ByteSize Games Announces iPhone Title FlipShip

Hey all,

My name is Richard Hoeg and I am a co-founder, along with my brother, Thomas Hoeg, the brains behind it all, of ByteSize Games, Inc., a Michigan start-up that recently announced it's first game, FlipShip, to be released this September. In order to give you a bit of flavor for the game, I've attached the bulk of today's announcement press release as well as some screen shots to this thread.

Hopefully we can answer any questions you may have about the game, talk design, and even give out some promo codes when we get a bit closer to release. In the meantime, comment away! We'd love to hear from you.

Rick

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FlipShip: The addictive, space-based action game where one tap is all you need to turn the tables and score big

“FlipShip is the perfect ‘bitesize’ gaming experience,” said Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hoeg. “It captures the frenetic excitement of a twin-stick shooter or shoot-em-up, without the need for any joystick on screen. The controls are very intuitive and simple which makes the game very approachable, but the game itself is actually quite deep, with the player constantly making interesting choices about what to do next.”

In FlipShip, the player’s goal is deceptively simple: tilt the iPhone to move towards enemies of the same color, then let the ship’s automatic firing function take care of the rest. But that’s not the end of the story. Enemy ships of the opposite color present a constant danger, and while each successive enemy destroyed is worth just a bit more than the one before it, the points received for such destruction are still “at risk” until the player “flips”. For that they’ll need to tap the screen, “flipping” their ship into its opposite color and flipping their enemies from predators to prey. Of course “flipping” also reduces the player’s combo level back to zero, so they’ll most certainly want to hang on just as long as possible without tapping that screen.

“The player is constantly making the decision to wager their current points against the potential for future ones, and that keeps the experience tense and exciting even after they’ve logged many hours of playing time,” said Hoeg. “Trying to ‘thread the needle’ through a quickly closing gap in an enemy formation with five hundred thousand points on the line is a surprisingly tense experience for such a simple-seeming game, and that is what will keep people coming back for more.”

Should you “flip” or should you flee?

Score now or hold on for the promise of bigger rewards?

In FlipShip, the choice is yours.

Features

• Intuitive tilt-based gameplay keeps the player in control no matter how intense the action gets.

• Unique risk/reward scoring system increases the tension while combos (and the enemy’s numbers) rise.

• Six dynamically adjusting difficulty levels tailor FlipShip’s challenge to each player.

• Three different ships (each with their own speed, firing range, and special ability) offer three different ways to “flip” to big scores

• Procedurally generated backgrounds give FlipShip a different look every time

• Multiple in-game power-ups

• Full Gamecenter support with 50 separate achievements to earn

• In-app leaderboards let the player compare Flipship scores with friends (and enemies) across the world

• Optimized with high definition visuals for iPhone 4

Pricing and Availability

FlipShip will be available from the Apple App Store and through iTunes in September 2011. It will retail for $1.99, but to celebrate its launch week will initially be available for a price of $0.99.

About ByteSize

ByteSize Games, Inc., is the brainchild of Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hoeg, returning to his native state of Michigan to form the two-man operation after working on Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time in sunny Los Angeles for Burbank-based Insomniac Games.

“The name really describes the kind of games that we want to make”, said Hoeg. “Games that feature lots of simple, repeatable fun, that you can enjoy in small amounts or big. Whatever you want. We don’t want to make games that are overly complex or require a lot of additional learning to enjoy. From the moment you start, we want to make sure you can get right into the fun. You don’t have to earn it.”

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Thanks, arta. We hope to get a gameplay video out there shortly.

(Sorry about the misplacement of the thread. Mods, feel free to move at your discretion.)

 

More Screenshots

And here are a few more screenshots...

 

Brand New FlipShip Trailer

Hey guys,

Just wanted to let you know that we have officially been approved by Apple for a release date of September 27, 2011, and that we have a brand new trailer to show off!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4l8osN08ZI&feature=youtu.be

In addition, we are happy to announce that a one-life, one-score totally free "lite" version will be launching day and date with the main game.

Please let us know what you think!

 

Thanks

Thanks for the kind words everyone, and for the tips, Arta. We are very excited about the release in a couple of weeks. Also, I think the lead designer (ByteSizeTom) should be popping on sometime today to talk a little bit about the development. Thanks again.