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Simogo's new office. Look how busy these guys are!

Simogo doesn’t make games like most studios. It doesn’t do design docs, meetings strike it as silly, and it doesn’t get rattled when something isn’t working as intended or a game needs to be delayed. It can be different because its games are the product of an improvisational style of development that sheds structure when it impedes an organic flow of ideas, analysis, and feedback. Simogo calls this “jazz development.” It’s a good name.

Simon Flesser and Magnus “Gordon” Gardebäck are the two dudes behind Simogo. They’ve been working together for over five years across two different companies. They make mobile games now in Malmö, Sweden. Their office is a lively place with a pine-colored floor, a massive window, a radiator, and rainbow colored throw rugs.

Before, they made XBLA and PSN downloadable titles. Their last one was ilomilo. Simogo’s titles and that game share a lot in common. Simogo builds vibrant worlds with complimentary music, and it aims to keep its games as charming as they are simple.

Simon is the art guy. He handles concepts and music. Gordon is the “one-man army.” He codes and programs. He builds frameworks. He even tackles design concepts. The duo has a fantastic relationship that goes beyond the creative glue that binds them. When Simon talks about Gordon, he’s almost reverential. The mutual respect these two have is also a big reason why Simogo makes games the way it does. They don’t argue. They listen, and then they execute.

Simogo is one of the most fascinating mobile developers out there. It’s a brutally small studio that, somehow, drops some of the most compelling, idealistic, and fulfilling games on iPad and iPhone. Beat Sneak Bandit, a rhythm and stealth mash-up, is loud and launched with a lot of fanfare, but the studio made the most noise with Bumpy Road, a somewhat depressing one-finger side-scrolling game that features an old couple, a car, and a road that can be manipulated with touch or swipe. The development of Beat Sneak went down in the usual Simogo way, which is to say, most of the good stuff happened on the fly.

How The Sausage Is Made

A pre-release "bonus" screen of Beat Sneak Bandit. It was taken to show off the resolution of the iPhone version.

Simogo doesn’t like design documents. It’s also too small for meetings. Gordon and Simon twirl their chairs and talk when something needs to be discussed. If an idea pops up in their heads when they’re not at the office, they call each other.

Simon thinks game design documents are good tools for big teams, but they fail to communicate feel, which is important to Simogo games. Bumpy Road was ponderous with a touch of zany. Beat Sneak Bandit is hyperactive and bombastic. Simon describes game design documents “like watching sheet music and saying you’ve heard the song, but the music is so much more than the composition,” Simon tells me.

“You could say that the way we make games is like jazz music; we improvise and put in new stuff as we go along.”

Simogo begins the actual game development part of production with a prototype just like any other studio. It dreams up an idea, and then it tries to flesh that out with a rudimentary demo. Some studios like to take this process especially slow by isolating experimental mechanics to produce proofs of concept, presumably to show publishers. Simogo goes deeper. It takes its pre-production demos and adds layers of actual production. “A lot of the appeal in our games is the full package, so we want to have that early on to get a feel for it,” Simon says.

The original idea for Beat Sneak came before Simogo released its first title, Kosmo Spin. At that time, Beat Sneak was an endless runner with a musical twist. If it had come out, it would have had you jumping and ducking to the beat, as opposed to sneaking to the beat in a series of interconnected levels.

That idea morphed into something more, yet still different from what Beat Sneak is today, when the studio began working on the game in August 2011. Beat Sneak 2.0 had you swiping the floor of a level to offset the timing of the beat. Simogo called this mechanic “scratch reality.” In this version of the game, you wouldn’t have control of the Bandit directly. Instead, you’d swipe against the beat to open doors and Bandit would follow a path automatically. Simon compares the feel of this version to real-time video editing.

“This idea proved to be as complicated as it sounds, so we had a rough month in which we just simplified and simplified,” Simon explains. “The concept of looping rhythm stages was something that was very cool to look at, we just had to come up with a suitable interface.” At this point, the duo tackled the problem by thinking about the first pure idea for Beat Sneak.

“Then we remembered the old rhythm-tap idea and everything just fell in place. We had two different prototypes after that. You would tap in beat to walk right, and backbeat to go to the left. That proved a little too difficult as backbeat is kind of a hard concept to grasp if you’re not a musician, so we wanted to downplay that.” The other build, which was much closer to the version we’re familiar with, had Bandit flipping when he hit walls. However, backbeat reared its head again. This build had floor security lights you had to jump over by hitting a backbeat.

One of the first Beat Sneak Bandit screens. This is the iPad version.

When Gordon and Simon do have a disagreement, it’s usually about planning. One specific instance that I had to pry out of Simon involves beackbeat, a concept that never made it to the actual game. Simon didn’t want Beat Sneak to be as easy as it is now, so he kept pushing for backbeat. Gordon was adamant that the mechanic need not exist, while Simon stubbornly held his ground maintaining that the game would suffer if it wasn’t included in the package. Gordon’s view that Beat Sneak should be as simple as possible to play eventually saw Simon agreeing with him. And just like that, the debate had a winner, and Beat Sneak Bandit became context-sensitive.

This process of simplification is a hallmark of Simogo’s games, and the source of its most spirited conversations. Gordon presses to make things as simple as possible without killing what makes a product special. Simon seems to have a hard time letting features go. He doesn’t want the users to get bored. He also knows that simple is best when it comes to touch devices, though, so these disagreements get ironed out without getting bitter.

“The thing we focus early on in all our projects is definitely the controls,” Simon tells me about production in general. Beat Sneak’s controls were a huge priority. The interface was, too. In the end, Simogo made an extraordinarily easy to play music game. Put a finger to the screen and Bandit moves. Hitting specific spots in the environment alters his direction.

This is Simogo's old office. Seems… smaller.

Simon describes the way Simogo works as a “publisher’s nightmare.” It sounds like it. Publishers want design documents. They want to checkpoint developers. They want meetings. Basically, they want to make sure their investments are being used and that a game is hitting every milestone and well on its way to releasing when agreed.

Roving deadlines, however, are a big part of the Simogo experience. Bumpy Road, its last game, released on May 19. After some contract work and work on a huge Bumpy Road update, Simogo started on Beat Sneak in August. The original release date was December. It hit this February, a couple of months past its original due date. This allowed Simogo to create more levels and that boss fight, as well as a few other features.

After the backbeat change, Simogo stopped long enough to produce a ten-level vertical slice to submit to the Independent Games Festival. That November, it revealed the game with a fun little teaser that betrayed just two things: the rhythm and sneaking. “Around then we realized we were making something special, so we wanted to do it justice and expand it a little. We added new elements, like the vacuum buster, the time stopper, the shadow stages, the phone calls from Herbie and the Duke, and then decided to skip our deadline in December.” Not competing during the Christmas rush was smart. The App Store freezes in late December. During this period, no new games are released, but the store is more vibrant than ever because developers basically dogpile it the week prior to the freeze. Games get forgotten, passed over.

Behind the Bandit

One of the coolest spots of design that Simon let me in on during our talks about the creation of Beat Sneak was origin of the game’s central figure, the Bandit. Bandit as we know him wasn’t a part of Beat Sneak at first. His final design came from a game concept called Mustache Bandits. That game’s tagline: “Every revolution starts with mustache doodles.”

Simon tells me not to ask about Mustache Bandits, but I have to press. It was a drawing game influenced by, of all things, Fruit Ninja. If it had actually seen the light of day, players would have been painting mustaches on posters guerrilla style and rewarded for factors like accuracy and speed. One of its big features would have been prompts like “UNI-BROW BONUS!”

“We wanted to wrap this in a story of a gang of bandits starting a revolution against the mayor by painting mustaches, and they’d all have their own strengths and special attacks. Silly stuff,” Simon says. I don’t think he understands how bad I want to play this game now.

We’ve got quite an assortment of concept art of Bandit and his revolution, er, evolution over the development.

This is from Rhythm Bear, which was the game that ended up being the core idea behind Beat Sneak. Notice how the hairstyle managed to make it over, as well as the expressiveness of the avatar. The little blocks, not so much.

Enlarge this one to see it in all its glory. The original bandit doodles all had one thing in common: a funky, defining hairstyle. This is, technically, a 3D project but Simogo uses 2D images.

This isn’t directly related, but I wanted to share it. This is a style test sheet that helped solidify the tone of Beat Sneak.

And those give you a good example of how many iterations everything – including the game’s name — had to go through. At one point, the game was called “Backbeat Bandit” or “Beat Bandit.” You can tell the backbeat discussion was still going on while Simon was working on the game’s branding.

The Release

This was the second teaser image released.

Figuring out when Beat Sneak was “finished” wasn’t hard. Its external testers and Simon’s girlfriend pretty much made the decision. “The response from our testers was absolutely phenomenal, and you know when people actually want to continue playing not because you’re watching, but because they just want to.”

“There was a much greater initial response to this one than Bumpy Road, actually, from people we showed early. But, personally for me it was when my girlfriend told me it was the best thing we’ve made. Creatively, I trust her 100 percent.”

In February, after it was submitted to certification, Gordon and Simon celebrated with beer, vague celebratory tweets with pictures of wine glasses, and a few days off. When it actually hit the App Store a week later, Simon and Gordon spent a few days telling the press and any one who would listen that it was out. “We speak to fans, to media and just focus on trying to get the word out, which is very hard when you’re this small.” It’s true. Even a site like ours misses big titles from established indie developers.

Beat Sneak is a great game bolstered by tons of high scores in the press, but its first week didn’t bust the mark that Bumpy Road set in its first days of release. In Simon’s mind, the numbers aren’t matching up to the hype press stirred up.

The fact that busted Pokemon rip-offs are able to take second place on the charts while Beat Sneak can’t crack the top ten is also frustrating. “In a week where an app that was a copyright infringing picture of a Pokémon took the second spot in the charts, that is especially heart-breaking,” says Simon. “But in the end, what matters is sales in the long run, and if we can keep steady sales, that’s good.” Simon takes the high road, always.

“We do understand that this is a bit more niche than Bumpy Road, more of a gamers game, though. Also, Bumpy Road was iPhone game of the week and Beat Sneak Bandit was iPad game of the week so I guess that comes into play too.”

The End

Thousands of words and not one mention of clocks. Well, until now.

Simogo isn’t a typical iOS developer. As cash-strapped as it might be, it still spends more than a single month on a game. It tests. It iterates. It builds the kinds of prototypes that are representative of more than just a clever mechanic.

Gordon and Simon are a strong tandem because they check their egos at the door; they’re hugely talented, but they operate as a unit without the baggage. They disagree at times, but they also find answers.

“Much like a recording artist we want our games to feel Simogo. It should feel like something that only we could make. So it’s hard to put a finger on what that is. Maybe it’s how everything produces a sound when you interact with it, how it feels tactile, the level of ‘polishness,’ or the art… I don’t know.

“I say this a lot, but there is no single aspect in a game that is more important than the other. Gameplay is not more important than presentation, art is not more important than sound. Everything plays together to create something bigger than the sum of its parts.”

Of note, Simogo develops on a special platform that gives indie developers a chance to take the risks that Simogo does with each release. You’ll never see Beat Sneak Bandit on XBLA or PSN. It’s too unusual, too unique. Maybe too small, as well.

This game deserves your attention if you haven’t bothered with it yet. It’s one of the best games on the App Store, and one of the most creative to boot. Its flavor, tone, and rhythm mechanic are all completely unique and fun.

Simogo is moving on, by the way. The studio has just now started talking about “Game 4,” and it isn’t quite sure if it’ll follow a similar development path. Simon describes this title as totally different from Simogo’s previous games, but it’s so early it might just end up as just another title that influences its next project, like Mustache Bandits.

“I’m excited about bringing in some new blood in to this project, to help out on bits we can’t make ourselves. We’d really like to have it out by this year, but you know — jazz development, you know where you’re going with it, but you never know how long the improvisations will last.”

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Regardless of whether you typically buy things with iTunes gift cards or if you’ve just linked your credit card up to your iTunes account and forgotten about it, Best Buy has a pretty great deal going that lasts until 7:00 PM Eastern tonight. iTunes gift cards are 20% off, and they’re available in values ranging from $15.00 (for $12.00) all the way up to $100.00 (for $80.00). Better yet, these gift cards are delivered digitally. So, if you’ve got a way to funnel money into the Best Buy web site, they’ll just instantly email you a discounted iTunes gift card code. How’s that for convenience?

Mash this link if you’re interested in taking advantage of the deal. You should see all the available gift cards. If the link isn’t working for you, just search their site for “iTunes (Digital Delivery)”. These 20% off deals aren’t anything to scoff at either, as buying $100.00 worth of credit for $80.00 could potentially net you nearly 20 free 99¢ games out of the deal depending on your local tax rate.

How much are those of you who are taking advantage of this dumping into the deal? I know people who buy stupid amounts of iTunes credit when these 20% off sales roll around, as that’s not only about as cheap as iTunes credit ever gets, but it’s also definitely a “the more you buy the more you save” kind of thing.

[via 9to5Mac]

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In April of 2009, the world was treated to Ow My Balls! [Free], the “Citizen Kane of iPhone gaming” according to our own Eli Hodapp. Ow My Balls! is a simple but powerful arcade game where you kick a hapless gentleman off of a rooftop and try to rack his, ahem, family jewels let’s say, against as many painful objects as possible before hitting the ground. Aiding you in this noble quest is the use of flatulence to keep you afloat and carry you towards some hard to reach objects in the environment (like unicorns), which will ultimately lead to higher scores.

So yeah, Ow My Balls! probably won’t be the next favorite past time of high society, but it’s an immensely fun and funny game for those who can appreciate its lowbrow humor. At last year’s Macworld I talked with Ow My Balls! developer Josh Michaels about a huge version 2.0 update to the game which went live the following month and expanded the game with Retina Display visuals and a whole roster of new characters, as well as dropping its price to free.

This year at Macworld 2012, I again met with Josh to check out the upcoming Ow My Balls! XL for iPad. The iPad version will include everything from its iPhone counterpart, as well as a number of new enhancements. There’s a brand new politician character to play, as well as other subtle nods to current events like the hippie Bobby Surreal “occupying” the starting rooftop in his tent. New swiping controls have also been added which are both simple to use and more effective, ensuring that even your grandmother could play this game (something I could sense was a concern on everybody’s mind).

Finally, there is some fresh new title screen music and some new character dialogue, both of which you can see in this hands-on video (FYI if you’re somewhere that’s not blaring fart sounds friendly, you might want to check your volume):

Unfortunately, despite reaching nearly 5 million users, Ow My Balls! wasn’t exactly a financial success. Josh’s other project, ironically, is the classy and beautiful Magic Window [99¢] app that brings amazing time-lapse scenery to your iOS device. It’s as gorgeous as Ow My Balls! is silly, and it’s currently the one putting the Cup O’ Noodles on the table. No, Ow My Balls! XL isn’t meant to make money, though it may offer some sort of in-app purchase as more of a donation type of thing. Instead, Josh draws satisfaction just from knowing he’s made people laugh with his work (and about an equal number of people angry, as the iTunes reviews have always been roughly equal parts 1 and 5 stars).

If everything goes according to plan, then Ow My Balls! XL should be launching on Valentines Day for free, and I can’t really think of a better gift for your loved one. Also, in the very near future the iPhone version will be getting updated with all the additional features found in the iPad version. Sadly, once that’s completed, that will likely be the last of game development for Josh as he focuses solely on Magic Window. Sometimes you gotta do what pays the bills, even if it means putting your farting, nuts-kicking game to rest.

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Raising Big Poppa Pump hasn’t been easy. He gets hungry at weird times and doesn’t sleep through the night. He also isn’t the cleanest pocket monster I’ve ever owned. But I have a feeling that all this time spent grooming, teaching, and playing with him will lead to something truly rewarding. I’m talking about evolution, man — an incredible change that takes place because I’ve proved that I’m an awesome owner.

Big Poppa Pump is my little monster dude in Hatchi, Portable Pixel’s game for those of us who remember the Tamagotchi so fondly. The two games — and I use that loosely — are pretty similar. You hatch an egg that contains a monster, and then that monster becomes your digital pet. As an owner, you’ll be responsible for feeding, cleaning, entertaining and even applying first-aid to the little one.

Functionally, this is all really simple to do. If your monster’s “smarts” bar is low, and his energy is high enough for an activity, you click the book button to raise it. If his “hygiene” is low, you hit the baby button to give it a bath. If his energy is low, or if you just want a break, you can hit the lights and that puts him to sleep.

The sleep mechanic rolls in a little save state trickery, by the way. When you put a Hatchi down and exit out of the app, upon returning you’ll notice a slight visual hitch and then magically see the energy bar fill according to the amount of time he’s been doing the bed thing. My experience with this varies; sometimes Big Poppa Pump needs hours of rest, sometimes just dozens of minutes.

Most of my day with Big Poppa Pump isn’t spent doing anything thrilling, complex or even all that fun, which is why I hesitate to call this a game-game. In the mornings, I wake him up and grind until his needs are all completely met. I continue to do this through the afternoon until he gets too tired and needs that big nap. At night, I try to tire him out so he doesn’t wake up angry, unclean, and unsatisfied at 2AM.

My greatest fear as an owner is that he’ll die in the night, which is something that can happen. “Yes, it can die if you don’t look after it,” Portable Pixels tells us. “It will get sick first and you can use the first aid to cure Hatchi.”

It’s hilarious, but I really, really, really don’t want Big Poppa Pump to bite the dust. I’ve somehow bonded with the thing, as silly as that sounds, and the competitive part of my brain wants to see an evolution based on my meticulous play.

Big Poppa Pump isn’t evolving as fast as I’d want it to for our preview coverage, so I asked Playable Pixels how it works. “You’ll need to feed, clean, play with and generally look after your pet to ensure it grows up,” it tells us. “[Pets have] several different forms they can evolve into depending on how you look after them.”

That’s as much detail as we’re getting at the moment, but as you’ll see in the article, there are some pretty hip forms. Big Poppa Pump is getting a lot more exercise than he needs, so here’s to hoping that he evolves into a gigantic muscle monster.

That’s the experience as it stands now — train, wait, train, wait some more, and then receive some sort of evolution. In the future, though, Playable Pixels hopes to add a lot more content, including a social component, if sales are good.

“Initially its a retro theme, but we’ve had lots of ideas about bringing it into the mobile era. Taking him on day trips for example, or socializing with your friends Hatchis,” it tells us.

“One of our beta testers said she would give her left arm for a graveyard for all her past Hatchi’s, and one of our developers wants a defibrillator. Its really a side project inspired by a reddit post back in September.”

Portable Pixels says its been “fairly overwhelmed by the response” so far. In an effort to keep up with it, its set up an e-mail address for people to be notified when the game is hitting and for feedback purposes. That address, if you’d like to get in on this, is: hatchi@portablepixels.com.

Currently, the game is on track for a January 15th release at $.99 for iPhone and iPod Touch. A Universal version isn’t slated to happen yet, but it could if “the need is great enough.”

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Ready for Dragon Shout [Free] 2.0? The independently developed Skyrim companion map app has recently seen its social update go live. Starting now with an IAP, you can add people to a “party” list and see their individual markers and journal entires. You can also chat with friends and people around the world from the comfort of the app, and view and drop public markers for people to comment on.

A new folder system compliments these additions, and so does a sharp new already annotated map. The latter should really help a lot of Skyrim noobs, we think. Skyrim is big and scary place. It helps to have a hand. Or sixteen.

We took a gander at Dragon Shout after release and were pleasantly surprised at its build quality. If you’re looking for a great companion app, this is it.

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We would argue that if there was just one more thing Taito’s Groove Coaster [$.99] needed, it would be way more dubstep. Now, the game’s latest update unfortunately doesn’t include any dubstep, but we’ll take it because version 2.0 of the game includes a total of five more downloadable tracks, including a trance mix of Jingle Bells that we’re sure you’ll never forget. A new ska track, as well as an acid house joint — “Thrase Beat — are the other notables joining the downloadable roster.

Oh! And in the spirit of the holidays, Groove Coaster, Space Invaders Infinity Gene [$2.99], and Cooking Momma [$3.99], have gone on sale for a “limited time” — or until the iTunes freeze clears we’re presuming.

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SpellTower [$.99] is one of those rare titles that come along and completely knock your socks off. Mixing elegance and good word game play, we recommend it to anyone looking for a good game, no less a good word game. And now it’s an even better value: version 2.0 of SpellTower adds in achievements and bug fixes on top of Universal support, for free.

Oh! And the price? You probably noticed that it’s lower, too. As of yesterday, the game’s price has been knocked down to $.99 instead of its usual $1.99. Deal! They happen! I’m excited!

If you’re still on the fence after this reduction, take a moment and educate yourself with our review of the game. Spoiler: it’s pretty good.

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It’s been over a year since the last update, and many in our forums were worried that the app had been abandoned, but I’m happy to report that Manomio has released an update to C64 for iPhone [App Store], the Commodore 64 emulator and game store (at over 50 titles right now) for iOS, that we’ve been tracking since way back in 2008.

Stuart Carnie of Manomio filled me in on the license tangles he’s been dealing with since late last year which stymied work on the app, but indicates all is now resolved and that he’s excited to bring this update, as well as return his focus to development and the acquisition of new licenses for C64-loving iOS gamers.

The big news in this latest version of C64 for iPhone, version 2.2, is the addition of support for the iCade and compatible devices (such as the iControlPad and Gametel controller we recently covered), which is huge news given the nature of the typical Commodore 64 game title. In this initial implementation, iCade support means joystick and fire button emulation — certain games with extended features, such as The Last Ninja, still require tapping the screen for key input and the like. This update also brings full support for iOS 5.

It’s worth pointing out that, presently, C64 is not a Universal application, and so using it on an iPad in the iCade means running the iPhone app at 2x video magnification. However, Stuart has big plans for the app and shared a short-list of what’s coming, down the road…

• A new, Universal app!
  • This is a rewrite in order to add all the required features
  • PRO: By not replacing the iPhone version, we can keep existing users with old hardware on the current builds
  • PRO: For compatible games, we’ll continue to add them to C64 for iPhone
• Activate your original C64 for iPhone purchases if you have it installed
• Cycle-exact emulation — will require ARMv7 devices
• Same OpenGL ES 2.0 retro visual effects currently in progress for iAmiga
• iCADE / iControlPad / Gametel support
• TV-out
• Network play
• More in-app purchases, including existing titles
• A big pack of free games to get you started
• Retina display support
• BASIC mode, with 1541 “disk” save support

We’re very glad to see Stuart out of the woods and moving forward with his efforts to bring retro fun to today’s gamers. We will keep readers in the loop on the latest from Manomio as the news unfolds.

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Any pinball fan reading this post can be no stranger to Gameprom and their quality iOS pinball collections, Pinball HD and War Pinball, and related, standalone tables. Last summer, the studio partnered with Sony Music Entertainment to add a little rock and roll to the pinball equation in the form of Slayer Pinball Rocks HD [App Store], a fast and furious Slayer-themed table. Gameprom has recently rekindled the Sony relationship to release AC/DC Pinball Rocks HD [App Store], a standalone table that makes you want to scream out, “Angus!”

The first thing you’ll notice about AC/DC Pinball Rocks is that it’s a pretty ornate table, over the top in a fashion that, I think, well fits the band. Arrayed about the table are various bits of AC/DC stage memorabilia, including the Rock ‘N Roll Train, Hell’s Bell, the For Those About To Rock cannon, and the Highway to Hell, itself. As you work the table, AC/DC tracks, including “Thunderstruck,” “Highway to Hell,” and “You Shook Me All Night Long”, play along with the action as pyrotechnics blast sparks across your screen.

As far as the table itself, it’s quite a different experience from the fast-paced Slayer Pinbal. AC/DC Pinball Rocks features slower-paced ball action than the other rock title and notably lacks the two main bumpers typically found above a table’s central set of paddles, leaving the center of the table pretty much wide open. This may seem to be the formula for a bland game of pinball at first, but after playing the game for a short while I realized I was able to be rather more strategic and precise on this table than most others. It’s possible, on the AC/DC table, to aim for targets as distant as the far corners, thanks to the ball pacing and the open central area. That’s really not something you can do on a typical table and makes for a non-typical game experience. What’s more, the sides of the table are nicely busy, with elevators, lightning bumpers, and the mission-lending TNT bundle.

The main reason that the central area of the table is left open is the mini game that takes place there. There are three mini games in all, in fact. On the right side of the screen is a guitar mini-game featuring a small ball pin with paddles, while on the left is a mini-game involving the aforementioned stage cannon. The central area mini-game raises a barrier and challenges you to score in the lower portion of the table, ultimately in a mission to open the Trap Door to Hell.

AC/DC Pinball Rocks features both single- and dual-player modes and offers a variety of camera angles, just like Gameprom’s other pinball titles that came before.

AC/DC Pinball Rocks HD is a fun table that definitely feels like Gameprom pinball. I won’t call it my favorite of their offerings, but it’s certainly worth its space on the iOS devices of any pinball fan out there.

Da Vinci Pinball Update

Another bit of news from Gameprom is a video posted a few weeks back that contains (among other previews) a brief walk-through of the incredible-looking upcoming Da Vinci Pinball table that we previewed back in August.

The Da Vinci table is expected to arrive as a DLC item for the studio’s Pinball HD collection. It will be made available soon for both iOS and Mac OS X, and is one we’re very anxious to get our hands on. Stay tuned for a close look.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Mark Jacobs, the co-founder and former CEO of Mythic Entertainment recently unveiled a new development studio, City State Entertainment. They’ve apparently been building up a team since March, and are anticipating the release of their first game later this year. City State Entertainment will be focusing on “mobile, tablet, and social networking spaces,” which generally seems to be a noncommittal way to say “iOS and potentially Facebook.”

Mark Jacobs and the rest of his team have some seriously fantastic games under their belt. Most notably in my eyes would be Dark Age of Camelot, a PvP-centric MMO that featured massive realtime battles that were basically unheard of in the MMORPG space at the time. Mythic was also responsible for Warhammer Online, which seemed to have tons of potential but basically floundered in the shadow of the World of Warcraft juggernaut. Other titles Jacobs and his team have dabbled in include Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Neverwinter Nights 3, Knights of the Old Republic II, and more. We’re talking some serious talent here.

We’re cautiously optimistic about whatever game City State Entertainment is planning on releasing this year. It’s fantastic to see Jacobs working in the mobile space, and hopefully his team can make a good transition from AAA to the often lower budgets and tighter development cycles of iOS games.

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