Monday, August 31, 2009

Fan Site of the Day - The Pygmy Den


Also known as Pocket Gods Blog, is a newer blog that has collected tons of great content. Run by MalcomJudd and Swig08, they share the obsession for all things Pocket God! They keep up on the Touch Arcade discussions, deliver information and rumors and basically use the blog to give their point of view on current and future updates, upcoming updates and updates they wish would happen...
"so the next update will contain frickin sharks with frickin laserbeams attached to their frickin heads? i thought they would add more functionality to the shark(cooking, toothless) except the part that they would put it underwater. maybe a Shark update PART 3? they finally made a Map Icon for the underwater area(yes!) and i like the control functions in aiming for the pygmies and i wonder how the shark will eat the pygmies. maybe the shark will bite them and split them into half. >: D"

Plus they stay current on the latest fan art and glitches. But also there are just tons of funny screen shots collected there. The Pygmy Den also loves to hold polls. The latest is "What is behind the rocks on Egg Island?" Why are they asking that question, you ask? Well, you'll just have to go to their blog and find out!

>> Click here to visit the Pygmy Den! <<


Thanks guys for the great work!

P.S. Sweet banner!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Designer's Corner - Life Drawing


Allan here, and kicking off our new blog-post-series with something all budding-animators need to know about. Life drawing!

Really, the first thing I was interested in as a kid was drawing. As a 4 year old, I drew on paper bags, my bedroom wall, the inside of our family encyclopedias and other inappropriate places. Later, much like several of the PG fans, I would draw comics with my brother and sister to amuse ourselves. As persistent as this habit was throughout my childhood, I didn't really take it overly seriously until I went to film school and realized I was more interested in the animation program than the live action. Only one problem. I discovered that, in their eyes, I didn't draw too well. I wasn't horrible, and drew cartoons passably, but I couldn't draw anything realistic to save my life. Now I wasn't interested in drawing realistically, but it seemed to be required in order to be accepted into the animation department. Before I got in, the head of the department told me to step up my drawing habit, take some classes, and of utmost importance, attend LIFE DRAWING workshops.

Life drawing is basically drawing PEOPLE (although it also pertains to drawing animals and even plants). Various classes and workshops get models to pose, and you draw them. This was a new concept to me, but found a flyer for a workshop in the school. I went to my first session, and to my surprise, the woman we were supposed to draw TOOK OFF HER CLOTHES. I was 19 or 20 and this was a brand new experience. I hadn't realized the art world was so WEIRD! Once I got past this, the next surprise was that in this class, we were doing something called "gesture" drawing, and only allowed very short amounts of time to draw each pose. I very was slow at first...so before I even got something down, the model changed position! Some lasted 30 seconds, some 1 minute, some 5 minutes and we were only required to capture the "gesture" of the pose. And then the model would change pose and we were supposed to abandon the drawing and move on! The standard tools were a block of charcoal and a large cheap brown pad of paper. The objective was to loosen up, squiggle the basic idea of the pose in order to get the feel of the human body, but not labor over details. These drawings were also supposed to contain a "line of action". This line is an imaginary arc that represents the natural curve of the human body and should be identified with every gesture. I watched other people scrawl things that barely looked like people but seemed to have the flow of the body position because it captured the "line of action". Some people were just amazing and would create these beautiful charcoal marks, while I seemed to make overly dark scribbles. But the class taught me a lot about loosening up. The looser you are drawing the gesture and finding the line of action, the more interesting and fluid your drawings get.

Line of action examples:


Other life-drawing classes and workshops would give more time to draw...to fill in the details. But the lesson of the quick gesture drawing teaches you to lay down the flow of the body before attempting to render details like facial features or fingers.

It turned out to be my favorite type of art class to take. I never got spectacular at it but I became a lot more familiar with the human form-- how arms and legs attach to the body, what size hands should be in comparison to the head, where bones and muscles protrude, etc. For a while I became obsessed with figuring out these types of details.

So how does that translate to drawing Pygmies? Well, of course cartoon characters have their own reality and most of these details don't seem to be present in them, however if you know what you are looking for, this knowledge is in use there...mostly in the poses of the animation. A lot of video game animations look robotic or puppet-like to me. The arms and legs move independently of the body without taking into consideration it is supposed to be alive and organic. When I animate the pygmies, I use the lessons I learned in the posing of the characters. And most of all, I give them a "line of action" so the poses are more alive.


So, when anyone says they want to become a game artist, animator or illustrator, besides telling them to get a sketchbook and draw constantly, I tell them to look into life drawing classes. They're a great place to start , even if you're just curious, and really just a lot of fun. I've also found life drawing books helpful as reference. When I was at home sketching, I would refer to books to learn more about anatomy and technique.

Here's a list of some of the books I found very useful...

Dynamic Anatomy (Practical Art Books)

Drawing the Human Head (Practical Art Books)

Drawing Dynamic Hands (Practical Art Books)
Anything from Burne Hogarth pretty much kicks butt. The drawings are amazing and really help you understand the shape of things like the head, hands, feet, etc. Now, for some great drawings and instruction about being looser and more dynamic, here's one I found more recently...

Force: Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators, Second Edition
Eventually, we're going to put our recommendations into our own amazon store, and anything you buy from it, we'll get a 4% commission (no extra cost to you of course!) So if you want anything we recommend and decide to buy it, why not support Pocket God in the process?

Designer and Developer's Corner!



Hey guys, we're going to dabble in a new feature for the blog. The blog has been a great success but as of late, has been a little repetitive. Since Pocket God has been out for almost 8 months, the reviews are pretty much in. And there are only so many times we can say "the update is coming!". Until we have our next project confirmed (we've been going back and forth on what it will be), there isn't as much to say lately.

Dave and I regularly receive emails from people asking us advice to do what we are doing. What tools do we use? What kind of education should one get? What other advice do we have? Dave had the brainstorm that we could supplement the blog with this kind of information. So that's what we're going to do. Periodically, you'll see Designer or Developer's corner (corny title, maybe will be changed) that will share advice, information, inspiration and point people in the direction to learn more.

For Dave, the subjects might include programming, development and game design or even favorite movies. For me, I might talk about design tools, animation concepts, or favorite pizza topping. Kidding about the pizza topping but I'm leaving it open. It might just be about random things that inspire or influence us. We'll see!

We'll post them periodically, so this is my warning!

Coming soon: Designer's Corner - Life Drawing and Pygmies!

P.S. the drawing above was found on deviant art by JPEDV

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Fan Site of the Day...Pocket God Forums Revisited!


Okay, the link is over to the side, but since I started the Pocket God Fan listing, I thought I'd revisit one of the awesomest (word?) places created by fans FOR fans of Pocket God. It is administered by Arikags, Saintsalive Gscal, SuperPygmy and Superskateman, and moderated by Jamesbond007, Metalbear, Masgroomes97, The_Dude and Pocket God. There is just a TON of content and conversation going on there. They have polls, a news section, general chat, update discussion, fan art and of COURSE the idea discussions!

Being an artist, this is also a great place to catch up on comics by Saintsalive, Kyle, King of the Penguins, Tigermouse, Jamesbond007 and art by Mathieu914, Yffum, The_Dude, Superskateman, SupperTeddy, 5Jusername and others.



There is a lot of work and energy put into this forum...and I'm very impressed by the skill it took to create it!

One of my favorite parts of the forums is the tiny icons created for the UI. Here's a small sampling...


They also have an unofficial Pocket God store there, which is pretty cool! So, if you haven't visited the forums, be sure to check them out!

>> Click here to go to the Pocket God Forums <<

P.S. I've noticed in comments that people are speculating that Pocket God is winding down because we are starting to think about spinoffs. But we haven't made any such decision! We're going to keep updating for a while and have no immediate plans to stop. In fact, Dave and I have been inspired by forum conversations to expand on the Pocket God story and have a lot of fun plans around that!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Dave's State of the Island! Sharks with Frickin' Laser Beams


Last week kinda sucked. We were all pysched to put out "Caught with Your Pants Down" and then we were pretty much CAUGHT WITH OUR PANTS DOWN. We test our game in what is called "debug" mode....but then somehow didn't get the "Release" build tested on a 2.2 device, and BOOM, CRASH, POW.

Apple was really nice to let us quickly swap back in "Bait Master" to avoid new users downloading a crashing app. As a result, the usual bump in sales we got, of course, didn't happen. But at least people weren't paying their buck for an app that wouldn't stay open. Sorry to make everyone wait.

So on Touch Arcade, Dave reveals the details of the current episode "Sharks, with Frickin' Laserbeams Attached To Their Heads". There are several misquotes of the line out there (sharks with fricken lasers attached to their heads, sharks with lasers attached to their fricken heads"), but I've checked, this title is right. Now, I'm going to give a little background. A few weeks ago, I came across a forum posting somewhere that said they would like Pocket God a lot better if they'd just attach frickin' laserbeams to the shark heads. I showed it to Dave and we both laughed and thought, WE MUST DO IT. Its from Austin Powers and totally awesome. It's a strange cross-pollination, but we thought, what the hell? So there's a new function in the underwater ruins. Dave elaborates:
"When you pick chum out of the bucket, the shark swims with full laser headgear and tries to eat the chum. You can hand the chum to a pygmy at which point they look around with a Panicked look on their face until the shark eats them along with the chum. Also, while the shark is on screen, you have a laser aimer that is controlled by the accelerometer, kind of like Doom Resurrection."
But are they illtempered? It's a start!

>> Read Dave's Touch Arcade Post here.<<

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Fansite of the day: Pocket God Glitchspot!


Now, Pocket God is a deceptively complicated game to program. One criticism we read is that Pocket God is "simple". Every time I read that, I laugh out loud!

Most games give the characters a very limited set of actions and interaction. And the collision of characters on the screen is usually generic. Think about your average Mario game, he either dies or gets knocked backward, or falls off screen no matter what he encounters!

In PG, he characters react to gravity, weather, the animals, god's (i.e. your) interference. Dave has built an engine where we have many possibilities on the screen and I have to create the animations around them. and there are hundreds and hundreds of animations at this point.The more we add, the more possibilities. With every episode, our brains get closer and closer to exploding....whoops another update idea.

As hard as we try to imagine all the possibilities and test it, the PG players out there kick our butts in that arena and uncover all sorts of weird and funny glitches! I'd be upset except it seems to have become part of the fun. What weird stuff can you put the game through to break it and how funny is the result?

A new site is devoted to the glitches, Pocket God Glitchspot, is maintained by Alex F. and Skipper587. With every update, they comb it for new and weirder glitches and tell you how to reproduce them. They keep monitor with other glitch seekers (like the Pocket God Glitch Guide) to stay abreast of any new info....


"So I found some more glitches, so here they are. Ok, so to trigger this first one, right as the T-Rex bites down, tap him, and the pygmy will "fall through the floor." He goes off the bottom of the screen without drowning. See him at the bottom?"

Whoops! Put it on the list, Dave!

>> Check out Pocket God Glitchspot Here! <<

Great job on pointing out how we're NOT doing our job, guys! Keep up the good work!



P.S. I see in the flurry of the latest crisis, the title for the next episode was leaked! The reason we withheld it, is that its just a little TOO descriptive of the next functionality. I won't say it here, but for those of you who found it, and think its really weird....go on youtube and search it!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Update Reverted

Within the next few hours, the update on the store will be reverted. If you want to get Pocket God back, do the repurchase trick to get Ep 23 back. You won't be charged. Ep 24 and Ep 25 will be submitted in the next couple days.

If you have Ep 24 and Challenges are working, don't revert or you will lose the ability to challenge! Thanks, guys.

NEW NOTE: Hey guys. I accidentally deleted all the most recent comments again. Blogspot has one stupid glitch that you have to be careful of. I read that someone with 3.0 and the game working was confused if they have to revert. NO. If you have 3.0 and all is working, do NOT do the revert update.

NEWER NOTE: Looks like people missed the note in the app store and this blog and updated anyway. Sorry. we are resubmitting 24 and 25 ASAP. Dave found a link (a little too late) about the issue we ran into when adding 3.0 features to a 2.2 compatible release. Wish we had seen this earlier, but want to spread the word to other developers....CLICK HERE TO READ.

Disaster Strikes!

Those of you who haven't updated, if you dont have a 3.0 phone/pod, DON'T!

Dave has figured out what is crashing the game. In this build, we've added 3.0 functionality BUT should be able to run on 2.2 ipods and phones. However, it looks like there was an unexpected bug in the system. When we create debug builds (what we use to test), everything works fine. But something happens in the "Release" build (what we send to Apple) that suddenly made it incompatible on 2.2.

The upshot is that the game SHOULD be working on 3.0 ipod/phones and will probably crash a 2.2 ipod/iphone. Ouch! Besides convincing everyone to upgrade to 3.0, our only solution here is to get another version up on the app store pronto. We have two options, leave it for a few days while Dave resolves the bug and then submit and try to convince Apple to fast track it. This would put is in a rush, and risk making a new mistake. OR see if Apple will revert the store version to Bait Master so people aren't purchasing a crashing app.

We're talking to Apple to figure out the best solution.

I've seen a few complaints from people with 3.0, and will check that out as well.

Really sorry guys! We're really bummed this happened. Thanks for your support.

UPDATE: We are going with option 2, reverting to Bait Master. Apple will put it back up on the store within 24 hours. We will then combine Ep 24 and Ep 25 in the next update!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Idle Hands 2 is out


Surprise, again! We thought we had a few more days to prepare ourselves for the onslaught, but its here! Now, users of Open Feint (or just "Feint") can challenge each other to mini game duals! If you haven't found it, the buttons are in the upper menu. There is a new "community menu". From there, there is a link to Open Feint the in-game challenge screens (see graphic below). You must familiarize yourselves with both places to participate. Its not that hard, but you must go onto Feint, sign up and then add friends before you can access the Challenge Screen.



In the Challenge Screen you can pick a mini-game (Ooga Jump, Shark Snaps, etc.) and a friend from your list and then challenge them. You are then given one minute to get the best score you can in that mini-game. If you are in the middle of your game and the minute runs out, you may continue as long as the game is in progress. Then the challenge is sent to your friends. Push notifications lets people know the challenge came in. Also, the Challenge screen has a "Pending challenges" tab for you to view incoming challenges.



It might sound a little complicated, but its really pretty easy. That's the good news...the bad news is that we pretty much are already having reports of problems on some people's ipods/iphones. While we test on a broad variety of devices, there is always the unexpected issues out there! If you are having problems, please use this post to comment and let us know how its going! We will try to work out the kinks as much as we can before we submit the next episode.

Whew! I'm glad we're going back to the basics in the next update!

NEW NOTE: We are aware that some iPod Touches crash because of the conflict between the 2.2.1 code and 3.0. We REALLY apologize for this and are working on fixing it! The good news is that once Dave finds out the issue, we will be poised to submit the next episode with fixes very soon....PLUS we may be able to push an update through FAST because of the versioning issues (which isn't entirely our fault)

Midweek check in, a nice write up and a video review


Well, we're waiting for "idle Hands 2" to go through. Word is on the twittersphere that approvals are taking as long as 9 days! Yesterday, Dave, Jean (who we've teamed up with for business development) went on a little road trip. Not for fun, but to have a few meetings. One was to finally talk to someone at Apple! It was very interesting to finally talk to someone on the "inside". They are still a bit secretive about certain things but we learned a lot. The other meetings are top secret but hopefully we will have something to announce in the next couple of weeks!

Now, it looks like we have a little more time, Dave and I are adding a few more features to the next update, which most of you already know has to do with the shark. On the road trip, Dave and I also brainstormed tweaks to the shark update as well as future updates....we know we have a good idea when we start laughing like 13 year olds who just heard a dirty joke and don't want our parents to know. So the trip was productive in that way. If you are wondering what the title is, we can't say, because it basically gives away the big joke of the update. Not sure when we will reveal the title...some people in the forums are calling it Jump the Shark 2.

So, without anything new, I thought I'd post this nice review I stumbled upon at Fantasy Magazine on darkfantasy.org. What was interesting to me is how someone feels when someone who hasn't been following the updates come across Pocket God for the first time. Besides the Help menu, the only way to learn the features is with experimentation and a little creativity. Even then, I doubt you'd figure everything out. We are still not sure if this is a good or bad thing (or a little of both)...but here's what Kimberly Unger wrote:

>> Read Godling In Your Pocket at Fantasy Magazine <<

And for those of you that didn't like the 3 year old review (we thought it was funny!), here's a recent, and slightly more mature, review by PatzPodTouch!



New Fansite of the day tonight! Stay tuned.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Olivia's Review of Pocket God

Its been a while since we've posted another video review and thought I'd put this one up. Meet Olivia. In her review, it is apparent she really likes Pocket God... although she admits it is not her FAVORITE iphone app...her favorite has something to do with penguins. We'll have to remember that if we ever get to that ice island!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Fan Site of the Day - Saintsalive PG Comics!


Okay...so this hasn't been EVERY OTHER DAY, but I'm still on it. Since Saintsalive (Liam) was the big winner of the Idle Hands 2 contest, I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone (who isn't aware) of the great work he's done creating Pocket God comics! He even set up this awesome site for you to go read and be entertained. His depiction of the Pygmies as goofy, scheming, sometimes selfish, and always in danger, really hits the mark of what our humor is all about. In our opinion Liam is an extremely talented comedy writer and should stay on that track!

He has made other contributions as well...He signed up for beta testing close to the start of PG, worked with his friends to run the PG Forums and don't forget the Marshmallow song!

>> Click here to visit SaintsPGComics <<




Thanks a bunch for all your great work Saintsalive!

P.S. The latest update "Caught With Your Pants Down" is still in the approval system. We estimate a Monday or Tuesday approval. I've just finished some art for the following update that probably will go down in history as our goofiest and most random update so far. It was inspired by a Pocket God comment we came across in the forums.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Creeps, Doodles and Pygmies Oh My!

Russel Bernau of the Creeps has collaborated with Lima Sky (Doodle Jump) to further the crossovers. James "Superbad" has covered it at the Appera.

>> Read The Appera Creeps Mashups article here! <<

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Dave's State of the Island

Dave does his recap of the latest update. This one proved to be a major one due to friend challenges. Collaborating with Aurora Feint, players will now be able to challenge each other over the internet....
"Now that my complaining is over, the update is actually really fun, some of our beta testers say this is the coolest update yet because it puts some competition into play. The current mini games that are challenge enabled are Ooga Jump, Bait Master, Hurricane Zaps, Coconut Bounces, Bird Bombs, and Shark Snaps. I also recoded the achievement logic so its a lot easier to connect new mini games to their achievements and challenges. "

>>Read Dave's Touch Arcade Post Here<<

He also reveals the new Idles. Now that the cat's out of the bag, here's what they are.....


Adam Jaffe - Beat Chest (like an ape or Tarzan)


Sam Greenwood - Pull bone out of hair, hair falls in face, puts it back up


Seth Horinouchi - Sneeze


Brandon and Derek - Thought bubble with an item in it


Liam (Icon winner) - Skirt falls to ground, Pygmy picks up embarassed

There were so many good ones, we chose ones we thought were funny, doable, but not overly complicated. Many of you are going to say "Hey! That was mine!"....because many people thought of the same thing. Thank you for everyone that sent in their idles. I am halfway through making a collage of all the art that was submitted. Two of the winners submitted their art, Seth and Sam. See below.


By Sam Greenwood

By Seth Horinouchi

PG Featured on iTunes Facebook page

A friend just sent me a heads up! Go make a comment!

>> Click here to view the iTunes Facebook Page <<

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Dave's 10 Tips on Industry Gamers

Dave shared his insights on how to succeed with an app or game on the iTunes app store. And furthermore, they used the San Francisco business times pic in case you haven't seen what we look like yet!

>> Click here to read Dave's 10 Tips on InudstryGamers! <<

Site of the (Every Other?) Day: AppSource UK's Virtual Pocket God


Whoops. I woke up yesterday with a horrible sore throat and ignored the blog all day! I am still sick but I've forced myself to get off the couch and back to work. I knew I was behind on the site feature so i hope everyone forgives me. Not to mention poor Sam Greenwood's typo! Sorry, Sam!

So, the "every other" day is out the window, but this feature is continuing!

The next feature is Virtual Pocket God by AppSourceUK. At first glance, this may sound like a YouTube reviewer (which this is not about), but it really is just a a dedicated individual reporting every Pocket God update. Between the rockin intro, cool motion graphics and logo, and the nicely put together update list, there is a LOT of work put into this! The video of PG clear and the narrator is clear and articulate. I wish I was this diligent! When I was their age (well, there was no internet), I could barely get it together enough to finish my homework.



>> Check out Virtual Pocket God Here !<<

Really amazing work. Thanks AppSource!

P.S. Idle Hands 2 has been submitted and is on its way. This update was tricky and completely fried Dave, so I think he's taking a breather before he types out his update

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Idle Hands 2 Winners!

Well, part of the reason I worry about contests is that it ends up disappointing a lot of people who had very good ideas, but you know what they say. Someone's gotta win. What I completely didn't factor in when I came up with is idea is how many people would suggest the exact same thing. I came up with the fairest methodology I could think of to pick the winners as I could and this is the list that shook out!

(in no particular order)

  • Sam Greenwood

  • Liam (a.k.a. Saintsalive)

  • Adam Jaffe

  • Seth Horinouchi

  • Brandon & Derek

So, what was their idle choice? Who won the icon? Let's leave that for another time! There are some hints out there on the internet if you care to look for them. The icon winner will receive a $50 itunes card and the other four, a $25 itunes card.

The reason I didn't make the announcement earlier is I was waiting to see if we could get this other very cool prize together in time, but its taking too long so we'll save it for something else. More on that later!

Congrats to the winners! and we'll release more info soon.

We received many awesome drawings of idles and i saved them all. I am figuring out a way to create a collage out of them as a token of my appreciation. I would have posted one of the ones that didn't win (since I'm not revealing the idles yet)...but then it would have been horribly misleading!

Thanks to everyone! P.S. I'm holding off on the Site of the (every other day) until tomorrow. Sorry about that!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Pocket God Attacks Harbor Master!


The other half of our cross over is complete and up on the app store! Imangi Studio have Pygmies doing the back stroke in the Harbor Master game! Pygmies take over when you put your finger on the Harbor Master logo on the front screen and hold it there a while. A Pygmy drops down and then you just go and play the game. As a special bonus, they used the full version of the Tyrannosaurus Island loop. Dave and I felt the electric guitar was too much so we left it out. They did a great job using our existing sprites and having fun with the sound effects.

So if you have to have even MORE pygmies, go get Harbor Master. Its 99 cents, a beautiful looking and addicting game, now with a PG twist.

Big props to Keith and Natalia of Harbor Master! Great job guys.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Sarcastic Gamer mentions Pocket God

Pocket God is mentioned in this unusual podcast starring two gamer girls named Harlequin and Jax. About a quarter of the way in, Harlequin talks about the episode "Flipping the Bird" and achievements. Harlequin is a fan....Jax, not so much. But if you are a gamer and support the idea of two bubbly girls talking about games, check out this podcast!

>>Go here to listen to the Sarcastic Gamer <<

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Fansite of the (every other) day - PocketGodFans.blogspot.com!


Check out the blog pocketgodfans.blogspot.com run by Raheel. This blog shows the love for pocket god in the form of tons of fan art and comics. Some by family and some from friends on the internet. Like many people out there, pocketgodfans has a soft spot for Pocket God glitches (those darn glitches!) ...for example, the Ooga Jump thunder storm glitch... Don't know about it? Well, go check out the blog to read all about it. And there's some great tips on how to excel at the Ooga Jump! They also follow the latest bolt creative news. Of course there's the creative pocket god ideas as well...
"Black Hole- create a black hole anywhere on the screen and watch the islanders cling on the island and each other before getting sucked in."

So thanks Raheel and friends! Keep up the great work!

>> Check out pocketgodfans.blogspot.com now!!! <<



Bait Master approved!


Should take an hour or two to go through, but Bait Master went through in time for the weekend! In case you haven't heard, this update has a mechanic much like Harbor Master (or Flight Control of course)...this time with piranhas! We planned this crossover promotion with Imangi Studios....who will have Pygmies swimming in side Harbor Master!

For our app, bring up the Tsunami...and then in the underwater area, you will see the Harbor Master Anchor. Touch it and lift it to create the clanking noise that calls the piranhas. Draw a line from the piranha to the pygmy to feed the piranha. Just avoid two piranhas colliding, or they will fight and end the game. Its kind of easy at first but as you go it gets harder and more chaotic. The big difference in this game play is that you can arrange and add Pygmies as you go, so you can formulate strategies around those abilities.

We are close to submitting Idle Hands 2, and I will announce the winners as soon as I can. There is a reason I haven't announced the winners yet, but I'll explain later.

Thanks everyone for all the awesome birthday wishes yesterday. I meant to post this cool graphic from the Pocket God Forums...art by Yffum. Really great! And if you haven't gone to the Pocket God Forums, click here now!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Happy Birthday Allan!!!!


Hey Everyone, for those who don't know, today is Allan's birthday. Pocket God could never be possible without him, from the very start his characters and art drove people to be interested in our game (especially when the programming and functionality wasn't quite there yet). I truly believe that he's a world class animator and pocket God is just the start of his long successful career.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLAN!

The above comic is from Saintsalive to mark the occasion.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

The POCKET GODS make themselves heard!


Our first Fan-site of the (Every Other) Day, P.O.C.K.E.T.G.O.D.S., is a blog that, so far, has rolled out a BUNCH of content. Run by Puppylover#1 and 5 friends. You can find out the latest with Pocket God from their point of view here. They run polls, post pics of their suggestions (very awesome!), talk about how to draw pygmies, give tutorials on how to work the game, and much more!

>> Visit the P.O.C.K.E.T.G.O.D.S. now!



Keep up the great work, team P.O.C.K.E.T.G.O.D.S.!

Fan Site Of The (every other) Day


Okay, starting TONITE, I am going to feature a fansite/blog/etc. on our blog that is about Pocket God! I will do it until I run out.

There are a few very industrious friends of Pocket God out there and I need to give them their props!

So, why every OTHER day you ask? Well, because we've discovered that the top position on this blog generates the most hits while it is up. This way, each site will get at least a day in the highest exposure without being buried.

Now, I am aware of a handful of Pocket God blogs and sites, but if you're not sure if I have it, send a new email to pocketgodcontest@gmail.com. This isn't a contest, but this email is the least cluttered. Please, don't throw something up overnight just to get on the list....only fansites that you are putting time into! Thanks, guys!

By the way, the illustration above is by Joe Gibson Thomas Gibson and was submitted for the Idle Hands 2 Contest!

Pocket Gamer Interviews Dave

Another cool interview with Dave. Even though I know the story, I am always interested in hearing Dave's thoughts. Whenever we talk, it ends up being about anime or the latest movies (which I am finally having time to see).

>> Read Pocket Gamer Interview Here <<

Monday, August 3, 2009

Number 15 on the Reject List!

Wait, don't panic. we haven't been rejected but I came across this article...

>>Business week Top 20 Rejected iPhone Apps <<

The infamous Babyshaker being the first mentioned. How strange is it that Business Week even took note of our dopy rejection from march! Anyway, I went through the contest entries this weekend and Dave and I picked our favorites....but I didn't consider when we should reveal? The day of the approval? I KNOW people aren't gonna like that! But that seems like the best idea to me...what do you think?

I have a backlog of stuff to blog, so I think I'll work on getting to them over the next few days. More later!