Seriously, why are you still reading this when so much block-stacking goodness awaits?

Go get it!

While I believe we met our goal of a simpler design, it turns out realizing our vision took a bit longer than we anticipated. Lotsa Blocks was a ten-month project for us, created over the course of many late nights and weekends.

We decided to start with a core stacking mechanic, and let our experimentation help us discover the identity of the game. It wasn’t long before we learned we would need to approach game design carefully. Too many blocks on-screen at once meant poorer performance for older devices. Once we had an understanding of  what our technical limits were, we started trying a variety of ideas that could potentially shape what the game could become.

Early on, we knew we wanted to incorporate some sort of multi-player component, though neither of us had ever created a multi-player game before. Part of our experimentation was evaluating the capabilities of what Game Center had to offer for turn-based and real-time gaming. We loved our results, and decided to take the extra effort to polish these additional modes up and include them in the game.

Perhaps in our future games we will improve at vetting our ideas, but I wouldn’t trade the experience of working on each of these game modes for even another game under our belt.

Tyler and I have always wanted to make a video where we tell the story of our game to give people a peek into our creative process. It was a long, challenging road creating this game with many moments where I scratched my head, thinking, “this can’t be done.” We pushed forward, dreaming of posts like these on the verge of sharing our game with the world, and found a way to create things in this game that I never dreamt I would be able to pull off as a developer.

We have always approached our games as a creative, artistic pursuit first. The joy of creating, delighting and entertaining is the greatest reward for us, and we try to keep that top-of-mind even in a project as massive as this one was. I sincerely hope you enjoy our video, and our game, and look forward to creating more like them for you to enjoy.

My younger brother took an interest in video games earlier than his hand-eye coordination would allow him to play. To stave off his inevitable frustration, I would nonchalantly hand him the second controller, sit behind him, and play the game for him as Player 1. He got the satisfaction of thinking he’d mastered the game, while I actually got to play.

I don’t remember if he ever caught on, but soon he was old enough to play games without any such trickery. Still, enough of a skill gap remained that I recall consciously seeking out games that were easy to learn, difficult to master. In hindsight, my concern may have inadvertently shaped our divergent taste in games. While my brother has since “graduated” to contemporary triple-A console titles, I remain preoccupied with playing and making accessible yet addictive games that anyone can pick up and enjoy.

It’s those games (and memories) that helped inspire Lotsa Blocks, Backabit’s second game for iOS. The simplicity of the core mechanic rivals even Ramps: Rotate and stack dozens of different blocks on a teetering platform until you reach the goal line. The execution, however, is far more complex.

The core single-player mode contains 70 levels across seven worlds, each with their own unique setting (we had a lot of fun designing layered backgrounds that would animate well in parallax). There are six additional modes to explore, three of them multiplayer. You unlock them by playing the game, or through a single in-app purchase if you’re feeling impatient. They include:

• Adventure – Travel the world stacking blocks to new heights.
• (Super Secret Mode) – For those who laugh in the face of danger.
• Free Fall – Tilt your device to position plummeting pieces.
• Endless – No goals, no rules, just stack to your heart’s content.
• Last Block Standing – Compete against your friends or the world in turn-based play.
• Versus – Race an online opponent to the goal.
• Online Co-Op – A turn-based adventure for you and a friend.

We tried to do justice to the “Lotsa Blocks” title by including variety in more than just the environments and game modes. There are blocks that grow, blocks that explode, blocks that disappear and blocks that fall like a ton of bricks. Each has its own personality and banter to fill your heart with joy, even as your tower teeters on the brink of collapse. There are zany power-ups, extra lives and coins to collect, and a classic soundtrack reminiscent of our favorite Saturday morning cartoons.

All of this nifty stuff works in landscape or portrait orientation on any iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with iOS 5 or above, including the new retina display iPad and the iPhone 5. It’s a universal app, which means you can buy it once and play it on all your devices… if you have iCloud set up, it’ll sync your game data, too.

Lotsa Blocks will go on sale in the App Store this Thursday (10/11/12) for only $0.99. We had a blast making the game, and we couldn’t be more excited to show it to the world and hear what you think. You can follow our shiny new @backabitgames handle on Twitter for Lotsa Blocks news, updates and tidbits.

My brother came to visit a few weeks ago, and I asked him to try a nearly complete build of the game. In the hour that followed, he proceeded to annihilate almost all of my high scores. Oh, how the tables have turned…

Tim and I hope you take advantage of this awesome sale by purchasing some groovy indie games for iOS, Mac, Steam, Android and more.

And seriously, if you haven’t played Ramps yet, what are you waiting for?

The number one question we get from fans of Ramps:

“When are you going to make an iPad version?”

Those of you who follow us on Twitter may have guessed that Tim and I have been tinkering with Ramps for iPad ever since Ramps 1.1 debuted back in April. We’ve taken that time to insure that the iPad experience isn’t a mere port, but a definitive version of the game.

Another question we get asked a lot is whether or not Ramps for iPad will be a separate app, or a universal update. We wrestled with this distinction for quite some time, with both options having pros and cons, but we think you’ll be happy with our decision.

Ramps 1.2 is a free update for existing players, available now on the iOS App Store!

What’s new in this version?

• iPad support! Woo-hoo!
• 40 marvelous new HD levels exclusively for the iPad… 240 levels in all now!
• An epic new iPad title screen chock-full of delightful surprises to uncover!
• Full iCloud support with game save and score auto-sync!
• New Game Center Achievements! Who doesn’t like bragging rights?
• Major stability and design improvements. Shiny new buttons!

If you dig this update, consider spreading the holiday cheer by rating the app or gifting it to a friend!

Tim and I would like to extend a sincere and heartfelt thank-you to those of you who have played and supported our game. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season, we’ll see you in 2012!

Exactly one year ago today, Tyler and I joined forces to create simple, pick-up-and-play games for modern touch platforms. We christened our effort “Backabit”  (Tyler’s mom came up with the name) because of our fondness for timeless, old-school gameplay.

To celebrate how far we’ve come, we want to give something back to you. For a short time, we’re giving away Ramps for iPhone. Seriously, take a look… it’s 100% free.

If you’ve already got a copy, thank you so much! This wouldn’t be possible without your support. Now’s your chance to gift a copy to friends, family, even your dog!

We’re cooking up some big plans we hope to announce in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to this blog or follow us on Twitter to keep in the loop.

That said, we don’t want anyone to miss out on what we’ve got planned. Make sure you check back this way tomorrow.

You won’t be sorry!

The article talks about the design realizations I had between creating the original Flash game and the new iOS title. Here’s a short excerpt:

I didn’t want Ramps for iPhone to feel hermetically sealed. I wanted it to feel friendly, approachable and alive.

So I gave the ball a face.

When the ball was inanimate, only the player’s pride was at stake. The introduction of another personality, however subtle, elicits their empathy. The ball’s well-being is in his or her hands.

Read the rest over at 52 Mobile Apps!

Here’s a fine example. Fez is a platformer currently in the home stretch of development by Polytron and featured prominently in the upcoming Indie Game: The Movie documentary (of which I am a Kickstarter supporter).

The game looks charming, evocative and just plain stunning. I’m a big fan of similar perspective shifts in Super Paper Mario, but this looks even more engaging and atmospheric.

Since Fez isn’t out yet, I was relieved to receive my copy of the Super Meat Boy Ultra Edition in the mail, signed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. I bought a wired Xbox 360 controller just to enjoy playing in my office between stretches of Ramps tomfoolery. My last great 2-D platforming experience was New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS, so it’s been thrilling to routinely lose myself in such a merciless-yet-rewarding adventure.

If you’re a fan of Meat Boy, you’ll dig League of Evil for iPhone and iPod Touch. It’s the only virtual button platformer I’ve been able to play for any length of time. Seriously, how did Ravenous Games make the controls so responsive? A bargain at $1.99! Get it, play it, love it.

Speaking of touch platformers, I took 1-bit Ninja for a spin as well. I love the Game Boy aesthetic and the 3-D rotation feature. I applaud them for exploring a new and radical way to streamline touch controls without relying on the aforementioned virtual buttons. That said, I cannot seem to find my zen with the forward-only movement. Is it just my expectation of platformers in general that’s betraying my ability to control this game with confidence?

What games are inspiring you? (Besides Ramps, of course!)

These were created on August 25 and 26 respectively back in 2006 as part of a homework assignment for Dan Chapman’s Interactive Motion Scripting course at the Art Institute of Portland. We were working through chapters 9 and 10 of the ActionScript 2 edition of Keith Peters’ Foundation ActionScript Animation.

The first draft of my homework used assets directly from the examples in the book. You could click, drag and “let go” of the balls to throw them, but there was no interaction with the randomly generated ramps (referred to simply as “lines” in my original script).

It wasn’t long before I added drag events to the ramps, which resulted in this:

At this point I became a little frustrated with the white and red, so I created the style that would define the look of Ramps Classic. I also took a stab at ramp rotation, though only on the rightmost point:

It’s fun to look back to the beginnings of this fun project. It shows me the value (and fun) of building things just for the heck of it.

It also makes me very, very glad to have a collaborator now. Physics are hard to troubleshoot by yourself!