:: SLOW STRATEGY
:: SUPER BATTLE BROS.Rodeo Games has announced a new upcoming title from the Warhammer 40,000 Universe - Deathwatch: Tyranid Invasion. You'll be the commander of a squad of Space Marines as they battle against the Tyranids in 40 campaign missions. The game will utilize Unreal Engine 4, along RPG gameplay to let you customize your Space Marines like crazy. You can also go up against your friends in online multiplayer battles.
"We were thrilled when Rodeo chose Unreal Engine 4 for Deathwatch," said Mike Gamble, European Territory Manager for Epic Games, in a press release. "These guys have amply illustrated our belief that UE4 is an excellent choice for building high-quality mobile games that really stand apart from the crowd."
Deathwatch: Tyranid Invasion will be out this summer.
:: HAMMER TIME :: Read Review »Just in time for the wrap-up of E3, Rodeo Games has dropped the price on their fantastic strategy RPG and past 148Apps Editor's Choice award recipient, Warhammer Quest. What would once have set you back $4.99 is currently selling for a mere $0.99.
As far as we can tell there is no context for the price lowering, or for that matter any indicator as to whether this is a permanent price slashing, but it is best to assume that this is a limited time event. So move fast and snag one of the best strategy experiences that the App Store has to offer. It is a decision that you most certainly won't regret.
:: HAMMER TIME :: Read Review »First of all, Warhammer Quest is a great game. You should go get it if you haven't already, even if you missed out on it when it was free last week. But regardless of whether or not you were able to take advantage of the sale, there's a totally new sale you can take advantage of this weekend.
From now through Sunday, pretty much all of the game's in-app purchases are on sale for $0.99 each. That means new regions, enemies, heroes, etc. You can grab them all for a very reasonable price.
Warhammer Quest is available on the App Store for its more typical (and still quite worthwhile) price of $4.99.
:: HAMMER TIME :: Read Review »A while back Rodeo Games released Warhammer Quest, and it was good. Quite good, in fact. It garnered a fair amount of praise even before releasing new campaign DLC. And now it's been chosen as Apple's App of the Week.
So basically Rodeo's critically acclaimed and (arguably) best tactical RPG to date is currently free. Totally and completely free. You'll still have to cough up a few bucks for the extra content of course, but I mean come on. Free Warhammer Quest. Download it!
Rodeo Games (Hunters: Episode One, Hunters 2, Warhammer Quest) has recently announced their licensing of the Unreal Engine 4 for an as of yet unnamed project.
Very little is known about this new game aside from the fact that it's going to be turn-based strategy, has to do with one of Games Workshop's properties, is the first mobile game to announce the use of the newest Unreal Engine, and is due out in the second quarter of 2015. More details will no doubt be made available over time (I'm crossing my fingers for Death Angel, but that's really just a pipe dream), so keep an eye on 148Apps for new announcements!
:: HAMMER TIME :: Read Review »Rodeo Games knows strategy RPGs, and Warhammer Quest is most definitely not an exception. At least we certainly don't think so. And you know what's even more fantastic than being able to enjoy Rodeo's latest offering? Being able to enjoy it for $0.99.
Warhammer Quest's pretty major sale is only running through this weekend, so syou should probably think about grabbing it for the totally worth it price of a buck before it's too late.
:: HAMMER TIME :: Read Review »Warhammer Quest has been updated with new content that's available through in-app purchase. The Undead Horde DLC comes with new monsters featuring their own unique abilities that can change the tactics on the battle. Players can purchase the new content for $1.99 each, including the Witch Hunter Hero pack, Skeletons and Necromancers Enemy pack, Zombies and Vampires pack, and Undead Castle Tileset pack.
:: HAMMER TIME :: Read Review »Warhammer Quest gets a new expansion pack, The Brutal Tribe, that costs $4.99 and adds a new region with 9 new settlements and 14 new story quests. Players can also stumble across more enemies enemies and loot as they fight their way through caverns full of orcs. Additionally, for $2.99, players can purchase a hero pack that adds three new playable characters. This includes Shadow Warrior, Ogre Irongut, and Bright Wizard.
:: SHOOT THE PUCKS :: Read Review »With the release of iOS 7 upon us and a whole plethora of juicy new features for consumers and developers alike to enjoy, we took the time to ask some popular game developers just how they feel about it and what features they're looking forward to getting more intimate with.
The look of iOS 7 is a huge change for many, which explains why so many pivotal apps are changing their appearance; to make sure it ties into the new style of doing things. How about with games, though? And do game developers appreciate such a significant change?
For the most part, it's been considered a positive change from those we questioned. Andrew Smith of AppyNation and Spilt Milk Studios explained, "I like it! I’m a fan of refreshes – and although when I first saw the new look I wasn’t completely sold, since using it in studio on the betas it’s won me over." Stephen Morris of Greenfly Studios reinforced that view, emphasizing that the "redefining of the experience... it certainly feels fresh and more efficient."
Some apprehension was felt, though. As Richard Brooks of Rodeo Games explained, "a veteran iOS user may find it a little jarring at first," pointing out that, "the new look will split the room," from his personal experience of showing it to others. Ben Britten of Tin Man Games felt the same, pointing out that some people will love it and others will, predictably, hate it.
It's not all plain sailing though, as Martin Linklater of Curly Rocket explained, "to be honest the colours are a little garish for my tastes. Maybe in iOS 8 Apple will tone it down a little. It's not quite got the subtlety that Apple is known for." Aaron Fothergill of Strange Flavour felt the same, diplomatically pointing out that he's "getting used to it."
Even those who weren't a fan had to admit that they, for the most part, appreciated the cleaner interface.
More positively, few issues have been encountered thus far. For the majority of the people we asked, covering developers such as Hello Games, Hammer & Chisel, AppyNation, Spilt Milk Studios, Strange Flavour, and Green Fly Studios, hardly any issues were reported. The only few problems that did occur related to third-party tools, although noticeably Ben Britten of Tin Man Games found no issues with Unity3D. There were some early day problems with Rodeo Games's Warhammer Quest as explained by Richard Brooks, "The devices we were testing with were crashing a lot and it was very difficult to get anything working. Warhammer Quest didn't work at first due to some bugs in the iOS 7 main libraries, so we just had to sit back and wait. After about 4-6 weeks these were dealt with and are mostly good now."
It's a pretty positive sign for developers that iOS 7 should prove quite beneficial in the long run, given the limited issues that have been encountered so far.
"For us, this is the biggest new feature of iOS 7." explained Aaron Fothergill, "The fact that they’re a standard is the important bit as we can actually design them into our game with the standard features in mind, so we can do it properly. We’ve already got test code in SlotZ Racer, Any Landing, and Apple Dash and we’re just waiting on controllers being available for us to actually test with and perfect the controls before we release games with them in and then we’ll be considering MFI controller as integral design parts of all our games."
Simon Renshaw, of PUK fame, has similar thoughts. " I love that its possible to play iPhone games on the big screen with Apple TV mirroring, latency is an issue though, as is battery life, so I kinda hope we'll see a controller bundled with a magical iPhone-charging HDMI cable!" Martin Linklater also thinks that the controller could be the "real killer feature," at least once adopted more frequently.
Hello Games' Sean Murray explained that "touchscreens are great for lots of games - like, I’m really proud of what we managed to do with the touchscreen design with Joe Danger Touch. There are some games that just benefit from buttons and thumbsticks though, and as a gamer, my thumb just feels comfortable sat on a nice analog button. Having officially supported controllers could be fantastic for broadening gaming on iPhones even further than it is today, bringing in the controller snobs like me! We're working on making something of all this right now, something that makes use of both touch and controller. We're throwing ourselves into it completely... I think people will be surprised how well it works."
Consider us fascinated as to what this will mean for Joe Danger on iOS!
Richard Brooks also found such support less than essential, pointing out that Rodeo Games' titles are "designed entirely for mobile and tablet devices with touch screens and implementing controller support would make them worse." A fair point indeed. Jason Citron expressed similar views, explaining how Hammer & Chisel is "laser focused on building original high-quality games for tablets. A big part of that is taking advantage of the unique interaction a large touch screen affords."
With so many of the best developers doing a great job of providing touch-based interfaces, is there really a need for controllers after five years of perfecting touch controls? Perhaps not, but it'll be fascinating to see how things develop.
Richard Brooks points out what we've all been thinking in terms of old Game Center's looks, "I'm glad they've gotten rid of the horrible green felt style though!" because as Simon Renshaw says while describing the old interface as archaic looking, "what young person recognizes the connection between a black jack table and their favorite shooter?".
So, it's a fairly positive change for iOS 7 and some of its finest game developers. Understandably, there's some apprehension as is always the way with such a significant change, but the future is looking pretty bright. In particular, it'll be fascinating to see what comes of controller support, as well as the new and extra shiny Game Center.
Thanks to Curly Rocket's Martin Linklater, Strange Flavour's Aaron Fothergill, AppyNation/Spilt Milk Studios's Andrew Smith, Greenfly Studios's Stephen Morris, Rodeo Games's Richard Brooks, Laserdog Games's Simon Renshaw, Hammer & Chisel's Jason Citron, Tin Man Games's Ben Britten, and Hello Games's Sean Murray for taking the time to answer our questions.
:: SOLID FIRST TRY :: Read Review »Hunters: Episode One, a turn-based strategy title from Rodeo Games, has gone the free route for a limited time only, reports Pocket Gamer.
In our review, Blake Grundman said, "Hunters: Episode One is a promising first installment in a franchise that will hopefully see a long and prosperous life on the iOS. These are the kinds of titles that can set the platform apart as one of the truly unique experiences in gaming."
Sounds like a great deal, yeah? Get to it then!
Over the past five years, many thousands of developers have tried their luck in creating the next big hit for iOS gamers. While some were there right from the beginning, others have found success in only the last couple of years. I took the time to chat to four relatively recently successful developers to find out exactly why they were so interested in pursuing the App Store route, and how they've found the experience so far.
"First and foremost it was the ease of development and getting things...running quickly, with no development kits and long processes of approval," explained Simon Flesser of Simogo (most famous for the rather exceptionally spooky Year Walk). "That coupled with us being interested in the iPhone as a gaming platform and the different features it provides, touchscreen interaction, motion controls, constant internet connection..."
Barry Meade of Fireproof Studios (makers of BAFTA award winning The Room) had similar views: "As a small team with little resources to draw on, the fact you could self-publish on the App Store was a huge enabler for us...The Room might never have been made if we'd had to rely on a publisher as it was a bit too unusual...they would not have believed in the game like we did." As he pointed out, "the App Store allowed a team from nowhere to make a small game and see big success."
The Room's Fireproof Games is one such team made up of ex-AAA developers, with the studio formed by six ex-lead artists from Criterion Games' Burnout franchise. Similarly, Warhammer Quest's Rodeo Games came from such a background. Formed from executives previously working for the likes of EA, Lionhead, Criterion and Codemasters, Rodeo Games were provided the opportunity to pursue something new, thanks to the App Store.
"Well, we'd been in the AAA games industry for many years and had been talking about how to take steps in setting up our own company. The App Store was just flourishing at the time. It was this awesome, new, bold place for smaller dev teams to put their games in-front of a huge audience. So we crafted a plan with the mindset of making the very best turn based strategy games on iOS, and Rodeo Games was the result," Ben Murch, co-founder, explained.
Neil Rennison of Fighting Fantasy developer, Tin Man Games, enjoyed a similar revelatory moment, after a move to Australia, gave him the chance of starting his own indie development studio, just as the iPhone and the App Store came to fruition: "I was originally running a small games art outsource company in the UK and then...I...moved to Australia with the dreams of starting my own indie and making my own titles instead of working on other people's games."
How different do they all think things would be if the App Store didn't exist, though? "Very! Certain types of business models and certain types of games would probably not exist without the App Store," Simon reckoned. Ben offered similar views, although noted the loss of the "middle tier" of gaming: "The gaming world would be a very different place right now. Just think about how many small companies and jobs have been created just from iOS gaming alone. Before the App Store, there was this surge towards "middle tier" gaming, i.e. titles coming out in the £10 - £20 bracket. I guess that market would have grown more and become an eco-system in itself. However, thanks to the App Store, creators who were interested in that model shifted into the mobile market, effectively crippling the whole "middle tier" gaming sector."
Mention was also made, by Neil, of the fragmentation of the mobile phone operator universe, something that was a significant problem before the advent of the App Store. "Apple's stock would be worth a lot less", noted Barry. All quite rightly pointed out that none of them would be in the position they're in today, if it wasn't for the ease of the App Store.
For the most part, all four of our interviewees were very positive about the App Store's impact. Each citing how it's "paved the way for many small developers", as Simon eloquently put it, and enabled them to try riskier material. As Ben pointed out, "Without the App Store, it would be nigh on impossible to get your strange little game idea in front of....well, thousands of people would be a struggle. Suddenly, anyone can release something that has exposure to HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of potential buyers. Just thinking about that blows my mind."
Financial barriers are also lowered, as Barry explained: "The relative cheapness of mobile games development allows niche ideas to thrive." Neil reinforced that point, citing how the games industry "was slowly becoming a bloated AAA only console game market and traditional game developers were beginning to struggle as the mid-point of the market was getting squeezed. The app revolution helped give developers options and in a way created its own new market in which everyone had the same opportunities from the big publishers to the lone bedroom coder...[it] was a perfect springboard for budding entrepreneurial devs like us."
Simon was slightly more cautious, enjoying the risks that were possible to take, but also citing how it's "paved the way for some very questionable money-grabbing schemes… the market place has been somewhat flooded with low-quality software. It might have lowered the quality bar for what is considered to be a release-able piece software."
That's clearly a thought that runs through each of the developers' minds, given that each recommends changes that make it easier to find good apps and games. Ben would appreciate a better quality Related Apps section and a twist on the Genius section, "Some form of "We recommend these Apps for you based on what you've downloaded already" type thing." Discoverability is a big thing for Barry too, "There should be a lot more ways to format the lists of games when browsing the store. A chart by user rating is very needed for those smaller companies who make great games but get buried by the marketing clout of richer but arguably less skilful publishers."
Higher "quality control" is an important wish for Simon, while Neil would appreciate a way to reply to App Store reviewers.
For the most part, though, all four developers were, understandably, happy with how the App Store is performing, both in terms of business and personal use.
"I think Apple does a marvellous job at finding and promoting good games. It's so nice that they can give small developers, such as us, a big spotlight if they find something that is good...it's almost...unbelievable that something as strange as Year Walk can get the same type of exposure as a mainstream game from a big publisher," beamed Simon.
The "open territory" of the Store was appreciated by Barry, also, "You can upload a game to the store and be published in 150 countries within 24 hours - this is really quite incredible when you compare it with how difficult it was to get a game onto other platforms only a few years ago. It's pretty much a revolution in terms of enabling creativity," with Neil offering similar views.
As a consumer, it's also proved quite the hit with Ben pointing out, "it's that feeling of being able to browse a huge catalogue of games from your sofa, eventually finding something that's right up your street. They have great landing pages in the App Store making it easy to find great games that you may not have heard of previously." Neil appreciated the vast wealth of games, too, "it's enabled me to play games that I haven't played in over 20 years and also experience new innovative game designs from some truly talented people that wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to shine."
While it's clear that the App Store isn't perfect, mostly in terms of offering great visibility to the titles that deserve it, these four developers have clearly found it an overwhelmingly useful experience. Each of them, from different backgrounds, have found great and deserved success, highlighting the best of what can come out of the App Store in terms of original efforts.
We're certainly fascinated to see what will come next from these relatively new developers, part of the next generation of exciting game makers.
Thanks to Simon Flesser, Ben Murch, Barry Meade and Neil Rennison for taking the time to answer our questions.
:: HAMMER TIMEWaiting for the Warhammer universe to come to your iPhone or iPad? RodeoGames plans on bringing it to you in 2013, according to this post at GamesWorkshop:
This is very exciting news for us here in the office, as not only do we get to tell you all about a new computer game, but we also get the exclusive on it. That's right, you heard it from us first! Today, Rodeo Games announced that they are working on bringing a Games Workshop classic - Warhammer Quest - to the iPhone and iPad in 2013. As the first Warhammer title to come to a mobile games platform, we were thrilled to find out more about it.
Check out the trailer below, and head over to the blog post to see more images and details for Warhammer Quest.
