Jumboo - introduction of our first iPhone game

[Handjoy]

Hello guys,
I am Michal from Handjoy and I would like to introduce you our iPhone / iPod Touch game called Jumboo. It is our first game on iPhone, but we've created few J2ME games before. We decided to move on iPhone platform in the begining of July. Mac and everything Apple was completly new for us, but I think we handled it quite well and fast. We've been working on Jumboo last days and nights for 2 weeks right now and we plan to finish it this week.

It's still work in progress - few things are missing, some things will be changed, but overall we think there is enough to present it. We would like to know your opinion on our game.

Update 1.9.2009 > New trailer released!
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First gameplay video
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Here are first 3 screenshots of the game:
http://www.handjoy.cz/projekty/Jumboo/shots.jpg

Jumboo is a game about one big gorilla. It's your main character and by simple slides of you finger you can easily control it. Your goal is to jump as high as possible - you can do short jumps, long jumps and even combos (with combos you can get higher score). It's simple in the beginning, but later on you have to be faster and faster, and do only long jumps in combos to survive.

For more information check out the game website: http://www.gorillagoeshigh.com/ or stay in touch with latest news on game's Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jumboo/109526707827) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/jumboo_game).

[Brazilian Rider]

It looks interesting... however I am a bit confused about the gameplay...

[weisome]

It looks really nice. :) It looks kinda hard to control the gorilla.

[Squirt Reynolds]

The game looks pretty fun, but do you have to bounce the gorilla off one of the side walls in order for him to jump?

Also, the music fits the game well, but I think you should definitely get rid of that "singing" voice and just leave the tribal sounding drum beats. No offense, but that voice could get really annoying, especially if it loops and keeps playing over and over.

[skyye06]

looks interesting and I like the graphics but is that all you do no powerups, enemies, or anything extra. It seems that it will keep someone occupied for only a few minutes if all you do is go up on the platform and flick the gorilla against the wall imho

[Kamazar]

Love the graphical style, but I've seen gameplay similar to this in a lot of games.

And "handjoy", hmmmm, interesting username :rolleyes:

[skyye06]

Love the graphical style, but I've seen gameplay similar to this in a lot of games.

And "handjoy", hmmmm, interesting username :rolleyes:

I think someone already took the "b"

[pluto6]

I think someone already took the "b"

Bandjoy? I don't get it....:D

[demonslayerQ]

The graphics are good but i dont get how you make the ape jump. Seems like you are slamming him against the wall haha

[Handjoy]

Thx for positive response about the game and the graphics :)

About the gameplay and controls. Gameplay itself is top priority for us. We try to keep it as simple as possible, but it must be comfortable and enjoyable. If you simply tap the screen, gorrila will jump. Smashing/slaming gorilla againts the wall doesn't do a thing. But if you hit the wall during a jump it's gonna bounce you higher in your jump. So you can use walls as your advantage if you want.

What you see on the video is kind of "advanced technique" of controls. The video doesnt show really clearly what I am exactly doing on the screen. The thing is, that i quickly slide and even quicker after that I tap the screen. That gives gorilla enough speed to perform long jump and the tap itslef do the jump. We do not expect, that begginers will start doing long jumps and combos in their first game. They probably start with simple tapping, doing normal jumps, moving gorilla to the right place and so on. And thats perfectly fine. You can still make great score. But after few games you will realize, that there is more in the game, techniques that can help you achieve better score. So you need to discover them and master them. Fast slide and tap is on of them, hitting walls during a jump another. And there are others...

This is not game music. We added this song only into this video, because game music and sound effects were not finished in that time and the game was silent. We got them right now and I think they fit the game quite well.

[iTouch]

Good work, I like it! This game reminds me something I have played on PC but I can't remember its name..

[demonslayerQ]

Wow fast fingers O.O. Looks like you handled the gorilla with ease xD

[kayat17]

I like it. :)

[Dampy]

Looks great. I think the controls gonna be fine, but i need to try it first :D Are you planning to include any social networking system - openFeint, Scoreloop? I can image all the challenges between players for higher score and some kind of achievement system.

[Icy]

Hello,

it should be said that Jumboo is an Icy Tower (http://www.freelunchdesign.com/games.php?id=6) Clone.

Too bad that you present this game without wasting any words on it.

Greetings,
Icy

[Romano]

If you look on iPhone games, there's a lot of "clones" - Harbor Master is clone of Flight Control, StoneLoops is clone of Luxor, Grunts is clone of Cannon Fodder....(I can continue for a long time). What I am trying to say is that it is how game industry works. Good ideas are always evolved further and it is good for us, players. (e.g. Younger player don't know old games but the don't want to play them).

I looked on Icy Tower and the game looks similar, but it is like blaming Crytek that their games are similar to id Soft (both making 3D :))

[rednuke]

Nice game, but as said it's also a rather blatant and obvious rip off of the game Icy Tower. In this case there is not even the slightest evolution or any new elements - even every single graphical detail like the parallax layers and the particle effects are identical. Oh, and the scoring system. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyBSci1imwA

Oh well. Have fun.

[pocketdoc]

Icy, I'm so glad you chimed in. I saw this and thought of your game!

I loved playing your game and have not been able to remember the name or find it for along time.

Make one for the iPhone!

[Handjoy]

We have finally submited Jumboo to Apple. It is in "In Review" status now. Hope it's gonna be soon on AppStore :)

Dampy> there wont be any licensed social networking system like Scoreloop. But we have developed our own system. Right now it is handeling just online score for different statistics, but we wanna improve it with achievement system and facebook integration. We will bring these features in the first update.

Icy, rednuke> You are right. Icy Tower was of course huge inspiration for us. We adore the game and we wanna thank FLD for such a great game. Maybe from the first look video it looks very similar (maybe more than we wanted to), but it plays little bit differently and there are little things that make it unique.

[Handjoy]

The game is not out yet and we have very positive feedback from players on first gameplay video. Thank you! You can join our fans and start to follow our game on Twitter to get exclusive news and updates: http://twitter.com/jumboo_game

And hey, we released set of free wallpapers from the game yesterday: http://gorillagoeshigh.com/goodies.html

The release is coming! Prepare for the gorilla. The Big Gorilla! :)

[Handjoy]

We have just released new trailer>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pRh0Y5Bjn4

The game is still in approval process - 12 days now.

[iTouch]

Trailer looks promising! Want to play it on my iphone:-P What will be the price? Thanks.

[Handjoy]

Hello guys,
I took very long time but Jumboo is ready now! Please see http://itunes.com/app/jumboo

What do you think about it? Do you like it?