Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Issue 2 of the Comic out on the Store and number one in books!!


We tried to time it so that both came out at the same time (which is why we included the link in PG). But it came out just yesterday, and went to number one in books in a New York minute! In this issue, the Pygmies leave the island in search of a legendary temple to restore the Gem of Life (that enables their immortality). They set sail in an empty turtle shell, but of course, nothing is ever easy for the pygmies!


Also, at no extra charge, if you've purchased at least one issue of Pocket God, you should be able to read the supplementary magazine "The Pygmy Peril". This issue has exclusive art (a limited edition comic cover that I created)...as well as interviews and replies to "letters" (a.k.a. comments) from Ape Entertainment! But wait...there's MORE! Ape is including their own personal comic "Little Green Men" as bonus content! Its hilarious so even if you don't get issue 2, check this out!

I want to give props to Jason Burns, the fantastic writer of the series, Rolando Malada, the amazing artist, and Brent Erwin and Dave Hedgecock, the (enlarged) brains of Ape, for producing such a quality comic. If you don't believe me, just check out these reviews...
"I hadn't heard of this property until the first issue but in just two issues it has become a highlight of the year in any genre of comics. With two issues left I hope that doesn't mean that it is the end of Pocket God because it is a property with immense potential and hopefully one with legs on it." David O' Leary, Comic Related

>> Read the rest at comicrelated.com <<


"There was a lot more meat to the story than I was expecting from a first look at the cutesy style of the book. I imagine if I was familiar with the game there would be nuances that I didn't catch on to, but independent from the game this was a genuinely fun book to read and also one I'd be quick to recommend to kids as well." Amanda McDonald, Newsarama
>> Read the rest at Newsaram.com (scroll down) <<

And thanks to everyone who bought one or both issues! I notice some kids were surprised to be charged another 99cents for the second issue. We knew that was going to be a concern, so if you pay 1.99, you get the remaining 3 issues (which means one is free). Keep in mind, a physical comic is 3-4 dollars, and digital comics don't tend to give you every issue for a one time charge of 99cents! And hey, Ape has to pay their fantastic team! Don't forget, we will have four installments of the Pygmy Peril at no extra charge that includes issues of Ape's awesome "Little Green Men".

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Monkey See Monkey Chew is Out!


Took a bit longer than I expected, but the update was released today. As stated a few times already, this one features monkeys that are up to no good. Check out Dave's State of the Island for details on this update!

And thanks for everyone Tweeting and Facebooking (Fbooking? Fooking? Faking?) the Update Song Video...its racked up over 16,000 views so far and we're hoping to rack up more now that the update is out! Please help us push it more if you haven't Tweeted, commented or favorited. Dave's crazy idea of having a song written about our app is just another one of our attention-getting schemes to be the first at something (first episodic app, first comic book, first song, etc.) and see who follows suit :)

One of the favorite comments for the song is "why were they working on this video instead of the update?"....But guys, the video is just footage OF the update, particularly the dance pack too, since the song is included with guitar-playing pygmies! So there!

I made some screen shots, but this is the most difficult update to screen shot. The monkeys are unpredictable, its like taking a picture of a hyperactive child!


Plucking bananas from the banana tree attracts the monkeys. You can get up to 3 monkeys.



Monkeys like to ride the backs of the pygmy, but it always ends badly.



Drop a pygmy on a monkey and if there is another monkey on the island, they play catch. Then you can drop other pygmies into the game and see how many they can juggle!



The Dance Pack Too also includes the tasteful fart dance with lots of fun sound effects.




Lastly, we've done some menu rearranging. Here is the key:

Map - changes location

Island Menu - allows you to enable and disable island-specific features

Global Menu - allows you to enable and disable global features

God Power Menu - allows you to enable and disable god powers

Custom Menu - Gives you access and altar customizable elements, including the Custom Store, the Tribe Stat screen, Story Mode

Community Menu - Gives you access to community features such as Open Feint Achievements and Challenges

Settings Menu - here you can mute sounds, turn on and off gravity, turn on and off name lables, etc.

Hopefully this is cleaner than it was. There is a bit of debate if some features fit on the global menu and god power menu, but hopefully this makes it easier!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Dave's State of the Island!!!!


Hey everyone. Dave did his latest recap on Touch Arcade. Lots of stuff going on, so it was a biggee. One of the more off the wall things we've had in the works was the above Update Song! We had planned a dance update and Dave got it in his head to get Jonathan Mann (songatron.com), the perpetrator of the infamous i-Phone 4 Antenna Song, to write a song for us ...and to the fans who hound us about updates! And it was awesome. So my job was to animate the first pygmy boy band to perform it. Its part of the dance pack, but we decided to make a little video as well...as you can see above. In the video, there's a sneak preview of Monkey See Monkey Chew and some of the other dances from the dance pack.

Anyway, Dave explains it all, so go check it out and the latest icon!

>> Read Dave's State of the Island on Touch Arcade! <<

P.S. If you turn on Closed Captioning, you can see the lyrics!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Pocket God "Best God Game on iPhone"

Hey guys. So, this week has been rough. Dave and I were up until 4 am pushing through Monkey See Monkey Chew. There was some unexpected coolness that we discovered as we were playing with the monkeys. It was akin to how we discovered then when you bounced a coconut on Pygmy's heads you could attempt to keep the coconut in the air by lining the pygmies up and seeing how many times the coconut would off their skulls. However, this unexpected feature turned out to be difficult for Dave to work out the bugs, but we thought it was cool enough to integrate as part of the update, so we went back and forth on that trying to make it solid. Then around 4 am we had a somewhat heated discussion about marketing graphics. Then I went to bed and I think Dave kept working. So if it wasn't submitted some time around 5 am, then it will be today!

What kept me super busy over the last two weeks was a new dance pack...and it has a cool surprise, but I'll wait for Dave to post his state of the island to let everyone know.

During this, we've also been working on the iPad game as well. And I'm going to focus on that for the next week or two.

While PG has been flailing in the rankings, we are still lucky enough to have some new press....

>> Dave is interviewed on TheStreet (MainStreet) <<

Cnet's Tap That App named us best "God Game"....and the third game "Fingerzilla" in the list is interesting...I hadn't seen that yet!



Tuesday, September 7, 2010

And the Winner is....


Louis Forie of Burnaby, British Columbia! He was our randomly chosen winner (we used random.org to pick). He took the picture at Tazmanian Comic Connections! Congratulations Louis! And thanks to everyone who entered! Pictures have been posted on Flickr below..

The latest comic, by the way, has been submitted and is in approval. The next update will contain a free newsletter called "The Pygmy Peril" (even if you don't buy the latest issue), including answers to comments, an article about the T-Rex update, and some free comic content from Ape Entertainment. And going forward, we will try to add a free newsletter between the remaining issues of this series, which will also have Pocket God mini-stories. And in the works is a Pocket God comic with a story geared to the holidays....but of course with our own twist to it.

Again, thanks everyone! We are getting close to finishing the next episode "Monkey See, Monkey Chew"...and we are putting in a couple surprises that we think everyone will love.



By the way, we posted all pictures. Some took pictures at multiple comic shops and some sent duplicates...or ineligible entries, or photoshopped strangeness...But they are all posted here anyway!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Pygmies Land On Verizon!

A version of Pocket God is now available on Verizon BREW-based phones! This version of Pocket God has many of the features of Pocket God iPhone that you've come to know and love, but with a few new twists. As a vengeful god, you have control of an active volcano, lightning storms, hungry animals and much more. Or give gifts to the pygmies in the form of fish, coconuts, dancing, etc. This version uses different controls but requires the same exploration, and you must unlock god powers as you go. Hints guide the way as you discover all the god powers available!

The Verizon phones have different screen sizes and the resolution is a bit more limited than the iPhone, but we think Bight did a great job...






So, if you iPod Touch users happen to have a Verizon phone or know someone who does, be sure to check it out!

>> Get Pocket God on Verizon's Media Center! <<