check out the preview: http://www.mobile1up.com/caveman/ yes, we have been very quiet - but very busy at the same time.. i just wanted to give everyone a small little preview of what is just around the corner... we could not be more excited about any of our mobile game development efforts. some of the currently designed levels (shown):
yes! there is a subscription button where we will send out updates - we are also planning to have a lot of cool things to giveaway; we do not want to rush this release, so we would love to also put a good beta-testing phase in place.. if you want to know where this came from; check out: http://www.mobile1up.com/lemmings/blog/ so; you should have a pretty good idea how far we are
Wow I see you almost didn't make this game because if Sony. Well I like the new artwork. I do have a question though. How much do you plan to release the game for? (in dollars).
the original plan was to port our Lemmings code over "as-is" and make it a massive freebie for everyone being so great supporting us over the years. SCEE (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) didn't like that idea - so, here we are, after putting a nice chunk of time and investment; we have something much better. everything has been re-done; artwork, audio, levels.. you can imagine the amount of effort required to make this happen.. but, the wait will soon be over and we couldn't be more pleased with the results.. the HD version is awesome. we are rebuilding every single level (120+) and even exploring expansion sets. we have not decided on a pricing scheme yet; you will definitely get a good taste of this game free. this wasn't something we put together in a weekend *g*
Haha obviously not put together in a weekend. I am all for buying this game if it's 3 dollars or less! I wish you the best of luck on this!
I love lemmings, and i love this idea! I would pay $5 for this, but sadly most people wont. I would say $2.99 is a solid price, and then another $.99-$1.99 per add on!
we will have both standard iphone versions and HD versions for the ipad - not sure exactly how the pricing will be, but i think we'll be more inclined to get a version out (even with first 30 levels); and then release additional categories as updates.. to give people a great incentive; we'll keep a special discounted price until all the levels are included.. (easy, medium, difficult, insane).. where it'll find its final price point. so; i think the $2.99 price point can be met at least for the early adopters! this isn't out first game on the app store; we had titles on the store for around 18 months now - just been a little busy with relocating lately and some drastic changes in life normal stuff.
i think for background; people need to read up on the inspiration for this remake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) keep in mind; we had a fully functional version of this game, 100% reproduced in june 2010 and it was submitted to the application store - but we were forced to remove it from distribution and hence cancel the review process. so; instead of throwing away the code; the first re-iteration will use the same underlying engine with a completely fresh look. we are asking ourselves if we should consider this only as a HD release; how many iphone/ipod touch users out there would still like to play this on a small screen?
I hate to say this, but I think in removing the Lemmings you've actually removed the main thing that people love about this game. It's all about the cutesy characters; characters that you really do care about and become attached to. Lemmings are the perfect character for this game; they've got a real naivety to them, a real charm, and a real sense of vulnerability. It's like ripping the guts out of the Worms games and replacing them with Snails. Surely this game is all about nostalgia, and a big part of your market will be those who've grown up with the game since the Spectrum days. By taking the Lemmings away, you're alienating many of those fans. Just my thoughts
write a letter to your favourite company known as SCEE - we wanted to release the unofficial version as-is, but were slammed with a lovely cease-and-desist. we have confirmation that they'll never release any intellectual property to Lemmings on any platform, other than... Sony platforms. http://www.mobile1up.com/lemmings/blog/ you can read all about it here. since we had everything working; lets at least bring that to the platform - this is in fact just an artwork + audio change. should play pretty much exactly the same.
How about coming up with a character that at least has a similar appeal to Lemmings then? Like, hamsters with purple hair in green robes?
this is 2011 - not 1984 but we also did consider that - we can always provide an alternative "character set", we are discussing the idea of different voices for the cavemen anyhow.. could make it more fun.
Sony are completely in the right here. They are under no obligation to release the game on the iphone, and certainly under no obligation to let you port it for free, or any other price. Calling your attempted port of lemmings a 'tribute to their game' is ridiculous. It wasn't a tribute; it WAS their game. I understand that many people want lemmings on the iphone. So do I. But wanting something doesn't give you the right to have it.
i wouldn't want to get too technical; but the version we did was a complete remake from scratch, even the levels were not the original - every line of code was written by analyzing the mechanics of the original game. this was a tribute - by all means, not a port of the original code (which, is not available in the public domain). like what was done with Pingus; we are doing now with Caveman. it is a classic game and with a complete remodel of everything - it is no different from Angry Birds being compared to games like Worms or Scorched Earth. we had the problem of using the same name and artwork - and rightly so; SCEE protected their IP rights. ifact, i had some great discussions with SCEE about other potential projects - but going exclusive for Sony hardware? that is just crazy talk. it is one thing to buy IP and license it, it is another to hoard it and let it die. it is a pity actually. i still play the version i did back in June 2010 on both my ipod touch and my palm pre caveman wont be the same nostalgic wise; but it will have other qualities.
things coming along quite well - for those interested; i'll be presenting a Caveman at the webos ignite event (yep, this also runs on webos) in London on March 30 (wednesday) here are some more samples. it is starting to get its own touch - the first 30 levels are complete and we will most likely release this bringing the future levels as updates in the future every level is hand edited to perfection *g*
Still using Cavemen, then... How 80's! For the record, it looks pretty good, but I just can't get past the caveman theme!
