Liam, a.k.a. SaintsAlive, a fan of PG from the almost the very beginning, contacted me the other day to let us know that the Pocket God Forums have just hit their two year anniversary! He and a few friends started the forum as an alternative to Touch Arcade, where they could freely discuss updates, suggest features and share art for Pocket God and other apps that they appreciated.
Saints shares admin duties with PocketCow, who has been instrumental in keeping the forums up and running, and are helped by Tigermouse and Jamesbond007.
So, to celebrate the 2 year, they interviewed Dave and I about the current state of Pocket God.
And while you are there, be sure to check out the rest of the forums. Of course my favorite part is always the fan art, especially the comics. They are often hilarious and have me laughing out loud!
Thanks SaintsAlive, Pocket Cow, Tigermouse and Jamesbond007! Keep up the good work!
I had to remove the animated gif at the top (by Pygkid104 a.k.a. Failboat103), because I just linked it to it's photobucket location and apparently we've exceeded the maximum views. Will put it back when I get a copy and put it on my server.
We have an update on the PG comic. So it looks like the latest issue (Issue 7, Tale of Two Pygmies Part 2) is showing up on the app now! Still a few glitches that iVerse is working fast and furious on the update to correct. The most obvious of which is that the cover for issues 7 (Ooga and Klik staring each other down), on the menu is showing the cover for issue 1. But you see the correct cover once you open the comic. This will be fixed very soon.
Bottom line is, you SHOULD BE ABLE to download the latest issue now! And if you are having technical issues and can't read something you purchased (or is otherwise free)....we WILL fix this pronto. We're on it! Be on the lookout for updates that improve the functionality as well as the look and feel of the app. Believe us, it means a LOT to us to create the best pygmy story we can and have people get into it. Dave and I have been so focused on working with Jason Burns and David Hedgecock to create an epic adventure, filled with mystery, drama and of course our evil sense of humor. We probably weren't watching the app development as closely as we should have. But we are now! So thank you for your patience. And btw, if you've read issue 7, feel free to post your reviews here and speculate on what will happen next! I bet you can't guess!
So, this last week (comic issues aside) has been an amazing week for the inhabitants of Oog Island. Once we released the update of PG Uranus as universal app, it zipped up the charts! Sure we still are bested by that pack of ticked off avians, but we'll take it! This morning, it dawned on me. Pocket God is currently at #1 in Entertainment, PG Uranus is at #3 in Games and Overall Paid, and Pocket God, the Comic is #2 in books! And that's not counting the iPad charts. It's a perfect Pygmy storm! So guys, one LITTLE nudge could put the comic at #1, and one MASSIVE nudge could put Uranus at #1 Overall! Tell your friends and family, give the Pygmies a chance!
So I wanted to take care of the comic bug controversy this morning and held off on the Sneak Peek at episode 40 that I promised if Uranus went top 3 (and btw, it's now in top ten grossing). Then Dave sent me an angry touch arcade post form Jakerocksalot16 calling us on it, so whoops! Better get on it! At the moment, the art section is still being produced independently of the game engine, but here is some art for ya! That looks like one angry Pygmy!
Hey guys. This morning I was psyched to hear the comic was approved only to find out that the new issue isn't showing up....and the new issue of the Pygmy Peril is causing some people to crash. Darn it! After all the production delays...artist getting sick, iVerse being backed up...we finally get it out and it doesn't even show up on the app! I am excited for everyone to see how this arc turns out...there are a few surprises and has a great cliff hanger for the next arc....which takes the Pygmies off their island on a new epic adventure with new mysteries, characters and settings.
If we can just get out this $%! Issue! Well, we'll post on the blog any news, but hopefully it gets submitted and expedited by Apple for the weekend, but we can't count on it.
So, I promised some sneak peeks if Uranus got to number three (and it DID, woohoo!!!). So for that reason, and begging forgiveness for delays, here you go!
Three whole pages of Issue 7 Tale of Two Pygmies (part 2) (click the pages to see the readable version!)
Panel from Issue 8, Tale of Two Pygmies (part 3)
Rough pencil from Issue 9 (super secret epic adventure) AFTER ToTP
Stay tuned for a sneak peek at the next Pocket God (the app), episode Battle of the Gods!
Woohoo! Thanks to everyone who bought it right away! But we need your help! It's been a while since we had this kind of momentum on iTunes so we want to take advantage of it! Be sure to rate us high on iTunes and leave a great comment! Tweet, blog, Facebook the heck out of it for us. Name your Pygmies and make them do funny things in space and post a screen shot. Get creative... We're watching! And especially awesome posts/images/etc. could earn you a reward!
And to sweeten the pot, see if we can push us into the top 3. If you do, we will post a sneak preview of the next PG update, plus a sneak preview of the next three issues of the comic! And eh, maybe we'll still do it if we don't crack the top 3 but see that there was an EFFORT. We're softies.
You heard me right! We heard the request for Uranus to play on iPod Touch and iPhone...so rather than create a separate version, we decided just to take the original and make it work on both. It wasn't easy because we designed it to take advantage of the iPad screen and processing power. But Dave, along with Robin and Sam, spent a bunch of time optimizing and altering the programming so the scenes would look great on all sizes. So if you bought it for iPad, it should still look and run the same (maybe even better) but you'll also be able to play the same app on smaller devices without buying it again. And yes, once again, we marked it down to 99¢, and if it goes back up, will only go to $1.99.
Since this took the majority of our time, we decided to create a simpler mini-game that takes advantage of the existing space location, Quantum Entanglement. It was partly inspired by my nephews who requested a scavenger hunt in space and their love for memorization games...so thanks, Brad and Wes! Basically you drag a pygmy to the atom floating in space, and then you have to hunt down a trail of other entangled atoms. You touch one, and another one appears. The trail is always the same, so the more you play it and remember the trail, the further you'll get! You can watch particles to get a hint of the direction of the next atom as well. You also have limited time between atoms (and get extra points for saving time), so go as quickly as you can. But don't accidentally drag a Pygmy over a black hole or the game ends!
And I want to point out that we were really happy that Challenge of the Gods was received so well! We are now in full production of the Battle of the Gods, where you will be able to use the idols you've collected....plus there will be the opportunity to add a few more to the arsenal, but more on that later.
For fans of the comic, we have had one issue ready for a couple weeks now and the one after that is almost finished, but for some reason there have been major technical problems delaying the release. It's killing me because the first issue of the arc barely hints at the crazy things that go down in the next two issues...so thank you for your patience! The comic has been such a success that Ape put a bunch more resources to produce the comics faster (and we've worked out a huge ongoing story)...but the original app was only built for a short run, so it's taking time to build in the structure for lots more issues.
And as for the next Uranus update, let's just say we heard the request for more classic Pocket God powers!
