Finally!
Grab Monster Words here for FREE!
I’m excited to get as much feedback as I can. What would YOU like to see in new releases? More levels? Level types? New features? Less crashing? 
If you like the game soon enough I will be releasing more free levels, and I’ll try to keep the content coming. I will also be adding paid content shortly, so if you really like the game you can show your support and get more levels!
Enjoy!
It may not look it, but things have been quite exciting here at Enemy Hideout, as we edge closer to launch. I’d like to thank all the playtesters who helped with their feedback and playing the beta of the game. It was immensely helpful in honing the game into a fun experience.
Over the past month, I’ve been busy adding levels, analytics, polishing new user experience, improving tools, and fixing some bugs that have lingered for too long. This week I’m adding the level select screens, and adding the ‘review this game’ code. Once that’s complete I’m going to play through all the levels one last time and make sure they look as good as they can. Fingers crossed, Apple lets me in the App Store on first review.
We are also hard at work on Monstruo Pallabras! Yes, Monstruo Pallabras is Monster Words en Español, shipping in the beginning of February. I will soon be removing Word Heist and Wordy Zoo from the site, as these games are unofficially cancelled for now. I also have a couple other unannounced games in the works that will hopefully ship ‘soon’, but that’s all I’m saying for now. Stay tuned!
Interested in getting early access to Monster Words, and playing a part in bringing the game to life? We are interested in getting feedback and learning as much as we can from YOU.
So what do you need to test our games? An ios device, and a sense of fun. Click below and sign up NOW!
Enemy Hideout’s first game Monster Words is moving along nicely here, and I’ve made a short video to show it off:
Development on the game has been a lot of fun. It took a bit of work to polish the control scheme. I tried very hard to make it fun and simple. Adding life to the monsters and the environment has also been very rewarding. Its great to watch the creatures react, blink, and hobble around on top of each other. And of course, I love word games!
Right now I am hoping to release the game around the beginning of January. I wish I could release by Christmas, but Apple closes their App Store submissions during the holidays, so I can only be as punctual as that. Stay tuned!
Here is the source code (and art) from last night’s Cocoaheads presentation. Overall it seemed to go well, and I had a great time chatting. Its a bit nerve-wracking coding in front of a live audience, so I’m pretty glad I practiced!
https://github.com/robotron2084/GhettoBirds
Thanks to everyone who attended!
Here’s a screenshot of the demo:
Tuesday November 29th, Chris Hill from Enemy Hideout will be presenting on developing with the cocos2d game engine. The presentation, “Ghetto Birds: An Angry Birds clone in 30 minutes” is a birds eye (har har) view on working with cocos2d and the Box2D physics engine. Here’s a preview of the ghetto fabulousness:
Details:
Spoke6 at the corner of 6th. Ave. and 6th. St.
7pm
Tue. November 29th.
BYOB
Come on by!
Below is a short video of my first impressions of the Kindle Fire. I walk through some of the basic functionality (apps, reading, music), then focus more on games. It is geeky, offbeat, and is not very well shot. For whatever reason Youtube has picked a freakishly violent frame from the X-Men comic book as the thumbnail image, and it will be changed ‘within 36 hours’. 
Some extra commentary:
Hardware-wise, it is sleek, and well built. I like it when devices don’t have a lot of buttons, but I want volume buttons, badly. The display is crisp and looks great. Audio quality seems ok, I think I can hear a notable difference in quality between my Apple devices and this.
Device fragmentation is a big deal. I bought the ‘Plants Vs. Zombies: Kindle Fire Edition’. Its scary to think: Is there a Droid Razr edition? A Galaxy Tab edition? The port of Plants vs. Zombies and Angry Birds was really, really good, as expected. It shows that its possible to make high quality games for the device. But fragmentation of app stores and devices makes it too hard if you’re not PopCap to really consider making games for Android. The numbers just aren’t there. The app store seemed to be full of crap when I owned my Nexus One, and I wonder how that’s changed.
I think the Fire could be an Android tablet that could help stabilize fragmentation. The Amazon App Store and the device itself are really well integrated. I really enjoy that it has not required me to hook it up to a computer. In fact, it doesn’t come with a usb cable, just a usb plug. Its as close to an end-to-end solution I’ve seen outside Apple’s walled garden. Its a bit rough, but it has great potential.
You cannot compare this device to an iPad. It is $300 cheaper than the cheapest iPad. Its in its own class. But since everyone is *going* to anyway, Amazon seems to be pushing the price point hard in direct comparison to the price point of the iPad! Smart move. It can do most things an iPad does. The device has serious value.
So what are you waiting for? Go buy one already!!!
Enemy Hideout is pleased to announce our third game: Word Heist! Continuing with our word game concepts, this one focuses also on tracking your abilities through word gems to improve your memory! You can view the game right now over at the mini-site:
http://www.enemyhideout.com/wordheist/
I’ve put a good amount of the concept art for Wordy Zoo and Monster Words up at deviantART! You can see higher-res art, and leave comments on what you like.
http://enemyhideout.deviantart.com/
Its exciting for me to be able to more actively take a role in deviantART, a site I’ve always enjoyed, but have barely posted on. Its also daunting because the quality of talent on the site is simply staggering. Some of the best artists in the world are there, and well, I’m not really an artist, I’m a programmer! Same difference, I guess.
Our second game, Monster Words, is now officially announced! Head on over to our mini-site to see the game’s art and gameplay:
http://www.enemyhideout.com/monsterwords
