Toybox - game equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time

[Barrel of Donkeys]

Barrel of Donkeys is proud to announce Toybox, a shooter/match 3 mashup coming August 23:





Shoot enemies on one side of the screen to earn blocks on the other. Then stack the blocks to score points, power up your weapons and earn extra lives. Survive as long as you can to get a high score. Each week the level changes and there's a new leaderboard to climb.



Things we hope you’ll like about Toybox:

• New level every week - Everyone in the world faces the same patterns of enemies, giving you the chance to learn them and improve. Then after a week the patterns change and there's a new leaderboard to climb. So if you haven't played in a while it's worth coming back for another round.
• Master an all new useless skill - Play a simple shooter with one thumb and a match 3 puzzler with the other. Each side affects the other, so you need to concentrate on the present while planning ahead at the same time.
• It's polite - The rounds are short and sweet, there's no leveling-up treadmill, and no spam-your-friends silliness.
• Daring comebacks - Lost your last life? Quick - you’ve still got a moment to pull off a desperate block combo and get back in the game.
• Simple control scheme, optimised for handheld - Each of your thumbs controls one side of the game. It's simple and comfortable and the hit areas are nice and big, not fiddly.
• Taunt the world (or your friends) - Make the top 3 and your initials will appear at the start of the everyone else’s games for the next week. Or, connect with friends and compare scores within your friend pool.
• Generative soundtrack - Your in-game actions trigger the notes that make up the melody.
• IAP or ads? Nope - You buy it, it's all yours.

Hope it sounds fun! Any questions or feedback welcome.

Cheers,
Julian and Sam

barrelofdonkeys.com
Twitter/@barrelofdonkeys
Facebook/barrelofdonkeys

[TooTinyMan]

Originally Posted by Barrel of Donkeys

[*]Master an all new useless skill

Made me laugh.

[chimpman252]

Might want to reconsider the name, it's already in use on the App Store by a physics sandbox entertainment app.

(see it here) http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toy-box-physics-sandbox/id320566569?mt=8&ls=1

[Barrel of Donkeys]

Originally Posted by TooTinyMan

Made me laugh.

Sort of applies to most games when you think about it, doesn't it? :-)
Though I like to think this game is somewhat new, and especially useless.

Originally Posted by chimpman252

Might want to reconsider the name, it's already in use on the App Store by a physics sandbox entertainment app.

'Toybox' has made it through the app submission process so hopefully we're good. But yeah, there are a few apps with similar names, though I hadn't come across that one in particular, cheers.

[Barrel of Donkeys]

Toybox has been approved by Apple, woohoo, so it'll be out on the 23rd of August. Plus I finally finished the trailer:


Low bandwidth Version | Pop Up

[3parkbenchhydra]

I love stuff like this. Looking forward to the release!

[chirpingames]

Wow great trailer!

[chimpman252]

Originally Posted by Barrel of Donkeys

'Toybox' has made it through the app submission process so hopefully we're good. But yeah, there are a few apps with similar names, though I hadn't come across that one in particular, cheers.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toy-box-physics-sandbox/id320566569?mt=8&ls=1
Hopefully I'm not sounding too stubborn or discouraging, just pointing it out. It's really hard to find on the AppStore anyways (doesn't show up at all when you just search Toy Box) so I doubt it'll clash.
On a more positive note, the game looks really unique, the trailer was really creative, and I'm sure it will succeed since there's nothing quite like it on the AppStore!

[Barrel of Donkeys]

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone!

Originally Posted by aeranth

Gorgeous artwork, with innovative and devious gameplay? You guys could be the next Simogo... Count me in.

If games still had boxes we'd stick this quote on for sure :-)
O to be the next Simogo (as long as we didn't replace the current Simogo of course, that would be a tragedy).

Originally Posted by chimpman252

Hopefully I'm not sounding too stubborn or discouraging, just pointing it out. It's really hard to find on the AppStore anyways (doesn't show up at all when you just search Toy Box) so I doubt it'll clash.
On a more positive note, the game looks really unique, the trailer was really creative, and I'm sure it will succeed since there's nothing quite like it on the AppStore!

No worries, and thanks for the encouragement!
Name-wise, I guess we just want to avoid people searching for a game, then accidentally buying ours instead and getting annoyed, would you say? As you mention, the search results (and age and genre of the sandbox game) hopefully indicate there won't be much confusion - we appreciate your research.

Glad you liked the trailer. I wasn't sure if it'd be weird doing something with more cows and less gameplay footage than most. Especially since our brand art style is quite different to the game art style. You think it works?
We're really looking forward to seeing what people think of the game itself.