Tag: Zeptolab »

You must have control!

On This Episode:

Carter speaks to Todd Hamilton of Joypad about their app that turns iPhones and iPod touches into game controllers for PC, Mac, and iPad games, and talks about what could come in the future for games that support Joypad.

Carter speaks to Semyon Voinov of ZeptoLab about the game's new Android release, and the content that's been added to the game since its original release.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Todd Hamilton, Joypad

Guest: Semyon Voinov, ZeptoLab

Contact The Show: Email | Twitter

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:

Click Here to Subscribe via RSS.

Listen on WRGT Radio every Friday at 4pm Central

Listen Here: [powerpress]

Apps Mentioned in this Episode:

Chillingo, a division of Electronic Arts most recognized for its creation of Angry Birds, which sits almost always as the #1 paid application in App Stores across the world, announced today that Cut the Rope will receive a special update for Valentine's Day, February 14.

"The new Cut the Rope 1.2 update marks the annual celebration of love and affection with adorable Om Nom as cupid in a special Valentine’s Box filled with 25 gorgeous levels. A romantic and fun, “split-candy” gameplay is also introduced to challenge players as they strive to slice the right ropes to feed the insatiable green creature. Brand new artwork and a distinctive Valentine’s icon make Cut the Rope the perfect gift for your special someone" reads the official release.

"This 1.2 update is our gift to you this Valentine’s Day for being the greatest fans out there; we hope players love the new box, levels and features just as much as we enjoyed creating it,” states Efim Voinov, CTO of Zeptolab. “Thank you for the continued support, we are already working closely with Chillingo to enhance the game and think fans will be extremely delighted!”

Such holiday updates are becoming more and more popular, even within Cut the Rope's own development. In December of last year, 148Apps reviewer Brad Hilderbrand announced the Christmas update of the popular application, which to date has now sold more than six million copies. Conservatively, that means Cut the Rope has generated over $4 million in revenue (after Apple's 30% commission), not taking into account the price difference between the iPad and iPhone version of the immensely popular game. It stood as the sixth most popular paid-for iPhone game in 2010.

When 148Apps reviewed the game last year, writer Carter Dotson awarded it 4 stars. "Cut the Rope is ingenious, following a similar formula to Angry Birds – charming graphics, simple gameplay that gets complexity steadily layered on top of it in a way that feels natural, almost without even feeling like it’s getting more difficult" he writes. "That is just brilliant game design, and with more levels promised, Cut the Rope has an exciting future, but is still great with even just the core game content."

Available for $0.99 on iPhone and $1.99 for iPad, a free lite version is also available to download, allowing you to try-before-you-buy. A sneak peak video of the update is available below:

Don't burn the rope. Just cut it.

On This Episode:

Carter and Dennis Fong of Raptr talk about the new Raptr app for iPhone. It lets people track their friends and receive push notifications for messages from their friends on Xbox Live, Playstation Network, Steam, the Raptr network, and more.

Carter also talks to Semyon Voinov of ZeptoLab about Cut the Rope, what went into the design and concept of the game, and how the game has performed relative to their expectations.

Who We Are:

Host: Carter Dotson

Guest: Dennis Fong, Raptr

Guest: Semyon Voinov, ZeptoLab

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:

Click Here to Subscribe via RSS.

Listen on WRGT Radio every Friday at 4pm Central

Listen Here: [powerpress]

Apps Mentioned on This Episode:

Chillingo seems to have found their next Angry Birds - take a game with a simple yet unique concept, layer complexity on top of it, add some colorful graphics and charming characters, and watch it shoot to the top of the charts. Cut the Rope follows this formula to a T, and it works brilliantly.

Cut the Rope has you trying to get the piece of candy in the level from its starting point into the mouth of Om Nom, the adorable green creature in each level, while trying to collect stars scattered throughout the level to unlock more levels. Your main tool to accomplish this is via cutting the ropes that the candy is suspended from to navigate it through the level. The later levels introduce new tools like bubbles, air gushers, adjustable length rope, and more. Of course, to keep things saucy, you have hazards like spikes, electric fields, and spiders that climb the ropes to keep getting the candy into Om Nom's mouth more than just a simple goal.

Cut the Rope is just simple bliss to play. The way that you have to solve some of the puzzles require planning and/or quick reaction times, and getting all 3 stars on the more challenging levels is extremely satisfying. Succeeding at this game just makes you feel ingenious for having solved something that seems impossible at first glance. It's all a great formula for an addictive game. The graphics and animations are great - the game is very colorful, and Om Nom is very fluidly animated, cutely changing expression whenever the candy gets near. While the game ships with 100 levels, the developer promises more levels coming soon.

The main problem with Cut the Rope is that you often have tight spacing or timing windows, and it can be easy to accidentally slash something you didn't mean to, or to accidentally slash a rope when you wanted to rotate a lever to raise your rope. Although you can easily restart a level, it is still frustrating when you have a plan and can't execute it because something else was slashed when you didn't mean to do it. Also, the game occasionally features large levels that scroll, without any way for you to scroll around and view the rest of the level before you get there besides the view at the beginning of the level.

Cut the Rope is ingenious, following a similar formula to Angry Birds - charming graphics, simple gameplay that gets complexity steadily layered on top of it in a way that feels natural, almost without even feeling like it's getting more difficult. That is just brilliant game design, and with more levels promised, Cut the Rope has an exciting future, but is still great with even just the core game content.

Note: While this game was reviewed on the iPad, the iPhone version has the same gameplay and levels, and is available in the App Store as well.