It’s not apparent from reading this blog, but we’re actively in production of this Donut Game that I first mentioned here over 2 years ago. But you know what they say, “Time flies when you’re having fun!”

For a preview I’m just showing some line art from the game. Currently, this art is already painted and imported into the game. The background is my handywork and Ricky did the characters.

I began work on this about 6 months after doing LUV Tank. It was an idea Ricky had mentioned during the development of Thugjacker. My intention was to finish something small, we busted out LUV Tank in about a month and I wanted to get something else small out the door. We experiment with a different animation pipeline for every game and I wanted to define a more efficient system. When conceptualizing the game I got ahead of myself and ended up with an idea that was much more grand than I initially envisioned. I spent a lot of time debating whether I should extend the game, especially when I had ideas for other games that I felt more passionate about.

Since then we’ve jumpstarted a few ideas that haven’t come to light yet, and even released a new game — Sammy Samurai: Runner. My “meh” feelings about the gameplay of Sammy helped me to decide that the Donut game had to be more along the lines of the Epic Masterpiece that I envisioned. Competition is fierce and you’ve got to give it your all or get lost in the deluge of Flash games out there. The quality bar has definitely raised, and I’m glad it finally did.

I’ve finally started spending quality time with the game. I did a port to AS3 earlier this year and finished hooking the game into a framework to tie the games and screens together. So a lot of that boring stuff is done I’m gonna spend more time roughing out the game — creating artwork while prototyping the gameplay. I look forward to putting all the pieces together. David Rodriguez who did the game animation for LUV Tank is back and doing some animation for a fight sequence. Cryptic Circuity who did the music for Sammy is back with a soundtrack for this one.

Ok, time to get to work!

By Porter’s World

“After over a year of working together, Andrew and myself are finally united. Andrew has just moved form Illinois to Vermont to officially get things going for Epic Shadow Entertainment. We’ve just finished setting up our first official office in the basement of my house, and will be moving up as we grow. We’ve been through a lot in the last year, had some ups and downs, even a false move at one point, but it’s finally here, and it’s awesome.”

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That’s the word on the street at least, which is pretty accurate seeing as Andrew is just a few feet from me right now. The move has definitely been a huge change in our lives, both in and out of our career related activities. Andrew has upgraded his living environment, I have a significantly better work area, we’ve both been setting goals for the near future that are sure to expand both of our lives in great ways, it’s been good. If you’d like to see some pictures and read a bit more about the move, check out the post over at Alt Tab, our development blog.

I read a comment on Gamasutra that mentioned the game Soul Bubbles by French developer Mekensleep and how its lack of definite genre and audience limited it to an order-only title exclusive at the Toys R Us stores. I did some Googling to find some interviews and interesting stuff.

I also found this great GameSetWatch interview where the creative director Oliver Lejade discusses how the game came to be. From starting off as a PC tech demo, to becoming an innovative title making extraordinary use of the DS’s capabilities. Here’s a quote on why they had a hard time selling the game to distributers.

You’re saying, “Oh, this is a game about little girls, pink ponies, and you know that little girls are going to buy this,” it’s X number of units are going to go, it’s an easy sell. But when you come in with an original game, that they don’t have any clear reference to the gameplay of something that has been done recently, that has no license, then it’s a very hard sell. And if you have only five minutes? I can’t explain Soul Bubbles in five minutes. It’s not doable — and I made the game.

You can read the interview here:

• Q&A: Mekensleep’s Lejade – The Extended Soul Bubbles Interview

One of the things that he discussed is that many reviewers gave the game a low score in spite of how great the game was otherwise. They said it was too easy, as the game offers hint bubbles to help you out if you get stuck. The developers wanted casual gamers, which are the majority of DS audience, to be able to enjoy the game and make it to the end. So everyone could enjoy it. The point that the developer makes is that the clues are only user initiated, so if you don’t activate the help you don’t get any. Which allows the more hardcore gamers to figure it out themselves.

I found that developer video page on a GameFAQs.com forum post, where someone posted this in response…

“Thanks for posting that. I was curious about the game from an article in NP, but then they gave it a low review. I was not going to buy it until I came here and saw that video. I just picked it up from Toys R Us and brought it home. I’ll post more after I’ve played it.”

It definitely sold me on the game, I’ll have to hunt down a copy of it. The art looks fantastic and the effects looks great too. I’ll reserve my judgment till I play it, which may be a while as I work through a mountain of Xbox games, but it’s apparent that it’s well beyond the shovelware the DS is known for. I’m glad they took the risk and are able to continue making DS games.

• Soul Bubbles Official Website
• Soul Bubbles: A classic game ill treated by expert reviewers (and I’m late to the discussion of course, haha)
• Soul Bubbles review by Games Weasel

Bubble Tanks Tower Defense has just been RELEASED on ArmorGames.com!

Bubble Tanks Tower Defense takes Hero’s popular series into new genres and beyond! With 7 enemy types, over 11 unique tower paths, tower merging allowing for mega towers and mega-mega towers (the size of 16 towers combined!), and 52 whopping game modes, we’re pretty sure you’ll have plenty to keep you busy until the release of Bubble Tanks Arenas. If that’s not enough for you, just check the “FML” checkbox from level select and prepare to get your world rocked… er… blocked.

This has been a huge undertaking for Hero Interactive and we’re proud to finally release the game. A special thanks goes out to our fans for all of your support!

Want to play the game?  Then just CLICK HERE!

If you want to be totally awesome… give us your 10 rating!