Tag: Bolt Creative »

Know what's great about Pocket God? Aside from the malicious glee one gets from snuffing out helpless cartoon characters repeatedly, I mean. It's that the game has been receiving a ridiculous amount of support since it's release. Just over 40 Episodes have been released thus far, and Bolt Creative doesn't look like they plan to slow down any time soon.

Yes, I said "over" 40. The newest Episode, "I Sting the Body Electric" has just gone live. This update adds a coral reef to the Ocean Floor area, complete with jellyfish to torment those loveable, languishing pygmies. It also includes a purchasable "Underwater World" skin pack that changes the Pocket God island's boulder into a puffer fish and the volcano into a whale. Oh, and there's something about iOS 5 feature support or something. I wasn't really paying attention.

I'm kidding! Just kidding! Don't hurt me!

The new update allows players to make use of two iOS 5 thingies: First, there's the Asynchronous Turn-Based Gaming that will let them square off against friends and complete strangers in the Battle of the Gods mini-game. Second is the iCloud Storage, which will save progress whenever a level in the battle arena is completed or a new challenge is unlocked. Then they can continue their game with no data loss on any of their other iOS devices.

I suppose there's no time like the present to dive back in to the pygmy slaughter. Pocket God is, and has been, available on the App Store (iOS 5 support and all) right now for a buck. But really, who doesn't own it by now?

That tiny little 99c purchase of Pocket God way back in 2009 has gone a heck of a long way with updates coming in fast. It's meant that owners of Pocket God have always had something to go back to in the game and something new to discover. Now 2 years after its initial release, Bolt Creative has announced the release of the game's 40th update offering some astounding value. Impressive stuff for such a simple yet compelling title.

The 40th update, titled Battle of the Gods, promises to be the largest content expansion to date for the game. While the previous update introduced God Idols and God Island to the game world, this new episode allows players to use up to four of the aforementioned idols in a showdown against one of 40 gods on God Island. Each God Idol promises different attacks and weaknesses with future updates offering a new idol to obtain and a new god to fight.

Yes, more updates. Bolt Creative has promised that new updates will continue with CEO Dave Castelnuovo making a strong point of stating that the company will continue to take suggestions from avid fans in order to be as popular as ever.

As well as the Battle of the Gods update, players can also download a new Mafia skin pack for $0.99. It offers skins inspired by Mafia culture with players able to change the volcano into the New York skyline, replace the statue on Sand Island with a Pygmy wearing cement shoes and the ability to turn the moon into a pizza amongst many other things.

For the rare minority of iOS owners who have yet to purchase Pocket God, there's never been a better time than now with a huge amount of content bound to entertain for a tiny cost.

The Battle of the Gods update is available now. Check out the screenshots below.

If you were to look up generosity in the dictionary, I am pretty sure you might find an icon for the game Pocket God next to the definition.  Simply put, this is the franchise that just keeps on giving, and for completely free.  Their most recent release of the game Pocket God: Journey to Uranus is no exception to the rule either, as it was announced yesterday that another cost absent update has just been made available.

Entitled "Planet of the Living Dead," the game is delving into a world that gamers have become ever so familiar with: zombies.  Not only do the brain gobblers make their first appearance, but now you will also be able to arm your pygmies, in order to fight off the mindless hordes.

Check out the trailer below and let us know in the comments if this is the type of update that could coax a purchase out your stingy wallet.



Pocket God is one of the true success stories on the app store. It was over 2 years ago that it first hit the app store and ever since it's been riding high in the app store charts. It's not surprising even considering the wealth of updates that have been released for it gradually. Even when it first came out, it won our esteemed Editor's Choice award thanks to its casual yet innovative style of god simming and it's gone from strength to strength since then. Since its release, Pocket God has reached 4.5 million downloads with over 1 million in-app purchases made too. There's even a whole range of Pocket God Comics now which has been downloaded over 300,000 times thanks to the seven issues currently available, with another 25 issues planned.

More immediately exciting is that of the release of Pocket God: Journey to Uranus for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It's already been available for the iPad for the past 6 months with a very positive review from Chris Nitz to entice players in. Now iPhone and iPod Touch owners can see what all the fuss is about too.

Journey to Uranus offers an interactive universe that players can explore and use their godly powers upon the inhabitants. It looks set to be a great twist on the regular Pocket God formula. There's also the addition of a new mini-game: Quantum Entanglement. This involves hunting down all the entangled atoms that are currently floating around in space. Essentially it's a memory game in which players have to remember the locations of each atom but it looks set to be addictively fun.

Pocket God: Journey to Uranus is available now for $0.99. iPad owners can download it for the iPhone and iPod Touch for free as it's an universal app now.

Check out the launch video below.

Not what you were expecting!

On This Episode:

Carter and Dave Castelnuovo of Bolt Creative discuss the mobile gaming industry. We discuss the different directions that Pocket God has gone in, game pricing including the freemium model, and the state of indie development on 'traditional' gaming consoles like the 3DS and PSP.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Dave Castelnuovo, Bolt Creative

Music:

"Beatnes7 (Theme to The Portable Podcast)" by The Eternal - Download on iTunes here:

"Nanocarp" by The Eternal

How to Listen:

Click Here to Subscribe in iTunes:

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Listen on WRGT Radio every Friday at 4pm Central

Listen Here: [powerpress]

Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

Up until now, App Store sensation Pocket God has revolved around whatever you (as the de-facto god) did to your poor pygmy subjects. The folks at Bolt Creative, however, decided to bless the pygmies with initiative of their own...and their antics and adventures are the subject of the new Pocket God Comics. Yep, that's right. A real, honest-to-goodness comic spin-off of the famous pygmy-torture game. Let the mayhem begin.

Pocket God Comics hit the App Store on Tuesday. Your $0.99 purchase includes the first issue; later releases can be obtained through in-app purchase. The app is universal (iPhone + iPod + iPad compatible), with higher-resolution artwork on display for the iPad version. The art looks fantastic, even on a small device, and the pygmies are as entertaining as ever.

But wait! Why should the pygmy conquest be limited to the virtual world? Bolt Creative is trying to push a print comic, too. Of course, stores need to carry the Pocket God comic before you can buy it, so Bolt is staging a contest. Take a look at the blog post for full details, but essentially: print a flyer that asks the comic store to stock Pocket God. Go to comic store. Take a picture of yourself with the flyer. Give flyer to comic store staff, then email picture to Bolt Creative. Pocket God gets exposure; you get a code for a Jet Pack in Ooga Jump as well as an entry in a drawing for a $1000 Apple Gift Certificate.

Pocket God is really a stunning success story—it hasn't left the Top 50 for over a year—and it's really neat to see the developers branching out into the "real world." Hurrah for pygmies!

The Pocket God team over at Bolt Creative has unveiled their latest Pocket God project, Procket God: Journey to Uranus, exclusively for the iPad. Instead of simply porting the original Pocket God game to the big screen, Bolt Creative made an entirely new entity, which will be a "set of mini-games centered around being able to take Pygmies to other worlds." According to the Pocket Blog, "all the interactivity will focus on the strengths of the iPad, namely the bigger size, the extra screen real estate and multi-touch".

Dave Castelnuovo, who formed Bolt Creative after being a developer for Sega, among other companies, said in a recent CNN interview that, "It's a completely new game," he said. "I don't really believe in taking an existing title and cranking out an exact same clone of the game on every different console out there. If we have a really hardcore fan that has it on both iPad and iPhone, we want them to have a different experience."

If Pocket God on the iPad takes off like the iPhone version and sells anywhere near 3 million copies, it will be hard not to consider the pygmies to be the App Store's Mario or Sonic. Look for Pocket God: Journey to Uranus to launch sometime this fall. And don't fret, Bolt Creative is still going to fully support the original Pocket God, and have an update called "A Pygmy A Day Keeps the Ape Away" coming very soon.

Be sure to check out the extra screen shots after the break.