Pig Eat Ball out now on PC/Mac/Linux

After 5 and half long years, Pig Eat Ball, our 8th indie game, is out now on computers!
You can get it on Steam, Humble Store, Green Man Gaming, and itch.iohttps://mommysbestgames.itch.io/pig-eat-ball.
Please do buy a copy, if you'd like to support our crazy games! Every sale really helps. And thank you!

Check out this launch trailer, which is basically just 60 seconds of gaming insanity :)

Reviews

The critics have been loving it!
 
We've had two Metacritic-rated sites that really enjoyed it.
PC Invasion game it a whopping 90/100!
Calling it "easily one of the best games I’ve played this year."

Hardcore Gamer gave it a 4/5 saying it was "incredibly playable".

And Tech-Gaming, a great all-around site, loved it as well!

Updates

We've also been fortunate to have some really dedicated players. On the Steam forums, some players have played through every nook and cranny in the game. While this definitely my biggest game, it's led to a few missed bugs. And not just Pillbugs, actual bugs :)
Thankfully I've been able to fix up all the little, tricky issues for certain Achievements and powerups, and on update #5, only a few days after launch, I think all new (and old) players are really getting a great experience.

Release Relief

Pig Eat Ball is out in all it's barfy, puzzle-solving glory. Grab a copy, tell some friends, and thank you for all the support!

Why Only Steam?

This Thursday, September 27th, after 5 and a half years in development, we'll finally be releasing
our newest, biggest game Pig Eat Ball!
You can Wishlist and Follow the game on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/339090/Pig_Eat_Ball

But it's only coming to Steam this week.
Why?

For starters, it will be on 3 different platforms: PC, Mac, and Linux. That's no small undertaking to support multiple platforms. In addition to Steam, we're releasing to the popular "Green Man Gaming" store, and we plan to release a DRM-free version on a smaller digital store called itch.io.

But it is true the game will only be available for personal computers this week, and not yet for consoles.

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of Pig Eat Ball are working great!
The trouble is tied up in some red tape and timing. When I made the decision to delay the console releases of the game here's why.

Certification and The Fall

I had to make the decision to "split the launch" months ago. I was pretty sure that we would not get through the "certification" process for each console with much time to spare to hit a release date in September. And it was possible that if we had submitted to review for consoles it could have forced the launch later than September.

This Fall 2018 for games is going to be big. Really Big. One reason is Red Dead Redemption 2 coming out in October. But there are other big games from here on to the end of the year that will take up players' and the press's time and attention.

We're releasing now on Steam in an attempt to come out before all the upcoming bigger titles (even though some big ones such as Spiderman on PS4 has already hit).
Pig Eat Ball does not have millions of dollars to spend on marketing, so it could be very easy to get lost in the noise if we're not careful. By coming out on Steam in the early Fall, and levering the great story-player combined with an easy-to-use level editor we hope to build up the community of players leading up to the console launch.

Time to Market

The other big reason was to ensure that both Sony and Microsoft's internal teams had some time to promote Pig Eat Ball for PS4 and Xbox One. Even if we did manage to squeeze Pig Eat Ball through certification quickly, the console holders like to have some time to promote a title.

If the game had finished certification and then come out within weeks later, it's unlikely that Sony or Microsoft would have been able to move and plan fast enough to promote the game properly. There are many games in development for consoles and one way each MS and Sony *know* a game is serious is when the game is actually finished the review process for each console.

My hope is to get Pig Eat Ball through the review process in the Fall giving the promotional teams time to incorporate the game into upcoming promotions.

Console Me

So when it's actually coming to console? Well I don't have a firm date yet, but I'm shooting for very early 2019. 
In the meantime be sure to grab a copy this week on Steam so you can play the single-player and start to dig into the awesome level editor!

Word for Word

We're initially translating the game to French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
As such, I'm knee-deep in localization preperation.

That means I'm taking any and all English text in Pig Eat Ball and changing it out for a list-look up.
Basically there's a big spreadsheet of all the text in the game. Each text entry has a name. The list redirects to the language the game is set to be played in.

Here's a pic of the spreadsheet:


The column on the left is the look-up code word. The column on the right is the text to be used in-game.


Below is the C# code in the editor.
The red text in quotes is the special look-up word.
It then checks the spreadsheet to find the actual, translated text.




That's the C# code.

Below is what it looks like in the helper system in Unity.


We're using I2 in Unity to get the text into the game.
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/localization/i2-localization-14884

Agile is the Word

 Why didn't I just do this all from the beginning?
Well, that would take foresight. :)
But also it'd be a lot of wasted effort. The game changed a lot over the years. Even for a smaller game the design can change a lot. To be on top of it and have the look-up system already in place would be a good amount of work and commitment to a certain design. It's much faster to prototype things with English baked into the code.

I'm sure it's possible to make a game with the localization system in there from the start! I just don't think the design would be as agile, and I might be less likely to scrap work and make changes. That worries me as I could end up with a worse design, because I didn't want to waste earlier work.

Text Me When It's Done

In any case, we're almost done getting all the localized text ready.
After the spreadsheet is ready we'll send it off to the localization company to be translated.
Then all the text will just magically appear and be wonderfully translated in game!

I'm very excited to see all those languages be possible, and I can only read English!

Pig Eat Ball is getting close to finished. 
Please be good and Wishlist it on Steam, then tell a cool friend of yours!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/339090/Pig_Eat_Ball/
Thank you.  💗💗💗