Not a lot has happened lately at Ye Ole Hideout. Mainly because I’ve been hard at work at a game studio working on super-top-secret stuff.  Unfortunately I can’t really talk about it, it being super-top-secret and all. Monster Words is still alive and kickin’ in the App Store. Go play it!

I wanted to give a shout out to some other games that have come out recently from friends of the Hideout.

Return to Gloom Manor (free)  is a fun title where you play a haunted house and you have to SCARE people out of it! Go support them and just buy the full version.

Zombocalypse 2 is out! Ironzilla has made a great follow up to the original and its on Adult Swim now!

Conquest of Champions  is a collectible card strategy game. Sign up for the private beta!

Barrow Brainball is an educational game to teach kids about avoiding concussions while they play.

Maze Crusade is a cool little puzzle adventure hybrid.

Now go play some games!

The latest version of Monster Words has now hit the App Store. The big changes? First, Monster Words is no longer free to play. Second? All content has been unlocked. This means that if you’ve downloaded Monster Words, you now have access to the complete game for FREE.

Why no longer FREE?

Well, there are a couple reasons, and if you’re really interested I can bore you with some details. First off, OpenFeint, a company that I was using for Monster Bucks, was bought by a bigger fish Gree. They currently are in a progress of migration, and there is no roadmap for the features I was using. So I have removed OpenFeint from my game, and Monster Bucks goes with it.

Second is that there was a perception among some users that I was trying to give out a completely free game. This stems from the larger ‘free to play’ concept, where users can just ‘grind’ through a game without having to pay and continue to play forever (Farmville, for example). You used to get roughly two level packs for free, before you needed get more Monster Bucks. Some people felt this wall was an issue.

I’m changing the business model in the hopes that this sticks better with users. I’m sure there will be other issues players will have with the new $0.99 price point. I feel the game gives a lot of value, and there are a large number of levels for players to play.

Bonus For Existing Players

For those that have already downloaded the game, I hope that you’ll enjoy having all the level packs unlocked and unlimited clues.

Have Fun!

A lot of the Startup Tucson Hackathon is about providing structure to those who need it. Some people have an idea in the back of their heads, ready to go. Others just want to socialize, and the task is irrelevant. And so I’m throwing a project out there for teams to work on, which I think could be a really fun project to work on. It could possibly pay for itself: Porting Monster Words to Android! The prize? A 50/50 profit-sharing deal!

Port Monster Words to Android

What?! Port a game to Android? In 24 hours? That’s right! The gist of it is that Adobe’s Air for Android product might allow for a straightforward port of the online flash version in a reasonable timeframe. While talking with a friend it seemed like getting the game up and running might be more straightforward than you might think. And if you’re a budding game developer you can become more familiar with the internals of a production game.

How does this work then?

If you’re interested, sign up for the hackathon. You might want to prep by skilling up on the basic tech. On the day of the hackathon, I will give you a tarball of the source. I’ll be available to answer questions from all teams involved about the structure and how to build.  The team that provides the best working implementation can win a profit-sharing deal to put the app on various Android app stores.

The Basic Tech

The flash version of the game is built for Flash Player 11. It uses Starling and Stage3D for display objects. It uses a heavily modified version of Push Button Engine for the game architecture. I compile the game on the command line using an Ant build file or FCSH. There was no Flash or Flash Builder used in building the game. It is a good idea to be versed in ActionScript and also to have an understanding of the entity/component paradigm used in things like Torque/Unity/Push Button Engine.

The Great Unknown

For the most part these subsystems should work fine, but who knows? Perhaps user interaction won’t work. It might not scale correctly. Perhaps performance is poo. These issues will need to be worked out. Once its working on the device, the more of these issues you can hammer out over the course of the hackathon, the more likely you’ll win. But don’t worry, even if these aren’t worked out, it will be a great coding adventure!

Profit Sharing

So at the end of the day, if there is a green-lightable version of Monster Words on Android available, then that team could be part of a profit sharing deal if they so choose. I will split the profits of the Android version 50/50 on the condition that all details and polish are worked out post-hackathon. This includes:

• Memory/crash issues.
• Polish items such as animations and interaction.
• Device compatibility issues.
• Enough levels to go live.

So with 24 hours of work, you could qualify for 50% of the profits on the game. There will need to be more work done to ship post-hackathon. And if you don’t want to continue, that’s cool, too!

Legal Stuff / Details

You must physically be at the Startup Tucson Hackathon to participate. You may be required to sign a contributor agreement before receiving source code, and the source will not be public. Everything will be very loosy goosy during the hackathon, so that means the contingencies of any legal agreement outweigh the timeframe. For that reason you’re just going to have to take me at my word on this.

In general I will own the rights and I will provide any profits to you in perpetuity on the port that you create. You will be required to support the port for a certain duration. Profits will be split 50/50 after any percentages from 3rd parties are taken.

If you have any questions/thoughts on this, feel free to email me at hackathon at enemyhideout dot com.

Besides making games, I try to be active in the Tucson community. Right now I’m organizing one of the first ever Tucson Hackathons!

From the events page:

What’s it all about?

It’s about meeting and getting to know more of the local Tucson tech community while doing something fun! The Interweb is amazing, but it can’t compare to hanging out in person with a group of like-minded people. A hackathon is an exciting, fast pasted, stimulating event where you can make a crazy cool idea into something real!

What can you do in 24 hours?

Form a team of at least 2 people (must be present to win) and create something from start to finish. You could build a complete webapp, or a cool script, or a plugin/theme or feature for a larger application. You don’t have to create something huge, but finish it and have fun.

If you already have an idea, great! You can bring a description, specs, sketches, designs, webpage mockups, etc, but all coding should be done during the 24 hour event.

On Saturday, at 3PM sharp, we’ll start calling teams up to give a short presentation. Your team will have two minutes. The judges may ask a few questions, and then on to the next team!

Judges and attendees will rate the apps and award awesome prizes to the winners!

http://startuptucson.com/hackathon

Chris Hill, the one man show behind Enemy Hideout will be talking about Monster Words here next week at Gangplank Tucson. From the event details page:

Take a journey with Chris Hill as he reveals what it was like to develop his one-man iphone game Monster Words. Over the past 9 months Chris has written code, promoted his app, drawn monsters, and fought them to bring his vision to life. Learn what its like to develop an independent game as Chris recounts the many lessons learned along the way.

 

If you’re in Tucson, come by and say hello!

I was just interviewed about game development and the Tucson game development scene over on Startup Tucson’s site. Startup Tucson’s mission is to put Tucson on the map nationally as a great place to work with talented people. There are a lot of amazing, talented people here in a variety of industries, and while I mentioned a couple people in the interview, there are a lot more that I didn’t get a chance to mention. Go Tucson! Go!

I was lucky enough to run into Dave Taylor recently in San Francisco. Dave is a very interesting guy, and a long-time industry veteran. We were chatting yesterday and he passed me this awesome presentation he recently did on how to ship a game in a week. Press play on Dave’s crotch below to watch:

I won’t spoil anything, but the student’s games are frequently funny. There’s some serious talent in that class, perhaps along the lines of Peter Molydeux. I’m not entirely sure if the video really goes into what it takes to make a game in a week, but I think its implicit: Programming, Motherfucker.

Also a quick plug for Band Together, which at the time of writing, is free on the App Store. Band Together is a great game that Dave has put together with his students, based on the class from the video.

They’re heeeerrre!!! Yes, the monsters have come to the web. Right now there are only a few levels at the moment, but who knows what the future might bring! If you’re so inclined, you can play now here on Facebook! What do you think of the new version? The new level types? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

I’d like to thank everyone who backed our Kickstarter campaign. It was very exciting and educational to be part of a Kickstarter campaign. Unfortunately the campaign did not get backed. Zombocalypse may still be in the works, as we shop around and find other opportunities to bring this to life. I’d also like to thank John Funtanilla and Jeff Hangartner for allowing me to take this leap of faith with them. They are both super-talented guys, and I hope that I get the chance to work with them in the future!

Knowledge is pervasive on the internet, but intelligence is not. That’s why I like meeting new people at conferences. You meet people who have taken their knowledge and applied it intelligently. This ‘humanized knowlege’ is difficult to find elsewhere, although Quora is a good attempt.

I am told I’m more social than I think I am. So I thought I’d try to write up some tips for conference goers to help make conferences fun, to go beyond impersonally passing out business cards. Let it be known, I’m social for a geek, not a normal!

Last week I was at E3, and this week I was in San Francisco at the same time as WWDC, hanging at a couple peripheral events. I was initially going to write my notes on E3, but I felt that it would’ve been overall too negative. I then found myself in San Francisco, having an absolutely great time. It wasn’t really a conference, it was a ‘showcializing’ experience which contrasted against the impersonal press behemoth that was E3.

But first, E3

After leaving E3, I was pretty let down. I went hoping to really celebrate making games, meet others who loved making games, and have nerdy conversations I can’t have anywhere else. Instead I saw a lot of boobs and ‘splosions. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some boobs and ‘splosions. But, I find it annoying when you are being completely bombarded with them at all angles with no reason. It was Michael Bay in video game form.

So I left E3 a bit sad about the direction of the industry, and I didn’t want to post anything. Then I saw this post from the editor of Gamasutra and this on Kotaku, and realized, hey, maybe it wasn’t just me being a curmudgeon E3 virgin.

Sadly, it seems E3 has little in common with events like GDC, PAX, or Casual Connect, and more to do with one-way communication with the press. E3 is the conference equivalent of a PR guy with a megaphone. How can you really get much out of an event like this?

#showcializing at WWDC

Then this week, I flew in to San Francisco to ‘showcialize’ during the WWDC event. I didn’t have a WWDC ticket, and split a hotel with a friend. It was amazing, compared to the previous week.

Because I had no ticket, I went to The Box for Indie Dev Lab and watched the keynote alongside a group of geeks in a conference room. I met a good number of game developers who I shared similar interests with. I bugged a Zombie Gunship developer how they did the night vision effect. I asked Saurik if he’d jailbreak my phone. I met Dave Taylor, developer of cult classic Abuse, and all-around talented guy. Among many other fantastic people!

During my time in SF, I was able to go to so many peripheral WWDC events it was staggering. Crashlytics party. Appsterdam at Stackmob’s office. Spotify party at IGN’s office. Touch Arcade WWDC party. I wasn’t at a conference, yet somehow I was meeting more game developers than I did at E3 a week earlier!

Tips for Showcializing

So how do you ‘showcialize’? And is it possible to find a word that is easier to say?

Edges are more interesting.

First, don’t bother too much with the conference in general. The main thing is to find the interesting peripheral events. For example I may be going to this year’s Casual Connect and this page here has a list of great events to go to. Last year Inside Social Games had a party at the W. Finding conferences with a great number of peripheral events will allow you to focus less on milling around the conf floor and seeing presentations, and more on personal connections.

Utilize Co-working spaces

Coworking spaces sometimes have special events that go along with the conference, or companies will open their doors. These are great places to meet people. It’s important to understand tho, people are actually attempting to work at coworking spaces, and it’s not a good idea to shove business cards in front of everyone.

If you run a coworking space, it can be helpful to host an event alongside the main event. I think this will become more popular, because I know I really enjoy the idea of being able to sit down, get a reliable internet connection, and really get to know the people around you. Talk to the conference coordinator and I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult to get a sponsorship, and everyone wins.

Deep-diving with People

Showcializing can help you get past surface-level conversation. At a coworking space I was able to really get to know another developer, and found out that we are both very interested in potential applications of SLAM algorithms on iOS. What are the odds? This is the reason to showcialize. It was a great conversation that could turn into a lasting connection.

Getting to know you~~~

None of this is really going to help without some social skills. Introducing yourself and being genuinely interested in who you’re talking to are two basic tenets of social interaction. Asking interesting questions instead of talking about yourself is a better way to be interesting to others.

A Good Experiment

Like I said, I feel I’m not a very social person, unlike great books that excel at this topic. I am not an expert. But showcializing was a great alternative way to enjoy a conference. It seemed to me that big conferences are too impersonal to be able to really connect with individuals, and showcializing seems a good tactic to humanize large events. Perhaps this was a one-off, or perhaps I’m on to something!