Tag Archives: Android

Favorite Games from Indie Prize London

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Last week I had the pleasure of visiting London for the Indie Prize contest at Casual Connect Europe! (If you want my thoughts on the show itself, you can check out the previous blog post on this feed here.) This post is exclusively a roundup of some of my favorite games from the show, regardless of who won the actual Indie Prize contest.

Don’t feel bad if you’re not on this list, I only got the chance to play a few games out of all the ones there! Plus there are still some on my list for later, like Holly’s Home Design. You didn’t think I’d forget about you Holly, did you?

Number #3 on this list will shock you!

Morkredd by Hyper Games

Morkredd instantly caught my eye because the aesthetic looks like our game Where Shadows Slumber, and I just had to know what the mechanics are. Whenever I see another game that uses shadows, my gut reaction is “Did they copy us? Did we copy them? What is this game?!”

Well it turns out no one copied anyone! Morkredd is a co-op game for Nintendo Switch where you play as little shadow dudes. If your character ever falls into the inky-black shadows, he dies and the group loses. This forces a restart. It’s tricky, because you don’t normally pay attention to the shadows being cast by yourself and other objects. (I finally understand the initial frustration everyone has when they first play our game!)

I don’t think Morkredd (which is Norwegian for “afraid of the dark”) is available for the Nintendo Switch yet, but you can follow their progress here.

Unbroken Soul by Oscar Ruiz

Although I didn’t get to play Oscar’s game too much, I appreciate how:

  1. It looks like Dead Cells on a phone
  2. Oscar is making use of this ridiculous, awesome control rig

Yes, that’s an iPhone you see in the image below. I have no idea what the controller rig is called, but it’s really cool. (No, you don’t need it to play – but you probably need it to be good.) Gameplay video below:

Oscar has had a lot of success in the indie space already, so it was good talking with him. I wish him luck on Unbroken Soul!

Hellrider 3 by Andrey Chernyshov

Andrey has a really sleek looking motorcycle game that’s the third in the series. The first two were pretty different, so I’m assuming this is the kind of gameplay he’s always wanted for Hellrider and he finally made the game he was dreaming about. It’s amazing what people can make for mobile devices these days! Check it out:

I really love the art style for this game. Everything fits together so well in a cartoony, low-poly indie way. This game is not available to the public yet, but he has all of his current releases available on his website here.

Pico Tanks by Panda Arcade

Not only is Pico Tanks an impressive online mobile game with cute art and fun gameplay, their setup at the Indie Prize was incredible! Look at the effort they put into this display. Indie Prize gave us the smallest amount of space I’ve ever had at a show – essentially just 1/2 of a table and 1 chair. Using that limitation, Panda Arcade created a themed display that blocks out other competing games from taking up your attention, and invites you into the space. I’m impressed… now I just need to ask them how they did it!

I’m definitely taking notes for future Where Shadows Slumber shows…

Honorable Mention: Last Pirate

Finally, this pirate game was a little odd and I’m not really sure what was going on, but his setup was pretty good. A pirate pistol, a box of gold coins, and plenty of signs – honorable mention for you, pirate game! Last Pirate is a survival game where you’re stuck on a deserted island, forced to survive using only your rusty hook-hand and your wits. (The developer showed me the game and chopped down a tree with his hook, then got killed by a wild boar. 10/10 would be a pirate again)

The pirate’s life for me! Check it out on the Google Play store, it has a ton of downloads so far.

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Where Shadows Slumber is now available for purchase on the App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon App Store!

Find out more about our game at WhereShadowsSlumber.com, ask us on Twitter (@GameRevenant), Facebook, itch.io, and feel free to email us directly at contact@GameRevenant.com.

Frank DiCola is the founder of Game Revenant and the artist for Where Shadows Slumber.

See You Saturday at Spring Play 2019!

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This Saturday there’s a huge Playcrafting event happening at the Microsoft Center in Times Square. We’re going to be showing off Where Shadows Slumber, and perhaps doing a bit more PC testing… don’t miss it! If you’re a fan of indie games and local businesses, you can get into this event entirely FREE! You just need to register for the event, which you can do here.

Video games are taking over the Microsoft office in Times Square for an all-out Expo celebrating local developers! Join us for a day of games, pizza and fun. All ages are welcome. We hope you can join us for our biggest seasonal gathering!


Over 100 game developers will be showing off their latest games one-on-one to a crowd of up to 1000 people. For developers, this is a great opportunity to show off their games (finished or unfinished) and get direct feedback from players. For everyone else, it’s a unique opportunity to try out the biggest collection of games made in and around NYC all in one place. More games being added daily.

We could use some more testing on computers, so swing by our table even if you’ve played the game before!

Robert Adams of Tech Raptor has a good article about what you can look forward to at this event right here. He also mentioned us specifically!

“Where Shadows Slumber is a lovely puzzle game in the style of Monument Valley that we really liked. It’s great if you love puzzle games on mobile devices! We also interviewed them at Play NYC in 2018.”

Robert N. Adams of TechRaptor

I can’t say enough good things about Playcrafting. If I keep promoting them, Dan’s going to have to bring me onto the payroll at this time. But seriously – even if you’re not ready to show off your game yet, I strongly recommend these events for developers. If you can get into New York City by car, train, or bus, then GET HERE! It’s never too late to join the community.

What our game looked like back then…

It’s never too early, either. Jack and I have been going to these since 2016, if you can believe that. It was this very event (Spring Play) where we first showed off the Where Shadows Slumber Demo and started to get noticed. Robert says as much in one of his many articles about the game:

“…a game called Where Shadows Slumber had caught my attention at the 2016 Playcrafting Spring Expo. I got a card from the developer and decided to keep an eye on the game while it was under development.”

Robert N. Adams of TechRaptor

You never know who will be at these events, or what connections you’ll make with unlikely people. Hope to see you there!

Don’t forget to RSVP on Facebook too, and share the event!

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Where Shadows Slumber is now available for purchase on the App Store, Google Play, and the Amazon App Store!

Find out more about our game at WhereShadowsSlumber.com, ask us on Twitter (@GameRevenant), Facebook, itch.io, and feel free to email us directly at contact@GameRevenant.com.

Frank DiCola is the founder of Game Revenant and the artist for Where Shadows Slumber.

Where Shadows Slumber, out on Android!

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The long(er) wait is over… Where Shadows Slumber is finally out on Android worldwide! Download the game from our Google Play page by clicking the link below:

STORE: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gamerevenant.whereshadowsslumber&hl=en

If you’d like an easier link to share with your friends, try this one:

SHORT LINK: bit.ly/WSS-Android

We want to extend a very hearty “thank you” to all of you Android gamers who patiently waited for our game to launch on your platform. It’s a shame we couldn’t do the App Store and Google play at the same exact time, but this strategy was a bit easier on our small indie team.

Note: If you get a strange message that the game needs to access the storage on your device, you can press “Deny” and the game will still work. We’re looking into why that false alarm is being triggered.

 

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We Need Your Help!

First and foremost, grab a cup of tea and curl up on the couch with Where Shadows Slumber. You’ve waited a long time to play this, and we spent a long time working on it. You deserve to savor the moment.

When you’re done with that, go leave a 5 star review on the game’s store page! Look at it right now. One review?* Get in there, people! Let’s make this as popular as Monument Valley so Jack can retire and fulfill his lifelong dream of replacing author Stephen King and taking over his life without anyone noticing o_o. That’s a secret, but you read these blog posts for inside information, right? We trust you.

Seriously, go leave a review and share this link with your friends:

bit.ly/WSS-Android

 

*One review written by me.

 

Share The Trailer!

It’s always good to share some beautiful artwork of the game with your friends, instead of just shouting at them. Here’s the YouTube link to our promo video. Check it out, and share it on Facebook or Twitter! You can also boost our original post if you want to see how many Shares we can rack up on that bad boy.

 

Amazon Is Happening!

As we speak, our game is chugging along in Amazon’s review process. It’ll be there for another day at least, so if you have a Kindle… just wait longer! You’ve waited all this time, what’s one more day? If you want, you can keep furiously scanning the store page. It may randomly show up sometime during the evening!

Don’t worry – the game is coming to the Amazon App Store. I can’t promise that anyone will actually buy it there, considering it’s the smallest market, but it’s coming! Maybe we should have a stretch goal if we sell 10 units?

 

Thank you for your patience, Androids of the world. Your time to rise up and take your rightful place is finally here! We hope you enjoy the game [ ^_^]

 

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Where Shadows Slumber is now available for purchase on the App Store and Google Play!

Find out more about our game at WhereShadowsSlumber.com, ask us on Twitter (@GameRevenant), Facebook, itch.io, or Twitch, and feel free to email us directly at contact@GameRevenant.com.

Frank DiCola is the founder of Game Revenant and the artist for Where Shadows Slumber.

Patch Notes: Build 1.0.5

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Patch 1.0.5 is out on the App Store right now! Here’s a quick look at what that means, plus an update on our upcoming Android release.

 

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What’s In This Patch

These changes are available right now to anyone who has Where Shadows Slumber on iOS. Go to the App Store and re-download the game if it doesn’t automatically update.

Draggables

We’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the past month about our draggable touch control scheme. For the uninitiated, draggables are those glowing square pieces in the game that you can move by dragging them with your finger. (Hence, the shorthand “draggable”) It wasn’t clear why some people didn’t like the way we had it set up, but it seemed like everyone had a different understanding of how these objects should move under their control.

I’m not entirely sure what Jack did to rewrite it, but they feel great right now. Give it a shot! I’d say that’s worth buying the game over, if you haven’t already 😉 In particular, those draggable pieces that rotate have been made much smoother. If you gave us a review that mentioned this issue, we ask that you try the game again and reconsider your review.

Language Availability

This “fix” didn’t really address a bug, but rather addressed something I screwed up when I first uploaded Where Shadows Slumber to iTunes Connect before our iOS launch. I assumed that Apple would recognize the language options in our game (we have 11 languages besides English you can play the game in) but that’s not how this works. In Xcode, you need to manually set which language options are in your game. Otherwise, your game will only show customers that “English” is an option.

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I had a feeling this was hurting our sales. Also, it really bugged me. So I changed that too! Now it properly shows the language options on the App Store when you go to see the game’s page. Let’s hope the Germans in Germany and the Japanese in Japan don’t feel left out anymore…

This patch also fixed some small visual errors in a few Levels – the kind of thing we would notice, but players probably never saw. The big thing in this patch was the draggables. No other patches are planned at the moment, but we’ll see if anything else breaks I guess!

 

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Prepare Yourselves For Android!

At this point, Jack has tested the game on dozens of Android devices using a simulator service we got from Amazon Web Services. Along with the positive feedback we got from our free beta, we’re happy to report that the game is ready for prime-time and has received the “green light” – Where Shadows Slumber is launching on Android November 20th! Of course, you can still sign up for the beta right here, as we’ll be updating it on launch day to direct everyone toward the full release. That’s a good way to make sure you don’t miss out on the day 1 insanity!

So far, 3,833 of you have graced our beta with your presence! We hit our cap a few times and had to keep raising it, so it’s at 5,500 now. I doubt we’ll get that many people, but we’ll see…

 

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Supanova Brisbane, Here I Come!

I’m writing this blog post from the rainforests of Mt. Ommaney, Brisbane, Australia. The screeches of exotic birds outside my window was soothing, until a local told me that was actually the sound of two possums fighting each other on the roof. Easy come, easy go I suppose.

The Australians I’ve met on my trip so far keep asking me: why did I choose Adelaide and Brisbane to visit instead of Melbourne and Syndey? The answer is Supanova, of course! Supanova is a comic & gaming convention series native to Australia, and they allow game developers to show off their work in the Artist’s Alley. I just came from Supanova Adelaide this past weekend, and I’m heading to Supanova Brisbane on Friday. Here’s the address:

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC)
Merivale St, South Brisbane
Queensland 4101

If you’re reading this and you’re coming to the show, the first thing I want to say is “what are the odds of that? Wow!” The next thing I want to say is “come say hi to me!” I’ll be in the Artist’s Alley. You’ll recognize my table because it will have a bunch of mobile devices running Where Shadows Slumber. If you’re in line to get Dean Cain’s autograph, you’ve gone too far.

See you there?

 

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Where Shadows Slumber is now available on the App Store! bit.ly/WSS-iOS

Find out more about our game at WhereShadowsSlumber.com, ask us on Twitter (@GameRevenant), Facebook, itch.io, or Twitch, and feel free to email us directly at contact@GameRevenant.com.

Frank DiCola is the founder of Game Revenant and the artist for Where Shadows Slumber.