Development Year in Review 2015

We can't find out what's wrong or what went well if we don't take time to see what we've done!<br />With that, let's look at what Mommy's Best Games did in 2015!<br /><br />We released a new game this year, <b><i>Finger Derpy</i></b>. We also re-released 4 of our classic games, as enhanced ports to Steam, and called it the "Mommy's Best Action Pack". <br /><br /><h3>January</h3><i><b><a href="http://www.pigeatball.com/">Pig Eat Ball</a></b></i> is the main project, but after talking to Nintendo and Sony and wanting to have the game on those platforms, it's clear we can't do it as it stands. The game is written in Java and simply won't run on consoles. I talk to John Meister from nearby game group <a href="http://supersoul.co/">Super Soul</a> and we start working together. His team starts to port the game to Unity. This will allow us to more easily choose what <i>Pig Eat Ball</i> is available on.<br /><br />In the meantime I start heavily working on <a href="http://www.mommysbestgames.com/fingerderpy.html"><i>Finger Derpy</i></a>. Matthew and Andrew continue work on <i>Pig Eat Ball</i> core content. This means Matthew is writing code for new gameplay objects, and Andrew is designing and building new levels.<br /><h3>February</h3>I focus on <i>Finger Derpy</i> and getting deals with local businesses to support the game. <a href="http://mommysbestgames.com/Presskit/sheet.php?p=finger_derpy">Here in the presskit</a>, you can read more about our integration with Louisville landmarks.<br /><h3>March</h3>More of the same, development wise.<br />Plus we show our games at the Louisville Arcade Expo!<br /><br /><h3>April</h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGqteKVfThklt9JGoFiiSforsPOhCKIPGxWRIrJfokbWqxEpH4Nyjy4ZMGzRdRXlbPkhMJK78dOoH0knWG1xVHNrDw9G9mDt_YqyHX_2EWdVFCkySxJPd_JoDCLQx4XsPuT6qia_bxrcpo/s1600/fingerderpy_tile_android4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGqteKVfThklt9JGoFiiSforsPOhCKIPGxWRIrJfokbWqxEpH4Nyjy4ZMGzRdRXlbPkhMJK78dOoH0knWG1xVHNrDw9G9mDt_YqyHX_2EWdVFCkySxJPd_JoDCLQx4XsPuT6qia_bxrcpo/s200-rw/fingerderpy_tile_android4.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finger Derpy launched April 9th</td></tr></tbody></table>Released <i>Finger Derpy</i>! First to iOS on the 9th, then to Google Play on the 19th. We held our big "Chomp the BIT" launch party that Friday. We organized the event in which 25 local developers showed off their games at an arcade bar in town.<br />Apple featured the game in the App Store as a 'Best New Game' which was a big deal and really helped downloads. <br />Also youtuber 'Cuqquake' featured the game, got plenty of views, and we've gotten a decent number of user reviews saying they saw the game on her channel.<br /><br /><h3><br /></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNLzyTAGXJaOIoZfr_VrQXNP7gv1AC40dURgA8wD9NdqBBWJ6y_8qX30mqSuXHD0ndWAygic0wj0ouPziU2lNUMECY_uPYBe1O6uxFqPzmC6WAh36MYGV-DQLwI2Z007wwUL6x2LN1Sko/s1600/EventsAprilMay.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNLzyTAGXJaOIoZfr_VrQXNP7gv1AC40dURgA8wD9NdqBBWJ6y_8qX30mqSuXHD0ndWAygic0wj0ouPziU2lNUMECY_uPYBe1O6uxFqPzmC6WAh36MYGV-DQLwI2Z007wwUL6x2LN1Sko/s400-rw/EventsAprilMay.png" width="400" /></a></div><h3>May</h3>During April and May we showed Finger Derpy at 10 local shows (in 5 weeks). It was exhausting. Between all of them, the Pegasus Preview Parade and the Thunderblast were beneficial in terms of download numbers. I think this was a matter of 'correct engagement' with large crowds that actually were interested in games.<br /><b>Some of the events we showed the game at just had lots of drunken people.</b> There was high traffic, but low interest/engagement/memory retention. Just because there's lots of people at an event doesn't mean you should show your game there.<br /><br /><h3>June</h3>Started porting the Mommy's Best Action Pack to Steam. This involved changing the games <i>Weapon of Choice</i>, <i>Shoot 1UP</i>, <i>Explosionade</i>, and <i>Game Type</i>, and making them great Steam ports. These games were all originally released between 2008 and 2011. They were made in XNA.<br />This involved adding lots of extra, though small features, which takes time. Some of the games did get new content as well, such as the collectible MBG pies in <i>Weapon of Choice</i>.<br />Scott Slucher from the U of L area started as a coop student working on the port.<br /><br /><h3>July</h3>MBG Action Pack porting by Scott and myself.<br />I also help Andrew and Matthew continue on PEB. We try to limit too much extra additions because John has to constantly port things from the old Java to the new, half-working Unity build.<br /><br /><h3>August</h3>Much of the same as July.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWIogJez314rPuGuuq1V4mKx29-lHTAerZqxTPp1MDegHp8mezNIuHDSPb6DQfpsk5ofVt20BX-NKSBd5rFqDxCF4lpp950pGc2R_Vxb0UnwOeNxqwWRP7m-s1qNbGirFNieVPA2Epmli/s1600/MBG_Actionpack_art_outnow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWIogJez314rPuGuuq1V4mKx29-lHTAerZqxTPp1MDegHp8mezNIuHDSPb6DQfpsk5ofVt20BX-NKSBd5rFqDxCF4lpp950pGc2R_Vxb0UnwOeNxqwWRP7m-s1qNbGirFNieVPA2Epmli/s400-rw/MBG_Actionpack_art_outnow.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><h3>September</h3>Shipped the <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/sub/76770/">Mommy's Best Action Pack</a> on September 23rd!<br /><br />For Pig Eat Ball, we're continuing to wait on the Unity build to be finished and usable on our side. Until we can write new code in the actual Unity build and until I can give Andrew the level editor that way, we have to continue with the Java build, which is tough having two versions being developed.<br />  <br /><h3>November </h3><i>Finger Derpy</i> Thanksgiving update!<br />Got featured again by Cupquake, definitely helped our player numbers.<br />Working on <i>Pig Eat Ball</i> gameplay in Java, as the Unity build continues.<br />Steam Autumn sale for MBG Action Pack. <br /><br /><h3>December</h3><i>Finger Derpy</i> Winter update! <br />Unfortunately no big youtubers covered it, but the numbers were up through Christmas.<br />Working on <i>Pig Eat Ball</i> gameplay as the Unity build continues.<br />Steam Holiday sale for MBG Action Pack. <br /><h4></h4><h3>Finances</h3>This was our most prolific game year, if you look at straight 'games shipped'--we ported 4 games and released 1 new game. So 5 games were released in this year. <b>But this was our worst year financially.</b><br /><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/111600/"><i>Serious Sam Double D XXL</i></a> continues to sell well and supports us, but it's sales are slowly declining.<br />In years past we were releasing one big game every two years. 2011 was Serious Sam DD to Steam, and 2013 was Serious Sam DD XXL to XBLA and then back to Steam (with lots more content).<br />2015 should have been <i>Pig Eat Ball</i>, in theory, but it's simply not finished. So instead, we released a free-to-play game, with ad-supported revenue and In-App Purchases, but while it made some money, it has still not covered it's development costs. Then we also released 4 ports of our older games, but they did not sell as well as hoped.<br /><br /><h3>2016</h3>The good news for January is Super Soul finished the Unity port and the game works great! We're working on the game now in Unity and things are moving swiftly. <br />This is the year for <i>Pig Eat Ball</i>.<br />Let's make it great, and get it out the door!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwuYmk5V-bKevn5GIeBjBJFQC-mNMMsnIDFk46Y5fejFokDDImr6eSQrjRQCTvEjCjUUxBh0pS1emU6aqyeKsuWdW9CZ2mVGJmVTrSY38zDDyl06FIzRhKj8PhUB-a_tyJuPXBN7PXMQY/s1600/PigEatBallBow_medium_circle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwuYmk5V-bKevn5GIeBjBJFQC-mNMMsnIDFk46Y5fejFokDDImr6eSQrjRQCTvEjCjUUxBh0pS1emU6aqyeKsuWdW9CZ2mVGJmVTrSY38zDDyl06FIzRhKj8PhUB-a_tyJuPXBN7PXMQY/s320-rw/PigEatBallBow_medium_circle.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />

Development Year in Review 2015

We can't find out what's wrong or what went well if we don't take time to see what we've done! With that, let's look at ...

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Action Pack New Features

We recently released our classic action games to Steam in the Mommy's Best Action Pack. The games are available individually or in this handy bundle: <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/sub/76770/">http://store.steampowered.com/sub/76770/</a><br /> But these aren't just straight ports--they're new, improved, and super high quality PC entertainment! <br />Assuming you already know about the original releases, I'll detail what's new in the Steam versions.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: center;"><i>Weapon of Choice</i></h3>Store link:  <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373600">http://store.steampowered.com/app/373600</a><br /><h4>All New Achievements </h4>This game never had Achievements, as such, everything in it is new! Of course, there are some easy ones (such as saving an operative) and some very tough ones. A few of the most difficult Achievements involve getting really skilled at using Xerxes and his Jet Engine gun. Those are 'Snappy Start' which is a speed run of the first level, and 'Airtime' which requires you to float through level 1 to the boss, without touching the ground!<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLvNzx7EHeGNqL7ghNbZbaauuoK7eczPrmqqu9p9RjvZEx98IASY8diSSYpjspvlnk-lcsIaF5jwh3pon1hpfci8xldDGnyXvElhyfFQWpFAC4azaNINl8LLm0BbqldIaAh95wPv6Qv3M/s1600/WoCGame+2015-10-29+11-18-30-89.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLvNzx7EHeGNqL7ghNbZbaauuoK7eczPrmqqu9p9RjvZEx98IASY8diSSYpjspvlnk-lcsIaF5jwh3pon1hpfci8xldDGnyXvElhyfFQWpFAC4azaNINl8LLm0BbqldIaAh95wPv6Qv3M/s320-rw/WoCGame+2015-10-29+11-18-30-89.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Airtime will take some serious practice!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The most involved Achievement, which really changes the game, is 'Tasty'. This requires you to find 13 hidden MBG pies scattered throughout all the levels. Don't worry, it's not impossible, as there is a list that is shown on the title screen, once you find your first pie, to help you know where to look. "Out of reach places" are a good place to start!<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKL2X1ODjWCgVsQnWu-inj5MzaFkZtAIDsST0C7Ej0PO9GUs5gXo7sOPLCrocoUGtiFGcNWJ9GBuO2yi2Ll_O_Y3hvkqmWtglS6CzcqS5eVyphPUigRAaPVP5bBOPvt3LFqBkSVBcbJ-qb/s1600/WoCGame+2015-10-29+11-17-00-63.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKL2X1ODjWCgVsQnWu-inj5MzaFkZtAIDsST0C7Ej0PO9GUs5gXo7sOPLCrocoUGtiFGcNWJ9GBuO2yi2Ll_O_Y3hvkqmWtglS6CzcqS5eVyphPUigRAaPVP5bBOPvt3LFqBkSVBcbJ-qb/s320-rw/WoCGame+2015-10-29+11-17-00-63.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pie list</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmdcTLarSzlWJLacw96hSdXv-a9k0HC0UulsyKQ1CxvYLy31q9vXavk-J_3undMoMm39gaDLLN4k2inV_smSvQQ6E268OU7CW7D_8Kbb3qRUMV_qv2z8CNlgxM41IyLDRF2-d7KI2J4JT/s1600/WoCGame+2015-10-29+11-13-12-75.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmdcTLarSzlWJLacw96hSdXv-a9k0HC0UulsyKQ1CxvYLy31q9vXavk-J_3undMoMm39gaDLLN4k2inV_smSvQQ6E268OU7CW7D_8Kbb3qRUMV_qv2z8CNlgxM41IyLDRF2-d7KI2J4JT/s320-rw/WoCGame+2015-10-29+11-13-12-75.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one's a gimmie! Go get it!</td></tr></tbody></table>Here's a list of more features added to the Steam version of <b>Weapon of Choice</b>:<br /><ul><li>Increased player run speed</li><li>Increased resolution in new, widescreen view </li><li>Keyboard controls (in addition to the original Xbox controller option)</li><li>Fully remappable buttons and inputs  </li><li>Steam features: Achievements, Trading Cards, and Steam Cloud for saves</li></ul>Speaking of which, the Trading Cards and backgrounds are awesome! Enjoy!<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80j0VYzDuAmKcE7_btQJSihavRtUDlc02wb1HfwAi1BnZ4vR6sFs5VyWEyTo-WlixPtY8bz5Sxxcg4PtSval2tqDjnSc7yJaswzVc7xt33rEwWSJCWqMgfALKX_hMfIhdVXb2gyWKSztZ/s1600/profile_background3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80j0VYzDuAmKcE7_btQJSihavRtUDlc02wb1HfwAi1BnZ4vR6sFs5VyWEyTo-WlixPtY8bz5Sxxcg4PtSval2tqDjnSc7yJaswzVc7xt33rEwWSJCWqMgfALKX_hMfIhdVXb2gyWKSztZ/s320-rw/profile_background3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moses Longhorn, taking care of business</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: center;"><i>Explosionade</i></h3>Store link:  <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373620">http://store.steampowered.com/app/373620</a> <br /><h4>New Enemies and Level Layouts</h4>The main issue I had with <b>Explosionade </b>was it was a little easy and didn't have enough unique monsters. I made sure to address that in this new version! There are now nearly double the basic enemy types from the original release! The levels, especially in Serious mode, have all been re-tuned to feature some of the new creatures and bump up the difficulty a bit. The nastiest ones are Horronym Bruisers with the laser cannon. They are relentless and require some real strategy to knock them out of their foxholes.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJ-uE3Mbh91_KToTl6jKeZt3JE6xVCGEmkYX_VXSPJ-47rTYY4CuMSfTNr-aB22jQo79W4B1DsaC0mF8eIsYy56sLtqQAWrf8rGRTPlaD0azo-Fx3x-zA6yTiwMu2nhNPUFcgmvvkB4CI/s1600/Explosionade+2015-10-24+15-24-17-19.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJ-uE3Mbh91_KToTl6jKeZt3JE6xVCGEmkYX_VXSPJ-47rTYY4CuMSfTNr-aB22jQo79W4B1DsaC0mF8eIsYy56sLtqQAWrf8rGRTPlaD0azo-Fx3x-zA6yTiwMu2nhNPUFcgmvvkB4CI/s320-rw/Explosionade+2015-10-24+15-24-17-19.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That laser Bruiser will take you down a notch!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAtRGxCbrGhO6lkJMpT9GCA7qiJYP8jB7OKLuxBl2R8TJu5oMh260t9OLbeyuPEY7e7E15MVCMfPDDJ3mOXfnjWEj3Jl9QzM6KvUB3RBMbC4Xij8Xe5YrvXx9HMDIHPqeDd6CXb4okHxw/s1600/Explosionade+2015-09-22+10-54-03-29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghAtRGxCbrGhO6lkJMpT9GCA7qiJYP8jB7OKLuxBl2R8TJu5oMh260t9OLbeyuPEY7e7E15MVCMfPDDJ3mOXfnjWEj3Jl9QzM6KvUB3RBMbC4Xij8Xe5YrvXx9HMDIHPqeDd6CXb4okHxw/s320-rw/Explosionade+2015-09-22+10-54-03-29.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new Jellies tend to take over you if you don't keep their numbers in check. </td></tr></tbody></table><h4>Practice Mode</h4>There is now a rich Practice menu system, that let's you select any level, in any difficulty you've already reached, so that you can practice your strategy for the highest score. Whether you want to go for all kills, or go for fastest time, this is the way to climb the leaderboards.<br /><br />More features added now to the Steam version of <b>Explosionade</b>:<br /><ul><li>Improved grenades for better control (you can hold them longer, letting them bounce even further if you want.)  </li><li>Color adjustment to player 2 for better visibility;  laser sight on the mech to improve aiming</li><li>Keyboard controls (in addition to the original Xbox controller option)</li><li>Fully remappable buttons and inputs  </li><li>Steam features: Leaderboards per difficulty, Achievements, Trading Cards, and Steam Cloud for saves</li></ul><br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: center;"><i>Shoot 1UP</i> </h3>Store link:  <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373610">http://store.steampowered.com/app/373610</a><br /><br /><h4>New Accessibility Modes</h4>Since it's launch <b>Shoot 1UP</b> has been considered by the accessibility world (from One Switch to Able Gamers) as a great shmup with wonderful accessibility features for disabled gamers. We've continued to extend the reach, with new "Goof Off Mode". This changes the game, so it spawns 1UPs at a more frequent rate, making it easier to get to 30 or even 60 ships. <br />This new mode is perfect for young kids, playing when you're tired, or playing with a casual (non-gamer) friend. The Leaderboards won't register your score, since you're sort of cheating, but it's a lot of fun, and a good way to practice later levels.<br /><br />There is also the new "Turn-Based Mode", which pauses the game when no input is given. This allows novice or disabled gamers a break, to take it all in first, then make their move (which resumes the action). If you're moving or shooting, the game plays as normal, but as soon as you let off of either, the game pauses for you to start again.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghT6ppoqq-46MBRQ_dhkKopV4KSPcjABuVt-w43h3Sh9Ih99tJxkzmSiPZMuysq13uMkmIIbkFG5INJ6DQsTUTkLCOkCL252fTlqsjEtrsdCDpwM97s096YRdz9s-4nDyZL6oJWqYOz45g/s1600/Shoot1UP+2015-10-29+11-32-07-05.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghT6ppoqq-46MBRQ_dhkKopV4KSPcjABuVt-w43h3Sh9Ih99tJxkzmSiPZMuysq13uMkmIIbkFG5INJ6DQsTUTkLCOkCL252fTlqsjEtrsdCDpwM97s096YRdz9s-4nDyZL6oJWqYOz45g/s320-rw/Shoot1UP+2015-10-29+11-32-07-05.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New selection options</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLHZPLJrxnYb4d4MgG2cAva6lgEAPImVwB7JWyUWuNcL7jnZoJ7cFvMrsnOSMQTURVtU6laFDwckKKTidsygk2d9E09cpTMHvGRhGkCFyoLldMrnGe_qZmh1AjhFSlqxVBGMsCx7a3ovp/s1600/Shoot1UP+2015-10-03+16-47-20-78.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkLHZPLJrxnYb4d4MgG2cAva6lgEAPImVwB7JWyUWuNcL7jnZoJ7cFvMrsnOSMQTURVtU6laFDwckKKTidsygk2d9E09cpTMHvGRhGkCFyoLldMrnGe_qZmh1AjhFSlqxVBGMsCx7a3ovp/s320-rw/Shoot1UP+2015-10-03+16-47-20-78.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Goof Off mode, it's easy and fun to get to max ships fast. </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Additional<b> Shoot 1UP</b> features for the Steam version<br /><ul><li>Improved 'score drop' art</li><li>Warning prompts for enemies coming from the sides or bottom.</li><li>Option to *add* more clothing to the robo-girls in Hao.</li><li>Keyboard controls (in addition to the original Xbox controller option)</li><li>Fully remappable buttons and inputs  </li><li>Steam features: Leaderboards per difficulty, Achievements, Trading Cards, and Steam Cloud for saves</li></ul><br /><h3 style="text-align: center;"><i>Game Type</i></h3>Store link:  <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373630">http://store.steampowered.com/app/373630 </a><br /><h4>New Boss</h4>There is now an actual boss to fight in <b>Game Type</b>, and it is of course, the cat from Cat Chat. He hides behind a desk, throwing out different paw, and hairball attacks, along with calling for his tiny, cat minions. The Cat Chat boss shows up at the end of every 3rd loop.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsaSNjoqBCep48CZO-hvLcnki7VYTGoQS7w8bStsrhGzvs-DMbUFx8NaUz2mwbiRSkJjg8ozKRJe9ejnW2GxN98MhOA8eyt8a8vpWK1gN7T8Fct6hnKFzzG8rBRUa_QGTRxmn91QEseHfD/s1600/GameType+2015-10-29+11-42-36-12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsaSNjoqBCep48CZO-hvLcnki7VYTGoQS7w8bStsrhGzvs-DMbUFx8NaUz2mwbiRSkJjg8ozKRJe9ejnW2GxN98MhOA8eyt8a8vpWK1gN7T8Fct6hnKFzzG8rBRUa_QGTRxmn91QEseHfD/s320-rw/GameType+2015-10-29+11-42-36-12.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cat fight!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><h4>All New Achievements</h4>Like <b>Weapon of Choice</b>, <b>Game Type</b> never had Achievements for it's Xbox 360 release. Now it has plenty of extra challenges! There's several points-based goals of course, but there's also some fun to be had snooping around the faux Xbox 360 dashboard. <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsVU9cJu_vmpt6bIdc2UM_ZL8qEjgglZtlggaWVEkiy7NmGhO-qjlaFnkqEDR7A-wNt__OAtvztoPSzGCrk8CsjUKrcifz0fLMVvDXwwhY8eck9JX7_q9mqE5RXWEI80WKI-F9Lq76xJEg/s1600/GameType+2015-10-29+11-38-22-20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsVU9cJu_vmpt6bIdc2UM_ZL8qEjgglZtlggaWVEkiy7NmGhO-qjlaFnkqEDR7A-wNt__OAtvztoPSzGCrk8CsjUKrcifz0fLMVvDXwwhY8eck9JX7_q9mqE5RXWEI80WKI-F9Lq76xJEg/s320-rw/GameType+2015-10-29+11-38-22-20.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New Achievements Menu</td></tr></tbody></table><h4>Rebalanced</h4>The entire game is much more interesting, and playable for the long term as I worked with playtesters from the hardcore shmup community. They really pushed on it, looking for spots where the game was too unpredictable to feel like you could improve at it, or areas that were slow, or boring, or needed clarity. We've improved many of the sprites for the bullets and enemies to make sure everything is easily visible, because when the game starts to *really* speed up around loop 6, you need all the clarity and focus you can muster.<br /><br /><br />More improvements for <b>Game Type</b> on Steam:<br /><ul><li>Keyboard controls (in addition to the original Xbox controller option)</li><li>Fully remappable buttons and inputs  </li><li>Steam features: Leaderboards for All Time and WEEKLY(!), Achievements, Trading Cards, and Steam Cloud for saves</li></ul><h3 style="text-align: center;">Mommy's Best Action Pack </h3>And that was just the enhanced features!<br />Make sure to check out the Steam pages for all the original features in each game. Happy shooting!

Action Pack New Features

We recently released our classic action games to Steam in the Mommy's Best Action Pack. The games are available individually or in this ...

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Case Study: One Game's Amazing Click-Rate on Steam

(Vagueness: The take-away points of this will be intact, but if I act vague about exact numbers or certain practices, it's because I don't want to violate the non-disclosure agreement we (and other developers) have with Valve regarding their store.)<br /><br /><h3>TL:DR</h3>That little, tiny strip of your game logo on Steam is really, really useful. Take a second look at it, and try to improve it to grab more eyes. Also, consider tweaking your Tags.<br />Unless you've released on Steam before, you probably don't know how extremely powerful that slot is.<br /><br />We had <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/sub/76770/">4 games released in one day</a>, and we compare and contrast why one game got a lot more clicks than others.<br /><h3>The Steam Front Page</h3>This article is about examining a tiny sliver of art which very much influences how much traffic ends up on your game's Steam page. As we can see by visiting the main page on Steam, there are several categories where games are shown.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz3WqsG3JQFopCbfjObCJV27uu6Vsec1qLDV35yHk4M88ljWMEPnn_GQd3hUIpvLe68uQ8W7FIuQuyfLUrK4gcZSQo-UXXtjGaNGIjpIV9fDChxByFC0oeGm8C6nC2oYKEToSLJFJdSXPN/s1600/steam_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz3WqsG3JQFopCbfjObCJV27uu6Vsec1qLDV35yHk4M88ljWMEPnn_GQd3hUIpvLe68uQ8W7FIuQuyfLUrK4gcZSQo-UXXtjGaNGIjpIV9fDChxByFC0oeGm8C6nC2oYKEToSLJFJdSXPN/s320-rw/steam_front.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front page on Steam, September 29th, 2015</td></tr></tbody></table><br />We can see the large, top part--currently it shows <i>80 Days</i>--which cycles through many games and the lower, smaller section that reads "New On Steam" just above.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAXoMpoqfpeITOu7ygzsvJtnLVrsKpmgNbEv98D-H5IjLcaELrCq0QQzJiaSa1zsoB-CYoUHjqnrxQpBAFIbcVevfPzrkhn0eSEstsUqlSBs4c2t-LnQII5DezoSD3pNCENQN8p0XEE0P/s1600/steam_frontB.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDAXoMpoqfpeITOu7ygzsvJtnLVrsKpmgNbEv98D-H5IjLcaELrCq0QQzJiaSa1zsoB-CYoUHjqnrxQpBAFIbcVevfPzrkhn0eSEstsUqlSBs4c2t-LnQII5DezoSD3pNCENQN8p0XEE0P/s640-rw/steam_frontB.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The valuable, New On Steam section.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This "New On Steam" part is where we'll focus on our time and thoughts, but let's first look at a few points.<br /><br /><h3>Front Page Flow</h3>Now, without running afoul of any agreements we have with Steam, we can still determine and talk about some interesting points. Anyone that spends some time analyzing the front page for a few days can see a pattern. If you keep track of games that show up on the Upcoming tab near the bottom, and then compare them to games in the New On Steam section above, you can see that it seems that games that went through the Upcoming section get some time in the New On Steam section. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBAFzWHw9mU9u6_gtcYukDit2A67QXvrfKmDsMN5pLqyNBhGvSLHGfp1Oc_6dq3QkwwEM3uCPvTYc2JqFN5NIp-QMkicy1Qs4l-_fs2m_99NDcpLzJ2v2y1TQYDviCFuup8wG8Fw6j9GP/s1600/steam_upcoming.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBAFzWHw9mU9u6_gtcYukDit2A67QXvrfKmDsMN5pLqyNBhGvSLHGfp1Oc_6dq3QkwwEM3uCPvTYc2JqFN5NIp-QMkicy1Qs4l-_fs2m_99NDcpLzJ2v2y1TQYDviCFuup8wG8Fw6j9GP/s320-rw/steam_upcoming.jpg" width="236" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Upcoming Games reasonably seem to show up in the New On Steam section.</td></tr></tbody></table>So we have the idea that, 'Upcoming Games' move to 'New On Steam'.<br /><br /><h3>Lots of Eyes</h3>Without saying how many potential times gamers could be shown your game banner, let me just assure you it's a substantial amount, that any developer would be happy to have.<br />It's a very nice setup, since independent of your marketing budget the New On Steam section affords (apparently?) every game an opportunity for a lot of people to see it.<br /><b>So, let's accept the assumption that the</b><b> New On Steam section is very valuable and powerful.</b><br /><br /><h3>High Traffic Analytics</h3>Once you have your game on Steam, you get access to some nice traffic analytics, breaking down how many people saw your game banner in the New On Steam section but also how many clicked on it. You get to see total views and total clicks.<br /><br />I'm personally in an uncommon situation, in that we recently ported <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/sub/76770/">4 of our popular XBLIG games to Steam</a>, and released them all on the same day. From that, I now have 4 data points from the same time period. While anyone could simply watch the Steam front page for a while and track how long games show up in the New On Steam section, I'll tell you, for us all 4 games stayed on there about 10 hours each.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFS8lpMfRmx5boaoBGmMxPkKnu4ZGAVAuooRyAWa8Vkgy8_Kpo5Vj80KPNgNEf0hpdqY5zP4k_hAlI5F1EVoPFrjXyEEUusL9NYapNeUwFEpSTvdgNbYyyCYzwF6NRg9RNglgWOe3plpLh/s1600/MBG_Actionpack_art_outnow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFS8lpMfRmx5boaoBGmMxPkKnu4ZGAVAuooRyAWa8Vkgy8_Kpo5Vj80KPNgNEf0hpdqY5zP4k_hAlI5F1EVoPFrjXyEEUusL9NYapNeUwFEpSTvdgNbYyyCYzwF6NRg9RNglgWOe3plpLh/s320-rw/MBG_Actionpack_art_outnow.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mommy's Best Action Pack promo</td></tr></tbody></table>Steam also shares with you the *average click-through rate of other games*.<br />One of our games matched this average.<br />Two of our games were nearly twice the average.<br /><b>And our final game had over *three and half* times the average number of clicks.</b><br /><br /><h3>The Click-Through Puzzle</h3>All of our games in the "<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/sub/76770/">Mommy's Best Action Pack</a>" were critically praised over the years. The popularity of the games goes in this order: <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373610/"><i>Shoot 1UP</i></a>, <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373600/"><i>Weapon of Choice</i></a>, <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373620/"><i>Explosionade</i></a>, and then <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/373630/"><i>Game Type</i></a>. <i>Game Type</i> is a fun but very strange game, plus it's an extremely niche 'caravan' style shoot 'em up. It never sold well, but it was respected.<br /><br />Of course one has to factor in 'brand awareness' when considering why someone would click on your game banner, after they see it. Maybe they've heard of it before and are interested! (That's of course exactly how brand awareness is supposed to work!)<br />Instead, in this case, the click-through breakdown went like this: <i>Game Type</i> had 3.5x the average number of click-throughs. Shoot 1UP and Weapon of Choice both were over the average at about 1.8x times. And Explosionade simply had an average number of click-throughs. <br /><br /><b>What does this mean?</b> For me it shows what I'd expect, that <i>Shoot 1UP</i> and <i>Weapon of Choice</i> had some brand recognition, and brought some people through to their game pages. This is good.<br /><br /><b>But the puzzle for you to consider is:</b> What happened to <i>Explosionade </i>(average click-through) and <i>Game Type</i> (amazing click through)?<br /><br /><h3>Compare and Contrast Clicks</h3>Obviously we all work hard to create the game logo and the title treatment. But the wide, small game banner used in the New On Steam section is tough. It's horizontal and it's small. You don't have a lot of space to show off your game... or do you? <br />I took this as an opportunity to consider the art used for each of my 4 games and you should look at yours as well.<br /><br />Here's what the banners for each game looked like at launch, during the traffic period in question.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xJ5J016pZgfP6YuY_vFudVntB2ylA1Po6PfOY_ACGBbnXHzfGVS-SFmxgo7cz-H5VgtwCTOErPeNAP14-OgCskNuPk08iwzlJMhBGb6xbmFIAZms5fWJUmCWps1r1QNYMCrMK4P0tGQ8/s1600/ActionpackBanners.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xJ5J016pZgfP6YuY_vFudVntB2ylA1Po6PfOY_ACGBbnXHzfGVS-SFmxgo7cz-H5VgtwCTOErPeNAP14-OgCskNuPk08iwzlJMhBGb6xbmFIAZms5fWJUmCWps1r1QNYMCrMK4P0tGQ8/s640-rw/ActionpackBanners.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original versions</td></tr></tbody></table>Here are my notes from looking at the art.<br />The <i>Explosionade</i> title takes up more room than any other game art here. <i>Game Type</i> text takes up the least space. <i>Weapon of Choice</i> and <i>Shoot 1UP</i> are very colorful by comparison, and bright. <i>Game Type</i> has an identifiable human girl, kicking, which is strange. You can kind of make out a cat in <i>Game Type</i>. For <i>Explosionade</i>, I can make out two bullets sort of, but I can't tell what's happening on the lower left, it's mostly a wasted opportunity. The monster on the bottom right of <i>Explosionade</i> shows his eye, but loses a lot of context, which could mean for some people that the coolness of seeing the glowering monster is lost. The <i>Weapon of Choice</i> 'font' is weird and non-standard and has strange organic shapes all over it. <i>Shoot 1UP</i> has a girl who is peaking over the edge, this is titillating.<br /><br />Here is the new version of the game art.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvqkI_11yMEWtnSQZ7OA3WMzxCLF92AkgPUV9EOGtC62EfgTvo7taboSWFFNzp3_B8A_SlDhCOWfsv7jeCGy9ByoqsdDNCL3GiIMVYTo8ZALroVC5Gkl-0humCos87elzKrDWG4PMnqYw/s1600/ActionpackBannersAfter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvqkI_11yMEWtnSQZ7OA3WMzxCLF92AkgPUV9EOGtC62EfgTvo7taboSWFFNzp3_B8A_SlDhCOWfsv7jeCGy9ByoqsdDNCL3GiIMVYTo8ZALroVC5Gkl-0humCos87elzKrDWG4PMnqYw/s400-rw/ActionpackBannersAfter.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New versions (only Game Type and Explosionade were changed)</td></tr></tbody></table>The main changes to <i>Explosionade </i>are to give things more context, and reduce the text size. Keep in mind players will see your game name, just to the right, in plain text. They will know the game's name, so can reduce your title art somewhat if you have more interesting things to show. I've increased the space the mech on the lower left takes up, and increased the space the monster on the right takes up to indicate the cool fighting in the game. <i>Game Type</i> was made brighter and the other two games were not changed.<br /><br /><h3>Let Tags Do Their Thing</h3>The other thing to consider is that I labelled all my games "Action", and "Indie". There is a *broad* selection of  games on Steam that fall into those categories. I wasted my chance by not labeling <i>Shoot 1UP</i> and <i>Game Type</i> as "shoot 'em up" (much fewer games) and I wasted my chance to label <i>Explosionade</i> as "Mech" (very few games). <br />Players could have quickly seen those words just to the right and had another reason to click!<br /><br /><h3>What's the Point Now? The Moment Is Not Gone!</h3>Why improve the art, after the games are out of the New On Steam part? Because that same art is used all over Steam, in the 'More Like This' section and the 'Recently Updated'. You get more chances to catch player's eyes!<br /><b>Redemption</b>! If your game had a poor performing click-through rate on launch, you can do better it!<br /><br />If you have not released your game consider:<br />As I said, if I could do it over, I should have added more useful tags to my games (the "User-Defined tags", not the search words, which are also important). Adding custom tags that make sense to your game, but some that are also specific. <br /><br />In any case, take another look at your game banner, especially the small one, and make sure you're making most of it.<b> There are a lot of eyes on that tiny piece of art and you can get more clicks with it!</b><br /><br />----<br /><br /><i>(And since we're sort of talking about designing box art (but smaller, and wider) I found this to be an inspiring article on how others made some very nice art: <a href="http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/8/27/9207581/video-game-box-art">http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/8/27/9207581/video-game-box-art</a>) </i><i></i><br /><i><br /></i><i>(And finally, please chime in as to why you think </i>Game Type<i> scored so well and </i>Explosionade <i>only scored 'average'. I'd love to hear different points of view, thank you!)</i>

Case Study: One Game's Amazing Click-Rate on Steam

(Vagueness: The take-away points of this will be intact, but if I act vague about exact numbers or certain practices, it's because I don...

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