Tag: Chillingo »

It was an exceptionally busy time at Gamescom last week for all involved. One such publisher was particularly busy with news and more about three major titles coming iOS's way courtesy of Chillingo's fair hand. We take a look at what we know about each one so far.

Bloodstroke

OK, let's start with a big one. John Woo, yes, the John Woo of "Hard Boiled" and "Face/Off" has delved into iOS gaming. Console gamers will have already experienced the good but not quite great grandeur of Strangehold and, well, Bloodstroke seems to be following a similar path story wise.

Players control Phalanx's Elite private security agent Mai Lee as she shoots and slices mostly everything that gets in her way on the streets of Hong Kong and Beijing. With a particularly distinctive visual style, a series of comic book panels penned by Woo himself are set to explain all, amongst the rather blood-thirsty gameplay. Its screenshots are certainly looking quite memorable.

Bloodstroke is set for release later this year.

Find The Line

Remarkably different to Bloodstroke, Find The Line is a much more cerebral affair. Players must arrange lines in a specific order so that they can discover hidden images throughout each stage. It's not quite as simple as it sounds given that one will have to examine things carefully for any useful clues, but it's almost certainly going to be very easy to come to grips with.

With neon-style graphics and a very minimalist tone, Find The Line already looks quite memorable. Much like Bloodstroke, it's set for release later this year.

Feed Me Oil 2

Everyone loves a good sequel, right? Good, because Feed Me Oil 2 is set to build on the success of its predecessor and provide even more entertaining physics-based puzzling.

As before, players must guide gallons of oil towards the oil-gulping monsters. New to this title, though, come underwater puzzles which promise to mix things up suitably well, plus there are new tools such as windmills and boomerangs.

Set for release this Fall, I have a sneaking suspicion that Feed Me Oil 2 will be quite the hit.

We'll be sure to keep you up to date on each game's progress. For now, soak up the plethora of cool screenshots below, desperate to tantalize those gaming tastebuds.

Perfect Kick puts players on the spot as they become the star striker of a soccer team who needs to successfully score on penalties. If that sounds easy enough, then maybe this will be more challenging as players will feel the pressure of going head-to-head against opponents from around the world where they'll have the opportunity to rise in ranks and compete in weekly leaderboards. The game even allows players to replay classic penalty shootouts from history!

Step up, folks, and take your shot!

Chillingo has released a pretty big update for its city building game, Pixel People. Players are now able to visit a friend's Utopia to see what kind of things they are building in their town. There is also a new trade zone that allows players to exchange animals and Utopium.

The world is full of new ideas as well, including new jobs, buildings, achievements, and more. Heck, I didn't even mention the updated content! Maybe pretty big wasn't the right word to describe the update...it's a very big update! Get to it, Mayors!

• Geneticists underestimate depth of gene pool again. 255 genes rumoured to be discoverable, possibly more.
• Architect has epiphany while staring into space, designs 15 new buildings.
• Voluntary Zoning Commission allows for construction of Terrain tiles consisting of pure water or grass.
• Mission Control mysteriously demands completion of new missions, promises great rewards.
• 29 New medals created at Police Station, to be rewarded for commendable achievements only.

Enjoy a nice cup of coffee this week, along with a free code for Cyto's Puzzle Adventure when visiting your local Starbucks coffee shop. Starbucks App Store Pick of the Week occasionally has free game offerings for some of the more well known titles, such as Angry Birds Star Wars and Where's My Perry?, but this is the first time it has picked a newer title for its selection.

Time to go to Starbucks! YAY!

Chillingo is likely the largest third party publisher on the App Store. With over 10 years of experience publishing mobile games and hundreds of games in the App Store, they have pretty much seen it all. Chillingo was acquired by EA in 2010 but has been pretty much left to their own since then. We take a few moments to talk with Ed Rumley, COO of Chillingo about the App Store and the past five years.

148Apps: How has the App Store changed Chillingo?

Ed Rumley, COO of Chillingo: Well, when Chillingo started out we were dealing with a hugely fragmented marketplace. If people think they know fragmentation now, they should have tried publishing games back in the Java/Pocket PC days. The App Store changed everything. It created a single marketplace where it was easy to get your game to consumers. Our focus shifted to almost 100% iOS shortly after the advent of the App Store and stayed that way until pretty much a year ago.

148Apps: Chillingo has published some of the biggest games on the App Store. Huge success with games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. Was the massive level of success of these games a surprise to you?

Mr. Rumley: We've always had a pretty good eye for something special, and we work with the best indie developers in the world. Obviously you can never tell if something is going to live up to the success you want for it but I think in almost every case over the past few years, whether it was Cut the Rope, Catapult King etc we've been quietly confident that we were onto something.

148Apps: In the five years since launch, the App Store has gone through considerable changes. The number of users has skyrocketed along with downloads, prices for paid apps has stabilized way lower than many expected, free to play has dominated the top grossing charts. If, knowing what you know about the App Store now, you could go back and influence the path of Chillingo five years ago, what would you say?

Mr. Rumley: I think if we were told what the App Store would be like between then and now we probably wouldn't have believed it! I'm not sure we would have changed an awful lot, to be honest. We've always been good at spotting the rising trends in the mobile industry and what's on the horizon. We did that effectively with the advent of the $.99 price point and we've always kept a close eye on the App Store, changing our business when and where appropriate. Since then, various free to play business models have emerged and you can see we've been embracing that—but on our own terms. Pixel People is a great example of a freemium title that people loved to play. It has the level of quality we have a reputation for, and was praised widely for putting the fun before the business model.

148Apps: What have you seen on the App Store, outside of apps published by Chillingo, that has surprised you most?

Mr. Rumley:I still can't believe games like Real Racing 3 and Infinity Blade 2 are running on tablets and phones. The visuals, size and scope of games like these are console-quality, yet they all have the sort of gameplay that makes them totally unique as mobile titles. At the other end we are consistently blown away by what the indie developers is are capable of; games like Tiny Wings being made by just one person is amazing and I've lost a lot of time on games like Clear Vision and Stickman Base Jumper.

148Apps: Any predictions on what the App Store will be like five years from now?

Mr. Rumley:Different, that's for certain. Judging by what has happened over the last past five years I would be mad to predict anything specific but will say that the quality of the games is only going to get better and the talent of the indie developer will never fail to surprise us!

Many thanks to Ed Rumley for his time.

Chillingo's Gloomy Hollow is a new adventure title that's coming soon, featuring hundreds of quests, lots of loot, and upgradable characters. Players will shoot, smash, and slash their way through undead enemies as they quest their way through different environments, reports Pocket Gamer.

It's also reported that there will be multiple difficulty levels, so if players want to make things challenging while retrieving stolen Soul Crystals, they can. The Soul Crystals will restore the town to its former glory, so get ready to find those crystals and save the day!

Gloomy Hollow should be live on the app store soon, but until then, enjoy this newly released trailer.

I know a lot of people have begun to get tired of zombies, but not me. Assuming the game they're in is good, of course. I mean I still like zombies in my games but Dead Ahead isn't getting a free pass. That said, I've been having a great time with it. Not because of all the Living Dead but because it's a genuine blast to play.

As one of possibly only a couple of living humans in a zombie-infested world, players will have to stay ahead of a mass of hungry corpses while avoiding all manner of obstacles in order to stay alive. Simple touch controls allow them to weave around derelict vehicles and barricades (and guide pursuing undead into them), accelerate to gain ground (or plow through zombies in front of them, and fire off their weapon behind them. Like all endless runners the idea is to last as long as possible but there are also a number of challenges that are issued that will increase the player's rank once each set of is completed. Higher ranks unlock better bikes and weapons, while cash earned by squishing zombies is needed to purchase and upgrade them.

I'm totally in love with Dead Ahead's visual style. It's semi-retro with visible pixels and such, but also quite detailed and extremely well animated. Watching zombies burst when running them over or faceplant and skid on the pavement when they trip over an obstacle is incredibly satisfying and never gets old. The constant push to move up in the ranks as well as to acquire better gear is also great. Ignoring the call of "just one more run" is difficult enough but knowing there's only one more challenge between me and the next rank, or only a little more cash for the next firearm, it's almost impossible.

I just wish there were another control option. There are already two (buttons or dragging), but the problem is that my thumb has a tendency to block oncoming hazards from my view for a few precious milliseconds. It's still possible to react and get around them for the most part but it can be pretty tough at high speeds. I hate to admit it since I tend to vastly prefer touch over tilt, but in this instance I think the latter would work even better for me.

Dead Ahead is a great endless runner with plenty to offer, even to those who have grown to hate seeing zombies in their games. I certainly wouldn't mind having a third control option for tilting to make dodging obstacles at high speeds a little easier (theoretically), but what's already there is more than enough to get the job done. I also never get tired of watching the gloriously animated zombie carnage, so there's that.