Pocket God Number Three on Apple's Top App List!

I had to screen shot this because I was totally surprised at our placement. Its obviously not sales because although Doodle Jump and Pocket God have been around longer, its pretty obvious Angry Birds has probably sold the most of anyone. Dave speculates it might be based partially on longevity, or the percentage of iTunes users at the time, etc. etc. But who cares! We made another list! Woohoo! Oh, and I have to stop and actually be kind of blown away by that number. 10 billion is a pretty darn BIG number. If they get to a trillion, I've got to be wondering how many apps you people have on your iPhones/iPods/iPads!

Pocket God Figure Unboxing

Happy new year everyone! Thanks to all who have bought our first venture outside of updating Pocket God, Journey To Uranus! We're excited to keep making the game even cooler, and we're working hard to get our first update of that out soon! But also, thanks to everyone who went and bought a Pocket God figure! Hopefully this is the first of several toys that we will produce of the Pygs! Its definitely a learning experience for us. AtomicGamingVideos ordered one and unboxed it on YouTube which is sweet! He dug it...Believe me, Dave LOVES his toys, and got really crazy on the manufacturer about making sure it was cool. Thanks for posting AtomicGamingVideos!



Have I mentioned, I personally designed the box! Oh yeah I know, BIG DEAL... but hey, I never did a box design, so I tried to make sure it was something you wouldn't just toss out.

If you want to get one of your own CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE POCKE SHOP!

And yes, as soon as the PG Uranus update is wrapped, our next priority is still Pocket God PROPER. More on that update later!

Pocket God on Wired and Inside Social Games lists!

So we haven't even started the new year, and I'm already working on the update for Journey To Uranus which will involve adding some favorite Pocket God features but with a spacey twist, and soon after that the next Pocket God update (will it ever end?) which I think will go down in history as the weirdest update so far. And with Pocket God, that's saying something. The people at Frima are still hard at work getting ready for the next episode on the Facebook. Just want everyone to know we didn't take THAT much of a holiday vacation...in case you were wondering!

But in the mean time, we were surprised to see our new games pop up on a couple lists! The Facebook one is a big surprise because it just came out and is in very good company! Congrats to Frima Studios for making that happen!

>> The 19 Most Wired iPhone and iPad Apps of 2010 <<

>> Inside Social Gaming best of 2010 List <<

Pocket Shop up and running!

Well, its a little late for Christmas but its going to be a brand new year, and we finally have our online store up and running! Turns out its kind of hard to set up to sell things (legally) on the internet, but we finally did it! The first major item is the Pygmy Figure, only 14.99! I personally designed the box! We will also are selling actual hard copies of the Pocket God comic. They will have extra stories not in the digital format (like the origin of the Laser Shark)...Soon we'll get the plushes up for sale, so either click on the link in the margin or the link below:


>> CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE SHOP! <<

24 HOUR SALE OVER

Okay, guys! 24 hours have passed and we've put the price back! You may have a couple minutes to get it before the price return takes, but basically, its over. Some people were pretty upset with us, but we were backed into a corner. If we didn't do something to improve ranking, it was going to drop out before Christmas. So it was a calculated risk on our part to compete with the likes of ...well, I won't say their name, but they tend to go by two vowels. We probably shouldn't be this transparent, but that's what happens at Christmas with sales and we were caught in the middle. And a game that has some awesome stuff and will only get awesomer cost you about the same as a happy meal. We invested tons of time and money into getting the space part right so it would feel great, and be flexible enough to add tons of stuff in the future. Plus there are THREE fun games in it (as opposed to the normal ONE)

Thank you for buying at either price! We are already planning our next update and will make it a priority for the new year. We're going to add some fun interactivity and have some really awesome ideas! And we're listening to the comments, but as usual, we tend to take a person's idea and add our own spin to it.

And incidentally, we are going to start talking about the big Facebook changes as well! There's a great forum on the facebook app page (link in the margin) where people are making their suggestions!

Take note! We are quietly opening up the Pocket Shop! Its still in infant stages but you can finally buy yerself a Pygmy figure!

Thanks guys!

24 HOUR URANUS 99¢ SPECIAL!

Okay, so to compete with the big boys...you know who they are.... and the glut of apps on the store, we are offering a VERY LIMITED TIME SALE. If you haven't picked up Journey To Uranus yet because of the price, now's your chance! Please note: if it says 4.99, it hasn't activated yet...the sale should be active tonight some time! Believe me, even if you spent 4.99, this will be the app that keeps on giving...tons of free content is coming down the pike... so its important for everyone that we sell a LOT. Spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. And everyone who bought early, we thank you for your support!

Pocket God Fishmas Special!

Hey everyone, we're proud to present our "christmas card" to you, the Pocket God Fishmas Special! People keep saying "huh?" when we mention Fishmas...but its what the Pygmies celebrate. Its a lot like Christmas, but with fish! The piece is heavily inspired by the comic we've made with Ape Entertainment. We recruited Peach Nova Productions, who are fantastically talented and have worked on projects such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Larkmart, and they did an amazing job. This was especially fun for me, because I am a full grown adult who still gets up to watch Saturday Morning cartoons. Enjoy!

P.S. Konkey Dong will be released tomorrow, and Facebook Open Beta begins as well, so now you don't need a code to play! Woohoo! We HAD to wait on Konkey Dong because it contains a link to the Facebook Game, and we didn't want people to go to a game they couldn't yet play. Sorry about that!

Journey To Uranus out Tomorrow!

But we gave Kotaku a sneak peak.

>> See their demo of it here. <<

Go there, and do us a favor, sign up and comment, tweet it, or both! Help us spread the word! The better it sells, the faster we'll update!

The regular PG update, Episode 36: Konkey Dong, will be out tonight or tomorrow as well! Be sure to let us know what you think of both!

Dave's State of the Island

So Dave and I spent a bit of last week recovering from an extremely grueling November (and part of December) finishing up Pocket God Journey To Uranus and Episode 36: Konkey Dong (see image above!). I don't want to make anyone feel bad or anything, but one day I literally worked around the clock. 8AM - 6Am (22 hours). I still shudder to think of it. It was these two projects in conjunction with the Facebook game and Android (which we are pitching in with ngmoco who ported Pocket God) that nailed us.

>> Read Dave's State of the Island Here <<

Which reminds me, we haven't made much of the port, which we partnered with ngmoco to create, which we were super excited about. The reason? There were some hiccups with some devices. Unlike the iPhone there's a bunch of different devices with slightly varying operating systems so it crashed on a few...and PG is a little large...20MB. There's a ton of stuff in there, so its kind of unavoidable. So ngmoco did some fixes and solved some of the issues, but it might take a couple iterations to be stable on every device. And we are getting creamed in the comments because of it! Despite that fact, its still selling because most people CAN play it and we are getting positive reviews on the sites.

The other thing we haven't made much of....and is coming soon: We decided to make a fun animated short as a holiday card and that is wrapping up in the next few days! The subject? Well, it would be Christmas, but since the pygmies technically live in prehistory, they never heard of it. But by coincidence they have their own peculiarly similar holiday called Fishmas, and that is what the short is about! They even have their own Fishmas carol! We also included the song in the update as part of a free custom Fishmas Pack! Look forward to both the animated short and Fishams Pack coming your way soon!



Oh, and there will be MUCH more on PG JTU coming, so stay tuned!

Issue 3 of Pocket God the Comic is on the app store!

Not sure what the hold up was, but Issue 3 is finally out. 5 of the 6 original pygmies are still alive (well, Booga is barely hanging on), and on the run from a host of dangers on the new island, including that pesky T-Rex. Will they ever find the temple to restore the Gem of Life? If so, how many of them will make it? If you don't know what I'm talking about, go check out the awesome digital comic brought to you by Ape Entertainment (with a little help from us).

>> CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT <<

In other news, this is going to be a busy month for all pygmy-lovers. Dave submitted Pocket God Journey To Uranus yesterday (which turned out amazing if I do say so myself), and we're wrapping up the last of the Ape-inspired trilogy, Episode 36: Konkey Dong! I'm sure you can guess what inspired this episode! And wait, of course, there's Pocket God Facebook. We're still contacting beta testers so if you haven't received an email, it may still be coming. There's more...but I'll hold off for another post!

I Wanna be a Beta Tester!

Okay guys! Wanna be a Pocket God Facebook beta tester? Click here to subscribe: Sign up form.

NOTE: We collected all the emails send to contest@boltcreative.com, so if you signed up that way already, you don't have to do it again!

Request a place for a beta tester and we will send you a code, and 5 other codes to give away to friends and family...or anyone you want (if you want to give them away on facebook or twitter, etc.)

First come first serve! So hurry and send before space fills up!

Anyone who participates will get some extra goodies in the game when it goes live!

Win A Pygmy Figure (or other stuff) at Appmodo!

Okay, so we finally have the first pass of a pygmy figure with the box, and though we aren't quite ready to sell it, we have a few to give away, and so we gave a couple to Appmodo for the holiday contest! We also provided some of our famous posters. And they have tons of other stuff so check it out!

>> THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING EARLY TO APPMODO <<

Be the first on your block! Everyone will be jealous :)

Pocket God coming to Facebook!

The poor blog. Time to resurrect it like a zombie pygmy.... Well, its been tough because besides creating the next PG update and iPad game, Dave and I've been working closely with Frima Studios to put the pygmies on Facebook!

The third "Bolter" (kind of like the fifth Beatle), Jean Matthews, arranged a meeting last Spring at one of those game conferences to talk about a Facebook version. Dave and I had our eye on it, but knew we couldn't do it alone. We met Frima and they were great and their studio has mad skills when it comes to animation AND social gaming. We decided to go for it and took a short trip to their home base, Quebec, Canada, to kick it off and check out their facilities. We had a great time and were impressed by their staff.

Then, for the next 5 months I was forbidden to blog about it. I guess that is how it works in real-bizness-type world. Very frustrating!

Anyway, you can read about the details here on Mashable:

>> Pocket God is coming to Facebook <<

One thing the article doesn't mention is that the Facebook game will have....drumroll please....FEMALE PYGMIES!

The first phase we are just getting the game play and basically functionality together but it will have the episodes we've come to know and love, and soon to follow will be the ability to customize them. And if you think you're going to leave the iPhone version and just play Facebook, keep in mind the Facebook version will be MUCH different! Its a social game as well and will have similar elements but won't be identical.

In the first closed beta where we try to work out the most serious kinks will be coming soon and we will invite 500 fans to join. Let us know. are you interested?

And my holiday goal is get back focused on the blog with all the new stuff coming out. We've been hunkering down for a big holiday push, but we're almost there and more surprises are coming!

Slow News Month! Double Rainbow and the big Holiday Push

Really sorry guys! I was on vacation when the last state of the island came out so I didn't blog it.

>> BUT HERE IT IS NOW <<

So, as it you have already seen, we've done a take-off on the YouTube viral sensation "Double Rainbow". The truth is we meant to put in a rainbow at some point or other, but this was a good opportunity....and a stop-gap between the last bigger updates and the next big one we are cooking up for the holiday. We've also added text labels to the menu to guide people (you can turn it off in the settings menu).

Also included is a medieval skin pack, which will make the island look all medieval and stuff! And don't forget to check out the story in story mode. You can create your own double rainbow story, with all the catch phrases as well!

We are swamped getting together everything we want to have ready for the holidays, which includes the next FREE update to Pocket God, and the Ape Mountain conclusion, "Konkey Dong" mini-game! Journey to Uranus is in its final stages (as final as the first version of a Pocket Game can be, anyway). And we've been working with Ape Entertainment to have the fourth installment of the Pocket God comic, plus a Holiday extra! AND we will have more holiday surprises in store.

So, the third issue should be submitted this coming week, but here's a couple panels to tie you over.



There are also a couple of things we are getting ready to announce in the world of Pocket God so be on the look out....In the mean time check out this Double rainbow video!



I like how you can hear someone snickering in the background! Thanks tbdonberg!

Leora Creates Update Song Video

Found this on YouTube. Love the glam pygmy outfit, Leora!

Where Did We Go? And Heads Up For Some Sneak Previews!

Hey everyone. Sorry for the disappearance! But we've been working double time on the next PG update and the iPad game which is getting close! So here is the latest on our current projects...

Pocket God - will be submitted this week. This is sort of a mini-update to tie people over until the next mini-game update just before the holidays which I think will be very cool. This update is more for comedic value and is a parody of a viral video! The above image is a close up of a pygmy looking at ....something!

Journey To Uranus - We are working fast to submit at the end of November. It is taking a while because we have been trying to put out updates and deal with other top secret projects at the same time. But its getting close! Need more? Okay, here are a couple evil robots from another dimension!



Pocket God Comic - I notice people are upset about Klik dying in the second comic (whoops, spoiler!). Well, this is the part of the story where others will have to start stepping up and not letting Klik boss them around as much! Everything's for a reason! Also, we have submitted the second issue of the Pygmy Peril (free to anyone who has purchased the comic). So that should be up any time. Issue 3 will be submitted soon as well. Here is a sneak shot of some of the action....



Hopefully this has made up for our disappearance? No, you say? What? Where's the update? Sigh!

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".

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!