Mommy's Best Games' Dev log

Game Type Updated

2012-01-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

Game Type has been updated with a slew of small and large improvements! Most of these improvements are in the shoot'em up portion of the game.

The biggest changes come to the gameplay in the form of the weapons and point system.
Before, Cash Drops only gave the player extra points. Now they still give you score bonuses, but additionally they fill a meter shown in the HUD. This meter powers your Kick Beam and the new Time Pulse.

In addition to the normal and beam weapons, you can use a new action called "Time Pulse". This slows down time dramatically for just a moment, giving you a chance to dodge out of the way.

Using Time Pulse takes 51% of your cash meter (which is marked by a yellow star letting you know Time Pulse is ready). You'll have to grab more cash drops to use it again.
But that should be easy since now shooting enemy bullets with your Kick Beam, while in the slowed-down mode, turns into Cash Drops! That's right, shooting enemy bullets turns them to cash!

Use the Kick Beam during the time slow-down and change enemy shots to Cash Drops!

The new player basic shot can attack top, bottom, and forward!

In addition to the gameplay and art changes the online High Scores Tables are fixed and will now share properly for all scores!

Take 2 players into the madness!

Here's the full change list:

High scores properly share now for scores past loop 3.
Weapons system changes: Normal shot now has up/down shots plus forward firing, and is stronger. Kick Beam is now powered by Cash drops. Also, new attack added via the Right Trigger called "Time Pulse" which slows time and lets the Kick Beam turn normal enemy bullets into cash. Add action buttons are remappable.
New 'How to Play' screens (2), these are now shown via menu option during gameplay as well.
New Score Multiplier system which works by increasing for every cash drop you grab, but drops if you don't get them fast enough.
Warning arrows are shown for enemy groups beginning to approach off screen.
Players can "log in and log out" on the shmup sub-menu screen. Find the Game Type menu with box art showing (the menu in which you're about to play the shoot'em up). Players can press A to join or press Y to log out. If two players are playing, and one needs to quit use this to get the second player to log out.
Graphical touch-ups: green theme used on beam attacks and bullets. Background art touched up with more detail and highlights.
Gameplay tips are now shown during loop starts.
The wave spawning for enemies have been rebalanced for more consistent, interesting attacks.
The 'hint arrow' in the fake dashboard now starts on by default (to make it easier to find the shmup game).
There is a quick-start option now, just press Y to launch shmup game, if you've already found it and played it once.
Pressing B repeatedly on the fake dashboard will eventually take you back to the exit menu.

Mmm.. delicious enemy attacks

Here's a Xbox 360 marketplace link to the update: Link.
Game Type is 80 MS Points which allows for the ability to share your high scores online. The game was originally released December 21st. This is the first update for the game.

Parkour!

Convince the ESA to Drop SOPA Support

2012-01-02T12:05:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:
Epic Games withdraws support for SOPA
Trion Worlds does not support of SOPA
38 Studios says SOPA needs restructuring

Hi, so I've put together a simple post pleading with developers and gamers to focus their internet super powers on getting the ESA to drop SOPA support. If They can get the Ocean Marketing guy fired forever, I'm sure They can blow this up as well. I feel like because the ESA is one step removed from direct consumerism, it's not getting the heat like it should be.

Yet, when Congress looks as the SOPA support list and sees the ESA, "Yes, there's the game industry, right there."

Fellow gamers developers,
If you work for any of the companies that are ESA members, please talk to your higher ups about contacting the ESA to have them withdraw SOPA support. In effect, your company is supporting the SOPA bill. There are over 30 really great companies that have made amazing games that are effectively supporting the SOPA bill.
So if you work for

SEGA of America, Inc.
Konami Digital Entertainment
Capcom USA, Inc.
Epic Games, Inc.
Sony Computer Entertainment America (Yes, I realize they dropped formal support, but are still ESA members and support SOPA by proxy)
Sony Online Entertainment, Inc.
Electronic Arts (Yes, I realize they dropped formal support, but are still ESA members and support SOPA by proxy)
Microsoft Corporation
Nintendo of America Inc. (Yes, I realize they dropped formal support, but are still ESA members and support SOPA by proxy)
Square Enix, Inc.
Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Ubisoft Entertainment, Inc.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
THQ, Inc.
XSEED Games
505 Games
Deep Silver
Disney Interactive Studios, Inc.
Eidos Interactive
Her Interactive, Inc.
Ignition Entertainment
345 Games
LEVEL-5 Inc.
Natsume Inc.
Nexon America, Inc.
Nival
NVIDIA
O-Games, Inc.
Perfect World Entertainment
Slang
38 Studios
Tecmo Koei America Corporation
Trion Worlds, Inc. (From what I can tell Trion opposes SOPA, but hopefully are talking to the ESA)
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc.

...your company is supporting the SOPA bill because the ESA is representing it in Congress.

Lots of people work for these companies! If you work at one of these companies talk to your boss and get them talking to the ESA! Ask what your company's stance is!

From what I can tell, my company lost plenty of potential sales of our recent game Serious Sam Double D to online piracy. But SOPA is not the answer to fixing piracy problems! You may be saying "Yes, you're not telling me something I don't already know" but have you done anything about it? Have you written to the ESA or supporting companies? (If you have, good on you!)

Fellow gamers,
If you love those companies, get on your favorite company's forums and complain that they are letting the ESA support SOPA by proxy! And consider writing the actual ESA as well (see below).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shew... okay...

Let me back up then...

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has done a lot of good for the video games industry, including facilitating the landmark Supreme Court ruling that games should be protected by the First Amendment like books and movies, and promoting STEM to further games and learning.

Unfortunately the ESA is still shown on the SOPA support list. The "Stop Online Piracy Act" bill will be voted on some time this year (probably soon). The proposed bill will likely stifle innovation and self-expression on the internet, and grant corporations plenty of power to abuse, given the broad manner in which the bill is written. If you're wondering what the fuss is all about, here's a detailed explanation as to why constitutional scholars believe the bill infringes on the First Amendment, and a general overview of what the bill is about.

Recently Sony Electronics, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts have stopped their direct support of SOPA. But as long as the ESA is still listed, the game industry as a whole is supporting SOPA.

I know The Internet has written and complained about SOPA so it feels like someone else is handling this--but this is gaming. Gamers are being represented by the ESA saying we *support* SOPA.

If you don't agree with this then please write the Entertainment Software Association, whether you're a gamer or game developer, and ask that they withdraw their support for SOPA as soon as possible.

ESA contact page

Generic email:
esa@theesa.com

The current president of the ESA is Mike Gallagher, and while it's not listed, his email is likely
mgallagher@theesa.com
Please send him your email as well (I've sent one there and it's not bounced at least).

In addition, here are all current companies listed as ESA members. They will have further ability to convince the ESA to drop SOPA support, so please write them as well.

If you need a kick in the pants, here's my simple email I've already sent to the ESA. Please use it as a starting point, or even better, write something better from scratch!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, I'm a gamer and game developer.

I want to thank the Entertainment Software Association for their brave work over the years, such as getting video games recognized by the Supreme Court as important forms of entertainment protected by free speech. The ESA is certainly a powerful force within our government working for the video game industry.

But one area of the ESA's work that is very troubling is your association's support of the Stop Online Piracy Act. The proposed SOPA bill is an overreaching, broadly worded bill that will surely give too much power to some groups and result in excessive, stifling internet censorship. I agree internet piracy is an issue but this bill is not the answer. Many, many political and technology experts have come out opposing the bill, yet the ESA remains in support of SOPA.

The ESA represents the video game industry, including companies such as Sony Entertainment and Nintendo which have dropped support for SOPA. This bill is bad for the internet and bad for the video game industry. Please show the world that the game industry does not support SOPA, and please have the ESA withdraw support for SOPA.

Thank you for your time

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-23T15:06:00.000-08:00

From the card:
* Serious Sam Double D in the Steam Holiday Sale: http://store.steampowered.com/app/111600
50% off, only $3.99!

* Check out Xbox dashboard satire Game Type!

Xbox Dashboard Helps Indie Game

2011-12-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 21, 2011 (Louisville, KY) – Shoot 'em up "Game Type" launches on the Xbox 360 after Microsoft reserved a special tile on the dashboard for the game since the new Fall update.

Mommy's Best Games, creators of Shoot 1UP, present a new, coop shoot 'em up in which you pilot the iconic Hoodie Girl to battle the evil MediaBall.

"Game Type" box art

Think you have what it takes to explode angry cats and raging SUVs into showers of cash? Show the world with the shared, online high scores table. Game Type is a "score attack"-style game in which you zoom your way through bizarre enemies, going for the high score, all while the game-speed continues to climb. Bring in a friend and fire your Kick Beams for extra power--PARKOUR!

Xbox360 Fall Dashboard update, Game Marketplace (note Game Type tile in upperright--Sweet!)

"I've been thrilled Microsoft created the special dashboard tile just for our game. It's such a terrible name which I created as a placeholder while starting the project." reveals lead designer Nathan Fouts. "With the incongruous stock photo of a woman in a hoodie doing a jump-kick, and the forgettable 'Game Type' title, it's good to know Microsoft was advertising our poorly-named game, and not trying to label the console's entire digital game storefront. Otherwise, it'd be a horrible match that would simply make no sense and generally lead fewer gamers to find the store and browse on their own terms."

Check out "Game Type" on Xbox Live Indie Games. Find it in the Xbox 360 Games Marketplace. Or just do a search on it. Otherwise, you'll probably get lost in the dashboard, stuck watching advertisement for TV shows.

Game Type marketplace link

Game Type screens, click to zoom:

Will you be able to find "Game Type" on the MediaBall dashboard? It's in there somewhere!

Hoodie Girl slaps some sense into these flying nasties!

Award-winning shows like "FatGuy and Pretty Girl" now streamable on your console!

Hut-hut-hut!Watch out Hoodie Girl!

Deliverswift justice with the Kick Beam in 2-player mode. PARKOUR!

Gameplay footage:

About Mommy’s Best Games:
Mommy's Best Games, Inc. is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. We strive to deliver games that push the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, satire, and pie. Our first game, Weapon of Choice, is an award-winning, side-scrolling, action game now available Xbox LIVE Indie Games. And our newest, critically acclaimed games Shoot 1UP, Explosionade, and Serious Sam Double D are available on XBLIG and PC. Follow MBG on Twitter to find out more!

Help Translate Shoot 1UP

2011-11-29T13:53:00.001-08:00

We're nearly finished porting Shoot 1UP to Windows Phone 7! It probably won't be out on the marketplace till early next year, but it's exciting to have it almost complete.


Mecha Lilith needs your help!

Microsoft is publishing the title, and has been a great help navigating all their tricky rules for being an official LIVE enabled game. But Mommy's Best Games is responsible for figuring out localization. We're looking at various translation houses (and even Google Translate) but I wanted to check in with shoot'em up fans first.

Bullets speak louder than words, but there's menus and tutorials to be translated too!

Are you interested in helping translate Shoot 1UP?
We need a few translators for each of the following languages: French, Italian, German, and Spanish. There are about 1,100 words to be translated. I say "a few" people to translate, as I think it would be beneficial to have one translate the original text, and at least one proofread.

Here's a random sample of strings needed to be localized:

Title	Text to translate	Notes
AwardsCompleted	Achievements Completed!
Back	Back	go back one menu
BestScore	Best	Best score
BuyGame	Buy Full Game	purchase the complete game
CalibrateDescription1	Please hold your device in a resting
CalibrateDescription2	orientation that is most comfortable
CalibrateDescription3	for you, then press Ready...

I'll provide notes as well so for instance, the "Back" word could mean a human's back, or go back to the previous menu. Obviously here it means "back to the previous menu" which is included in each entries notes.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who's offered to help!
It looks like we have enough people to translate the game to the above 4 languages. If you're interested in translating the game to any other languages (like Brazilian Portuguese for instance) please contact me and we'll see if it would work.

If you are interested in contributing, please email me at nathan (at) mommysbestgames (dot) com and specify what language you can help with. Native speakers would probably work best. If it works out we'll definitely get you in the credits for the game, and hopefully be able to compensate you as well.
Thanks a bunch!

Serious Steam Fall Sale

2011-11-26T14:54:00.001-08:00

Fight holiday food comas with THOUSANDS OF BULLETS!
Check out the Steam Fall sale, running through this weekend, November 27th.

Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, 50% off, only $2.49!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/201480
2 words: Pixel Sam
2 more words: Kamikaze bait

Serious Sam Double D, 50% off, only $3.99!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/111600
2 words: Gun Stacker
2 more words: Pancake monsters

If you've been on the fence about either game, hop down and snap these puppies up! Tell your friends that would be interested (and even the ones that wouldn't be ), and thanks for the support!

And of course thanks to all the fans that have already purchased and enjoyed--it's very much appreciated. We love getting to make games for you.

Flotilla and Weapon of Choice in Sale Promotion

2011-11-23T08:17:00.001-08:00

Microsoft has a "Fan Appreciation Sale" going on now on the Xbox 360.
http://majornelson.com/2011/11/22/xbox-live-fan-appreciation-sale/

Lots of games on sale, from Super Meat Boy to Stacking.
And we're thrilled to announce two Indie Games have been added to the promotion!

The first XBLIG is Flotilla by Blendo Games, a interesting blend of tactical space-combat and odd-ball adventure.

The second game is our own action-packed Weapon of Choice!

Both games are now 50% off, making each only $2.50! (200 MS Points)
Tell any friends who've been on the fence to take the plunge. Thanks!
(And both games still have free demos to check as well.)

Just in time for it's third birthday--Happy 3 years old Weapon of Choice (originally released November 14, 2008)!

I'm not certain how long the promotional sale will continue. I'd guess probably through this holiday weekend. Happy gaming!

Add Ringtones to XNA games for Windows Phone 7

2011-11-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

(This is for game developers offering ringtones through their games--for end users adding their own ringtones to their Windows Phone 7, check here.)

Shoot 1UP for Windows Phone 7 will be coming out early next year. We're excited to offer 3 custom ringtones created from game music, that you'll be able to add to your phone from within the game. Turns out though, none of the online tutorials explained everything necessary for our XNA game to install ringtones.

When we heard about the Mango update, we were excited to support new features like ringtones and 'live tiles'. Searching for help on creating ringtones in the game we found the official MSDN walkthrough.

You can have MP3s or WMAs of the ringtones and you can add the sound from the XAP itself or pull it from isolated storage. Since our game was not generating the ringtone itself (as they were previously recorded), our ringtones are added to the solution and will be pulled from the XAP as shown in the MSDN example.
This shows a .wma being used, but we used .mp3s which work as well.

try
{
    saveRingtoneChooser.Source = new Uri("appdata:/myTone.wma");
    //saveRingtoneChooser.Source = new Uri("isostore:/myTone.wma"); 

    saveRingtoneChooser.DisplayName = "My custom ringtone";

    saveRingtoneChooser.Show();
}
catch (System.InvalidOperationException ex)
{
    MessageBox.Show("An error occurred.");
}

The Problem?
When we ran the game and checked for the ringtone file--the file never existed on the phone after we deployed.

The Answer?
We had have "Copy to Output Directory:" set to Copy if newer. This isn't obvious since the default which works with all other content is "Do not copy".

From what we've seen, Live Tiles images work like this too. If you want to use them, you must set them to "Copy if newer" to get them to show up on the phone, as they seems they circumvent the traditional content pipeline. And I believe this issue is only for XNA games (not Silverlight) but if I'm wrong, please inform me in the comments.

Good luck to all devs adding additional, cool content made possible by the Mango update! I think the 'new' WP7 is really sharp and it can help all new games really shine.

Shoot 1UP on Windows Phone 7

2011-10-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

We're excited to share that we're porting Shoot 1UP to Windows Phone 7 with a bunch of additions and custom changes to fit the touchscreen hardware. Microsoft Studios will be publishing the title as official Xbox LIVE title meaning the game will have Achievements that register to your Gamerscore, and Leaderboards (at least WP7-style leaderboards, which is all it still supports).

If you're unfamiliar with the original version of the game and the concept, check out this short video. The original is available on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel on your Xbox 360. Basically it's a space-ship shoot 'em up, but you fly all your ships at once!

Here are the first batch of screenshots for the Windows Phone 7 version of Shoot 1UP, which we expect will release in January 2012. Screenshots in a press kit are also available here to download.


Click to enlarge!


The bullet count is much higher than the XBLIG version.

Dead whales return!

Yes, it's a lot of bullets, and yes, it's still very possible to beat.

More suggestive lasers!

Screen-filling bosses for all!

In getting the game working on the touch screen we realized it was waaaaaaaay too easy, even for Shoot 1UP standards. We've worked to continue raising the bullet counts, but also making sure it's still easy and fun to play. The main reason it still works is having all your ships active means you may lose all your ships but one--but if you hang in there, you'll get a new 1UP to help you out!

New Features include:

Touch-screen controls mean better control for players so we added tons more bullets to dodge!
New Game mode: Score Tilt. Tilt your phone to speed up gameplay and increase your score multiplier!
An brand-new level, boss, and enemies!
Unlock official Xbox LIVE Achievements and compete against your friend for a high score!

We'll be putting out a gameplay video pretty soon and explain more differences soon!

Serious Sam Double D Demo Out Now

2011-10-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Been curious about Gunstacking? Ready to tear into a Biomechanoid with a Tommy Gun, Shotgun, and Chainsaw all at the same time? Then give the Serious Sam Double D Demo a try!

Say hello to "Femikazes". They are in the demo and would love to show you a good time.

Find out what side of the Metacritic fence you're on! Serious Sam Double D has ratings ranging from 95%, 80%'s, 70%'s, ... all the way down to 20%! What's this madness? Talk about a polarizing game--how about we just stack some guns and shoot monsters!

This is the Chimputee BattleMaster, the first major boss. He's not in the demo, but you can see him in the full game.

Here's a few review quotes from places you may trust:

"Mommy's Best Games' 2D shooter is fun the whole way through." - 7/10 - IGN

"Easily the most insane and downright fun 2D shooter I've played all year, if not ever." - 85/100 - Strategy Informer

"There's quite a lot of cathartic fun to be had with such a reckless onslaught of bullet-flavored justice" - 7/10 - Destructoid

"Check your brain at the door, kick back, relax and enjoy a little carnage. It's worth it. Seriously." - 8/10 - Worth Playing

Go on--give that demo a try and buy the full game for only $7.99 if you enjoy it!
There's 18 campaign levels, 12 challenge rooms, 25 weirdo enemy types, and dozens of giant guns to stack!

Double DRM Free

2011-09-12T21:06:00.001-07:00

Cracked!

Serious Sam Double D was released on PC for $7.99 on August 30th around 1pm EST and within about 5 hours a crack by the "Theta" group showed up on the web. That seems pretty good in terms of interest in the game to have a crack out that quickly! It's flattering honestly. But I'm worried some of the gamers downloading the game and enjoying it may not have yet purchased a copy as well.

~~I realize there is no demo of the game currently but we'll be releasing one shortly.~~
UPDATE: The Free Demo for Serious Sam Double D is out now!

I also realize that even with a limited demo, some gamers may download the crack of the game to try it out with no demo restrictions to see if they like the whole thing. I'd simply like to plead with you that if downloaded a crack of Serious Sam Double D and enjoyed it, please buy a copy or donate! Thanks!

Don't want to deal with Steam? Just want to keep the bootleg but still pay for it? No problem, you can donate to MBG as well!
(Any Paypal info will not be used to prosecute, belittle, spam, or stalk. But we'll probably send you a thank you!)

Mommy's Best Games is a very small company of passionate developers, but passion doesn't manifest peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on our plates. We also need money in exchange for our fun games--if we miss out on a few hundred or thousand sales of the game due to pirating it's a BIG DEAL for us. You may have played half-way through the game, and thought "Oh, I'll pay for it at some point"--well consider this a friendly reminder to pay via the donate button or the Steam page!

Traffic
The tough part of course is we don't know how many copies we're losing to cracks, but there are tons of pages floating around and we get a lot of traffic to the site from those pages. We've gotten requests that people want to contribute not deal with Steam so there's the new way with the donate button. The game was even cracked a second time after we've updated a few things recently!

DRM Free
I'd like to point out that while the non-cracked version of the game requires an internet activation to play, you can run Steam in offline mode and play the game that way as well. There is no restriction on the number of installs you can make once you've purchased the game. The Steam version of Serious Sam Double D only has traditional "copy protection".

Thank You!
Did you enjoy the Gunstacker system? The weird enemies? The crazy secrets? I hope so, and if you did, purchasing a copy of the game or donating helps fund our future projects. Even if you didn't beat the whole game, please think about a purchase.

We'd like to make even more games you'll enjoy! Every sale helps and thanks for your support!
(And we'll definitely get the demo out very soon.)

Double D Second Update

2011-09-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Fixes and additions:

Unlocking golden guns in the challenge rooms saves progress and sticks you with whatever load out was in the challenge room. -Fixed
Language setting in-game (you have to set the option, then restart the game to have this take effect).
Reticule options Can use dual or single reticules now
Made reticule image easier to see.
Camera look-forward toggle option (when off the camera won't move if you turn left/right)
Challenge levels can be cheated by setting difficulty - fixed
Play the game, get guns, then do Start New Game, then go back and reload old quicksaves. It screws up your weapons. -Fixed, now wipes everything on StartNewGame
Jump option 2 does not let you drop down.-fixed
Tweaked enemy attack-damage values on normal/serious (slightly tougher)
Mouse wheel flip button option added (can reverse direction quick select scrolls through guns).
28th connector missing. Fixed, added to "room of blood" secret area.
Extra translations for Spanish, Italian, German added.

His loadout was trashed too...

If you were effected by the 'golden guns' loadout problem...
(Background: What could happen in the previous version, if you beat the game (and unlocked 1 golden gun) then unlocked another golden gun when saving a challenge, the game would save only those weapons used in that challenge (eg. only having 4 flamethrowers). )
The bug is fixed, but you may have been effected by the problem. That would mean your inventory is stuck with just a few weapons. If you want to get your inventory sort-of back, there a few options
1. You can do a Start New Game and re-find all weapons, secrets, etc (maybe on a higher difficulty).
2. I've uploaded a 'save state' in which I played through on Normal, getting only the weapons in my path and a few secrets (not many at all). If you'd like to donwload that, it's right here:
http://www.mommysbestgames.com/files...amePersist.zip
Go to here on your harddrive C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local.
Delete the contents of the SSDD folder.
Take the contents of the NEW folder you downloaded, and paste it into the SSDD folder on your harddrive.

That will give a lot of weapons to start with and you can play something like Serious mode or try out the Challenges.

Unfortunately there was no way to recover the lost inventory for those that had this problem, I'm sorry. But this is a bit of workaround.

GunStacker Strategies and First Update

2011-09-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Serious Sam Double D is out now on PC!To help you blaze a trail through the enemy hoards this weekend here are some:

GunStacker Strategies

Don't Blow Your Stack
Put your Rocket Launchers and Grenade Launchers in their own stack. Once you get comfortable with things, you can start intermingly them with Tommy guns and Shotguns. But early on, keep explosives separate. Then you can quickly switch to your big, BIG guns for distant bosses or giant dinosaurs.

Playing With Fire
The flamethrower has a special ability of stopping all enemy bullets. If you're having trouble in a level with lots of missiles or Biomechanoid lasers or rockets, add a few flamethrowers to your stack. It sucks down fuel fast, but it can stop enemy shots before they reach you.

Order Up
Placement in your bigger stacks (especially 5-6 high) can make a difference when wading into a seething mass of gnashing teeth. Putting a shotgun on the bottom, Tommy guns or laser guns in the middle and another shotgun on top can give it more spread to also handle Chimputees in the air.

Trigger Happy
The Chainsaw and Machine Pistol (your first gun) have infinite ammo. Better yet, the Machine Pistol can fire as fast as you can click the trigger. Putting these two together in a stack can be a "go to" close range stack to save ammo and handle up-close trouble.

Fit and Trim
If you aren't using a gun, put it down in your Inventory rather than having it clutter up your Quick Select. This way in the heat of a giant battle you don't accidentally swap to a single shotgun and get your face ripped off. Then when you find more connectors, bring it out of the inventory and put it to use!
That said--it's good to keep around a single shotgun sometimes to swap back and forth when taking out single enemies, then fighting big crowds.

The Vuvu loves you.

Game Update 1

A new update is available now for the game. Steam will automatically download this. The following is the changelist for all bugs and issues addressed:

"Russian crash" fixed! There was an issue with the Cyrillic alphabet causing a crash on start-up. This is handled properly now.
Jump-pad wall glitch fixed.
Cursor is now locked to the screen in Windowed/Multi-monitor mode.
Video Resolution Menu now has an "Apply Resolution" button. While swapping through resolutions, they won't be applied till you hit this button.
4th Tommy gun was missing from Dark Harvest. Added back.
New "No Blood" option to completely remove blood if desired. (Crazy!)
Backgrounds touched up for higher resolutions. (Won't show purple edges.)
Translations fixed for guns in gunstacker mens.
Golden guns explanations in stats was broken when you beat the game. Now retains proper setting.
Vuvuzelators get stuck in walls less.
Player stats have been rephrased before you beat the game to make more sense.
Ammo changing per levels is retained properly now.
Secrets buttons in menu sometimes overlayed the level name (adjusted).

That's it for the first update. We will continue to tweak the game and add improvements in the future.
Good luck and Enjoy Stackin'!

Serious Sam Double D Out Now

2011-08-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Serious Sam Double D is out now for $7.99!
Steam page
GetGames page
Direct2Drive page
Impulse-Gamestop page

Launch video courtesy of CEO of the publisher Devolver Digital, Fork Parker.

Go forth and GET TO STACKING!

----------
In other news, here are the support display resolutions for those curious:

1680x1050
1600x900
1440x900
1366x768
1360x768
1280x1024
1280x960
1280x800
1280x768
1280x720
1152x864
1024x768
1024x576

If you need to run the game with a resolution not shown (such as 1400x1050), you can run it with this debug command.
In Steam, right-click the game and select Properties->Set Launch Options. In the command line, set "debugResX 1400 debugResY 1050"
Obviously substitute the proper debugResX or Width that you need and the proper debugResY or Height needed.
You can actually set just about any resolution your graphics card can handle. But bear in the mind the levels were built only up to 1920x180 as the absolute max. If you go into 2560x1600 things may get unpleasant if you start seeing "outside" the game world.

Click to embiggen

Otherwise, the game looks completely smoking at the higher 1600 resolutions, I hope your card and monitor can handle those! Seems like on average most PC gamers have that covered, based on the Steam computer spec survey. But do people boastfully lie on those? I doubt it. Or at least I hope not.

Serious Sam Double D coming August 30th!

2011-08-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

Serious Sam Double D is releasing August 30th on Steam, Get Games, Impulse and other services for $7.99!

We've been working for a while now to get the game ready for Steam and are insanely pumped to have it approved. From what we can tell Steam controls most of the digital distribution game market, so having it available there is very exciting for us.
We've polished a lot of aspects of the game along the way to get it approved including seamless quicksaving, better controller remapping, and better cinematics transitions. I've also jacked up the supported max resolution of the game to 1680x1050.

1600x900 view of the Caterfighter in Pompeii

Chimputees everywhere!

Here's resident gun-nut Huff to explain the glorious Gun Stacker

The page on Steam is not up yet, but should be later this week.
Here's the Serious Sam Double D Get Games page.
And the Impulse page should be up soon as well. Should be up on IndieCity and Desura too.

Serious Stack of Numbers

2011-08-11T09:57:00.000-07:00

Serious Sam Double D's exact release date will be announced very soon! Bugs are almost worked out. All kinds of secrets have been stuffed in and double-checked. Challenge levels are getting tweaked a little more. Things are really close! That means we know all kinds of cool stuff about the game now. So let's see...

Click to gigantify

Serious Gameplay and Replay

2011-07-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Gameplay

First off, let's see some of the insane action in motion for Serious Sam Double D!

That was the first official gameplay trailer for the game. There will be some more trailers highlighting various aspects such as the GunStacker system.

Replayability

With a few weeks before release, Serious Sam Double D has undergone a drastic but excellent change that heavily increases the replayability of the game.

Previously the game followed a simple structure: You battled your way from the start to the end, finding powerups and cool secrets. But if you happen to miss anything, the only real way to get it was to start from the beginning again and hope to remember where it was.

Level Select screen letting you replay any level again, with all your gear.

Not anymore!
Now Sam has a Persistent Inventory system which means any gun, connector, secret, or challenge you happen to find, he gets to keep in any level. Plus, you can replay any previous level you've been!
Yes, you can take all the guns you've been collecting all along the way and head back to easier, previous levels any time you want and search for more hidden guns, secrets, or challenges tucked about.

So while initially you may have only had access to 3 guns in the first level, you can battle half way through the game, then replay the first level, now with something more like 12 guns and tons of connectors! Then you can find more weapons, then head *back* to level 7 or 8 (or wherever you were) with yet-more guns to better even the odds.

Starting level 1 from scratch with the Machine Pistol.

Returning to level 1 with a 5 gun stack, ready to fine more loot!

Plus we have good news that the Secrets menu is working great. You can look any time you want at secrets you've unlocked and revisit the funnier ones, or just use it to know how many are still to be found. And because the inventory is persistent, you can simply play from whatever secret you visit and any more powerups you find will be added to your inventory for access in later levels or your current one.

The black arrow is pointing to the little treasure box icon that shows up when you're near a secret.

And one extra helper is the Treasure icon. It definitely doesn't make it too easy, but it does fade in slowly if you're getting warm when finding a secret.

General Maxilla

2011-07-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Click to zoom

Serious Sam Double D features a new antagonist, four-star General Maxilla. Little does Sam know, but the General is tasked with stopping Sam while Mental is on holiday. In between levels players are treated to a 'behind the scenes' look at Mental's operations, and how the General works (sometimes unsuccessfully) to wrangle the motley crew and ready them for battle.

Click to zoom

Here's animation video showing the General's talking animations. This shows the General in Mommy's Best Games animation editor, letting you see the animation skeleton and how the joint-connected-sprites form the animations.

All this means, hey--we're finishing up the in-game movies! And that means Double D is getting very close to finished for PC!

Double D Pompeii and Secrets

2011-06-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

There's not much left to do on Serious Sam Double D.. and then there's a lot left to do. We're currently finishing up the last area, which is actually two distinct envrionments. The time period and region for both environments is Pompeii around 79AD just before Mount Vesuvius erupts.

The first area is an exterior view of the city of Pompeii with the volcano in the background. And *naturally* the second area is in the volcano itself! Turns out that the evil Mental's henchmen have built massive power sucking devices which hover over the lava and aborb the heat, transferring the energy through time to the Big Bad himself! Sam's job isn't so much to disable the devices, but rather make his way through this area to the final boss.

Early construction of the Pompeii exterior area. Art is still being tweaked, plus there's no cool enemies shown yet!

Currently I'm finishing up art I had roughed in before, Hamdija is still working on music tracks, Richard is coding background effects, and AJ is tweaking story elements and dialog.

What's in the Pompeii area? Well not to spoil everything but the enemies in final levels are more consistently BIG. As in, giant, walking caterpillar as big a building BIG. A caterpillar that stands up and acts like a massive wall. And has 3 different guns. And has a detachable head. Yeah, it all makes sense in the game. Serious sense.

Serious Sam games are famous for the fun secrets, and we're working to make some great ones. We wanted to make sure you get the most enjoyment out of those unique secrets. To that end, we're also implementing a special Secrets Menu. Instead of the typical version of completing a level and seeing you found 4/7 secrets, now you'll be able to look any time at this menu and see any level you've been in, and all the secrets you've found. There will be the full name and full description of each secret.

Secret cave from Serious Sam The First Encounter

And we're even looking at a way for you to visit them! For instance, if you find one of the 'comedy secrets' and really want to show a friend, you can just open the Secrets Menu, find that secret and click 'Visit' and you'll be loaded into the level just before the funnies. Still working out the kinks but so far it's pretty cool.

And then there's installation, localization and all that fun stuff. Oh and still the final boss. So we're close, but still a little ways to go. But we're getting there!

Serious Press and Help

2011-06-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

E3 Press

Serious Sam Double D box art

E3 is over and Double D wowed press all around!
Check out this in-depth coverage from Dealspwn: http://www.dealspwn.com/sam-double-preview-guns-tits-corpse-piling-63785
"By far the most surreal moment came later in the demo when Sam found himself mired in a mysterious sticky fluid. “It’s maple syrup, dude,” explained Fouts… as an enormous stack of pancakes studded with vuvuzelas leapt into centre stage. This hilarious monstrosity made me burst out laughing thanks to the sheer unexpected sillyness of it all (and its adorable blueberry eyeballs)"

And a great look at the game from The Escapist:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110973-E3-Serious-Sam-Double-D
"Double D starts in Egypt, but features other level types such as the prehistoric Nova Scotia that features dinosaurs and tar pits. Sam can hop on the backs of flying dinos to find secrets, and will have to take down giant spineasauruses while avoiding their bites."

I've put together the proper Serious Sam Double D webpage with tons more press, check it out!

Little Hearts Matter

In other news, gamer Isaac Hume has asked for help for his charity of choice Little Hearts Matter.

From Isaac:
"This charity helped save my nephew’s life when he was born with a portion of his heart missing and also helped to rehabilitate him into the healthy toddler that he is today.

In order to raise the donation I’m doing what I know how to do best. With the help of a couple of friends, I’ll be running a 24 hour livestream on 15^th July, playing and talking about games. My three friends and I will play games, encouraging people watching the stream to get involved, play multiplayer with us and donate to a worthy cause that helps save lives."

Little Hearts Matter treat conditions like Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). While rare, the condition is fatal unless treated. Learn more about it here: http://www.lhm.org.uk/

Here's the Isaac's donation page for Little Hearts Matter: www.justgiving.co.uk/temporalcortex

And here's the entertainment for the live streaming page for July 15th.
www.justin.tv/temporalcortex

Make sure to check it out and donate to a worthy cause!

Serious Shirts

Speaking of donations, Isaac asked MBG for some promotional help. We're donating a Serious Sam Double D shirt as seen here.

The shirt has the SSDD box art featuring the Gun Stacker on the front, large. On the back, there's a small Mommy's Best Games logo. All printing on cheery, Sun Beam Yellow!

We're only doing very limited prints of the shirts and one will be given away on Isaac's live streaming show on July 15th!

If you don't feel so lucky and would simply like to buy one for $25 + shipping, email me: nathan ((at)) mommysbestgames ((dot) com.

Double D at E3 2011

2011-05-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

There will be an all-new, polished, playable build of Serious Sam Double D at E3 2011 available in a behind-the-scenes capacity. What does that mean?

If you're a reporter-type just email me (Nathan) and I'll find a time slot for you to play the game.
We'll have for you some snappy demo sequences pulled from over a dozen levels of over-the-top, gun-stacking gameplay, plus some E3-special screenshots just for you.

If you won't be attending E3, don't fret! Those journalists at the show will be working hard to bring you awesome preview impressions and previously mentioned game shots.

In the meantime enjoy these screens!

Shooting up some Chimputees in the Amethystine Depths


Gorey globs gliding through the air in a challenge level.

As for actual development, we're currently adding all the polish points like robotic menu display cores and attenuating musical transitions--no Serious game's complete without 'em!

Gunstacker Configured for Action

2011-04-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Serious Sam Double D is a 2D side-scrolling version of the popular and looney Serious Sam franchise, and will be ready for you to play later this summer on your PC!

When designing Double D, rather than dump all of Croteam's original guns and start from scratch I decided it'd be fun to take on the biggest of Mental's baddies with all your guns blazing at once. The way you'll get to do that is with the Gun Stacker system.

A Gun Stacker connector arm

Hidden throughout all sorts of sneaky places you'll find a Gun Stacker connector piece. This is a small robotic arm, that when applied, not only allows you to hold an extra gun, it also connects the firing of the second gun to the primary gun. (Squeeze the trigger and all your guns start firing, throttled only by refire and reload times.)

Thompson Submachine gun

You'll collect not only the classic Shotgun, Tommy Gun, and Rocket Launcher from Serious Sam, you'll get to collect MULTIPLE OF EACH GUN.

You know how it's fun to a hidden rocket launcher early in the game, but when you finally, "officially" are given the rocket launcher it's sort of a let down, because.. well.. you already have it!

Say good by the to that sorry feeling! If you scour a level for secrets, find the Tommy Gun early, then you not only have the Tommy Gun, you'll have the chance to collect up to four Tommy Guns! That goes for each weapon type--there are 4 of each hidden throughout Serious Sam Double D.

XL4 Lasergun

So now you've got tons of guns, and tons of connectors what do you do with them? Get all crafty and start sticking them together into various, explosive combinations!

Here is an early peak at the Gun Stacker configuration menu (Bear with me, I'll try to make it sexier before the game's done).

Above is a "standard" view of a quick select. You can see the Machine Pistol, the Shotgun, the Tommy Gun, and the Grenade Launcher. (And an extra Tommy Gun in your Inventory at the bottom, but that's for later!)

To stack your guns all you have to do is select a gun like the Shotgun here, move it over that stack and press the button again to confirm the Stack. Done! Super stack-a-ola, Shotgun-Tommy duo ready. But wait--we've got more connectors (upper right), looks like we have 2 of 3 still left! Can't let those got to waste.

The Machine Pistol has infinite ammo, so whatever stack you put that it in, it sort of gets a 'free boost' in as much as that gun doesn't reload and can't run out of ammunition. Type II Machine Pistol's hidden throughout the game are very special and very challenging to obtain!

Let's just go full epicurean and stack 2 Tommys, a Shotgun and the Machine Pistol in one heap. We've exhausted our connectors, but it'll be pretty powerful.

But our Grenade Launcher is looking lonely. If we select it and try to add it to the stack it won't work as we need an extra connector.

But we can remove a Tommy gun from the other stack and put it on the Grenade launcher. That's a nice combo as it covers you with fast, repeating fire from the Tommy, which fills in the gaps on the very powerful, but slow-to-reload Grenade Launcher.

What's all this look like? Let's take a peak!

Click to zoom in!

Here Sam is blasting a Minor Biomechanoid in the face with the Shotgun/Tommy/Pistol stack, while a mass of seething Gnarr and Kleer claw at him from behind.

So that's all fine and good--the sort of elementary Gun Stacking your little brother might do. But what kind of disgusting, orgiastic displays of male bravado are in store for those who able to survive later into the game?

Here we have a gun collection as you'll see further into the game. You've got 8 connectors to play around with and a silly amount of firepower.

And here's Sam with a real Gun Stack taking on more classic Sam baddies:

Now why would you need all these guns you might ask? First of all when dozens of slathering one-eyed Gnarr are climbing over their dead brethren trying to rip your face off, the more bullets you can shoot, the better. And secondly, you noticed the big blue alien about 5 times the size of Sam? He's called a Minor Biomechanoid for a reason.

That's it for now, but be ready as we've got lots of fresh, new, gigantic enemies in Serious Sam Double D, that will require every bit of firepower you can Stack together.
Now, back to the game-making!

UPDATE: Here are some new screenshots of the Gunstacker menu system:


Here are some gun stacks, in the new menu.

And here's a *lot* of guns in the new menu.

Remember you can reconfigure your stacks any time! Just make sure you have found enough connectors.

Serious Sam Double D

2011-03-09T21:11:00.000-08:00

Our new game, Serious Sam Double D, is part of Croteam's Serious Sam Indie Series created to help promote the new 3D game called Serious Sam 3 BFE due out later this summer!
Read more about the other games featured.

UPDATE: Here's the link for the up-to-date main page for Serious Sam Double D.

(Original post for the announcement follows:)

Once again, Sam ‘Serious’ Stone must use the Time-Lock to travel through time and destroy the enemies of humanity’s past, in order to save its future. But since his last outing, 2 important new relics have been discovered: the Gun Stacker and the Porta Pad. Only Sam is serious enough – and crazy enough – to use this untested technology.

All that stands between victory and annihilation is a man with a T-shirt and jeans… and a great big pile of guns.

One gun sometimes not enough? Two still too wimpy? Try firing all your guns at once with the Gun Stacker system!
New Enemies in glorious 2D! Serious Sam Double D brings the crazy with new creatures like the flying Chimputee and the Etanoh Salvo Spider!
Porta Pad technology: Secret technology to be revealed at PAX East this weekend!

Remember if you're at PAX East this weekend, come by the Devolver Digital booth (I-16 in the "Indie Alley") to play a demo of Serious Sam Double D!

Screenshots and art below (they may load a little slow, but they're worth it! Click for full resolution.)

Mommy's Best Games, Inc. is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. We strive to deliver games that push the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, and pie. Our first game, Weapon of Choice, is an award-winning, side-scrolling, action game now available Xbox LIVE Indie Games. And our newest, award-winning games Shoot 1UP and Explosionade are also available on XBLIG. Follow MBG on Twitter to find out more!

GDC 2011 Wrapped

2011-03-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

I only spent a day at GDC 2011 but it was jam-packed with lots of useful talking and listening. I had breakfast with an old friend who now helps run Ogmento who recently released a free iPhone game featuring some extremely cool augmented reality technology. Their ghost game has some of the best 'mark' tracing capabilities currently around!

I got caught up with a game journalist friend who's since gotten out of that business as he said big websites continue to turn to younger writers in an effort to find cheap labor, seemingly not valuing any true experience in writing. Don't get me wrong, you very well could be a good writer right out of college, but when big sites are paying less and less and not working to retain experienced writing talent, it hurts the readers and the writers.

Next I journeyed to a nearby hotel to have a very fruitful meeting with Microsoft. More on that hopefully in a few months!

I then swapped hats and went to talk to Sony about another platform of theirs. Very excited there as well.

In the afternoon, I joined the XBLIG panel featuring Ska Studios, Magical Time Bean, Zeboyd Games and Mr. Game Developer Magazine where we talked about what's been good with the Xbox 360 service and what's been not so good. To anyone that attended, thanks for coming! It was a pleasure to be there.

I wrapped up conference, taking in a great talk by the amazing Will Wright. He spoke about what he'd change now with his game from 1984, Raid on Bungeling Bay, and a really interesting side story about Russian space travel.

I got a delightful tour of Double Fine studios from a friend who had worked on Stacking there, and then had drinks with sound design guys from Austin.

Ian (Magical Time Bean) and I closed the night with a round of Deathsmiles on his sweet, big-screen setup.
All-in-all one of my shortest, but best times at GDC!

Oh, and I stopped by the DBP booth at the show and got some sweet Indie Games swag. If you'd like one of these little white stickers that say "Xbox LIVE indie games", stop and visit me next week at PAX East at the Devolver Digital booth (I-16) in the "Indie Alley".

(Link to pdf of PAX East map: http://east.paxsite.com/expo_map.pdf
Booth I-16 is in the middle, straight down.)

PAX East and the Chamber of Secret Projects

2011-02-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

2D Game developer Mommy's Best Games will be showing off a brand new game at PAX East March 11-13 2011!

If you're going to PAX East, make sure to check the map for the Devolver Booth (I-16) to find us! We will be in the "Indie Alley" near Ska Studios, and Aksys.
If you are near the Nvidia, Ubisoft, or Rockstar booth you're getting close!

The new, hardcore, PC-centric, blood-pumping, jive-talking game will have a playable demo, so make sure to come by the booth to taste the future of kick-assery.

Here's a few hints: It's not Grapple Buggy (but you already knew that didn't you? Geez, when is Grapple Buggy coming out?... When we have enough money to keep working on it! Gotta pay the bills, because I don't like sleeping on dirt.), and it's not Explosionade PC, though if you're really nice, I may show you a super-special preview of Explosionade PC at the show as well. Ask nicely, bring donuts, and I'll show you cool games! Okay, I'll show you cool games anyway, but bringing donuts would be super chumly of you.

Oh, and we've got another secret project in the works as well (seriously, how many people work here, a million?) but we're only handling the code and helping with design for that one. It's up to the primary developer to reveal that game, but it looks super sexy as well. Seriously, if I had thought of that game, I would have made it myself. It's pretty awesome. And I honestly don't know when that game will appear, probably not GDC, nor PAX East, but maybe E3?

Let's hear it for secret projects and paying contracts!

High Score Shake-up

2011-02-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

What do you think of me resetting the scoreboards for Explosionade with a new update that makes it harder?

A giant new version of Explosionade is in development for the PC, and eventually we'll get to reveal all the cool features for that new edition. While developing the PC version, I've been making improvements to the player controls, player motion, grenade physics, and enemy A.I. that I'd like to bring over to the XBLIG version that's already out.

While the XBLIG version received plenty of butt-kicking reviews and high marks, one of the complaints was the game was either too easy for people, too slow, and/or too sluggish. The PC version will definitely take care of that, but I've been thinking about bringing the new improvements to the XBLIG version. The most controversial change would be to make the game more difficult with tweaks to the player mech and enemies. From what I can tell from gamers' emails and forum comments, I'm sure my special changes will make Explosionade more difficult but also more intense, satisfying, and fun to play. And of course Chilled mode and slowing down gameplay will still be options for those wishing for more relaxing destruction.

The XBLIG version has online scoreboards (Explosionade uses a peer-to-peer implementation courtesy of Spyn Doctor Games). If the game is more difficult on XBLIG, this will obviously skew all future scores that people are getting on the online scoreboards.

Which brings us back to the question at hand, what do you think of resetting the scoreboards with the new update?

Are there any precedents for Xbox LIVE games of any flavor, with regards to resetting scoreboards?

Explosionade fortunately has filled up all 1,000 high-score slots a while ago, but the top 20 or so places haven't changed in months. I feel like totally clearing the scoreboards will give new players a chance to enjoy jumping into the game and getting somewhere. And gamers who played it originally and ranked high should honestly not have too much more trouble getting back up to the top if they accept the new challenge.

I'd definitely like to make the default, Normal difficulty tougher and play faster, as I think player's are ready for it. If we leave the scoreboards as they are, pretty much no one will ever get to the top ranks. So I guess the question is, will anyone who is already ranked high notice or care that their score was wiped? Or will they be good sports about it and understand?

Note: The proposed adjustments for Explosionade on XBLIG won't be that much higher, and won't feature any of the changes mentioned for the upcoming PC version. But I feel it will be tough enough to make original high scores feel nearly unreachable.

Pump up the Difficulty

2011-01-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

Not-so-secret work has continued on for Explosionade! We've got the ExplosionaEditor continuing to improve, with a lot of new features including the ability to add full campaigns easily with a visual interface. On the game side one of the most requested changes for the game were "harder levels"! You guys want to die more, I take it?

With the noble endeavor of trying have the Explosionade's creatures to kick your butt more, I've been thinking of ways to work within the 'language of the game' to create new difficulties. I'm trying hard to not just go to obvious, easy methods for making things tougher like less health for your mech, or bullets taking off more damage, or instant-death spikes everywhere. I like how Explosionade is built and I think it's extremely important to preserve it's unique feel.

The new levels should present new, tricky situations to figure out, not just have you holding down the fire button and charging forward. Explosionade's levels have a 'infiltration' feel to them. You are invading these intricate buildings and strongholds built by the Horronym aliens. In the new, harder levels, you'll have to proceed more carefully, use skill when bouncing your grenades around, and have a real knack for shield bounces, all the while figuring out how to manage plenty of new enemy types.

Here's just a few new enemies that fit into the Explosionade world of tougher levels:

'Fire spinner' (Horronym construct) mine which triggers on touch or damage. Once triggered, it doesn't explode, but continuously spouts a stream of flames, while spinning slowly in the air. It's invulnerable, but can be pushed and shot around the level as it bounces through hallways and shafts.

'Hopper Hive' (indigenous life-form) is a large fungus-like growth which is found under various overhangs. It drips out gelatinous 'hoppers' which are cephalopodal creatures, encased in protective jelly. These hoppers jump around tight enclosures able to stick to walls, and even jump under ceilings. The active jelly is corrosive and explodes on contact with the player's GRenaDOS mech, and the hive has a surprise of its own!

'Electromagnetic pulse beacons' (Horronym construct) generate a special energy bubble in a medium-sized range. They cause no damage, but your shield is constantly in danger of overheating when you're within their influence. Fortunately, you can destroy these beacons with appropriate force.

There's a gaggle of new tricky creatures like these we're creating for the new, harder levels for Explosionade. Also, one very large shake-up for the overall level structure is in the works as well. I'll explain it soon once we figure out if it works.

But how will these cool new, harder levels be available? We should be able to let you know soon! I'll include cool screenshots and some moving pictures and everything.

Explosionade Postmortem

2010-12-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

Explosionade, released October 7 for Xbox LIVE Indie Games, was experimental for Mommy's Best Games in a lot of ways, not the least of which was "just how quickly can we make a great game".

The game's portly main character, Terry Atticus

Development started on August 26th, and the original (internal) launch date of September 25 was set to get an initial sales surge on the books for third quarter of 2010. We missed that goal, didn't make as much money in third quarter as needed, but managed to stay in business full-time through painful but artful money shifting. The good news is the game turned out better!

Explosionade gameplay, invading the Horronym's temple.

What Went Right
1. Focused vision
In a theme throughout the What Went Right section, design direction on Explosionade was like a laser-knife cutting through butter, under a microscope, conducted by Cyberdyne. That is to say, while the actual game ideas may have fluctuated between brilliant and dim, there was no lolly-gagging during actual development.

Various level designs trying to create as much variety as possible.

I picked the design by mashing together several other designs of mine. I had plenty of ideas waiting around, it was a matter of picking something I knew could be fun, but also something doable, and within a small scope. Everything about the design was created to be reusable but still enjoyable and feel original.

The core idea of "invading tiny alien bases" drove everything from the design of intricate paths the player could take to the mocking laugh animation the soliders had when they managed to damage the player mech. If something did not fit this concept, it was cut. Immediately. Each piece had a purpose and we had no time for exploring frivolities. (Trust me, I like late-night, exploratory coding frivolities as much as the next developer, this just wasn't the time.)

Horronym soldier mocking the damaged player mech.

2. Rapid Languages
XNA was used to write the game and DarkBASIC was used to create the level editor. Both languages are well suited for extremely fast prototyping. Richard Rosenthal, our current intern, knows DarkBASIC like some mystical coding wizard, and while I have no working knowledge of the language or IDE, it seemed to produce quixotic code yet tangible and quality final results.

My original idea was to create 'in-code' levels just like I did for Shoot 1UP, but since there was massive amounts more level collision in Explosionade it just made more sense to create a level editor. Fortunately Richard already had experience creating graphical editors before and was able to whip up something in DarkBASIC in literally a weekend.

I've written before about the amazing results one can derive from XNA for both Xbox 360 and PC. It bears repeating that all the robust, well-designed code libraries supported again made it possible to deliver a sweet-playing and -looking game to the home console with very little fuss.

Explosionade's Editor written in DarkBASIC.

3. Pre-existing Engine
Starting and finishing a game is tough even for those who've done it many times, but starting a game completely from scratch is truly a Herculean task that often needs not happen. Shoot 1UP was built on an XNA game starter kit, and Explosionade was built upon Shoot 1UP.

New sprite animation techniques and coding voodoo were further honed for Explosionade which made for massive amounts of polish and detail in a super-short amount of time. From collision, to player handling, to sprite libraries, having an entire game already built accelerated development as much as I could hope for. Special care was taken to make the gameplay feel very different in every way, but things that worked such as gameplay speed adjustments for players, and button remapping were kept.

The peer-to-peer leaderboards in Explosionade were the fruit of Spyn Doctor Games (Johannes Hubert) and his near drag and drop library gave us an effective leg up here as well.

Early mech and player concepts. At one point the character was going to be human with a jetpack.

4. Incorporating Feedback
Explosionade was in XNA AppHub's playtest forums for several weeks before release and it benefited greatly from a wide swath of player feedback. It was difficult actually incorporating the feedback even though some things didn't always interest me.

It's always a challenge trying to balance responsive gameplay and character 'feel' in a mech game. The original walk animation of the mech was very jerky and heavy feeling. During the earliest playtest of the mech walk animation, while I liked the style, many testers hated it, one even went so far as explain it wasn't how a real mech would move.

The final speed of the mech still turns some people off, but I had to strike a balance somewhere as I didn't want the half-ton machine able to jump around like a normal human. I tried to mitigate moving slower with the ability to 'shield jump' which turned out to be one of the highlight mechanics of the game!

Getting closer to the final mech design.

5. Forced Delay
Explosionade was targeted to release on September 25th. I had everything in-line for that date, but when an edge-case crash bug was found I pulled the game from peer review immediately.

This in turn added another 8 days to development, in which time we added a new story ending (there's 2 endings total), a true final boss, a power-up (the Meganade Cascade), and the shield soldier type. Obviously this beefed the game up significantly. Even with a 'small' game extra time really helps.

What Went Wrong
1. Not Enough Variety
When you're trying to finish a game in a month, one of the first things that can go is variety. While we did manage two different soldier types (the shield Horronyms can bounce your lasers and are more aggressive), overall, people wanted more enemies and more levels. This was simply a matter of time, and not being able to fit in lots of variations or new types into the game. It was a calculated move to try to finish a whole game quickly. Many reviews and gamers weren't bothered as much by it but probably just as many were turned off by the lack of environmental variety.

Sketches for the SnakeBat, Horronym soldier faces, and the power core (the level exit).

2. Split Controls
There have been very few console, run-jump-and-shoot dual stick shooters (our own Weapon of Choice comes to mind as does Gastronaut's Small Arms). With Metal Slug and Cybernator firmly on my mind as some of Explosionade's influences, I wanted to cater to the older, arcade crowd. Originally move and look was on the left stick and shoot was on the X button.

But the more gamers playtested, the more they wanted a Right Stick fire option. I added this but now the jump dilemma surfaced. Where does jump go when you have a dual stick shooter? I had several complaints for Weapon of Choice putting jump on the Left Trigger though that still seems the obvious choice for me. In the end, Explosionade defaulted to jump to the A button as an experiment, and the game provided full button remappability.

Plenty of people still complained about jump on the face buttons, but then were happy with the remapping abilities. I think next time I'll try duplicating jump on the trigger and face buttons.

Explosionade gamplay, zoomed in view of the later, electrified levels.

3. Low Difficulty and Slow Interest Ramp
I wanted to make sure as many people as possible beat Explosionade. That worked out pretty well as a lot of them enjoyed the funny story, and played through to the end. But many also complained that the game was too easy, even on 'Serious' difficulty.

I also believe while the conversion rate is good from trials to sales (27%), it could definitely be higher still. I think some of this has to do with the difficulty ramp in the trial. If a few of the first 10 levels could convey a very chaotic feel, rather than ramping up so smoothly through all the enemy types it would have reached the hardcore audience more effectively. Try to get as much variety from the later levels into your trial experience--don't assume people will look at screenshots.

Very early screenshot of Explosionade back when it was called "Take the Base". Check out the pink Shoot 1UP enemy fighter!

4. Subtle Expectations
The design of Explosionade, letting you play full-screen or zoomed in, and in large-but-still-single-screen-challenge-rooms is not exactly standard. Balancing the look of the game, and gamers expectations was difficult as many expected it to play in a longer-level side-scroller fashion probably more like Contra or Cybernator. I had good number of gamers seem lukewarm because the game was not a 'proper' side-scroller (though it scrolls when you zoom in).

It's difficult to address but unavoidable that gamers' expectations will color their impressions even if they end up actually enjoying your game.

The game's psuedo-antagonist, Colonel Bouche

5. Marketing Ramp Too Short
The gaming press is busy. And they have lead times for articles. And I think there's an inherit tolerance of "how popular is your game versus how often can we stand to talk about it". I see that as no fault of the press, it's just something to keep in mind.

By September 20th, I had something attractive enough to show the press, yet I ended up launching only a few weeks later. Three weeks is a terrible way for an Indie Game to build hype. If at all possible, give yourself at least 2 months--though 3 months is probably optimal (or more of course).

As it stood, a lot of sites covered the announcement, some covered the dashboard issues, but not as many covered the actual launch. I think this is a mix of being busy, some disinterest, and also "already covered a small game too recently". It's very important to 'plan and date' your stories for the press with your game coverage. Keep their schedules, and big game launches in mind.

Explosionade box art

When Life Gives You Explosions...
Overall Explosionade came out waaaaaaaaaay better than I expected. That's probably a mix of the art style jiving well, my intern Richard kicking complete butt with an awesome editor, AJ writing a very funny story, and some lucky design inspiration like the shield jump. Though the difficulty is low I still enjoy the 'experience' you get when playing through on a single sitting. I consider Atticus and Colonel Bouche great characters, the mech fun to play, and I plan to expand on the Explosionade universe soon!

Game Data
Project: Explosionade
Developer and Publisher: Mommy's Best Games
Platform: Xbox LIVE Indie Games
Release Date: October 7, 2010

Full time developers: 1
Interns (part-time): 1
Contractors: 3

Development Time: 38 days

Hardware: AMD 2.2GHz, 1GB RAM; retail Xbox 360; 19" flat screen monitor; ancient, giant SDTV, 12" HD TV, Super NES, Sega Genesis

Software: XNA, Dark BASIC, Visual Studio Express Edition, Photoshop CS2, GoldWave

Resources: www.soundsnap.com, create.msdn.com/en-US/

Best late night quote: “Can we take out the one that rapes you all around the edges?” (Referring to a roly bug that rolls around the level edge, and eventually tracks you down.)

For any unanswered questions, just fire away in the comments or email me directly!

EGM: What is Indie?

2010-12-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Electronic Gaming Monthly number 242.0, for December 2010 has a feature article investigating what does it mean to be an independent game developer. They've interviewed yours truly for the story! I think this is the first time Mommy's Best Games has been featured in EGM!

While it's been through hard times, EGM has always had a special place in my heart. I started reading the first issues back in middle and high school. I can still remember trying to get the Simon Belmont code to work in T.M.N.T. 2 which turned out to be their first April Fools prank. Obviously I'm really excited to see MBG in their feature!

Those interviewed were ourselves, Brandon Boyer (current IGF chair), Supergiant (upcoming Bastion), and Twisted Pixel ('Splosion Man, Comic Jumper).

The feature starts on page 40, here's a legend colored text for who said what:

Mommy's Best Games: blue

Brandon Boyer: green

Supergiant: reddish purple

Twisted Pixel: orange

Click to enlarge!

Capybara and Gaijin Games were also mentioned in the article, with a nice pic of Capy's Critter Crunch shown on page 2.

Congrats to all the developers featured--I'm looking forward to Bastion, Supergiant

We always appreciate magazine coverage, and it's nice to see indie game exposure in such a prominent place in a print magazine (with an XBLIG mention!). While it wasn't an extremely in-depth article, the conclusion was interesting, that regardless of big corporations trying to co-opt the word "indie", independent developers are all very different and will continue making games regardless. It reminds me of 'alternative music' from the 1990's and how it's slowly blended into mainstream.

ExplosionadEditor Preview

2010-11-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

Making Explosionade and designing all those intricate little rooms to house intelligent and nasty aliens was a lot of fun. It's garnered a lot of praise and we're really proud of it. We used an in-house editor written in Dark Basic to build Explosionade levels.

Early view of the public ExplosionadEditor with a level jam-packed with dangers.

Because it was used internally there were lots of little quirks we let go by. But what if we let everyone use the level editor? Wouldn't that be cool to see what kinds of crazy designs that could be created?
To that end, the ExplosionadEditor has been getting more polish and more features to make it suitable for mass usage.

Here we see the visual picking tool, which lets you find any gameplay object with ease.

Of course the question on the tip of your tongue may be: Why would I use an ExplosionadEditor if I can only play Explosionade on my 360? That looks like a PC editor, with a mouse--not something I can use on my Xbox 360.

That's true.. it's not for the 360.. if only there were a version of Explosionade coming to the PC soon. If only... then maybe it would include a built-in editor, and the game would let you play custom levels or even custom campaigns... if only. (We should have a formal announcement soon! :)

Check out the video showing a room idea going from sketch, to design, to play!

8 Bit Horse is One Year Old!

2010-10-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

Our 2D-only sister-site 8 Bit Horse has officially and successfully been around for over a year! 8 Bit Horse is the premiere place for learning about 2D games both from the past, present, and FUTURE. We're very proud that it's gained a loyal audience and with AJ's continued dedication and determination, 8 Bit Horse will continue strong through its second year!

Follow 8 Bit Horse on Twitter to find out when new articles launch about 2D games.

The following is a reprint of AJ's 1-Year Anniversary post on 8 Bit Horse itself.

(Background: AJ Johnson is the writer for dialog and story in Mommy's Best Games, and writes most of the articles on 8 Bit Horse.)

OK, WE’RE GOING TO GUSH A LITTLE
It is with great pleasure that we announce the 1-year anniversary of 8 Bit Horse. 1 year ago today (10/17), we published our very first article, featuring Jackal on the NES. Looking back on it now, it’s actually the shortest and least screenshot-packed of any of our full-length articles.

Jackal was a test run of sorts. We knew that we wanted to discuss the gameplay and mechanics of well-designed 2D games, but we needed to gauge just how much work we were getting ourselves into. Jackal is a relatively simple game. It has some interesting mechanics, but it’s not terribly long or complicated.

After a successful test run, we deliberately chose a vastly more complicated game – Cybernator on the SNES – and we haven’t looked back since. It has been an amazing first year, and rest assured that we have a whole lot of great content to share with you as we start in on Year 2. But first, we have some people to thank.

Our success thus far comes not only from those of you who have found our site and started reading, but also to those who have wholeheartedly recommended it to others. We love 2D games. We have a passion for heritage 2D games from all of the old systems, current 2D games that are being released on modern consoles, and the glimmering hope of new 2D games on the horizon. We love indie 2D games, and 2D games from major developers with multi-million dollar budgets (the few that there are). We’re excited about what we’re doing, and it’s great to see that others are excited about it as well.

We’d also like to offer thanks to a few specific folks who helped us get where we are today. First off, thank you to Kurt Kulata of Hardcore Gaming 101. And let us say this… we were huge fans of HG101 well before the idea of 8 Bit Horse came about. Hands down, there is no better resource for classic games than HG101. We have gotten a great response from folks who follow the HG101 Blog, and who found us from their link to 8 Bit Horse.

Thank you to EpicBattleAxe. Early on, they invited us to do a regular 2D gaming feature on their site, which allowed us to toss in a bit of extra snark and commentary, and to solicit feedback from the EBA readers. They also gave us a mention in one of their EpicBattleCry shows, at which point, we were discovered by thousands of new readers. EBA is different from the majority of game-related sites out there that tend to be fairly impersonal… instead, they show a lot of excitement, and they love to hear from their readers.

Thanks to Geoff Schultz and Brooks Bishop, at Two Fedoras. These dapper fellows discovered us early on, which led us to discover them. 2F is a quirky site that has coverage on lots of indie games, and even the occasional action figure.

Thanks to 2D-X, the very first site we affiliated with, and which also celebrated its first anniversary a few months back. They’ve been growing as well and have developed a very professional presentation.

Thank you to Brad Gallaway, Senior Editor at GameCritics.com and operator of the Drinking CoffeeCola blog, for his resounding recommendation. It’s always nice to get positive recommendations from folks who not only appreciate good games, but good writing as well.

On the Twitter front, thank you to George Clingerman of XNADevelopment.com for the shout-out, and thanks to Greg Kasavin for following.

The biggest thanks, of course, goes to all of our regular readers, without whom… well, frankly we’d have given up by now if not for you. So thank you for coming, thank you for staying, and please drop by any time. We have a ton of great stuff lined up for you.

We aren’t joking even a little when we tell you that we have (obsessively) compiled a list of over 200 notable heritage 2D games that deserve some attention. We’re also constantly looking for the next great 2D games, scouring the interwebs, playing demos, and reading developer blogs so that we can share all this shiny new 2D goodness with you. It is very gratifying when we hear that that someone found out about a great 2D game from our site, whether it be a 20-year old classic, or something brand new.

We’re also going to continue our developer interview series, and we have several interesting interviews lined up. For this, we owe thanks to Maurice of Fanboy Confidential, who joined the 8bh team earlier this year and who hosts, records, and cuts these video interviews. And of course, we owe a big thanks to the developers themselves, for not only providing us with great 2D games, but also for sharing some of their development insights and inspirations. We are aware that a number of our readers aren’t just gamers, but developers as well, and we’re happy to have the opportunity to provide a window into the lives and minds of the developers behind some of these new games, while we continue to dissect the mechanics of the classics.

In fact, just today Maurice wrapped up our latest 2D developer interview, featuring Henry Liu of Intrinsic Games, the developers behind Divergent Shift (previously known as Reflection) on DSiWare. Henry offers some insight into working as a team of student developers, while still attending classes:

You can catch all of the previous entries in our 10 Questions interview series on our YouTube Channel, featuring discussions with the developers behind some excellent 2D games: Shank, Tobe's Vertical Adventure, Super Meat Boy, and Nasty.

8 Bit Horse continues to be the place where 2D lives, and the second year of that life begins now.

Reviewsionade

2010-10-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

Explosionade is out now on Xbox Live Indie Games and has garnered dozens of excellent reviews, check out some of the highlights!

Eurogamer review: 8 out of 10
"For 80 points, Explosionade is an absolute steal."

1UP.com review: "FreeLoader" pick
"The game, a cross between Metal Slug and Blaster Master's overworld levels, has rightly been obsessed over in blogs and forums."

Kotaku review: "Xbox Live Indie Clip"
"You too can have this much fun running around a mutant-infested warehouse with an extremely powerful prototype mech..."

Game Critics review: 8.5 out of 10
"I'm confident that anyone investing the asking price of one dollar will find that it's one of the wisest choices they've ever made."

Digital Hippos review: 4.4 out of 5
"Slick graphics, easy to get into, co-op play, funny dialogue."

Twin Galaxies review: 8 out of 10
"Bosses are humongous in comparison to the rest of the enemies and take entire arsenals to bring down."

Co-optimus review: 4 out of 5
"Oh, did I mention that you look like a character from Tim and Eric Awesome Show?"

Broke My Controller review:
Xbox LIVE Indie Game of the Month
"The attention to detail is first rate, not just because of the exceptional hand-drawn graphics, but because of the amazing variety. "

RunDLC review: 4 out of 5
"Explosionade is a rare Indie game that is so good, it probably should’ve been a full Xbox Live release."

Blog 'Em Up review:
In Swedish
Google Translate says "When life hands you explosions. Make explosions!"

Dealspwn review:
Xbox Live Indie Game Of The Week: Drink Your Explosionade!
"If you crave big guns, huge explosions and twisted alien enemies, you need look no further than Mommy’s Best Games. "

Console Arcade review:
"The graphics and sprites are all wonderfully hand drawn, and there’s a great level of feedback when you shoot enemies which makes killing them satisfying."

DIY Gamer review:
"Even the smallest enemy soldier has a lot of personality thanks to the little details in his armor and animations as he runs for cover from an explosion."

XBLA Fans review: "Buy It!"
"You can tell just by watching the game play out that each animation was carefully created, and shown lots of love."

1UP or Poison review: "Good" rating
"Your character feels like he's taken all these powers that would have stood on their own in any other 2D game and combined them to make one badass mech."

Gay Gamer review: "Yay!" rating
"Making defensive tools just as fun as offensive ones seems to be a common trait for Mommy's Best Games."

Veteran Gamers podcast:
Listen for tons of explosion sound effects everytime they say the name! (about 55 minutes in)
http://o35s.podbean.com/2010/10/14/the-veteran-gamers-episode-40-chinnys-hair-is-soft-and-shiny/

Signed In podcast:
10 minutes in, "Hilarity and craziness goes from there", http://www.signedinpodcast.com/?p=417

GamerGeddon review: "Geddon it!" rating
"Great graphics and sounds, and the gameplay is good fun."

SuperGhost review: Indie Spotlight
"MBG packed a lot of game into this package..."

Armless Octopus review:
"With forty levels chock full of creatures that need killing, it’s a fantastic value at a buck."

Giant review on Mecha Damashii!

Mecha Damashii review:
8 out of 10
"I heard a rumour (which I started) that Mommy’s Best Games is able to provide these quality sprites by eating live scorpions they find outside exclusively and passing those savings onto you, the consumer."

Explosionade Out Now!

2010-10-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Explosionade is now on sale on Xbox LIVE Indie Games for only 80 MS Points!
Check out the free demo here: US Marketplace link

It's just like lemonade, but with EXPLOSIONS.

Trailer:

All your friends are storming the Horronym Fortress but Colonel Bouche left you to guard the supply depot. Disregarding orders you open the depot to find a gigantic, prototype mech!

New Screenshots!
(Rar file with new screenshots: http://www.mommysbestgames.com/Explosionade/Explosionade_first_released_screens.rar
Folder of all screens and box art: http://www.mommysbestgames.com/Explosionade )

Skull-shaking action in 2-player coop!

The Horn Stormers are not happy to see you.

Choose your own adventure as you can go different ways in lots of rooms!

The orange Clingers like to put you between a rock and a hard place.

Break up the Horronym's infernal rites!

Bosses grow to ridiculous proportions!

Features:

INFILTRATE subterranean strongholds manned by cunning bipedal aliens and their mind-blasting hellions!
Recharging MegaNades, and an earth-shaking machine gun rip DESTRUCTIBLE environments to hand-drawn bits!
Dozens of CHALLENGE-ROOM style gameplay with a zoom function that let's in you close or zooms out to see all the action!
2-PLAYER COOP so you can share the alien-stomping, grenade tossing joy!
ONLINE High Scores to show off your skills!
Hand-drawn, silky-smooth effect animations just like Mom used to make! (If your mom was SNK)

---
Read about the Xbox Dashboard drama resolution here.

---
Mommy's Best Games, Inc. is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. We strive to deliver games that push the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, and pie. Our first game, Weapon of Choice, is an award-winning, side-scrolling, action game now available on Xbox Live Indie Games. And our second game, is an award-winning shoot'em up with a twist, Shoot 1UP, also available on Xbox Live Indie Games.

Mommy's Best Games is currently developing Grapple Buggy, promoting Explosionade and Shoot 1UP for Windows Phone 7, and working on other secret projects to titillate your fancy.

Top Downloads is Broken; Delaying Explosionade

2010-10-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:
Explosionade is out now for only 80 MS Points! Check out the free trial!
Microsoft has fixed the dashboard at least for the moment and Top Downloads is working (as of October 6th, 2010). Unfortunately in the past, after the list is fixed, it often breaks again in a few months, without warning. Microsoft has offered no public explanation to developers or any assurance they've fixed it with any more certainty this time.

Original article:
Great news--Explosionade is finished and ready for you to play! The bad news--I'm not going to release it till the Xbox Marketplace is less broken. Sorry, but I want the best launch possible, and when the Top Downloads list isn't up to date, it's a crappy time to release a game to Xbox Live Indie Games. (Gamers, jump to the end for when it will release; Developers--read on)

What's Top Downloads?

On the Xbox 360's Dashboard, there are many digital marketplaces from which you can download games. If you go to the Indie Games section you'll see several game lists including New Arrivals and Top Downloads. New Arrivals shows the most recent 20 Xbox Live Indie Games uploaded to the service. As the name implies, Top Downloads shows the 20 games that are currently downloaded most. Think of Top Downloads as "Most Popular".

The Top Downloads list is powered by the sales and trial data compiled by Microsoft from the day prior. So for instance, if today is October 3rd, typically sales data would be available for October 2nd some time in the afternoon. Top Downloads always should reflect gamers choices the day before. That way, if a new game enters the New Arrivals list, then by the next day, if it has lots of gamers checking it out, it will also be in the Top Downloads list.

There are currently over 1,300 games available on the XBL Indie Games channel. Several games are released each day. Often times a game will only spend a few days in the New Arrivals list. If it hasn't garnered enough attention, it will slip off that visual list, and buried in the "Browse All" list where only the most determined gamers will seek it out.

Why Aren't You Releasing Explosionade Yet?

If we released Explosionade today, but the Top Downloads list is not updating properly we will miss a huge chance for more sales.We love making games as a full time business. If we have a bad launch for Explosionade, it will greatly hurt our potential to carry on.

Basically the way the NewArrivals/Top Downloads system works is more adventurous gamers sift through all the releases that enter the New Arrivals list. Some of these games get downloaded by more gamers than others. If a game gets downloaded enough, it will show up in the Top Downloads list. From having data from Weapon of Choice, Shoot 1UP, and from talking to other XBLIG developers it's apparent having a game in the Top Downloads list can get you many more trials than slipping off all easy-to-find lists.

When Top Downloads is stuck, it's true some games are high in the list and get more downloads then. But eventually gamers will recognize the list is stuck (when sometimes data doesn't update for over a week) and gamers begin to ignore the channel more as it's obvious something's broken. Even though some games initially benefit from the list being stuck, eventually all games suffer from lower traffic.

How Do You Know the Top Downloads List Is Broken?

One way is to simply check the Top Downloads list itself on the Xbox each day and see if the Top 20 are identical. That's pretty tedious to do, so if you are an XBLIG developer with a released game, you can simply check your sales data for any of your games and see if it reports data from the day prior. For instance, it's 11pm EST on October 3rd, but sales data for both Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1UP is only up to date till October 1st. The sales data drives the Top Downloads list. If sales data is late, the list is not updating. If you don't have any games released you can follow Mommy's Best Games on twitter or others, or check the XNA forums.

Also, I publicly share sales data for Shoot 1UP from which I hope other developers can glean some marketing strategies and understand the XBLIG marketplace better. I also try to mark every time sales data is late in the Shoot 1UP spreadsheet (over to the right of the date).

To the right, you can see days data was late, or partial, which translates to a broken Top Downloads list.

What late data means in concrete terms is any games released on October 2nd are getting less potential representation. The following games were released on the 2nd:

Sniper Defense

Superspace 2

Excruciating Guitar Voyage

Any interest gamers showed for these game is lost until the list updates again.
If we had released Explosionade yesterday, it would be missing potential time in the Top Downloads list and potential sales.

So When Are You Releasing Explosionade?

Sales data has been spotty since September 28th, which means the Top Downloads list has been spotty in terms of reflecting gamers interests. In months past, the Top Downloads list has stayed stuck for days, sometimes over a week.

I really want to release Explosionade, as I publicly announced we could release by October 4th (Monday). It was ready in time for review earlier this weekend, but I've been waiting till Top Downloads is functioning properly.

Explosionade in all it's alien-stomping glory.

I'm hoping the list will start updating again properly by Monday evening. If it is, I'll put Explosionade into review, and if the game passes review, it will probably be available Thursday morning, October 7th.

Above all, I really love the freedom the Xbox Live Indie Games channel affords developers to make console games. It's a fantastic marketplace that has really come into it's own with stand out titles like I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1, Miner Dig Deep, Breath of Death VII, Protect Me Knight, SoulCaster, Inferno, Decimation X, and many more. I love developing games for the XBLIG when the system works and I want the service to continue. But if Top Downloads keeps getting stuck it's going to eventually impact developers and gamers and the channel will suffer.

----

UPDATE:
The story was covered here on eurogamer.net. Here and around the web, some questions were presented I thought I'd explain with the original article.

"Why don't you just release it after the dashboard is working?"
Currently to submit a game to XBLIG it has to enter peer review. This system has worked very well as over 1,300 games have been submitted with a very low percentage of crashes. But to pass through the review it takes several days. At any given point the dashboard could break--even right when it's out of your hands and shows up freshly on the list. There's no developer control here, it's all up to Microsoft to fix the the broken dashboard.

"Who's to say you'll be in the top list?"
I'm not saying Explosionade will automatically be in the Top Downloads, it's more that the possibility of getting into that list is basically removed completely for our game and anyone else releasing a game when the dashboard is broken. The system breaks down for new releases' potential when Top Downloads is stuck.

"But it only happens every month or two, what's the big deal?"
Any breaking is too often. A digital distribution system lives dies by it's useability and the reflection of current traffic. Look at any good website or marketplace from CNN to YouTube to Gamespot. There is always a section of 'most popular' which needs real-time data to survive and where most people go first. If this most popular section is broken, sites and markets lose traffic. As I mentioned earlier, once the game is released the developer has no control over it. If the list is broken, they will lose traffic and possible sales.

Explosionade

2010-09-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Explosionade. It's just like lemonade, but with EXPLOSIONS.
Our new game will be coming to Xbox Live Indie Games by Monday, October 4th!*
Explosionade is out now!

All your friends are storming the Horronym Fortress but Colonel Bouche left you to guard the supply depot. Disregarding orders you open the depot to find a gigantic, prototype mech!

Trailer:

Features:

INFILTRATE subterranean strongholds manned by cunning bipedal aliens and their mind-blasting hellions!
Recharging MegaNades, and an earth-shaking machine gun rip DESTRUCTIBLE environments to hand-drawn bits!
Dozens of CHALLENGE-ROOM style gameplay with a zoom function that let's in you close or zooms out to see all the action!
2-PLAYER COOP so you can share the alien-stomping, grenade tossing joy!
ONLINE High Scores to show off your skills!
Hand-drawn, silky-smooth effect animations just like Mom used to make! (If your mom was SNK)

The prototype, codename GRenaDOS

Here's downloadable screenshots here.

And here they are in visual form below:

Death from above!


Blasting off disgusting tentacles

Engaging the shield while being swarmed by Horn Stormers

The Horronym soldiers look up...

...think about running away...


...but are too late, as they're turned to grape jelly (tasty!)


Turrets making for a tight situation.


A Bezerker eyeing you as a meal.

The Bezerker action zoomed out.

This thing's going down!

Explosionade should be out by Monday, October 4th on XBLIG!

* Due to the review system for XBLIG games which don't allow for games to pass review, then enter a holding period, we simply have to submit the game for review. If it passes the game is suddenly released, if not, it has to wait a week, then we try again. We'd love to have it reviewed and finished, but the current system doesn't allow for this, so instead we're really certain it will be out this coming weekend (but anything can happen).

UPDATE:

Yes, the game was originally due out Saturday, September 25th, but in a Orwellian reconstruction, I've edited the dates above to reflect the new release target of October 4th. How evil of me! But the evil is mitigated evil because I'm leaving you this note to know I changed it. So you'll know we *weren't* always at war with Eurasia.
What was wrong?

There was an edge-case crash discovered during the awesomely effective community driven QA on the XNA peer review system. Yes, it really works!

Why didn't I catch the crash before?

Because sometimes things slip through. I'm sorry. But it's true. Ask your Dad to explain it some time.

What's changing in the mean time?

We're rebalancing the gameplay to be even tighter, and are fixing up little niggling menu and rendering issues we blew off before.
13.7% MOAR Explosions are being added as well.

---
(But where's Grapple Buggy? Read more here. Sales of Explosionade will help fund Grapple Buggy's development!)
---
Mommy's Best Games, Inc. is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. We strive to deliver games that push the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, and pie. Our first game, Weapon of Choice, is an award-winning, side-scrolling, action game now available on Xbox Live Indie Games. And our second, award-winning game Shoot 1UP is also available on Xbox Live Indie Games.

Mommy's Best Games is currently developing Grapple Buggy, promoting Explosionade and Shoot 1UP for Windows Phone 7, and working on other secret projects to titillate your fancy.

Grenade Throw Equation

2010-09-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

So the player has your cool soldier dude is hunkered down behind a barricade. Your soldier can't get a shot off at the player, but he can lob a grenade. He throws the grenade, it flies through the air... oh .. umm.. wow. The grenade just flew way over the player's head. Probably because the player was in a slight depression, lower than the soldier's Y position, and you just estimated the grenade's velocity, cobbling something together.

Time to fix that!
Explosionade is our next game, and it features lots of grenades and plenty of explosions. We'll have the official announcement shortly, but I wanted to pull some physics-y code from it for your use!

Here's my game-ready grenade velocity function. It's simple parabolic motion, straight out of wikipedia, but for some reason, sometimes, I'm too lazy too even look that up and rework the equation! So I reworked it for you (and my lazy future-self, when I need it again).

Here's some C# code for the equation.

// targetPos is what you want to hit
// throwPos is where the grenade starts
// Tweak flyTime to make the grenade take longer or shorter to get there
// This simple returns the velocity at which to throw the grenade, and your target is toast!
static float flyTime= 2.0f;
protected Vector2 ThrowGrenadeVel(Vector2 targetPos, Vector2 throwPos)
{
Vector2 diff = (targetPos - throwPos);
Vector2 grenadeVel;
startVel.X = (diff.X) / travelTime; // we don't factor in gravity for X

 // Handles different heights nicely  

 startVel.Y = (diff.Y - 0.5f * Grenade.gravityY * flyTime* flyTime) / flyTime;

return startVel; }

The player mech on the left anticipates a grenade hit from the enemy Horronyms on the right. Horronyms conveniently have three arms, two for holding their gun, one for throwing grenades, natch.

Simple enough, it uses s = s0 + v0t + 1/2at^2 but reworks it for the initial velocity (v0) here. You just need to have your Grenade.gravityY specified as static public float in your Grenadeclass (or whatever you're using there). I used a gravityY of about 500.0f. Two seconds felt pretty good, giving the player some time to dodge it or shoot it in Explosionade. But you can tweak the flyTime to take longer or shorter. Be aware this does no checking for ceilings, or walls. You'll have to do line of sight tests for those.
If you use the equation and have any problems just leave a comment. Good luck throwing!

Buggy Shifts Gears

2010-09-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

I've not-so-good news, and then Awesome news.

Our current 'big' task is to get Grapple Buggy signed by a publisher to release it for Xbox Live Arcade. Oh that, and actually making the game. We want to release the game through XBLA rather than XBL Indie Games as there's more much download traffic, and higher price points.

Faster, faster!

We've been talking to various publishers and have made good headway with them, and all of them really like the look at feel of the game. But, they've all been very sluggish about actually handing out money or guaranteeing a slot for release. We've heard several responses, but the general feel is with the economy still sluggish, it's taking a lots and lots of time and back-and-forth discussions to get companies to agree to a deal. Regardless of all of that, we've been working on Grapple Buggy off and on for some time now and can't wait till gamers get to play it and have it pay off.

I hear an echo! ... an echo.... an echo...

Unfortunately that will have to wait a little while longer. After looking at the MBG coffers, we decided we needed to take a break and work on something more immediate as way to raise money for continued development of Grapple Buggy. First, thanks for purchasing Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1UP. I'm glad you liked the games and we had fun making them! As such we got to work more on Grapple Buggy, which has been looking really cool lately.

Escaping the jaws of death!

Finally, what does all this mean for you, dear gamer? That was the Awesome news: we're making another cool game! Yes! I consider asking for donations for Grapple Buggy development to be sort of lame. I mean, we make video games; we're not a charity. How about we make a new, fun game for you to play and sell that?!? Yeah, I realize it's a crazy idea.

So there you go, you have to wait longer for Grapple Buggy, but we get to hopefully remain financially solvent, and you get a new game to play. The new game will be revealed shortly, and of course after it's released, it's back to Grapple Buggy development!

Interns. For Great Justice

2010-08-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

So you've made a few games, and made some money, but now you have a business growth decision. Do you stick with your one-man gig and keep creating the same size games over the same period of time, or do you try and hire someone else to help. It could put a real strain on things to hire your first full-time employee, or it could really broaden and speed up your game development.

Consider hiring an intern first!
An internship gets described a lot of ways, but basically it's on the job training for less pay. So you may be thinking "Oh boy, cheap labor--I'm all over that!" It's more work than that. What you save in money, you make up for in time spent instructing, but ultimately it benefits everyone involved.

Our first intern--he picked up coding in a snap!

With an intern, as opposed to a newly hired, professional employee, you'll have to educate them, and work with them a lot more. They will likely not have as much skill or experience as what you'd expect or hope. But the good news is, they usually can make up for lack of experience, with willingness to work and learn.

To start looking for an intern, check out your nearest college, approach the CS or Art department (probably by phone or email, but just walking into random offices will turn heads too). A lot of colleges now have areas more focused on game development, sometimes they may have game development courses, or are teaching art classes focused on 3D modeling. Talk to a "career development office", or to the heads of the respective departments about interns available for hire. It depends on the college, as some places are more aggressive and robust than others.

Keep in mind you're hiring a student, and you will usually be working around their schedules (and semesters). For instance, we had an student work for MBG from May to mid-August, and we now have a different student working from August to December. Don't be afraid to turn down a potential intern--do proper interviews, and ask about any previous work, and what classes they've had. You'll be looking for someone, essentially who you think can learn quickly, and has had at least some experience in class or in hobbies (game demos are good!). It also helps when they are very eager to work with you on games!

Basically "temporary on-the-job training" gets called a lot of things like "internship", "apprenticeship", "coop", or "externship". The college you approach may have different possible versions available. They may also require a certain number of hours that the student work. Check with your CPA about tax issues (we have to pay federal and state withholding, and Social Security for the students). You may also need to fill out a report for the college at the end detailing what work the student did and how they performed.

Just another day at the home office

The work can often be flexible, depending on what you can arrange with the student and the school. The hours could be part-time, full-time, or they could work from home, or come into the office, or both.
Interns are a great way to get very enthused help with your small game development business for low cost, high personal reward through mentoring, and the potential for a great employee when they graduate!

Reference:
http://www.northeastern.edu/experiential-learning/coop/
Northeastern University in Boston seems to be really aggressive regarding co-ops and internships. If you're in the area, make sure to check it out!

http://louisville.edu/speed/
J. B. Speed School of Engineering in Louisville, Kentucky is from where I've been getting some great students.

Accessibility Options Ideas

2010-08-04T12:15:00.000-07:00

Imagine for a moment you'd love to play games, but you have extreme arthritis and can't handle a controller. Think of trying to play your favorite game and all its button combinations. We may all be in this situation one day as gamers get older!

Very few commercial games offer a lot of help for disabled gamers. There are definitely gamers out there who are worse off than just having arthritis but still want to play our games. As an independent developer you can help give those gamers more options in their games library!

Shoot 1UP is one of the few shoot 'em ups to feature many options targeting disabled gamers. Sure some shoot 'em ups have options like different ships and difficulty settings, but Shoot 1UP goes further than most with things like gameplay speed changes, single button controls and more. I got a lot of my inspiration from these settings from OneSwitch.org.uk and AbleGamers.com.

As assistance for my ailing memory, but also as a challenge to other indie developers out there, I'm going to manage a list of accessibility options for games. Some things won't work in all game designs but some things will--open your mind and give them a try in your game!

Gameplay speed adjustment: even if your game is a skill based game, consider allowing gamers to slow things down for those that can't track objects as quickly as others. The cool part is you can make the game faster for hardcores too! If necessary, you can separate leaderboards, or mark scores with gameplay speeds.
Remappable buttons or Alternate control schemes: Remappable buttons are great for people with special needs, but also hardcore gamers with arcade sticks. If you can offer controls remapping, it's tough to do at first, but then the player can choose whatever they want without bothering the developer for more schemes.
One switch mode or Single button mode: If possible, make an option to make all the gameplay and menus driven by a single button. In Shoot 1UP shooting was automatic, and the single button controlled motion via a rotating arrow. Each time they pressed and held, they moved in that direction. On release, the arrow rotated 90 degrees.
Single button tweak: In Shoot 1UP I forced people to hold the button while moving. This played better during testing, but not for some people that can't hold a button for long. Offer a further option (or start this way like SYNSO) that allows for a simple toggle with a button press.
Single button menus: As for the menus, you can offer an "automatic scroll" option which periodically moves to the next menu selection. When the player wants to select it, they simply press their one button. Of course all menus then need an explicit Back button instead of just mapping it to the B button (for instance).
Closed captions: Allow for all spoken dialog to have subtitles, and for any gameplay-sensitive sound effects to have captions as well ("Door opened", "timer ticking", etc).
Automatic options: In a shooting game, this means auto-fire. But it could also mean other toggling or selection of something that's not the core of the gameplay. Maybe it auto-jumps the player in a platformer, or maybe makes him walk always to the right--developers, you get to decide!
Visual contrast options: Especially in a shoot 'em up, it's important to see the dangers. Shoot 1UP offered an option to lower the background contrast or turn it off. This is good for just about any action game as it can reduce eye strain and allow some gamers to track things better.
Icons: Always offer icons along with text when you can. If there are mid-game choices involved, put a picture with the text to help it make more sense. On menus in addition to the words, offer an icon of what that choice means (if at all possible)
Spoken options: Especially for menus, if there are any options in your game, allow a spoken version for people struggling to read the text. You could even use an automatic voice generators if you can't find someone to voice act for you (or don't want to use your own voice).
Other button options: Instead of just One button mode, you could also offer a stripped down 'Two button' mode (or 'three button' mode). You'll be basically scaling down the input needed for players based on your game. The game Archaist provides these options plus tons more.
Difficulty settings: Obviously this isn't just for disabled gamers, but offering an extra-easy or tutorial mode can really help some gamers enjoy the game and get into it more.

Obviously Shoot 1UP isn't perfect and while it includes a lot of these options, there's still more work to do. As I learn of more things disabled gamers want, I'll be updating this list for my own use, but yours too. I'll be taking what I've learned here and trying to apply it to Grapple Buggy in the future.

Windows Phone 7 Game MEGA Launch List

2010-07-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of videos for games in development for Windows Phone 7 which I think can reasonably be available at the launch (which is currently supposed to be around this October).

If you know of any more nice-looking games that you think will be available from day 1, leave it in the comments and I'll update the list. And do bookmark this, it will update! Thanks!

Shoot 1UP

The Harvest

Twin Blades

Butterfly

NextWar: The Quest for Earth

Vizati

BulletAsylum

Scribble Defense

Jumpy

Goo Splat

Towers of Hanoi

Frog Log

FrogAttack

PaperBall

Battle Punks

KrashLander

Boss Launch 2: Zombie Attack

Droppy Pop

Chess Club

Battleships

Tic Tac Toe

And of course, we can't leave out MineSweeper

Vertical Slicing to Efficiency

2010-07-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

Before game developers can get a publishing deal, sometimes a publisher will request a "vertical slice" of their game to show them what the game will be really like. It can tell them a lot of things, such as if the game is fun, what the minute-to-minute gameplay is like, what the "higher design" ideas are like (do you have continues, is there dialog branching, what is the main goal for a player, how long is a good chunk of gameplay, etc.) It can also show the publisher that the dev team can complete the designed game, and also how long it takes them to complete the work. Plus it's awesome, smarmy marketing-speak.

It often feels unrealistic though, from the developer's perspective, to create a perfect slice of your game right up front--something already polished and fun. Sure the publisher is supposed to understand that Quality Will Improve, but I've heard many developer woes about publishers "not getting it". They can't see the vision that the developer does.

One thing a vertical slice can do for the developer, though is hone their own work. I'm looking to show several publishers a portion (one might call it a vertical slice if one were feeling marketing-y) of Grapple Buggy to try to get funding and a 'deal'. In the game, inside the buggy itself are your two main characters who deliver spoken dialog furthering the story and also giving the player hints.

We recorded a good portion of the dialog about a year ago, and it took a while to process for the actual game. That was because of the amount of the dialog, but also because the methods used to process it and the design direction were all in flux. Everything's pretty nailed down at this point, and when we had to record a few new lines to make the flow smoother for the demo, it went really quickly. I knew what compression to use, resampling quality, the volume levels, and the post-processing effects that would make it all sound great. Figuring those things out earlier took forever and caused a lot of angst. But now, adding new content to my "vertical slice" went really fast and with total confidence.

I love bashing publisher-marketing talk as much as the next dev, but in this case the concept can work out. Taking it beyond just a prototype, and polishing a portion of the game right up to near-finished can really show you how you want to do everything and how good the game will be. It can not only show the publisher you know how to do it, but you and your team as well.

E3 2010 Wrap Up Starring Grapple Buggy

2010-06-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

Grapple Buggy went to E3 2010 in a secretive capacity as opposed to the press-tastic event from last year. I privately showed a brand new demo to interested parties such as prospective publishers, and sup@r l33t pre$$ such as you'll see later.

Click for a full screen view of the new, fancy-pants widescreen display!

The demo has shaped up a lot since having entered it into Creators Club playtest last year, and everyone at the show were very excited to play the entire game. I showed the game to Inkling Games owners, Lesley and Peter (colleagues from Insomniac Games), and they had some great advice for further improving things: Enemies like the Trail Fly should attack in a more recognizable pattern, no matter how obvious some of the gameplay seems, always teach each new chunk to the player before combining situations, and in our game's particular case subtitles are hugely important! When you get too "close to the canvas" sometimes it helps to hear good gameplay concepts repeated by friends.

Grapple Buggy's new cinematics feature full dialog (which has been cleaned up and processed to sound more like the characters are actually in a vehicle), camera work, and some animation, but because they aren't full animated people subtitles help give it that extra polish and oomph to get the point across.

Currently I'm getting further improving the E3 demo to eventually send off to the various publishers with whom I met at the show. They all showed great interest, so I feel good about sending the game to them. It's one thing to stand next to them while they play but a whole other level of polish and good design is needed to hand an mid-development game off to someone to play on their own. And thus I'm taking any issues that came up at E3 and trying to iron them out.

Behind the back grapple!

Finally, at the show I had the fun of letting Nukezilla reporters Brett and Justin play the 'publisher only' demo of Grapple Buggy. They came away impressed saying things like :

"The titular buggy is sleek and polished, piloted by a sarcastic blonde and the vehicle’s disembodied brain. The contrast the far-future look of your craft against the truly alien environment and creatures is successful and gives the game a special appeal."
Read the full preview here.

Just popping a zit for him.
(Eww! Yeah, that was pretty gross)

HUD and Map Transformations

2010-06-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

As Grapple Buggy continues to mature in time for a sweet E3 publisher demo, one thing that had to change was the HUD. Originally, I tried a simple, 'futuristic' look that might be something like what the pilots of the buggy were seeing inside:

I pulled those HUD elements directly from screenshots (thus the errant graphics around them). I definitely didn't hate them, but the map in particular was too simple looking, and primarily the theme just didn't seem to perfectly fit the game in particular.

I was difficult to decide to change it but things got a boost when an intern, Justin Kaffenberger, started working on a redo of the map programming. We worked on a new, more organic design for the map layout which then required new graphics for the map and mini-map.

Once the internals of the map started changing, and looking better, I felt inspired to change the main HUD.

I found additional direction playing God of War. Its HUD was in the theme of the game, it wasn't tied to "what Kratos may be seeing". And thus, they have lots of chains, and rocks, and swords and such. I liked that idea and decided to frame all the art with high-res versions of the grappling arms, claws, and gears.

The map itself and all menus are now framed by large metal claws, with gears rotating on the sides.
The actual map reflects the game goals and landscape. Instead of strict "Metroidvania" style cells in a matrix, in which you are supposed to visit each one, now the areas are organic blobs. As you visit an area, those areas are present on your map. Your path is shown by a pulsating trail. There will likely be less backtracking in Grapple Buggy than in Metroid-style games, and it's still simple enough figuring out where to go next. Sprites for save points, level transitions, and powerups are floating on top of the map area shapes.

The graphics may still undergo some change, but so far I like the crisp new look and feel good about finally finding a strong direction for the HUD design.

Shoot 1UP, Popular Xbox 360 Action Game, Updated for Disabled Gamers

2010-05-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

Highest rated* Indie Game shoot 'em up on Xbox 360 has been updated for ease of play by disabled gamers to include single-button controls, quick start options, and more.

Indiana May 27, 2010 -- Game developer Mommy's Best Games, creator of award-winning, independent, console games are proud to announce an accessibility-rich update to their second release, the shoot 'em up space-ship orgy known as Shoot 1UP. Currently available for download on the Xbox 360 Indie Games channel, Shoot 1UP is only 80MS points (equivalent of US$1).

Shoot 1UP, now with more ways to love it.

Shoot 1UP now supports a "single-button" control option, ideal for disabled gamers, allowing players to pilot their phalanx of up to 30 fighter ships against swarms of enemies using only one button. Used in conjunction with the “auto-fire” option players control their ships by pressing a button to travel in the direction of an on-screen arrow. After each button press, the arrow rotates 90 degrees, giving players access to the full screen with one input. This button is configurable from 6 button choices; based on the player’s accessibility and comfort needs. Other accessibility features include:

Game play speed controls in which gamers can slow the entire game down to accommodate slower reaction time,
Quick start option which can begin a new game with a single input, using your last settings,
Auto-fire and auto-formation management options for those who become easily fatigued,
New flight-path icons for less dependence on screen text,
Contrast changes to the background graphics for gamers with eye sensitivities or various perception problems, and
Fully configurable button re-mapping for regular controls.

Shoot 1UP includes three vastly different, hand-tuned difficulty settings ranging from “Chilled” mode for novice gamers, “Normal” mode for core gamers looking for a nostalgic blast-a-thon, and “Serious” mode for hard-core shoot ‘em up fans. The special "Score Trek" mode, in which players control one ship but can save progress after every level, has been re-tuned in this version to be easier, more approachable, and more fun over all.

“We want everyone to get a chance to enjoy the complete insanity of dead killer whales, Mecha Lilith, and flying brain ships...adding more accessibility options was a no-brainer."

Barrie Ellis, director of www.oneswitch.co.uk, says “Bullet-Hell made accessible like never before. The main-stream could learn a lot from Shoot 1UP.”

“We want everyone to get a chance to enjoy the complete insanity of dead killer whales, Mecha Lilith, and flying brain ships,” says Nathan Fouts, president of Mommy’s Best Games, “With the potential for a shoot ‘em up to be enjoyed by more gaming fans, it was a no-brainer to add single-button and remappable controls support.”

To follow Mommy’s Best Games on Twitter, go to http://www.twitter.com/MommysBestGames

Mommy's Best Games, Inc., located in the Midwestern Silicon Valley that is Southern Indiana, is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. We strive to deliver games that push at the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, and pie.

*Rating based on GameRankings.com aggregate of professional game reviews for Shoot 1UP.

Video Game Movies Are Actually Successful

2010-05-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

While working on Grapple Buggy, any trip to the internet to check email or find music usually presents me with an advertisement for the new Prince of Persia movie. I had read it had a big budget and the trailers looked pretty good. This got me to wondering... will it flop all the more spectacularly? I remembered reading Bruckheimer defending game movies but wanted some more concrete numbers to find the truth. Turns out it's really different than the mainstream media had led me to believe!

Financially, there are more video game movie adaptations that have succeeded rather than failed. Seventeen, theatrically-released, game movies have at least broken even, while only nine game movies have financially flopped.

(Click for sales to budget comparisons)

Lara Croft, Hitman, Mortal Kombat, Pokemon, Silent Hill and Resident Evil movies have done very well, often grossing 3 to 4 times their budgets when you examine their Worldwide box office and DVD sales combined.

Financial failures like In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Alone in the Dark, Double Dragon, and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li failed mainly due to them just being terrible movies as their Rotten Tomatoes rating is never above 5%.

The German director Uwe Boll has created the most unsuccessful game movies (three). Their failure as movies is probably related to his failure as a director rather than their nature of being based on video games, since only 4% of critics rated them favorably.

The most spectacular game movie failure is Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, costing even more than Prince of Persia (167 to 150m). Final Fantasy TSW is the highest critically rated game movie, yet with only 85m in sales many other game movies have surpassed it, and doubled or tripled their budgets in the process. The movie's story which did not tie into the game franchise, and didn't even really feel like a typical Final Fantasy mood is probably the cause of the low sales.

The closer the movie can fit to the game atmosphere, the more likely it will be a success at least with fans. Lara Croft traipses in tight-fitting clothing through exotic locales looking for treasure, Resident Evil has plenty of entertaining zombie fighting, Hitman features Agent 47 killing for hire, and Silent Hill is extremely strange and disturbing.

Statistically the odds are in favor of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time being financially successful. Jake Gyllenhaal is an Academy Award nominated actor and if the story fits reasonably with the game universe it should please game fans. The $150 million budget for Prince is very high for game movies, but actually less than the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie which went on to gross over $650m worldwide. All taken together Prince of Persia sales will probably surpass its budget and join of the majority of game movies which, contrary to popular belief, are actually profitable.

Shoot 1UP travels the globe

2010-04-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Shoot 1UP has been loved the world over, come see the global shmuppreciation!

First off, and truly international, Shoot 1UP has been honored as a Top 20 finalist in Microsoft's Dream Build Play 2010 competition!

A.R.E.S. - Thailand
Abaddon - United States
Abducted! - United States
Alien Jelly - Australia
Armor Valley - Singapore
Beat Hazard - United Kingdom
Capsized - Canada, excluding Quebec
Creed Arena - Australia
Duality ZF - Canada, excluding Quebec
Dysnomia - United Kingdom
JoyJoy - United States
King Spray - Australia
Lumi - France
Mind Over Metal - Australia
Ninja Garden - Ireland
Prismatic Solid - Japan
Shape Shooter - United States
Shoot 1UP - United States
Soul - France
The Shadows in the Underworld - Canada, excluding Quebec

The bolded games are forced-scrolling shoot 'em ups; impressive to have 3 of the top 20 from such a "niche" genre!

USA
There's been tons of great reviews in America, and here's a sampling.

"The Best Possible Way to Spend a Buck."
Game Critics review

A-
"Shoot 1UP- the latest release from Mommy’s Best Games offers shmup fans the largest dose of originality seen since 2003’s Ikaruga."
Tech-Gaming review

B
"A super-cheap, accessible, and worthwhile Indie shoot-em-up on XBLA."
1UP.com's review

9/10
"Shoot 1UP delivers an excellent shooter experience, and is compelling enough to hold the honor of being the best indie space-shooter available on xbox live!"
Gamespot user review

5/5
"Shoot 1UP is a marvel in game design, a game so addictive and fun that it’s hard to pass up
RunDLC review

9/10
"If this sort of action remotely interests you, then the full game of Shoot 1UP should already be on your hard drive"
Console Obsession review

UK
8 out of 10
"...it'd almost be rude for shooter aficionados not to destroy the mechanical-tentacle hybrid forces responsible for your pain"
Eurogamer review

Indie Pick of the month
"Games have been trying to perfect the life and death mechanic for years, and Shoot 1Up has a simple, elegant solution"
Digital Spy recommendation

Odd Bob can barely tear himself away from the game.
"Go buy your own, I’m still playing!"
XNPlay round-up (#67)

"There’s also a boss that fires boobies. 11/10?"
NTSC-uk review

Australia
While Indie Games are not officially available in Australia that didn't stop The Go.

"...a sleek 16-bit design that brings you right back to the golden age of arcades."
The Go Indie of the Month

FRANCE
16/20
Shoot 1UP's equal to Ikaruga by their measurements! That's some amazing company to keep.
Xbla360 France's review

99/100!
"A phalanx plus chocolate", probably missing something there, but what could be better than ships and chocolate?
CF-network review

SPAIN
Indie recommendation
"I could write a review or something, but it's best to just go and immediately buy it."
No vale dar en pajaritos recommendation

BRAZIL
"A trailer for the frenzied shooting game"
Crie-jogos trailer viewage

GERMANY
"Shoot 1UP is a 2d shooter with a fresh taste" and "Brilliant nonsense"
Spieletipps review

ITALY
"I mean, oh, a chick with steel boobs and a laser ... really beautiful, yes yes"
Indie Vault review

JAPAN
This is a massive fan post covering most aspects of the game with tons of pictures and explanations.
Most Ultimate Shoot 1UP JET Extreme Extra story!

NSFW Ads, the game has been lumped in with Hentai naughtiness!
New Akiba coverage
I guess we can thank Mecha Lilith for that.

Game*Spark's controversial review
This Game*Spark story apparently sent the commentors into a real frenzy with the game's review of 4.5 out of 5!

And finally a super Japanese fan sent me a scan of the April 22nd, weekly Famitsu magazine (No. 1116)--Shoot 1UP has it's very own page! Though he didn't translate it all for me , he said the title reads "XBL Indie Games is the last frontier for Underground Games".
Also, I can sort of make out "1996", and "HAHAHAHAHA", and they have Mecha Lilith and wrote a bunch, so I think they really liked it!

There you have it, around the world with one plucky little shoot 'em up's coverage in the gaming media.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Shoot 1UP Daily Sales

2010-04-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here is detailed sales information and analysis for Shoot 1UP. I'll work to update it daily so consider bookmarking the page and checking back each evening.

Make sure to click various tabs above for cool graphs of the data!

For some time, I've been sharing detailed sales information for Weapon of Choice, annotated with notes based on trends, press, etc. I hope it's been helpful to other developers trying to understand at least some piece of the XBLIG platform. Being a community I think a great way for everyone to make more informed business decisions is to start by sharing sales information about their games.

Recently JForce Games starting sharing daily sales information on their blog for their game Avatar Showdown. It was a brilliant move in terms of business visibility and data management and I commend them. I was inspired and decided to share Shoot 1UP's data as well to help contribute to the data landscape and understanding of the wild, wild west we call XBL Indie Games.

For any other devs interested, and I certainly hope there are many I'd like to share the way I created the system above. You can comment or write me if you have any questions or can suggest improvements. Because I haven't fully automated this, I do limit some of the slicing and dicing based on time (eg. not looking at countries, etc). But I am open to cool new ideas still.

Keep in mind, I'm doing this the fairly manual way. It takes some time to set it up, but from there, it's not too bad (minute or two) to update each night.

Downloads:
I created a template for XBLIG daily sales data, on Google Docs. Also, here's a sample for that same data (this csv data is what goes into the template). I explain how I use it below.

Intial setup:
Step 0: I'm using MS Excel to shape the data before taking it to Google Docs (the demo of the newest version, currently). Get the demo, then set up an account with Google and start up Google docs.

Step 1: DL all your sales data since the start. Sort by Date then by Price. You should something like get this:

Step 2: Set up an AutoSum of each day's trials, and their sales. Then do an AutoSum (division version) of each day's conversion rate. I'm sure some masters of Excel can make this much quicker on the inital setup.

Step 3: In a new sheet, start a new column of daily totals for sales, trials, and CRs. Copy these over from your raw data. Form a column for the date and put one Date to the left of sales and trials, and one to the left of Conversion Rate. We're still working in Excel to prep to upload to Google Docs.

That pic is what you should have going in Excel.

Step 4: If you want more analysis, set it up now. I added a running total as well (but had to add a new date/day number column also).

Step 5: Ready to go to Google Docs. Upload your Excel sheet to there that has the multiple Date columns with your processed data. I'd say do this as a separate new file, from your raw data, so it's less confusing.

Step 6: The data from Excel should show up fine in the Docs. If not, check the help. From there, select the first date column, the sales, and the trials, then click Insert->Chart. I moved mine to their own sheet.

The key to getting it to show up (if it's not) is have the Date as the first column, and when editing the Chart select, select both "Use row 1 as labels", and "Use column XYZ as labels". I had problems otherwise.

Step 7: Pretty things up. I went back and moved the 'raw data' to the right (like JForce) and then made a new 'front page' of data. I have to update both spots. Not ideal, but it looks better.
The front page is easier to see trends for weeks, and write in notes, and see the totals.

Upkeep:
Download the most recent bit of sales for your game. Sort that day by Date and then Price. Sum up sales, trials, do the CR. Copy these over to the google docs file. I put the data in "Charts data" and the front sheet "Sales and Notes". This should update the totals and all the charts.

An alternative that JForce's Jeremy (see comments for his explanation, could make more sense than mine) pointed out is that if we use the "maths" we can make this super quick. View your new sales and trials for the entire period which will include the new day's sales and trials. Subtract the new sales/trials from your old one (in your current google docs). Then take those values, divide for your CR and copy this new day's data over. Obviously make sure the new "total" values are the same as the ones you saw in the first place on you MyBusiness page.
(Note though, this method will not work for a game that's been out for over a year, as the "full" data on CC only goes back 1 year. You'll have to start appending it in a stand-alone file at the at point. Or alternatively you could keep track of the current months sales/trials then subtract the new total on the CC page each day from that, starting again with each month. Using this math as Jeremy pointed out does save you the step of having to sum up all the sales/trails per each day which is more tedious to copy around.)

Make sure for each chart when you edit it, the "What Data?" part includes the newest data you added (you may need to extend it, for example: C2:C40 needs to increase to C2:c41 once you add in enough days). Check each chart to make sure the new data shows up.

Wrap Up:
That's it for setting it up. For about 45 days of data, it took about an hour to prep them and about an hour or so to learn Google Docs and get it all rolling. If you have 1.5 years of data, you might consider displaying weekly or monthly sales so you don't have to mess with it as much. I may end up doing that with Weapon of Choice sales. Or be smart and automate it in some awesome way!

To display it here, on the spreadsheet that you edit, on the far right, I picked "Share" and embedded it in this page there.

Please tell me how it goes for you in the comments and share your site links!

PAX East 2010 Pics and Press

2010-04-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

PAX East is finally over and boy was it a first show! By most estimates there were nearly 60,000 people in attendance and every single one of them stopped by Mommy's Best Games' booth!
At least we'd have liked that. We did get a lot of traffic though, and Shoot 1UP thoroughly convinced many reticent gamers they still *do* like shoot 'em ups and can still enjoy them!

I've been fortunate enough to have been to E3 and GDC for many years now, but being to a fun video game convention *before* everything is setup is a little disenchanting. Fortunately once the show starts the magic begins as well and everything actually turns out looking cool.

Pre-show forklifts scour the floors indiscriminately lifting boxes and eating grown pets. Beware!

Shortly after arriving, Amy begins to construct our booth. I'm sitting in our second blue chair, watching her work.

Now we're getting somewhere! The rental TV and computers are up and rental-dude Tyler is making sure things work.

Near-complete version of the booth. The Weapon of Choice sign was deemed "too much". We put that on the back side to face the lounge area. Believe it or not--and our games not withstanding--we do have our own limits of taste and decor.

Boston, 32 stories high, first morning of the show. The rain didn't dampen (Ugghh) our spirits!

Gamers trying out Grapple Buggy and Shoot 1UP. No the game won't ship with a 5' poster of Javeya (to the right). If we sold it in a box though, we could pack it in!

Crowds formed each hour as we held the Shoot 1UP High Score contest at the show. Guy standing on the left is watching Grapple Buggy in action and literally cannot believe his eyes.

Kotaku's Mike Fahey stopped by to gross us out by hanging a Grapple Buggy grabber off his nose piercing. F'ing hardcore.

I explain to Evil Avatar's "pwnophobia" how the Natal-powered, piano bar mini-game in Grapple Buggy will work.

Here's some of the media coverage for Grapple Buggy and Shoot 1UP from the show:

Video interviews:
http://kotaku.com/5503881/bionic-commando-meets-blaster-master-meets-metroid

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109534

http://negativegamer.com/2010/04/01/paxeast-%E2%80%9810-a-short-video-interview-with-mommys-best-games/

Audio interviews:
http://www.racketboy.com/retro/podcast/2010/04/racketboy-podcast-10-pax-east-retro-roundup-pt-2-indie-old-school-developers.html

http://rejectedgamer.com/2010/03/pax-east-2010-day-2/

http://negativegamer.com/2010/03/28/ngcast-special-paxeast-10/

Stuff with words: (there may be pictures!)
http://www.gamepro.com/article/previews/214668/pax-east-grapple-buggy/

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1156047

http://oneofswords.com/2010/03/pax-east-day-2/

http://gamingnexus.com/FullNews/When-Nathan-met-Nathan-Fouts/Item16914.aspx

Overall it was a great show--here's to next year!

Rage Against Charlie Sheen

2010-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

INDIANA, USA– April 1, 2010 – Independent developer Mommy’s Best Games prepares to deliver cathartic release and satiric humor for the Xbox 360®. Rage Against Charlie Sheen will be fighting it’s way into gamers’ homes December 2010, also allowing them to compete globally on Xbox LIVE.

Rage Against Charlie Sheen is a ludicrous new competitive fighter in which players can use their avatars to kick the smirk off his smug mug. Each time you strike him down, he returns more virile than before, eventually becoming stronger than you can possibly imagine. Face off against Charlie in 69 ignominious iterations, allowing him to grow new appendages, weapons, and new abilities. Watch out for his powerful assaults, such as the “Coke Chin Cut,” the “Roulette Ricochet,” and the “Ho Throw.” Rage Against Charlie Sheen will feature over a dozen different environments ranging from the New York financial district to the steamy jungles of Vietnam. Mommy’s Best Games will work closely with Virgin Ululations Records to create the original rap-rock soundtrack.

“We're excited to give TV watchers and movie goers the ability to fight back for the hours lost watching banal theater and chauvinistic sitcoms.” says Nathan Fouts , Mommy’s Best Games’ President, programmer and artist. He also warns, “Be prepared for the inevitable sequels to this franchise, ‘Rage Against Seth Green: Stop Motion Strike’ and ‘Rage Against Martin Sheen: Apocalyps-o Now’.”

About Mommy's Best Games:
Mommy's Best Games, Inc. is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. MBG strives to deliver games that push the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, and pie. Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1UP, both critically acclaimed, are available now on Xbox Live Indie Games.
www.mommysbestgames.com
For further game developments visit:
www.mommysbest.blogspot.com

PAX East 2010 is almost here!

2010-03-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's our first public exhibition booth and we're pulling out all the stops to make sure this one really shoots the moon!

Mommy's Best fun will be the playable preview of Grapple Buggy open to the public! (Well, as public as having a pass for the show is.)

We'll also be running a Shoot 1UP High Score competition nearly every hour the expo hall is open to the public. We'll have various gameplay speeds for the contests, so check out the times and stop by often! The prize will be appropriately absurd and fitting to Shoot 1UP.
(I can't reveal it yet, but I can tell you now it's not a metal bust of lazor bewbs--sorry, maybe some day. Anyone have friends at Hot Toys? Only thing better than lazor bewbs are fully-articulated lazor bewbs! Wait.. on second thought, that's really scary.)

When at the show, we'll have a live page for your mobile through this site here: www.pax.expohud.com They've been a pleasure to work with, if you're a dev, contact them for the show (or next one).

Last but not least, we'll periodically be giving out fun swag, and will have stylish Grapple Buggy shirts for sale. Accompanying those will be most excellent Weapon of Choice posters for sale, featuring a menagerie of gruesome aliens from the award-winning game.

So how's the booth coming along?

It's in a box currently, but will ship out to Boston Thursday (along with some humans).

Behold--your PAX East gaming throne!

Okay, that's Mark I. That didn't work out so well. We're getting new, bigger ones that will actually be high enough. But still it's pretty comfy.

Those are some electronic brains we'll be using to power the cool games you'll be playing.

And here is a tiny sampling all the crazy print material we'll have at the show, tons and tons of unique stuff is on the way, getting printed, shipped, and such right now.

Don't be a stranger, come on by the booth and let's play some games!

Weapon of Choice in Guinness World Records 2010

2010-03-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

We're proud to share that Weapon of Choice was recently entered into the Guinness Book of World Records 2010 Gamer's Edition! On page 57, on the two-page spread for Run and Gun Shooters, Weapon of Choice blasts it's way into history.

In a "Fact" section Weapon of Choice is listed as having the highest professionally rated release on the (then) Xbox Live Community Games channel, as aggregated by Metacritic. Weapon of Choice's Metacritic rating is 74.

The most exciting news comes in the form of a top ten list. I've always loved David Letterman's Top Ten lists, but never before did I imagine one of our games would be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records!

Under the heading "Ten Games You Should Play in this Genre", Weapon of Choice is number 4--above even the mighty, and legendary Contra III!

Here's a pic, and the list in full:
Ten Games You Should Play in this Genre

1. Metal Slug (1996)
2. Gunstar Heroes (1993)
3. Turrican (1990)
4. Weapon of Choice (2008)
5. Contra III (1992)
6. Green Beret (1985)
7. Vectorman (1995)
8. Bionic Commando (1987)
9. Ikari Warriors (1986)
10. Alien Soldier (1995)

Keep in mind, this game is a list covering the run'n'gun genre throughout the history of video games! (Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about it)

Can Shoot 1UP live up to this attention? Who knows, but Shoot 1UP's already got a GameRanking rating of 83%!

Shoot 1UP Now Available!

2010-02-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

Shoot 1UP is now available for 80 MS points on your Xbox 360 in the Indie Games section right here.

日本語ファンサイト.

Are you put off by "manic" shoot 'em ups?
Even things up by bringing all your ships into battle at once! In Shoot 1UP you start with 3 ships, as expected, but they're all playable simultaneously!

Control your ships with ease using the trigger or shoulder buttons to expand and contract your formation. Stay close to weave through bullets, or expand to fire the massive plasma auger!

Choose your flight-path through six bizarre levels allowing you to bank right, fly backwards, or even fly with 360 degrees of freedom!

Massive bosses and hideous creations shower fiery death upon your forces, but you have the edge with tons of firepower, and even the option to modify the game speed!

Unleash your full fighting potential in Shoot 1UP!

1UPs INSTANTLY ENTER THE ACTION!
Command over 30 ships at the SAME TIME!
Arrange ships to charge the devastating PLASMA AUGER!
2 Player coop play for over 60 SIMULTANEOUS player ship INSANITY!
6 BIZARRE levels, with massive bosses and player path choices!
Customize the battle, with gameplay speed control!
Manic Shooting for NORMAL GAMERS!

Press
Screenshots
(individual): http://www.mommysbestgames.com/Shoot1UP_PressKit/NewShots3/
(packed): http://www.mommysbestgames.com/Shoot1UP_PressKit/NewShots3/Shoot1UP_LaunchShots.rar

Box Art: http://www.mommysbestgames.com/Shoot1UP_PressKit/NewShots3/Shoot1UP_BoxArt_girl.jpg

Mommy's Best Games, Inc. is a boutique game developer founded in 2007. We strive to deliver games that push the edges of the medium through gameplay, art, and donuts. Our first game, Weapon of Choice, is an award-winning, side-scrolling, action game now available on Xbox 360 Indie Games.

Mommy's Best Games is currently developing Grapple Buggy, promoting Shoot 1UP, and working on other secret projects to titillate your fancy.

8 Bit Horse

2010-02-10T20:59:00.000-08:00

With Shoot 1UP blasting it's way to your Xbox 360 and into your hearts later next week, I thought now would be a grand time to introduce you to 8 Bit Horse.

8 Bit Horse is the premier source for upcoming, current, and heritage 2D console games. 8 Bit Horse is maintained by myself, and my long-time friend, and legally registered gameholic, AJ Johnson. We carefully dissect each and every game lovingly and help you keep track of the new interesting new games coming out.

We do not review games in the usual sense. For upcoming games, we cover the interesting gameplay mechanics they purport and for existing games, we delve into every tasty morsel of fun, exploring what's good about each game.

We created 8 Bit Horse, not only because we want you buy MBG's new 2D games (which we do of course, because we like food, shelter, and clothes.. well some of us like clothes), but because we are crazy-stupid about 2D games in general. We grew up playing them, and somehow forgot to stop even after the rest of the world decided that 3D was the superior format. For some unfathomable reason, the industry has decided that 3D is the replacement for 2D, which makes about as much sense as suggesting that movies are the replacement for books. Both are art, and there are things that are simply done better in one format than the other.

8BH has several starter articles like the one above, check them out!

One of the more prominent features of 8 Bit Horse is our list of Heritage Games. These are 2D games from all past consoles, hand-selected largely for their unique or interesting gameplay mechanics. This is not a list of obscure titles, nor a list of undiscovered or under-appreciated games. Most of these are games that you’ve probably heard of – and hopefully played. But if you have not, you owe it to yourself to check these games out, and make them a part of your video game heritage.

8 Bit Horse will continue to grow.
No, we do not have every game covered yet, (Blaster Master Overdrive threw everyone for a loop (but we have the original-huge!), and of course we are missing games here and there. Muramasa is on its way as are many more!) but they will come. We are currently covering mostly action games as those are of the most interest to us, but we may expand coverage. As new information surfaces, we will list new games, allowing you an easy place to find all the new 2D games worth playing.
When you come to 8 Bit Horse, you won't have to sift through piles of random game information: you'll get solid, direct articles about 2D console action games. Follow 8BH on twitter, or check out the site for new articles.

A wise but anonymous man once said:
The problem with 2D is its lack of a third dimension;
The problem with 3D is… everything else.

2D games offer the perfect blend of beautiful art and superb gameplay, and 8 Bit Horse is where to find them.

Xbox 360 shoot 'em ups

2010-02-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

With Shoot 1UP out now, I wanted to get together an easy reference list of shoot 'em ups available for the non-Japanese Xbox 360 market. I also hoped making this available would help get more shoot 'em up fans or curious gamers into the genre. I think the games coming from Japan are great but needing to import them and the steeper prices is a turn off for a lot of gamers.

I'm looking at this list, for my own purchasing and gaming habits, but also to see the market outside of Japan (where several higher budget shoot 'em ups have been released in recent years. Check out this shmups forums thread for more details on all shoot 'em ups.)
A lot of these games are in mixed categories on the Xbox Marketplace--some are in "Shooters", some are in "Action-Adventure", and some shmups are in "Classics", all of which makes it difficult to browse.

I've broken them into three categories, focusing on traditional vertical and horizontal scrolling and other forced-scrolling games. I grew up playing games such as R-Type, Life Force, Axelay, and Gaiares, and I'm most interested in those types of shoot 'em ups. I do plan to keep this list relatively well updated.

Here's a few games types I'm not listing (mainly because I'm not that interested in them):
Arena shooters - e.g. Geometry Wars
Adventure-style, controlled scrolling - e.g. Wing Commander
I may end up doing a separate list for these style shooters in the future.

I'm including notes where appropriate, and also including box art for the games I'm most interested in or enjoyed. If there's no info or box it means I didn't care for it, but wanted to include it for completion. But you may try out a given game out anyway. Different strokes and all that, right?

Vertical Scrolling
This is to include every vertical scrolling shoot 'em up available for play on a Western (non-Japanese) Xbox 360.

Boxed

EspGaluda II Black Label

Notes: Originally released for the arcade in Japan in 2005.
Only the "Standard Edition" will be play on non-Japanese 360's.
Released February 25, 2010.

Raiden Fighters Aces

Notes: Not listed on the Xbox Marketplace. Compilation including Raiden Fighters 1, Raiden Fighters 2: Operation Hell Dive, and Raiden Fighters Jet.

Opinion: This is one that is so enjoyable to play as it's well tuned to be challenging but usually not frustrating. Having tons of ships to play, and different games, gives you a lot of replay options. The sprite art is great as well. At $20 (usually) it's a great collection and a great shmup package all around.

Raiden IV

Notes: Originally released for the arcade in Japan in 2007.
Supports "double play" in which one player controls two ships, like Raiden 3, and the upcoming Duality ZF.

Opinion: I don't enjoy the 3d graphics as much as the sprite art from Raiden Fighters Aces, but overall it's still a lot of fun.

Muchi Muchi Pork! and Pink Sweets

Notes: Two different Cave games in one package.

Mushihimesama

Notes: Originally released for the arcade in Japan in 2006.
Region-free copy of the game is available for the US.
Be careful, the "Black Lavel/Label" version on Games Marketplace section is a game add-on and requires the full game to play. You can get full disc from play-asia and other sources.

XBLA

Raycrisis HD

Notes: Port of arcade game released in 1996
Opinion: The cleaner look is very nice.

1942: Joint Strike

Opinion: Looks pretty nice, but it was ultimately sort of dull. The original 1942 game had a certain intensity to it, even on the NES that kept it more compelling.

Guwange

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 1999. Characters walk around on the ground rather than fly.

Ikaruga

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 2001.
Opinion: I find this to be almost like a puzzle game. I love the tight spots you get into, especially in the boss sequences.

Triggerheart Exelica

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 2006.
Features a "grab and throw" mechanic in addition to normal shooting.

Opinion: I liked the colorful backgrounds and the funky music. I also liked that not-shooting let you collect the drops easier. The enemies are a little generic or too abstract sometimes for my tastes. The grab and throw mechanic takes some time to get used to.

KOF(King of Fighters) Sky Stage

Notes: Character-based.
Opinion: This one was sort of by-the-numbers and not that interesting. No particular mechanic or look stood out for me, though I may have missed something obvious in the trial.

Xevious

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 1982.
Opinion: The bomb lomb, and the dual gun gameplay is still compelling after all these years. The ship is pretty sluggish, but overall it's simple yet satisfying.

Indie Games

Shoot 1UP

Notes: Yes, Mommy's Best Games is making this game and it's out now for only 80 MS points! Features six levels, massive bosses, the ability to control up to 30 ships at once, and 2 player for over 60 ships!

Opinion: The color balance is better than MBG's previous games, but I wish there were more animation throughout. Overall it plays pretty well, though managing multiple ships will discourage some hardcore gamers, while having tons of lives will please casuals and some normals. The ability to pick your course is not wholly original but keeps things feeling fresh and promotes replay and tooth decay.

Prismatic Solid

Notes: Features six different weapons and six 'satellite' arrangements. Normal level progression (6 levels with one locked from the start).

Opinion: I am completely blown away by the polygon count in this game. I think it may be pushing more polys than most big-budget boxed games. Sure they're untextured triangles, but the game still looks amazing, and the framerate is rock-solid.

The gameplay is fairly good as well. It's fun figuring out each weapon and deciding what works best in each situation. My main problem is that things can get too bright sometimes and obscure bullets is a shame.

Vampire Rage

Notes: Level progression, Radiant Silvergun-like sword mechanic.
Opinion: I like the strange "green islands with skeleton pieces" motif in the first level. I also like the cheesy "Type-O Negative" feel to it all.

Score Rush

Opinion: There's tons of bullets which is really cool. Ultimately though, I didn't find the enemies interesting to fight, there's basically only one bullet-type (small, and comes straight at you), and the weapon system is not terribly interesting. It is definitely very challenging though and high-score-seeking types will probably have fun with it.

Zulu Hour

Opinion: I like the changing perspective levels

Lewjmele
Opinion: Boss fights look okay.

Joint Strike Force
Notes: color-based action

Warhounds

Fatal Abyss

Defender of Zorgaba
Opinion: I like the boxy, exaggerated font and buttons on the menus.

Vector Force

Starfighter

Akujin
Notes: color-based action

Horizontal Scrolling
This is to include every horizontal scrolling shoot 'em up available for play on a Western (non-Japanese) Xbox 360.

Boxed

Death Smiles

Notes: Released June 29, 2010

Otomedius Excellent

Notes: Supposedly due out September 2010.

XBLA

Omega Five

Notes: Has four playable characters (two from the start), while the fifth character in the Omega-Five rides shotgun.

Opinion: At first I didn't enjoy this because the aiming speed for your gun was a little slow. But since then, the music has really stuck with me, the graphics are gorgeous, and the gameplay worked out pretty well.

R-Type Dimensions

Notes: R-Type was originally released in the arcade in 1987, R-Type 2 was released in the arcade in 1989.
Allows play of both R-Type 1 and R-Type 2 in sprite art form and 2.5D form.

Opinion: Even though I own several versions of R-Type 1 and 2, it's still mesmerizing to be able to switch between 2D and 3D on the fly. I wish more classic versions had this ability!

Aegis Wing

Notes: Has the ability for 4 players to join into 1 ship.

Opinion: The 4 player idea is neat, but the single player was too bland and derivative for me to keep it interesting.

Scramble

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 1981.
Supports updated and original graphics

Opinion: Similar to Xevious, the shooting vs lobbing mechanics are fun to use and manage your attack strategy. I also like the feeling of progression through the cave-like areas and the fuel dependency.

Defender

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 1980.
Supports updated and original graphics

Opinion: Shooting the laser is still neat looking as is the mini-map.

Zeit²

Notes: Side-scroller with time-distortion mechanics.
Opinion: Never really enjoyed this one. The gameplay was slow, mostly focused on obtuse scoring, the enemies were too repetitive, very little level variety, the bosses were okay, but there was some decent slowdown during big fights.

Indie Games

Leave Home

Opinion: This is a fantastic, new blend of R-Type-like gameplay mixed with Rez themed graphics. The difficulty of the gameplay changes as you replay, and each game only lasts 5 minutes. But because it can morph, you can find yourself replaying several times in a session.

Revolver 360

Opinion: It's one of the better looking shooters on the 360 and the rotation mechanic is fun to play with. But the scoring system gets even better, as you switch back and forth between trying to kill tons of guys on the screen with your mega beam and suck up bullets to build your beam power for the next volley.

Notes: Unique rotation mechanic, in which the the game collision is in a 2D plane, but all bullets can move in 3D (and are compressed into that 2D plane).

Platypus

Notes: Port of original PC version with some enhancements.

Opinion: The gameplay and enemy design is too vanilla for me, but the execution is great.

Crescendo Symphony
Notes: The name is in Japanese characters on the marketplace. There also seems to be a RPG of a similar name.

Border Wars

Notes: Includes a ship editor.

Opinion: It has a lot of heart, but the ship controls felt sloppy especially mixed with some of the lightening fast enemy attacks.

Lethal Judgement HD

Note: Normal level progression.
Opinion: The graphics are very nice, but the enemies are too static and the levels are fairly repetitive. It is a well done title though and worth a look.

Guns Loaded
Notes: Provides an ability to zoom in on the action.

Ultimate Sacrifice
Notes: The name is prefaced by Japanese characters on the marketplace.

X-Over
Notes: Score attack-style shooting.

Mech-Fish

Graviton AI

Retro One series

Vega Magnitude
Notes: Color-based action

Other Forced Scrolling
This is to include all forced-scrolling shoot 'em ups (not in the vertical or horiztonal lists already) available for play on a Western (non-Japanese) Xbox 360.

Boxed

XBLA

Rez HD

Notes: Remake of the original Rez, released for the Dreamcast in 2001.

Opinion: The game has a musical theme, but it's not intrusive to the shooting gameplay. I love the changing levels; things seem to grow as you play.

Gyruss

Notes: Originally released in the arcade in 1983.
Supports updated and original graphics

Time Pilot
Notes: Supports updated and original graphics

Indie Games

Olu

Notes: Heavily inspired by Rez (see above). Has normal level progression

3D Infinity

Notes: In-to-the-screen forced scroller similar to Panzer Dragoon or the Space Harrier series.
Opinion: This is sort of well-done and looks like a good start, but is very, very short on content.

Pell Mell

Notes: Racing-style shooting. Looping levels that slowly get harder--but not normal progression.

Revenge of the Evil Aliens

Magnetic Defender
Notes: color-based action

Risk, Reward, and the Plasma Auger

2010-01-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

Offering gamers a choice between less risk but lower rewards and higher risk but higher rewards is what offers the fundamental addictive and exciting element in many games.

In Shoot 1UP, as you maneuver your ever-growing phalanx of ships you have some options controlling them. You can draw them together to be as small as a single ship, lowering the likely-hood that you'll get hit, or you can expand your fighters, increasing the possibility of one them being destroyed.

Collapsing your ships is easy with the left shoulder or trigger. But you have even more control in the form of the X button which puts on the ships' air brakes, causing you to move a third of your normal speed and granting you finer movements to dodge incoming bullet swarms and enemies.

If you do choose to expand your ships, which is easily performed on the fly via the left shoulder or trigger, you are rewarded in several ways.

First, shown on the HUD via a row of icons is the "spread gauge" which directly reflects your "spread multiplier". Each enemy you kill grants you a given amount of points. But if you kill an enemy with your spread multiplier active (showing at least one pip), you now cause them to drop a "points medal" which you can catch for higher scores.
The bigger your spread, the higher the multiplier can get--all the way up to x30.

As your ships spread out more, it makes it easier to catch the point medals, but again scarier because you're more likely to crash.

The most exhilarating reason to expand your ships is to activate the Plasma Auger. Once you've gained at least two ships, you can now fire the Plasma Auger by holding down the fire button though it takes a moment to warm up. You must have your spread multiplier (and your ships) expanded to the fourth pip, signified by being brighter and whiter.

This giant stream of destruction can go from very small to very wide, and increase in damage all based on how you use it.

For the more skilled player, the Plasma Auger doesn't require more ships to increase in size and damage--it only needs a bigger spread multiplier. The best way to get that is to keep your ships circular (or simply diagonal) and watch your hud for feedback.

The Plasma Auger is available in 2 player as well, and even possible with the Ghost powerup. Grab a buddy and start playing for a total of 3 enormous pillars of alien-rending energy!
We avoided launching the game this week (Jan 25th) so as not to be devoured by ME2. With that in mind, Shoot 1UP should be firing it's way your Xbox 360 by early February (possibly within a week)!