Mommy's Best Year in Review: 2016

Another year older, and what did we learn? Or better yet--what we did we make?

January 

Pig Eat Ball work continues. In January the work was focused on new gameplay objects and obstacles for world 5, the "Astro Farm". We worked on a sneaky gopher that can pop up and steal your balls, as well as a 'ghost dimension' that you can warp around in, to escape trouble.

February 

Matthew (programmer) continues work on the world 5 objects such as a balloon to pop and a 'suction modifier'. I work on the "game feel" for the getting-stuck-barfing mechanics. These are super important, so I spend most of the month overhauling them.

Also our mobile, horse-racing game Finger Derpy was nominated *twice* for IMGA awards, so that's pretty amazing!

March 

In Pig Eat Ball, I continue to improve the menus and the 'intro' for the levels. This now shows a special, super-low-res animation for what the goal of the level is about.

I also worked on the pillbugs in the game so you can knock them in arbitrary directions (not just up/down/left/right) so it'll be more fun to bump into them.

John Meister from Super Soul travels in my stead to GDC and helps show off Pig Eat Ball and represents Finger Derpy!
Here's the video of John playing with a group from IGN.

April 

For the first half of the month I continued to work on making the pillbugs fun to play around with. During the second half, I tackled the world 1 boss the "Accordion Centipede"! He took a while to make, but the extra time paid off as he's amazing!

May

Continued new work on the 'game feel' for getting stuck. Still working on making this great! I added new face animations to the main character to make her more expressive during this gameplay.

June

Added improved stretching and squishing effects to the main character when being stuck or bumping into things.
Added a 'Pac-Man' homage level to world 1 that I'm very excited about to have people play!
Traveled to E3 to show the game to various publishers and get feedback.

I think 'world 1' is finally finished!

July

Matthew started work on the world 2 boss. He's giant and complicated so this took a while! I worked on boring things like improving the in-game talking menus between characters. I also fixed a lot of bugs regarding switching between worlds and levels.

August

World 2 boss "Octo Tako" is finally finished and he's a doozy! Three stages of attacks with special animation for his various changes. He's a blast to play!
I worked on interlude story scenes. I also added more gameplay fixes the basic levels in world 2.

September

Work on world 2 continues. There's a new 'floor tile flipping' puzzle element to some levels we've introduced. Also the pillbugs can sit on bleachers and chairs and the player can of course knock them off! I added some mini-games to world 2 and special NPCs.

October

I added new 'inter-level' transitions to the game to improve the player's understanding of where in the game they physically were and where they are going.
Finished up world 2!
Also showed the game at the first ever "LexPlay" gaming convention down in Lexington Kentucky. It was a lot of fun!

November

Work starts on world 3. There's a brand new boss to be created for this world, so it takes several weeks to make him.
Also worked hard on the Pig Eat Ball announcement trailer! That was tough, but it came out great. Check it out!

December

We released a brand new, shoot-em up game! Yeah, it's a bit crazy to make another game while you're in the middle of a bigger game, but it's also very cathartic.
Emoji Scream is a shooter, but it's only controlled by screaming. Or talking, or laughing, or clapping, or any sound you make! You can find it now on mobile iOS and Android and PC.
Also please vote for it here on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=817468967
Thanks!

2017 Here We Come

My plan is to actually release Pig Eat Ball in 2017. Things are looking good and we are currently working to finish up world 4. But there are 2 more worlds to polish! These two other worlds have the main gameplay and levels finished, but still need work.
So stay tuned, keep playing our games, and thanks for the support!

How to Show Your Game at a Non-Gaming Expo

In addition to the big shows like PAX and GDC, Mommy's Best Games has shown our games at some very small events. Comic Cons, Pinball Expos, Table-Top shows, Coding events, you may have some of these different events in your area that might let you show games there. In fact, this weekend is the Louisville Arcade Expo, a very fun show we've been showing at for several years.
With that in mind, here are some tips for showing at an event that *does not* feature recently-made video games as the main attraction!

My lovely wife showing our iOS game "Finger Derpy" at the KY Science Center

Free Play

The games are free to try out! You're offering free demos!
You know that, but for the general public tugging their kids through the busy show, everything else is vendor tables. And vendor tables means *things cost money*. It's weird in their minds to come across a booth that let's you play games for free. Some people don't know this. The easiest thing we've found, in addition to simply saying the games are free play, is putting up a simple  'FREE PLAY" sign on a sheet of paper. Obviously, you can get fancier than that if you want.
(If your expo is organized enough to have all the indie games together, clearly marked, you may not need this, so that's cool! )

Non-Gamers

Be nice when showing your game, and understand lots of people there are probably not 'hardcore' and may possibly be put off by your game. Don't take it personally about your game--you are simply getting a very large slice of the general public at non-gaming shows.
Don't be surprised if you get some kids playing, but the Mom or Dad does not want to play. If you have chairs, offer them a seat while the kids play and they may be more interested in your game!

A family getting into our Steam game "Shoot 1UP" at the Louisville Mini-Maker Fair

Xbox 360 guide button

If you use Xbox 360 controllers and have Steam running, and a user accidentally holds the Guide button it will stop your game and bring up Big Picture mode. This is really annoying.
Users are having a blast with your game, but may be so enamored that they don't notice they are holding the wrong button to do something. It may seem obvious "Just don't hold that button" but for some reason Valve has not released a simple option to disable BP mode for the Guide button.

The easiest fix is to not have Steam running. Have a DRM-free version of your game without running Steam. There are also Steam community threads in which people are trying to figure out workarounds to it.

Locally-Made, Recently-Made

A lot of regular folks are still coming around to the idea that video games are being made in their own backyard! They may be pretty surprised to learn that you are developing games there. Take some time to explain the cool thing to them and if they express interest in game development, mention your local development support group! Here in Louisville, it's Louisville Makes Games.

The other thing we've noticed is a lot of these shows will have Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart or some other tournament running at the event. That's some tough competition to show your game against! The important thing is to communicate that you are personally making the game they are playing now, and it was made recently--not by a huge, well-funded company (such as Nintendo).

The MBG booth at the Louisville Arcade Expo 2015, with our upcoming "Pig Eat Ball".

Expo Experience

Most of the regular expo moves still apply here. For example, if you want people to remember your game's name tomorrow, print cards and hand them out! You can get 500 custom cards for under $20 at GotPrint, or basically for free if you print them on a 8.5"x11" sheet and cut out a few dozen by hand (or on stock paper). Remember to mention your release date and platform if you have one. And of course take extra cords, connectors, monitors, tape, sanitizer, drinks, signs, snacks, and controllers for backup and any other booths that need help!

Finger Derpy Nominated for IMGA Award!

Doubly Nominated

We have fun news! Our mobile horse-racing game, Finger Derpy, has been nominated, in *two* categories, for an International Mobile Game Award! The 12th IMGA competition recently announced the nominations, and your favorite drunken-horse-racing game is up for "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Guilty Pleasure"!

Finger Derpy nominated for Guilty Pleasure

Finger Derpy for Best Multiplayer!

Here's the trick: The final awards are determined by a crowd vote!
That's where YOU come in. Yes, YOU!

Do you like Mommy's Best Games? And/Or do you like video game development in Indiana/Kentucky? Then please vote for Finger Derpy!
Winning awards helps us with future and current projects. It will help Finger Derpy continue to succeed, which feeds our future games.

Finger Derpy is a game made in the Louisville area, and it features the city of Louisville!
The game is really well received and we love that people enjoy it. To see it nominated out of thousands of games is certainly exciting. But to have it confirmed with the award would seal the deal.

I ask you, I implore you, please take 5 minutes of your time to help our very tiny, indie team win this international game award.

How to Vote for Finger Derpy 

Here's where to vote:
http://www.imgawards.com/awarded-games/12th-imga/

It takes a few steps, but that means each vote is even more valuable.
You do have to register an account and confirm it and all, but then you can vote with one click.
When you register, and it asks you what "You Are" just pick "A fan of IMGA!"

The odd part is you only get to vote for *one game* in any/all categories! So make it count.
Please vote for Finger Derpy in the Best Guilty Pleasure category!
This is not a situation of "vote early and often".
You get one vote, it's very quick once you register, and it really, really helps us.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate it.

Development Year in Review 2015

We can't find out what's wrong or what went well if we don't take time to see what we've done!
With that, let's look at what Mommy's Best Games did in 2015!

We released a new game this year, Finger Derpy. We also re-released 4 of our classic games, as enhanced ports to Steam, and called it the "Mommy's Best Action Pack".

January

Pig Eat Ball is the main project, but after talking to Nintendo and Sony and wanting to have the game on those platforms, it's clear we can't do it as it stands. The game is written in Java and simply won't run on consoles. I talk to John Meister from nearby game group Super Soul and we start working together. His team starts to port the game to Unity. This will allow us to more easily choose what Pig Eat Ball is available on.

In the meantime I start heavily working on Finger Derpy. Matthew and Andrew continue work on Pig Eat Ball core content. This means Matthew is writing code for new gameplay objects, and Andrew is designing and building new levels.

February

I focus on Finger Derpy and getting deals with local businesses to support the game. Here in the presskit, you can read more about our integration with Louisville landmarks.

March

More of the same, development wise.
Plus we show our games at the Louisville Arcade Expo!

April

Finger Derpy launched April 9th

Released Finger Derpy! First to iOS on the 9th, then to Google Play on the 19th. We held our big "Chomp the BIT" launch party that Friday. We organized the event in which 25 local developers showed off their games at an arcade bar in town.
Apple featured the game in the App Store as a 'Best New Game' which was a big deal and really helped downloads.
Also youtuber 'Cuqquake' featured the game, got plenty of views, and we've gotten a decent number of user reviews saying they saw the game on her channel.

May

During April and May we showed Finger Derpy at 10 local shows (in 5 weeks). It was exhausting. Between all of them, the Pegasus Preview Parade and the Thunderblast were beneficial in terms of download numbers. I think this was a matter of 'correct engagement' with large crowds that actually were interested in games.
Some of the events we showed the game at just had lots of drunken people. There was high traffic, but low interest/engagement/memory retention. Just because there's lots of people at an event doesn't mean you should show your game there.

June

Started porting the Mommy's Best Action Pack to Steam. This involved changing the games Weapon of Choice, Shoot 1UP, Explosionade, and Game Type, and making them great Steam ports. These games were all originally released between 2008 and 2011. They were made in XNA.
This involved adding lots of extra, though small features, which takes time. Some of the games did get new content as well, such as the collectible MBG pies in Weapon of Choice.
Scott Slucher from the U of L area started as a coop student working on the port.

July

MBG Action Pack porting by Scott and myself.
I also help Andrew and Matthew continue on PEB. We try to limit too much extra additions because John has to constantly port things from the old Java to the new, half-working Unity build.

August

Much of the same as July.

September

Shipped the Mommy's Best Action Pack on September 23rd!

For Pig Eat Ball, we're continuing to wait on the Unity build to be finished and usable on our side. Until we can write new code in the actual Unity build and until I can give Andrew the level editor that way, we have to continue with the Java build, which is tough having two versions being developed.
 

November

Finger Derpy Thanksgiving update!
Got featured again by Cupquake, definitely helped our player numbers.
Working on Pig Eat Ball gameplay in Java, as the Unity build continues.
Steam Autumn sale for MBG Action Pack.

December

Finger Derpy Winter update!
Unfortunately no big youtubers covered it, but the numbers were up through Christmas.
Working on Pig Eat Ball gameplay as the Unity build continues.
Steam Holiday sale for MBG Action Pack.

Finances

This was our most prolific game year, if you look at straight 'games shipped'--we ported 4 games and released 1 new game. So 5 games were released in this year. But this was our worst year financially.
Serious Sam Double D XXL continues to sell well and supports us, but it's sales are slowly declining.
In years past we were releasing one big game every two years. 2011 was Serious Sam DD to Steam, and 2013 was Serious Sam DD XXL to XBLA and then back to Steam (with lots more content).
2015 should have been Pig Eat Ball, in theory, but it's simply not finished. So instead, we released a free-to-play game, with ad-supported revenue and In-App Purchases, but while it made some money, it has still not covered it's development costs. Then we also released 4 ports of our older games, but they did not sell as well as hoped.

2016

The good news for January is Super Soul finished the Unity port and the game works great! We're working on the game now in Unity and things are moving swiftly.
This is the year for Pig Eat Ball.
Let's make it great, and get it out the door!

Two Weeks and Two Big Shows

Derby City Comic Con

For the next two weekends Mommy's Best Games is excited be demoing and sharing our games locally at some very fun Comic Cons!

June 20th and 21st, come out to the Derby City Comic Con here in Louisville, KY.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/derby-city-comic-con-tickets-15591463487
Tickets for both days are only $20 and kids 10 and under get in free!

We'll have Finger Derpy and Pig Eat Ball on display there, some come by and challenge us to a game!

Find BOOTH 48 to play this weekend!

Indy PopCon

And then the weekend after, we'll be up in Indianapolis for the Indy PopCon! It runs June 26, 27, and 28th for three big days of comics and games!
https://indypopcon.com/buy-tickets/#/cart/choose
Three-day admission is $45 for the whole weekend, or $20 a day, and kids 10 and under are free!

See you soon!

Finger Derpy is Released!

We just released a new game, and it's called Finger Derpy!
You can play it now! It's out for iPhones/iPads:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/finger-derpy/id977473798?mt=8
And it's on Android phones and tablets on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.MommysBestGames.FingerDerpy

The game answers the age-old question--what if horses controlled like canoes and they had rubber necks?
The game's control system is unique. Instead of automatically running, you have to control your horses front hooves, with your two fingers to get the horse to run. Tapping left, turns your horse forward and to the right. Tapping right, turns him left. It feels backwards, but you can get the hang of it after a bit of practice.

The game takes place in a stylized version of nearby Louisville KY, and we even partnered with local, iconic businesses to lend more authenticity to the experience. Places like Muhammad Ali Center, KY Science Center, Louisville Stoneware, CenterStage at the JCC, Louisville Orchestra and more are *in* the game!

The player dodges the Foucault pendulum from the Kentucky Science Center on Main St.

How? Well each business has a unique gameplay element. For instance the Orchestra has timpani drums, the sound from which can knock the player's horse around. Stoneware has floating teapots that the player can dodge or crash through!

A group of teapots from Louisville Stoneware circle in the tobacco fields.

The Solo mode let's you upgrade your horse, and unlock new horse breeds with new special powers, so there's considerable depth, even though it's a mobile game.
The Party mode is very unique in that it allows up to 4 players to race each other, all on the same device! Yes, this works best on a larger device like a tablet, but we've done plenty of races as well on a phone.

Finger Derpy is our first, broadly released mobile game, and it's extremely satisfying to share the game in a simple way. I can talk to someone about making games, and tell them the name of our game, and they can play it within minutes. Before, explaining the Xbox 360 and it's special download stores, and expecting them to be able to find the game later was a definite hurdle.

Make sure you download Finger Derpy from the appropriate store, and tell your friends and family about it. It's a big help and support. Thank you!