dropped that storyline. Danny came up with the concept that Foozle was just a punk, emo kid with a big crown, cape and chest full of dubious medals.

Rade had already expressed desire to have a unit that had combat support like the towers and forts, so we created the siege towers. They are basically mobile combat support for your units, though they can still attack like other units.

We also wanted to close out the Enzo and Jessica story with regards to their kids, and I thought it would be great to have Floyd trying to get back home only to have to chase those damn kids of his lawn. This lead to the Worgons, half wizard and half gorgon.

The third new unit came about when we were creating map spells for the Decay Heroes (anti-heroes?). All the Highborn Heroes you’ve played before have had maps spells, Archie can heal all units for 2 points, Trillian can stealth out, Enzo has his Freeze spell that slows down all enemies by one movement point, and even Floyd the Dragon has his Fear spell (which he had even when he was a Decay Hero in chapter one.) Cabus was given a spell to summon Dire Wolves, which means we had to create those as a unit.

Oh, we also set the Horrors on fire which kinda makes them a new unit too, but man the smell is bad.

The other Hero spells are Mind Control for Floyd which allows him to turn any non-hero or mechanical unit into a decay unit. Icky got Sacrifice which allows him to heal like Archie, only the player has to sacrifice the life of another Decay unit to do so. We were a little stuck on iB until I got the bright idea to match the random behavior of his combat spell. iB's map spell is Random which literally randomly casts one of the other hero’s map spells.

There was some initial worry about how we would do interior mission map artwork with our off-set grid, but it wasn’t a problem and Danny’s maps look great! It appears to be really hafd for me to write parody stuff without including more Star Wars jokes. This time we went all out and even drew one level of the highborn dungeons, the kitchen, with Star Wars themed art. It's all Star Wars parody wrapped around Foglio cooking humor; he is trying to cook iB who is in the Princess Leia role. Don't worry, no gold bikini.

This was also about the time Portal 2 came out so we turned the Highborn vault into a portal parody where you go up against MaDOS. Danny really nailed this nailed a retro, steampunk inspired version of the Aperture science labs.

On top of the maps themselves, Brad spearheaded an effort to make new 3D combat backgrounds that match those interior maps like we did for the moon in Chapter 2. He’s right that it would have looked silly to have the outdoor 3D environments when you were indoors, and doing them to match the theme of the map was more than I hoped for.

We always try to do something really cool for the final level and we had several ideas for Chapter 3. We tried to do something where you had to battle the Highborn for delegates to win the election but that didn’t work. We tried one scenario where both sides had nothing but Mad Wizards and Milita without their buildings to spawn from. The idea was to have a giant battle where you had to plan your moves really carefully because all those guys are one-shot kills. That didn’t work either, it just wasn’t fun. I’ll let you play through yourself to see what we went with.

Remember to follow Jet Set Games on Facebook and Twitter for up to the "whenever we remember to post something" news!

P.S. Jet Set Games is not responsible for the numerous grammar and spelling mistakes in the post that I'm too lazy to go back and fix.

Another Small Fix

I've gotten half a dozen comments on my last post via twitter, email and IM and yet not one comment on the post itself. would it kill you guys (and girl) to make a comment on the blog itself and make it look like somebody is actually reading this crap and I'm not just talking to myself!

I found the PSD file for the blog's background last night. I re-fixed it up. The previous fix was me just working on the JPG file. I am still skirting the edge of the overall file size. I had to up the JPG compression and remove the right side bit where I made it wrap, but at 3000 pixels wide I'm not too worried about it.

It is still doing that thing where it is showing half size on the blog when I upload it. I took a picture with the original picture over the top of the webpage so you can see what I'm talking about. It is cropped, but that is the left edge of the picture and the blog. See how the boxes would extend further out at full size. That way the logo, when I eventually create a new one, would tie in better.

I probably have to go into the template code to fix it, but I'm not sure how to do that with these templates. No time to look into now nor to redo the logo graphic, but I at least have a better idea of the color scheme.

Which In-App Things are Players Buying?

Flurry recently posted on their blog about the shift of revenue from paid apps to freemium (free with in-app purchases.) They noted that 65% of all revenue generated among the top 100 games now come from freemimum games.

They then posted that freemium players spend an average of $14 per transaction for in-app purchases.

Their latest post is about what players are actually spending money on based on a year’s worth of data of 57 million purchase transactions across a set of fermium iOS and Android games that averaged over 2 million daily active users.
Their data broke down as follows:
Personalization: 2% - lasting item that has no gameplay benefit and is purely decorative.

Durable: 30% - lasting gameplay benefit such as a piece of armor that your character wears.

Consumable: 68% - non-last benefit such as a health potion that is gone after you use it.

I have a small problem with how they broke this down. I want to see in-game currency and time separated out.

They state in the post that they included in-game currency as a consumable item. A lot of games only sell in-game currency. Players use that in-game currency to buy everything - personal items, durable items, and consumables. How much would that data change if we could see how much of that consumable percent was in-game currency and/or the data adjusted to show durable items and personalization bought with in-game currency?

Second, I also assume they have lumped time in as a consumable. For example in some games you can spend money to speed up tasks. A lot of times this is a a different in-game currency, such as energy, which you can buy separately from your main in-game currency.

Tiny Tower ONLY sells their in-game currency, Tower Bux. You use Tower Bux to move the floors in your tower, speed up the construction of new floors, buy new elevators, paint your floors, speed up sales of items in your stores and move a new tenant into an apartment. You can also convert Tower Bux into coins which you use to buy new floors, stock your items, and customize your tenants. According to the Flurry data, all that is getting counted as the player buying a consumable even though the player is using that consumable to buy durable goods, personalization, time and another currency which he can then use to buy other durable goods, consumable goods and personalization.

Another problem people have pointed out is that durable and personalization items can only be purchased once. Once you have bought a durable item, you have it and probably don't need a second one. Also if you game isn’t social/multiplayer, your players are probably less interested in spending money on personalization, because nobody else is going to see it. I remember reading an article about Farmville during the height of its popularity (which I am not going to spend hours trying to find.) It talked about how the main motivation of players was the perception of what other people might think of their farm when they visited. What percent of player purchases are for personalization in a game where you can show that sort of thing off, as opposed to a non-social game?

In the end I am NOT saying that consumable items that the player will want to keep buying isn’t the big money maker. I am just saying that it isn’t as cut and dry as the chart suggests. I really wish I could see their data based on game type.

Little Blog Fix-up

I did some little fixes on the blog the other night to at least make it readable.

I re-did the background graphic, darkening it to a shade of blue similar to my twitter background. Sometime between putting up the previous background and when I just redid it; it finally starting showing at its actual size. The current background is again NOT displaying full size and I don't know why.

I also changed the text and background colors a bit.

I want to reiterate that I changed the blog on accident. I was just starting to screw around with a new template, seeing what options I had available. I didn't mean to push it live. I am going to start over and do what I meant to do the first time, which is mock the whole thing up in Photoshop first and do a new title logo and everything. I will also do a mobile layout.

Finally, I wanted to post one last picture about the balloon prank. This is what happened to my finger after tying a bunch of balloons. It literally ripped the flesh off my ring finger.

BTW I hate how the preview function doesn't show me exactly how the post will look once it is published. I can never line up pictures the way I want without publishing it and then editing it which I'm sure all the people reading this through RSS feeds or the like must hate.

Balloon Prank at Jet Set Games

Again, blog layout and artwork still broken. Been too busy filling Josh's office with balloons to fix it.

Josh went on vacation and we thought about what we could do to his office while he was gone. There were some really good ideas floated about, the best of which was probably the one where we'd drywall over his door. The problem with that one, besides the cost which would have been totally worth it, is what happens next in that scenario? Think about it, you come in and your office is gone. There is just a wall and no office. What happens next? Sledgehammer? Crawl in over the roof from the next office?

What we decided on was a little more workable, we just decided to fill his office with balloons. Here are some pictures and videos:

1. Rade blowing up some balloons at the beginning.

2. Quarter way filled up.

3. View from outside as Josh is kicking them out of his office.

4. Paul buried in his cube.

5. View from down the hall.

V1. Josh Opening his door.

V2. Closer View of Josh trying to clear out the balloons.

Share and Enjoy!

Dear Battlefield, "Я не говорю по русскому"

Alright, I know I still haven’t fixed this damn blog’s artwork. Any time I actually have the time lately, I’ve been playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2. A few of us pooled in at work and got our own server, you can find it as “JSG Clan Server” if you want to play with us. It used to be called, “Jet Set Games Clan Server” but the way we are kicking and banning cheaters, we figured we shouldn’t be so open about who we are.

But cheaters though, that is the thing. I found out that when I’m not playing on a server where a bunch of the guys on the other team are using aimbots and wall hacks, I’m actually not bad at the game. I pretty much always rank above 50% and often am right up top. I’ve also come to accept that the medic is overpowered and that is the class to play to rank up.

But I didn’t come here to whine about how cheaters are taking over the servers in Battlefield and that Punkbuster has failed. Instead, I decided to make a little post about voice localization in these types of games. Battlefield, to continue with that game as an example, has excellent background audio. Not only is there the voices of your teammates when they do something, but there is low level background radio chatter as well. It really helps set the mood. These games areset up as the U.S. forces verses some other nationality and at times in multiplayer, you take turns being the attacker and defender so you play both as the U.S. forces and as somebody else.. If you are playing the other nationality, you have the option of playing their voice audio in their original language or localized. I like playing the original language in these cases because, like I said, it really helps set the mood.

The problem is I don’t speak Russian or whatever nationality I’m playing and I need to understand what is being said. The game expects you to play a lot and start to recognize what phrases are associated with what gameplay element, but that takes a long time and isn’t really all that fun. Though, I always find it funny to hear things that aren’t there in the foreign phrases. I could have sworn one of the clips in Battlefield 2 was, “The cost of a sniper, is less than I thought.” Another in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which I think is a “Ha, I got you message” in Russian, sounds like he’s saying, “Where’s Wolfgang Sally!?”

When you set the voice audio to play in English for the foreign forces, it just plays the U.S. forces audio. But what I would rather see is every language done in the original language and in English with an appropriate accent. I can pretend I am speaking Russian if the radio chatter is in English with a Russian accent. I also think it would be fun to have a nonsense/gibberish English version for the U.S. Forces, so I can play another nationality’s forces and NOT understand what the U.S. forces are saying.

That is my two cents, though I’d pay a quarter if they could figure out a way to remember my localization settings between games. Dice makes some good games, but they really need to work on their user interface.

P.S. I am hoping that if I post more I'll be more motivated to fix the artwork.

Pissed at Valve

Alright, so I still haven't gotten time to finish the blog updates. I spend my weekends in California with my girlfriend and almost every other waking second working on Highborn: Chapter Three.

I say almost every other waking second, because for about an hour a night every third night or so, I've been playing Team Fortress 2. My friend Angry Anthony made a Chef's Hat for the Piro, who I usually play, so I logged in after more than 2 (3?) years away and bought it. Then I started playing a little. A lot has changed and you can tell it hasn't been the top valve team that has been working on it.

Two issues I want to rant about real quick. First is they are having these Saxxy Awards for user submitted videos. They advertise this on the main menu. The ad takes up more than half the menu screen and has a gold statue, think Oscars, rotating to the sound of clapping and camera flashes... THAT DOESN'T STOP!! Oh, they die down for a little bit with the occasional clap or flash, BUT THEN IT PICKS BACK UP AGAIN! YOU CAN'T SHUT IT OFF! MY GOD IT IS ANNOYING!!!

Second issue and what really set me off. I logged into Team Fortress just now and when I tried to connect to a server (their new server menu isn't the greatest piece of technology either by the way) it told me that "This account does not own this game" and promptly disconnected me. I tried several severs with the same result. I'm logged in on the main menu, it shows my achievements and past stats, the game is listed in my Steam library. WTF!

I tried searching their support site. When I type the phrase ""This account does not own this game" it told me that the words THIS, DOES, NOT, and OWN were common words and were omitted from the search. Yes, I put the search phrase in quotes. Tried several way of searching for an answer. No luck finding anything relevant, big surprise.

I then just did a Google search and for it and found another post somewhere complaining about. Somebody there linked to a Steam forum post that said they were doing maintenance on accounts created around the time of the Orange Box release and they would be down for about 20 hours.

I know these kinds of things happen. Account maintenance is understandable. No email message about this? Nothing on the Team Fortress 2 twitter feed, though plenty of posting about the new hats they are selling ingame. No news post when I launched Steam, though plenty of advertising for other games I should buy? Not even a warning when I launched the game that some accounts would be unuseable during this maintenance?!

They thought a pop-up saying I didn't own the game would be sufficient?!

And if Valve is supposed to be this leap forward, super-duper, do it right on don't do it at all company, why doesn't their support site have any mention of this that is searchable? Or hey, how about a top issues list on the support home page? Instead... they thought it was acceptable for me to get all the way into the game, and they be told that I was being disconnected because I didn't own the game?

They thought a pop-up saying I didn't own the game would be sufficient?!

I keep saying that because these are the people that pioneered digital distribution. The ones who are trying to get the skeptics to believe that it is okay not to have physical media that I can hold in my hands. Trying to get us to feel safe and secure in the knowledge that if we buy it digitally from them online, that we will still own this game.

...unless... they decide we don't own it.

Work in Progress

I am obviously working on updating the blog's artwork and layout.

This isn't what it is supposed to look like, I got interrupted while working on it the other day and I haven't been able to get back and fix it. I won't be able to get back to it this weekend either.

Nothing you see here at the moment is something I am happy with. I really didn't mean to switch the blog over to the new layout when I did. I was just starting to experiment with the new template and a background when I clicked on the wrong thing.

I have a better version of this background, but for some reason blogger is shrinking it 50% when I upload it and that is where I left off. I still have to redraw the blog logo and fix all the text and background colors. Then I have to rebuild the links that got lost because I had hacked them into the old sidebar.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

1 Louder Than 10

Last week Jet Set and Electronic Arts unveiled the limited beta of Music Construction Set: The Blues. It isn't so much a game (yet) as it is an experiment. It let's you rock out with your plastic guitar controller. ...on YouTube.

Here, I'll let Dr. Fantastic, aka Owen, explain it better.



The YouTube channel where you can find more information including the download link, instructions, FAQ and videos of people rocking out is http://www.youtube.com/profile?feature=iv&user=1louderthan10.

Check it out, Rock out, I'm out...

EDIT: Added the Logo, fixed the link.

Joseph Hewitt - Dangerous Assassin!

In Conspiracy on the PlayStation Home, we have a large screen that cycles through some game-based propaganda screens. Just some ad-like pictures for some of the corporations in the game. Danny created the wanted screen below with my name and image. I thought it was hilarious.



The other day we were hanging around in the Volcano Base, the public hub of the game, and managed to witness the following conversation.



DrJeanGreY: name two types of technolgies they make
wildswagg345: hey wats gud
DrJeanGreY: any of the technologies in the slide show would have been correct
DrJeanGreY: the guns
jaylive1234: =( (3
DrJeanGreY: battle suites
DrJeanGreY: nano tech
DrJeanGreY: all of that
DrJeanGreY: finally..
Kendahl: samus aran
DrJeanGreY: the name of the fugitive who is wanted by I.C.I
PuertoRicenGirl: what that mean?
DrJeanGreY: His name is Joseph Hewitt...
DrJeanGreY: And he is a dangerous assassin
jaylive1234: ****
RAWDABOSS: get from behind me
DrJeanGreY: that we will be targeting in the coming missions
DrJeanGreY: come
aussie554: i love the way you walk jean
aussie554: lolz
Kendahl: ^^ ME 2

Loads of Stuff!

I don't want to be one of those people who apologizes for the lack of blog posts. Heck, I didn't even want to be one of those people who has a lack of blog posts. But I really have been really busy. I know EVERYBODY says that, but I not only have proof I can now finally talk about it.

=Highborn Chrome=
010001010110000101110100
First up a bit of slightly old news, Highborn is available on the PC as part of Google Chrome's store. You can find it HERE.


Unfortunately, the updates for the iOS versions listed below are not ready for the Chrome version as of yet.

=Highborn iOS Update=
0110000101110100
Highborn iOS update has been submitted to Apple with a host of new features including the much awaited Chapter Two!

• Updated 3D artwork. Many of the characters in the 3D combat scenes have been improved.
• Units now display their attack range when they move.
• Selecting a Monolith will show you which spell it represents and if you control that Monolith it shows you its cooldown time so you know if it is ready to be cast again.
• End of mission statistics screen filled with detailed information about the mission that you can analyze to your heart’s content.
• An undo feature implemented so you can stop your pathetic little whining about how you messed up and move to the wrong square or whatever! You shake the device and it will give you the option of redoing your turn. This only works in campaign mode, not in multiplayer.
• Chapter Two as an in app purchase.

Note that you do not have to buy Chapter Two in order to get the other new features, they are included free in the update. Look for it to go live on the App Store very early next week.

=Conspiracy=
0111001101100011011011110111010001110100011110010010011101110011
Conspiracy for PlayStation Home was finally announced and the first billboard advertisements went live in PS:Home's Central Plaza in yesterday's update.


I'll let you do your own research into what Conspiracy is, because what kind of conspiracy would it be if I just came right out and explained it to you. Actually, we never had this conversation. Pretend you don't know me.

=Shandor=
0101001101100001011011100110010001110111011010010110001101101000
Shandor, our active furniture item for PlayStation Home was updated. There is now a way to win a virtual item and he has a few more secrets to divulge.

01010011011010000110111101110000

Yahoo Email Compromised

It looks like my yahoo email address is continuing to send out spam. I think they are just spoofing my email address, but that doesn't explain how they got the emails of everybody on my contact list. When I first realized it was happening deleted my contact list and changed my password, but another round of spam went out this morning. Yahoo is no help in the manner and a quick Google search shows that people have been having this problem for years. There is nothing I can do except tell you not to click on any link from any email from my yahoo address.

I will be spending this weekend changing everything over to a gmail address. If you know anybody that knows me, pass this information on to them. I wasn't smart enough to actually save my contact list before deleting it, so I can't send out email to everybody myself.

Old Westwood NES Games

NESGuide.com posted this 15 minute video containing every U.S. game release for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. That is 1.1 seconds for each NES Game.



If you look watch real carefully, you can see each of the three Westwood NES games I worked on. They are DragonStrike (03:35.3 - 03:36.4), Pac-Mania (08:27.9 - 08:29.0), and Vindicators (12:56.3 - 12:57.4). Note they are all credited as Westwood Associates, not Westwood Studios. They were all published before the Virgin Games buyout when we changed our name.

If you want to see a bit more of each of those games, NESGuide.com's list actually links to these pages which has more video:

DragonStrike

The player character is a knight who flies on the back of a metallic dragon equipped with a lance and various magic items (among other things a magic orb that acts as a radar in the game). The player's dragon can use its recharging magical breath to attack and can also attack with its claws if the dragon passes closely above enemies. Opponents in the game include evil dragons with and without riders and other flying monsters such as manticores and beholders. Flying too close to the ground is another hazard for the player as enemy archers are present in some areas.

Pac-Mania

Just like most of the other games in the Pac-Man series, the goal is for Pac-Man to eat all of the dots before he is caught by the ghosts. This game has several significant changes from the traditional format. The first, and most noticeable, change is that the board is viewed in an isometric, 3D format. Because of this, it can sometimes be difficult to remember where the ghosts or the remaining pellets are. Secondly, and more importantly, Pac-Man can now jump. This in principle makes evading ghosts easier.

Vindicators

The Tangent Empire are preparing to attack the earth with their convoy of tanks, and it is you who has been sent forward to destroy the 14 space stations which make up the potential invasion threat. There are 3 sub-levels on each station, which can be played in any order. The action scrolls in every direction, with you guiding your tank-link droid around to shoot the opposition droids. The tank takes a while to steer, making it initially harder to avoid contact with those enemies. Each level contains energy stars, which can be traded in for upgrades such as improved weapons and extra speed after each level.

The scary thing is I think that I was the sole artist on those games, and there several bits I have no recollection of. Though, the technical restrictions of creating art on the NES was a enough of a nightmare that I'm not surprised I blocked some of it out.

There are a few other games in the first video that are ports of original Westwood Games, but that we didn't do that port of. The one that comes to mind is Hillsfar.

Apptastic iGame Review Podcast & FREE Highborn lite

Just a quick post before I run to get some dinner. Rade and I just recorded a live podcast for The Apptastic iGame review with is part of the Tech Jives Network.

I'm sorry but I didn't realize it was live until we sat down to do it or I would have posted a notice beforehand.

Anyway, they should have the recorded version up on their site really soon and you'll be able to find it HERE.

Speaking of Highborn though, the FREE LITE version went live today for the iPad. The iPhone version was submitted at the same time so it should available any time now. (EDIT - It's up now, link below) The lite versions contain the new Tutorial and the first two missions. Share and enjoy.

I was really worried about the humor in the tutorial. I was worried that I may not be able to pull it off 'the funny' again especially in that it isn't just putting silly jokes in. I have to actually teach the player about the game too without making it too text heavy. I think it is the hardest thing I've ever had to write. The Apptastic iGame people assure me it was just as funny. WHEW!

iPad Highborn HD Lite link

iPhone Highborn Lite link

Shandor for Playstation Home

I haven't written much lately because I haven't done much lately. I spend all my time at work slaving away at a project that hasn't been announced yet.

How ever we did just release Shandor for Playstation Home. Shandor is a decoration furniture object for your apartment. It is modeled after the Zoltar machine from the movie Big where Tom Hank's character (as a kid) makes a wish to be big.

There is more to it than that, but I'll say no more and just show you this video somebody posted to YouTube.



Although it is still early, it is really great to see things start to happen.

Mac History

The Computer History Museum has an article (and the source code) for MacPaint and QuickDraw up on their site.

Looking at the pictures, I can't help but feel a little old knowing that the artwork I did on the Apple Macintosh computer back then wasn't in fact the first computer I worked on professionally. The first professional computer art I did was on the Commodore 64, but it couldn't have been too much farther back than the Mac stuff. I've always listed my computer career as starting in 1985 but I had been going to "The Computer Learning Center for Children," which was also the home of the newly created "Unicorn Software," for a little while before they asked me to do some work for them. Trying to match my memories of how long they were in their original offices before moving to the new building, how that matches up with me spending my senior year of high school (Class of '86) in California, etc.

I had thought that once I got back from California, summer of 1986, that I had only done Amiga and Atari ST work for Unicorn before going to Westwood in 1988. But now that I really think about it, not only do I remember doing a few things on the Mac, but I also did several more titles on the Apple II.

Trying to look for a picture from one of the Mac games I drew on MacPaint I found it funny how back then every program for the Mac had to be named MacWhatever (MacPaint, MacRobots, MacEtc and so on) just like when the iPod/iPhone first launched and everybody was naming their Apps iThis and iThat.

I also found this page that appears to be some sort of Unicorn Software holding page. I've never seen that slogan before, that wasn't their logo, and although I have no idea when the company shut down they were publishing games before 1986.

Anyway, I didn't find anything that I hadn't posted before. So if you really want to see a picture, use the blog's search feature and look for "Unicorn software."

Online Soccer Champions AKA Interzone Futebol

It looks like Big Collision Games aka Interzone Entertainment is launching Online Soccer Champions aka Interzone Futebol in "closed beta." So they claim anyway, knowing what I know about the state of the game when it was ripped from the servers at the Perth studio and what it takes to actually make a game, I have serious doubts they have anything worth playing actually running.

The video and screen shots they have released are really telling. The video is only kind of labeled Online Soccer Champions, as it clearly has the Interzone Futebol and Interzone games logo all over it with only some shots re-branded as "Online Soccer Champions." It actually appears to be the exact same video from last year just re-cut with some Photoshop work. Same goes for the screenshots they have on their site.

Nick Lowe, my friend and former college at the closed Interzone Games studio in Perth, has the latest news on his blog where you can read the latest, sad update on the nefarious Interzone saga. The links to the various sites where you can also find the video and screenshots I mentioned are also on his site for you to check out after reading the sad state of affairs that is going on.

Highborn Video Trailer & More!

The game has been out for a week now and still doing pretty good. I expect another bump as some more reviews come out. Here is another great review from The Portable Game just came out last night and another one from 148 Apps just came out a few minutes ago.

I also posted another Developer Diary that talks about why we didn't include an Undo Feature in Highborn, and what we are going to try and implement to compensate for that. It also talks about a few other things we are working on for the game.

We also have this wonderful review that was posted about the game in Apple's App Store:Finally I want to post this sneak peek at some of the tokens we are redoing for the iPad version of Highborn. We are increasing the scale of the game by 150%, notice that isn't the standard doubling. The new scale allows you to see more of the maps and still have bigger squares to touch. The original tokens from the iPhone are above, and the new ones for the iPad are below.

Highborn doing GREAT!

Supposing you haven't been following me on Twitter or Facebook, Highborn is indeed out and doing great! We have gotten some wonderful reviews!

5 out of 5

Highborn by Jet Set Games is a fantasy turn-based tactical strategy and combines some of the best aspects of the genre's top alumni with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek comedy. The creators aren't above a bit of fourth-wall action and bless them, they've even included the infamous Wilhelm scream - if that can't win you over, then you might be a bit dead on the inside.
-App Spy

And in response to somebody, whose name I won't mention, that said my dialog was overdone and hurting the game:

When characters clash the banter that results is consistently hilarious and peppers the 9 campaign missions with easily some of the best dialogue we've seen on the platform.

A Marriage of Winning TBS and High Fantasy Parody!

-Touch Arcade

Highborn has been steady rising in the various iStore charts. It is in the 70's for Top Paid App, 40's for Top Paid Game, and holding steady at #8 Strategy Game. I even expect those numbers to go up as more reviews are published. We are submitting our first patch today and I just got done filming a video podcast that talks about things we are working on for the game. I have a Developer Diary that will go up with that as well as soon as Sarah proof reads it for me.

Oh and I just found out that Highborn is TUAW's Daily App today while everybody is reading about the iPhone 4G! Score!

Joseph, you've just put out a really good iPhone game. Now what are you going to do?

I'M GOING TO DISNEYLAND! Anybody know of any good augmented reality iPhone apps for Disneyland?

Another Highborn Preview

Slide to Play has another preview of Highborn, again big praise for my wacky writing and even the hand-drawn maps. Though, can you consider working with the mouse in Photoshop "hand-drawn?"

Here is a short gameplay video of they posted. I have one small problem with it, which was also pointed out by one of the commenters on their site. He goes into a handful of combats, each one has 2 spell cards that come up ready to cast, but he doesn't cast them! To explain, our combat scene isn't just for show, you do have a little imput. When you attack an enemy unit on the map, it goes into a 3D scene showing a round of combat pretty much like other turn-based strategy games only in 3D. However, if you are the attacker you have the option to cast one of your combat spells which you gain from Monoliths spread across the map. Also if you are in range of a Castle, Keep or Wizard Tower they will shoot arrows or fireballs at their owners enemy.



We should be submitting just about any time now. I'm already hard at work on a few tutorial levels and Chapter Two!