Bumpkin Brothers

We've moved!

2011-06-22T03:48:00.000-07:00

We're no longer using blogger as a blog at the moment.

You can find us at our new home at http://www.bumpkinbrothers.com !

Indie Games at Get Games Go

2011-02-04T05:01:00.000-08:00

Get Games Go have just launched their Indie Games service which will hopefully raise awareness and bring focus to the endevours of independent games developers like us. They've got some exciting ideas for the future so pop along and take a look.

As I mentioned yesterday they're launching the service with some great indie game sales - including The Machine with a 50% off - http://www.getgamesgo.com/catalogue/game/machine

The Machine - discounted at Get Games Go

2011-02-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

You can currently get The Machine with a 50% discount at Get Games Go - as well as a load of other Indie bargains. Pop over and take a look here -http://www.getgamesgo.com/catalogue/game/machine

Now on Get Games Go

2011-01-13T14:16:00.000-08:00

We're proud to announce that you can now get The Machine from Get Games Go!

Happy new year!

2011-01-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who's supported us during 2010.

Here's a new review of The Machine from www.freehry.com any Czech readers - http://freehry.doupe.zive.cz/recenze/the-machine-zabava-se-strojem-na-kostky/

(Note - there are a few adult games on this site... but please buy The Machine as well.)

Merry Christmas

2010-12-16T05:55:00.000-08:00

The Machine is on sale right now over on Impulse. Go go go!

Do you have the baubles?

2010-12-15T13:05:00.000-08:00

The Machine has just received its Christmas update! We’re proud to announce that there are now -

15 new ‘overtime’ levels, which even the most hardcore machinist should find taxing.

2 new machine pieces - move blocks through space and time with the teleporter and wrap them up with the wrapper!

3 new awesome tunes to listen to as you build

New customisation options let you control the look of the world, as well as letting you try out 2 new ‘themes’ - want to play in space or out at sea? Now you can!

The new level structure makes it easier to try out different levels if you get stuck.

And if this wasn’t enough - we’ve added snow!!!

The Machine reviews by Captain D

2010-11-19T01:16:00.000-08:00

Captain D has posted a review of The Machine at http://captaind-pc-gaming.blogspot.com/2010/11/indie-puzzle-game-review-machine.html

Pop on over and take a look at what he's got to say :)

The Machine - Community Levels.

2010-11-16T12:58:00.001-08:00

Wow! The community levels that are appearing at the moment are fab. After spending ages developing the game it’s great to be able to play levels we have no idea how to complete.

We’re working on a little update for The Machine at the moment. We’ll announce just what soon. But currently we’re in danger of dropping behind schedule because we’re playing your great levels.

Better get back to it now, the Bossatron approaches.

The Machine 1.02 released

2010-11-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

The Machine v1.02 has just been released. This fixes an issue some people were having loading the community levels. To get the update open Impulse and check the updates tab. Thanks to those who let us know so we could get it fixed.

We’ve also increased the bosses literacy stats (he can now spell ‘us’)

Some more reviews

2010-11-15T05:42:00.000-08:00

A couple more Machine reviews over the weekend.

John Bardinelli's review at JayIsGames.com is here.

And we got a bronze star from Andrew Williams over at Bytten.com here.

The Machine - Reviews

2010-11-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

There have been a couple of reviews of The Machine over the last week. We’re obviously quite biased toward it so here’s some links to some objective points of view.

DIY Gamer - Mike Rose recommended the game out right! http://www.diygamer.com/2010/11/casual-contraptions-machine-review/

Gamezebo - 3.5 out of 5
http://www.gamezebo.com/download-games/machine/review

We were naturally horrified when Jon Mundy pointed out we spelt ‘us’ wrong! I have been on the naughty step since then. I can only say it will be rectified in an update.

The infamous Level 23 of The Machine

2010-11-09T02:37:00.000-08:00

Every game has one, that level that sticks in peoples minds because it is so elequent and perfect and darn right tricky to get past.

The machine has a level just like this, level 23 and we've had a fair bit of correspondence asking how this level can be completed. Some people don't believe it can be completed, but us being us we've decided to help you all out and give you a series of clues on how to solve it.

And there's also a complete video solution further down if you just want to know how it's done!

1 - A cannon fires the finished blocks into the Dumper.

2 - A cannon fires the finished blocks into a final cannon that fires the finished blocks into the Dumper.

3 - A splitter double-acts as a wall for the second to last cannon so that it doesn't miss the last cannon's ammo box.

4 - A red sprayer sits right next to the dispensor.

5 - Here's the video!

The Machine - Released on Impulse

2010-11-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

We’re pleased to announce that earlier today The Machine was released on Impulse.

Check out the product page and news article.

It’s a proud moment for us to see our little game tootling off with all those other games and making its way in the world. We’d like to say a huge thanks to the folks at Impulse for all their help, especially Larry Kuperman and Brian Clair.

Whisperings in the Bumpkin Barn

2010-10-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Since out last postings we've mostly been discussing what to do next. There's still more happenings with "The Machine" but we had been looking for something new and exciting to do as a team.

The afforementioned "Penguin Block Pushing Fun" was fun enough, but completely throwing ourselves into a remake of an old project didn't feel very motivating and we soon started talking about games on a larger scale that we wanted to create.

Then, after not being able to agree on a game that we both wanted to work on someone we know came up with a great concept for a game...which we completely changed. For the better obviously, we added blocks! Honestly, blocks make this game better.

So now we're brimming with ideas and, more importantly, playable concepts of the game. So we're already in the design and prototyping phase of the project and we're going great guns at the moment. We have some music (what a surprise) some basic models and this time there's a story planned! Wooooo...

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for when we start to reveal our new masterpiece!

2010-07-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

A quick update from the Bumpkin Barn.

Firstly - a massive congratulations to Andy who got married to Jo this weekend. Here's a pic of Andy and me in our finery.

Secondly - a quick update on things game related. We will soon be releasing details of our next game, which is for the iPhone and web. Prepare for some penguin based block pushing fun!

Thanks

2010-06-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say thanks to everyone who has given us feedback about The Machine. We've already released an update that includes some of the suggestions from our Bumpkin Buddies out there.

Thanks for the support!

The Machine update

2010-06-17T22:48:00.001-07:00

There has been a small update released for The Machine. This update prevents the Wakefield exploit.

Please release me...

2010-06-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Machine is now released. Check out the home page for more details, the epic promo video and to play!

Release candidate 1 - soon

2010-05-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

The title of this post has to be the kiss of death but I do intend on having release candidate version 1 of The Machine ready really soon. I'd still like to add some more features but these can be added in later.

To 'celebrate' here's a few artlets I've been working on.

Trying to be clever

2010-05-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

Hey, I sold another copy of Block A Drop Christmas Rush...in May :o

Anyway, we at Bumpkin labs are still working hard on our new iPhone shooter project. Obviously that's not a project that involves shooting iPhones. It's going pretty well but my reluctance to learn anything new means I avoided using any kind of physics engine to model the in game entities, and now I'm paying the price.

I have a fairly complex collision set to deal with involving irregular polygons (regular ones are just boring) so now I'm having to invent complex ways to detect collisions. Again because of my lazyness means that enemies are just exploding randomly at the moment and causing the player damage. I need to work more on this but I'm confident I'll get it finished by mid-year and polished for autumn!

I've also made some good progress with menus and the like, getting some of the best UI feedback from testers that I've ever had! Some of the sound effects are also in there which have added tons of atmosphere and "Umph!" to the gameplay.

Expect more news with possibly first screenshots soon...ish!

Bugettes

2010-04-20T23:57:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately I'm not talking about long bread rolls. Found a couple of bugs in the machine that are taking some tracking down. Fortunately in his noodley wisdom the fsm gave us logging and taught us to implement it in advance so it shouldn't delay things for to long.

Site update

2010-04-12T22:28:00.001-07:00

Given the homepage a bit of a spring clean. If you want to follow us via our new Facebook page there is a 'fanbox' at the bottom.

The drag of completion

2010-04-10T06:23:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time there was a man who started a project to make a computer game. Then he thought, wouldn't it be cool to have user levels and then to add it to Facebook. If this were 'The Hogfather' then there would be a feature creap gnome hiding in the under the stairs by now.

So I, Rich Textformat do solumnly swear to the noodley one that The Machine will get no more features until it is released.

So what needs doing? The user levels menu needs sorting out, the pay system, the new combiner model needs adding and some more levels. Oh, and some menu music.

Let's do it!

How many enemies does it take...

2010-04-08T02:24:00.000-07:00

To make a game interesting?

I've been putting a bit of thought into this over the last couple of days as I'm seriously hoping to have the main mode of the new project in it's first completed state by the end of this weekend.

So far I've 3 enemies of varying strength all approaching at the same speed. I know that's not enough so I have plans for zig zagging enemies and enemies approaching in a spiral, but just how many do I need?

Currently I'm thinking of having 10 different types, and even perhaps bosses, although I'm not certain about that yet. Nor am I certain how many waves there should be in total. Currently 100 seems about right. Because of how chains work, scores can vary amazingly within the first 5 already depending on how good a shot you are!

There's still a ton of work to do of course (this is only 2.5 weeks old after all!) But it's already great fun to play with.