The time has come to tell the world all about our new project. I think I’m underestimating quite how excited this is going to make me. I’m too close to it to properly enjoy this moment right now.

ANYWAY – it is here!

SMASH THE BLOCK

Our new game is called Smash the Block, and it brings the classic bat-and-paddle gameplay of arcades gone by into your pocket!

We’re really pleased to show it off, and we’ll of course be way more open about it in the coming days, weeks and months till launch (hopefully not many months!).

In the meantime, there’s a lovely interview and more info over on our chums Indiegames.com from when I chatted to the wonder-chap that is Lewie Procter.

Go read!

And if you wanna chat about it on Twitter, please do use the hashtag #SmashTheBlock so I spot it!

Hiya!

So very soon (plan: Monday) we’re going to launch the Elite Beta Agents’ 1st mission!

The plan is to get a (very) early build of our new game out to a select few of the Elite Beta Agents (love typing that) initially, for a round of testing. We’ll just want them to play it as much they find themselves wanting to, we’ll get crash reports and usage stats back, and it’ll help us make a better game. So far, so normal.

The interesting parts are as follows.

Firstly, we’ll keep updating the Beta almost as often as we update our own internal builds, so anyone on the Beta team will get a real, honest and totally open insight into the development of the game.

We’ll of course expand the team as we go along as well, but we’re a bit shy of this first build so there’ll be a short delay before we really open it up.

Secondly, we’re trying to be a bit more open than that, even. So I was thinking that everyone on the Beta could be encouraged to send me, via email, very short summaries (diary-style, one or two paragraphs at most) of their opinions on each build.

I’d collate them into big posts every now and then, with a bit of my own thoughts on how best to address concerns and the like. It’d be like an ultra-plus version of the GAMESbrief diaries I did for Hard Lines, in a way.

Let me know what you think of that plan, either in the comments or by tweeting at me!

Hi all!

I hit 2000 followers on Twitter today, and to celebrate I asked people what they’d like me to show them. Amongst some rude suggestions and some slightly more leftfield ones, obviously many people asked to see some of the new game.

Well I’ve already shown a little bit about my OTHER new game, so here’s some character art from the OTHER OTHER one.

It’s getting complicated without naming them, but they’ll get announced pretty soon anyway.

Click to embiggenate! Also, name him!

He’s not finished yet, so this is very much the kind of deal where you can use your eyes to absorb his glory as long as you temper your sudden urge to explode in joy with the knowledge that he’s going to look better/different in the game.

And remember, he hasn’t got a name yet, so tweet me to suggest one! Hint: He eats stuff.

Well the time has come to show something concrete about our upcoming iOS game.

We’re not going to name it yet, and we’re a bit sad that we couldn’t get the Beta out to you lovely lot before Christmas, so instead here’s a shot of (most) of the characters in the game (click to embiggenate!):

I’d love to hear what you think of them on twitter, and what you think the game might be! Suffice to say it won’t be long till we show more, but consider this your early Christmas present.

Well, this plus the fact that Hard Lines is FREE for the festive period!

We want you to help us make our game even better than they already are!

…pretty please?

We’re moving to use a handy tool called Testflight so that you guys can register an iOS device, and we can then send you early builds and we can all talk about how to make them better!

We’ve called the squad Elite Beta Agents and if you’d like to sign up then simply click here (EDIT: the call is now closed).

We’ll be sending out newer versions of Hard Lines to test out updates, as well as the juicy stuff – early builds of our new games!

Keep an eye out

Hi there!

We’re really chuffed with our new website, so please do take a little time to wander around and see what we’ve got to offer. Over time we’ll be improving it in countless ways, but for now it’s a much more professional site than we had before, and the framework is all there for some great little additions that we’ve got planned.

Did someone say ’submit-a-quip’?