Although we’ve been flat out making our escapeVektor: Chapter 1 and Spirit Hunters Inc games, we haven’t forgotten our fans who have downloaded Pop & Pop Lite on their iPhones. We’ve just released new updates of both games; we’ve streamlined the UI so there are less screens to move through, fixed a music issue on the iPod app while playing the game, and squashed some minor bugs for earlier iPhone models.

If you haven’t yet downloaded Pop, Pop Lite or our other app Pop Chill, then why not head straight to the iTunes store to have a look at our award winning game.

Wednesday June 8th – Sony Talks, Redheads, & some Press Love

The first meeting of the day was with Sony to discuss the potential for working together. We are very excited by the Playstation Vita and we think it would fit well with some of our existing software and with our ideas for the future. Being able to make initial contact with both Microsoft & Sony at the same event was a real bonus for us this year. We’re very excited about all the different directions we might be able to go in future. (more…)

After the positive reception we received from our GDC Diary blogs earlier in the year, we decided to write another covering our experiences at E3 in June.

The Kings of Geeks

In the weeks before the conference our focus was to get our games into a state where we could showcase our latest builds. We had to ensure that all the new features we had in Spirit Hunters Inc were coded into a playable state. As escapeVektor: Chapter 1 was being bug tested, we were keen to have all bugs fixed so that we could show the final version in LA.

Unlike GDC, there were no formal press interviews being set up but we were still keen to show the press the latest builds of our games. Renting a booth at the show is way too expensive for a small developer like Nnooo, and if we were to do this we would need to have someone staffing it at all times which is just not practical for us. We needed another way to reach out to our press contacts which would not cost an arm and a leg. We also wanted to meet up again with the other Nintendo indie devs who we met at GDC. We thought it would be cool if we brought everybody together in one place. Then we could show everyone what we were working on and introduce our indie mates to some press contacts. (more…)

We’ve always thought Mark Serrels from Kotaku Australia was an entertaining journalist so when he won Best Games Journalist at this year’s Australia/New Zealand IT Journalism Awards, we weren’t really surprised. We’ve been trying to get Mark round to our office for a while now but his busy schedule has made it difficult. However, he managed to find some time to visit a few weeks ago and this entertaining and informative article is the result. We really like it!

An Audience With Nnooo: EscapeVektor, Spirit Hunters And Designing Games With Post-It Notes

Australian-based developer Nnooo recently invited us to visit its studio, based in Pyrmont, Sydney, to talk game development, taking risks, and how to design a video game using Post-It notes.

Post-It notes. Everywhere you look. Impossible to escape. Covered in silhouettes, random designs, mazes, outlines. Organised in shapes. Meta Post-It notes – not just for scribbles, but for the framework of things. Master plans doused in yellow. A yellow-print.

I’ve just entered Nnooo headquarters. A handshake from Creative Director Nic Watt later and I’m drawn to the main wall of the office. I walk past in a hypnotic daze, almost cutting Nic off mid-sentence – “why are all these Post-It notes on the wall,” I mutter absently, to no-one in particular. “What do they mean…”

My eyes begin scouring, entranced in this sea of yellow and biro.

Click here for the rest of Mark’s article

At GDC this year, Nic was interviewed by Electric Playground (see our GDC Diary, part 3). EP is a Vancouver based TV show which covers movies, other TV shows, comic books, collectibles and gadgets. The interview went so well they sent their Sydney based team down to our office to interview Nic about Spirit Hunters Inc. (more…)

One of the great things about being in the US for E3 was that we were able to get our hands on June’s edition of Nintendo Power magazine. We love Nintendo Power but we love June’s edition even more than usual. “Why is this?” you may ask. Well, because it features 2 articles on our upcoming games, that’s why!

Have a look at the Spirit Hunters Inc and the escapeVektor: Chapter 1 articles below. Just click on each image to make it bigger.

Another one of our GDC interviews has recently appeared online. This one is a podcast interview with the Experimental Game Dev Podcast Show (see our GDC Diary, Part 2). In it, Nic & Bruce talk about why we developed the myLifeCollected range for DSiWare and how these apps influenced the making of Spirit Hunters Inc. We also talk about Pop/Pop Plus: Solo and escapeVektor, and why we make games for consoles rather than mobile phones or PCs.

Click here to be taken to the podcast

Now that Nintendo’s eShop has arrived, there is a fantastic range of highly quality, great value DSiWare titles which can be downloaded on to your 3DS. One of these is our very own Pop Plus: Solo. We think it’s a great game, full of challenging content with 8 different play modes, 4  boss battles, bonus rounds, powerups and over eighty badges to collect. But then maybe we’re biased. We did make the game after all!

Well, Nintendo of Europe have included Pop Plus: Solo in their recommended DSiWare titles promotion, so they must like it. Also, games site Vooks consider it one of “The best DSiWare games that deserve a place on your Nintendo 3DS”, so they seem to like it too. Not convinced yet? Well, Pop Plus: Solo also features in “Wiiloveit’s Best of DSiWare”.

If that’s not enough to persuade you, why not take a look at Nintendo Life’s review of Pop Plus: Solo when it originally came out for DSiWare. They scored the game 9/10, and said “It goes without saying that Pop Plus: Solo is a highly recommended purchase, there are very few other games on the DSiWare service that come close to matching the extremely high quality of this title.”

Given these recommendations and the great value that the game represents, isn’t it time you took a look for yourself? Go on, you know you want to!

Oh, and one last thing. If you do download it, or any of our other DSiWare software, on to your 3DS, be sure and rate it so that others can hear about it too.

As always, we really appreciate the support of our existing and new fans. Thank you all very much.

When we were at E3 in LA last week, we bumped into Corbie Dillard from Nintendo Life and we took the opportunity to show him our latest build of Spirit Hunters Inc. We had been working on getting a playable version of the game ready for E3 and this latest build is far more advanced than the one we had at GDC in San Francisco in March. We were delighted with Corbie’s reaction to the game and he liked it so much he decided to do a First Impressions feature for Nintendo Life. Here’s what Corbie thought. (more…)

We went to E3 in LA to meet the major console manufacturers and check out the latest video game developments, including Nintendo’s Wii U. On the night before the conference we held a drinks reception for press and some of our closest Nintendo indie developer mates. Justin Berube from games site Rip Ten came along to our drinks and took a look at escapeVektor: Chapter 1. This is what he thought. (more…)