First there was Flight Control, then Parachute Panic and Harbor Master, now... HAMSTERIA by QuantumSquid Interactive coming soon! An addictively simple new take on the "chaos management" genre. Here is a preview video. More details to follow...
that does look cool, like the blocky hamsters...though when i first saw the pics, i thought it was going to be a tower defense type game with you fending off waves of invading hamsters
Looks like there is a similar look in that we went with a "blocky" art style as well. We wanted to go for a brightly colored, square look that was sort of reminiscent of the old-school console days. We tried to make the sound effects 8-bit sounding as well.
Thanks DG! No, not a TD type of game. It has the similarly addictive play mechanic found in Flight Control. Manage the chaos for as long as you can, as things get progressively more hectic... However, you do not draw lines to the goal(s). Instead, you "nudge" or "flick" the hamsters in the desired direction you want them to go. As the chaos builds, you will occasionally need to make small adjustments to their trajectory due to pitfalls, traps, and general hamster shenanigans. One flick = normal speed, 2 flicks in succession = fast speed. The "flicking" element provides a uniquely "visceral" experience, really only found on a touch screen. It's a high-score based game with both single screen and scrolling screen maps of varying difficulty. The more hamsters that you direct to the goal in succession, the higher your Bonus Multiplier grows (thus fame and fortune on the OpenFeint Leaderboards...) It's not uncommon to get 20-25x point multipliers when the action is in high gear.
Wow Quantumsquid, new iPhone developer? Your stuff looks pretty good. This one could be pretty big if it can get the attention of the "Flight Control crowd". Hard to get a complete feel for it with just the video, but looks like the same appeal. Any more info on release date? Price?
I like the looks of it, to be sure! Flight Control like pathing in a hazard filled arena with something akin to the scoring concepts in Peter und Vlad.
This does look pretty good. Takes Flight Control and tweaks it a bit to be just different enough to make it into a different sort of line drawing. Any news on release date?
Hey, thanks a lot! We are not really new to game development, but Rabid Gophers and Hamsteria are our first iDevice titles. Thanks for the compliments. We are hoping for some traction with the tons of people that liked Flight Control. Hamsteria is unique and does have different game play, but hopefully will have the same appeal. We are submitting our other game, Rabid Gophers this week, and should be submitting Hamsteria a week or 2 after that... Price for each planned at 99 cents.
Thanks! Think of it like dumping a bunch of hamsters out on the ground and its your job to "nudge" them in the right direction to make it safely to the goal. Starts out with not that many at a time, but builds to a frenzy as there are more and more you need to keep track of. The pathing for the hamsters is a combination of behavior AI (herding, reacting, etc.) and blindly going where you tell them to. Once you "flick" or "nudge" them in a specific direction, they will pretty much continue in that direction unless they "herd up" with others, get caught in a hazard, or make it to the goal.
@IpodLady Thanks! No firm release date yet. Game is pretty much finished. Will be submitting our Rabid Gophers game this week. Hamsteria submitting most likely in 2 weeks. @DG Thanks! We hope you enjoy it.
Quick update on Hamsteria... It is currently finished and in "beta". We have held off on submitting it to Apple because we wanted to spend a bit more time tweaking the game play. Between other projects and wrapping up two of our other games (Starball and Rabid Gophers) for submission, we have not had the chance to put the finishing touches on Hamsteria that we have wanted to. The good news is that Rabid Gophers and Starball are both in the hands of Apple!! So, we will now be able to tune and tweak Hamsteria as we have wanted to. We are planning on submitting it in a couple weeks.
Hey guys, just want to give a quick update on Hamsteria... no its not dead! We been busy putting the final touches on Starball and Rabid Gophers for submission and a few other, yet to be announced, projects. Hamsteria is still being developed and since the initial video we have re-worked the main menu, added OpenFeint support, and started implementing achievements. Be sure to check back or follow us on twitter for information on release dates and more!