Saturday, May 30, 2009

iPhone/iPod Touch Amazon Queen Review

This is my favorite quote from the Amazon Queen review at AppVee:
The game has now officially been ported to the iPhone and iPod Touch and is every bit as awesome as the original as far as gameplay goes.




And I love the user reviews - the majority are 5/5 stars!

This AMAZING game will give you days of fun, laughs, smart riddles and great adventure. - Anatt

This game is Amazing and the new interface of the new version (1.2) is just GREAT for the iPhone ! - TheNiceGuy2

This is a pure, quality puzzle-based story and NOT easy for those people who are looking for a casual iPhone game. It's challenging and super fun. - GoodGirlGamer

At long last, someone has brought a classic SCUMM based adventure game to the iphone. This is a great game and well worth the money. - KanedaZero

The great thing about the iPhone is that it's easy to update your game. The team are working on improving the interface yet again so this will be the ultimate point and click adventure on the iPhone!

www.passfieldgames.com

Thursday, May 28, 2009

New Facebook Brainiversity Update is Live!

Woo hoo, it's up!

As mentioned before, the update includes the awesome new Trophy system that rewards you for doing all sorts of cool stuff - you can even view your friends and other Facebook users achievements from the Scoreboard.

We also have a tutorial system that explains the important parts of the game for first time users. If you think we've left anything out, or something doesn't make sense, please let us know (and you might even earn an Order of Edison trophy).

And of course we have a brand new game, "Odd One Out", plus a whole bunch of little tweaks here and there.

I have to say a big thanks to those people who helped with suggestions for this update. You'll find an Order of Edison Trophy waiting for you when you start playing :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

New Brainiversity Facebook Update Imminent!

A new update to Facebook Brainiversity will be launching within the next 48 hours.

We've added some exciting new features to the game including a Trophy system that lets you show off all the cool stuff you've achieved, a new game called "Odd One Out" and a whole bunch of little tweaks here and there.

Odd One Out game

Odd One Out is a fun game that can be quite challenging. Deceptively simple, you have to pick which item doesn't have a matching partner - and like all good Brainiversity games it gets progressively harder as you play.

I'm especially excited about the Trophy system - you can see what Trophies other people have earned from the Scoreboard - and we have a special trophy for the players who have been helping us with valuable feedback: the Order of Edison.

I'll update as soon as the new version goes live. In the meantime, head over to Facebook and start playing!

www.passfieldgames.com

Friday, May 22, 2009

Gaming History

Here are some interesting "making of" stories for two classic games, "Fool's Errand" and "Elite". I love reading about the history of games and hope to find and post more of these links:

"How Legendary Puzzle Game Fool’s Errand Came to Be"
from Wired.com.

"The Making Of: Elite" from Edge.

www.passfieldgames.com

Monday, May 18, 2009

Amazon Queen update out now!

A new update for my classic point and click adventure game, Flight of the Amazon Queen is available now on iTunes.

Click here to get it now!

Joe King in trouble!

This update includes:
  • New improved controls. Now you can move the cursor to an object and tap on the command bar to do an action.
  • Default action now works with long tap.
  • Automatic game saving when you press the Home button or receive a call. When you re-enter the game it asks if you'd like to continue where you left off.
  • Improved Help and Game instructions.

Big thanks to Liron and the team at iPhSoft for making this awesome version available on the iPhone/iPod Touch!

www.passfieldgames.com

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Game & Watch

ThenGamer has a great article on the history of Game & Watch. You can read it here.

Game & Watch was, along with my encounter with the adventure game Colossal Cave, one of my earliest introductions to computer games.

I remember when my good friend Anand returned from an overseas school holiday with the Popeye Game & Watch. I was blown away by the incredible graphics, the small size and the addictive gameplay.

Popeye Game & Watch

Thankfully Game & Watch arrived not long after in Australia, and I got Parachute for Christmas. I played that game religiously every day until I clocked it (reached 1,000 points so the score reset to 0).


Parachute Game & Watch

Of course it wasn't just a game - it was also a watch - and it wasn't uncommon to see Game & Watch's propped up on desks throughout my school until we were told by teachers not to play with them in class.

I have extremely fond memories of these systems and still have the original Parachute game and box in my possession to this day!

www.passfieldgames.com

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

One week, two launches

Last week I was very lucky to see two games launched in one week!

First up was the iPhone version of my classic point and click adventure game, Flight of the Amazon Queen which you can download from the App Store here.

Flight of the Amazon Queen

It looks absolutely amazing on the iPhone and playing it brings back a lot of memories of days gone by. The game was a lot of fun to work on, despite there only being 3 of us to make the entire thing back in the early nineties. I remember feeling bad that it took almost two years to make, but in hindsight I'm amazed it didn't take five!!!

Liron and the team at iPhSoft have done an awesome job bringing it to the iPhone. Let's hope it inspires other publishers to port their point and click adventures over as well (you listening LucasArts?)

And of course the other launch was Brainiversity. I've said a lot about this lately, so here's a nice screen shot in case you haven't read my blog for a while :-)

Brainiversity - Perfect Match game

Seriously, the game is fun to play, and the addition of the ability to challenge anyone is cool. We've been updating it almost daily based on great feedback from players - and will be rolling out new games and updates on a regular basis.

We've also got another game coming out soon - but you should follow the 3 Blokes twitter feed to find out more about that :-)

www.passfieldgames.com

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Brainiversity Facebook Relaunch

It's done! The updated Brainiversity has finally re-launched on Facebook and you can check it out here.

This update features:
  • a complete overhaul of the graphics
  • a brand new interface
  • ability to challenge friends who haven't installed the game yet
  • ability to challenge any other players
  • brand new game, "Running Total"
  • an enhanced Scoreboard
  • and lots of other little tweaks, too numerous to mention
We've also set up a twitter feed so you can keep track of the latest Brainiversity updates and any other 3 Blokes Studios news. Follow it here:

3 Blokes on Twitter

And the re-launch is just the start, we're got a whole host of new features and brand new Brainiversity mini-games in the pipe that we will be launching regularly.

Enjoy!

www.passfieldgames.com Follow me on Twitter