:: RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLEDevelopers met with us last week at GDC to show us their latest projects, the games that currently are deep in the works for them. Some of these games are closer to release – one game actually had its update approved by Apple an hour after we talked about it. These are the games that are more off in the distance.
Drifter from Celsius Game Studios is well in the works at the moment. This will be a space trading game, an homage to games like Freelancer. Colin Walsh of the one man studio had an iPad 2 build on hand, showing off the massive procedurally-generated galaxy the game will boast (that will take a very long time at warp speed to travel across), ships docking in space stations, and some of the combat that’s in the works. The game uses the same 3D engine as Red Nova, but the game uses a lower camera angle, and the engine is obviously more expansive to cover this massive space trading epic. A new teaser trailer featuring music from Danny Baranowsky was recently released, and the game is expected sometime in the second half of this year.
Ezone’s Simon Edis showed off their new endless runner, Awesome Man. This game uses a Unity engine and graphic style similar to Diversion, but it features a faster pace and a flying superhero. Players try to fill up their flight meter by collecting gems, also collecting coins on their way. The arrogant eponymous hero can be hurt by flying into walls or dropping to the ground from great heights, but these also grant the player coins. The scale of the levels are massive: Awesome Man can fly up to great heights using jump pads, and can even fly through the windows of some of the floating office buildings in the sky. Awesome Man is still a couple months away, and next up on the list is adding and refining the game’s difficulty curve.
Finally, Gamerizon, developers of Chop Chop Ninja, showed off their upcoming game, Chop Chop Ninja World. This promises to combine two different styles of game: the typical side-scrolling gameplay the series is known for, and a social city-building element. The city-building will be in a side-scrolling interface as well, with players able to build their cities of different elemental types to create custom looks. Gamerizon have announced bold plans for connecting with friends, utilizing push notifications to help protect friends' villages for rewards, pushing new content through background content downloads, and potential integration with an upcoming Chop Chop Ninja cartoon series on Cartoon Network. The game will be free to play, and is currently scheduled for a September worldwide release after an extended single-country release in order to refine the game based on public feedback, according to Kael Lazla of Gamerizon.
Ever since the start of the World Cup, we have seen a slew of soccer apps come out. Unfortunately, the majority of the apps are soccer simulations, leading to obvious limitations on the small iPhone screen. There's just no good way to pack all of the complexities that soccer offers, from the moves to the different types of passes to the great shots... there just isn't enough screen real estate for the needed buttons.
Instead of a traditional soccer game, Gamerizon has made a soccer game that looks like the iPhone version of Mario Strikers, just with simpler controls.
"There are no virtual pads or buttons. All that's needed is one finger to control all offensive and defensive actions. To move, you just slide your finger on the screen. To pass, shoot or tackle, you just flick your finger in the direction you want your player or ball to go. That's it! Those commands make Chop Chop Soccer™ the most intuitive soccer game ever created."
Be sure to check out the video below, the game looks like a ton of fun.