Geon:Cube is available to buy now from Amazon.com – see our store page for a direct link.

From UFO Interactive’s site:

GRAB YOUR CUBE IN THIS PSYCHEDELIC, PICK-UP-AND-PLAY ACTION PUZZLE GAME OF RAPIDLY CHANGING TACTICS, BRIGHT COLORS, POWER UPS AND FRENZIED SPEED TO SEE WHO IS THE UNDISPUTED GEON MASTER!

Frantically race against your opponents playing as one of eight Geon emoticon cubes as you collect pellets and score goals, while preventing them from doing the same! Utilize unique power ups as you go back, forward and upside down in this easy-to-play-hard-to-master title!

This week’s GTKYD features Paul Smith, from Strawdog Studios. They’re an indie game developer from the UK who create some unique and addictive games for the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, iPhone and PC. Space Ark is a new Xbox LIVE Arcade game you can look forward to soon from Strawdog Studios. Read on below to learn more about Paul’s role in Strawdog Studios and get a sneak peek at what games are the works and coming soon!

“All told, Wet is a man who vomits on you on the bus and doesn’t even say sorry.”

Obviously as a developer I feel for the guys who worked to make the game. I know only too well how many factors outside of the developers control can result in a game failing to meet its design goals. Having said that, gamers do need to know and if you are going to put yourself/your game out there you need to take the resulting knocks.

I don’t think I have enjoyed a review quite as much since the 1992 release of Domark’s AV8B Harrier Assault for Amiga (developed by Simis). After all these years most of it is long forgotten but the line in the review which bemoaned the slow frame rate is forever burned into my mind…

“If i chopped my legs off and nailed the stumps to the floor, I could still run round the block faster than this game.”

The meter has multiple levels and each level you reach multiplies the points you get from collecting DNA, combos and any lives remaining at the end of a level. This means that fruit has an impact on every other scoring element of the game and is an essential part of your Space Ark game play strategy if you want to achieve mega high scores.

But beware – gravity is a harsh mistress. The good work you do collecting fruit can be undone if you let your Arkonaut hit the ground. The level meter will drop one level every time you drop your Arkonaut (and you will lose one life as well.)

Previous Space Ark design posts:
Space Ark – Introducing combos

Originally you just needed to collect all the bricks in a level to complete the level. It was fun and cute but there was something missing. There was no on-going challenge during the level. This is where the Combo feature came in. Space Ark levels have rows of coloured bricks. Collecting three or more of the same coloured bricks in a row generates a Combo and every level has a minimum combo score necessary to complete it.

Like the bouncing and collecting this Combo system is very simple but of course we have added more depth to make it challenging and fun. Firstly there is a reward for generating Combos (in addition to you being able to complete the level). Each level of Combo (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…. upwards) that you create generates a different bonus fruit. Collecting the fruit fills your power meter, which in turn multiplies your score. This means that if you want to generate a really big high score you need to try and collect as much fruit as possible rather than just focusing on collecting the bricks. Secondly you have to keep bouncing your character (your Arkonaut) without dropping them. If your Arkonaut hits the ground they drop the combos (rather like losing rings in Sonic) and you have to try to recover them before they drift off screen. The result is much more entertaining game play as you are both challenged to meet your combo quota and rewarded as you do so.

At the moment we have a couple of bugs in the Combo system. If you look at the screen shots you can see the Combo trail (the line of numbers) following behind the Penguin. For some reason they keep disappearing or randomly appearing on screen in odd positions. Gotta keep testing to find out what is happening so the guys can fix it. Will try to pop back soon to talk about the level designs.

I’m not sure what the level designers have been taking but they are producing really amazing levels now. Challenging but at the same time immense fun to play. Going to have to produce another video soon showing some of the more bizarre levels.

Sure there is the positive morale boost from seeing new stuff appear in the game but it is also the point at which people start noticing bugs and errors in the game. The bug database starts to fill up and, because the team aren’t in full Beta test mode, there isn’t an all out effort to clear bugs. The result is that the bug count starts to climb…. and keeps climbing. Sure some (lots) get fixed during this phase but the general trend is upwards.

So far we have 160 closed bugs on Space Ark and only 92 active ones. Somehow I think it will get worse before it gets better. Luckily it will get better in the end

We will be self-publishing the game on Xbox Live Arcade later this year.

The updates include the launch of a free Lite version, and an update to the main app (with a special offer price of 99 cents.)

Full App updated to version 1.1
The game, which has users race against the clock to guide a rubber duck around a pool, avoiding hazard and collecting flags, has been updated to version 1.1 which includes:
* Global high scores – post your scores to see how you compare against everyone else
* Freeplay mode – play with the water, double tap the screen to feed your duck
* Improved Duck controls and bug fixes.
* Special offer price of 99 cents

App store link: Turbo Duck full app

Free Lite version launched
The free version contains:
* 3 levels of watery fun plus
* Freeplay mode – play with the water, double tap the screen to feed your duck
* Turbo Duck now even more turbo charged!
* Even more special price – Free

App store link: Free Lite version of Turbo Duck