Get Pocket God in the Comic Shops! CONTEST CLOSED

WE HAVE A WINNER! CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT IT!


Hey guys! The digital comic has been released, but now a print version is available for order to comic store owners. The print comics will have extra content and stories not found in the digital version! But we need to increase awareness, so we've come up with this promotion. If you participate, we'll give you a special code that unlocks a Jet Pack in Ooga Jump! Also, you'll get the chance to win a $1000 Apple gift certificate!

All it takes is a camera, a flyer, and a visit to your local comic book store! Here's what you do...

• Print out this FLYER. If you don't have access to a printer, just draw your own version on paper.
  
• Bring it and a camera to your local comic shop.
  
• Take your picture holding the flyer somewhere in the shop where we can tell its a comic store. Near the comic racks, in the front, etc. Wait...do they have the Pocket God promo poster up? Get that in the shot!
  
• Leave the flyer with the cashier at the register. The flyer should say it all, but tell them you are fan of Pocket God!
  
• While you are there, look for the Pocket God promotional poster. If it is up, the unlock code for the Ooga Jump jet pack is on it!
  
• Send us your picture to this email.... contest@boltcreative.com! Please include your name, the city and the name of the comic book shop. We will automatically send you the Jet Pack unlock code and enter you in a drawing to win a $1000 Apple Gift Certificate!
  
• You may enter for every (different) comic book shop you submit! Don't know where a comic shop is near you? If you download the digital comic, a comic shop locator is included with the app!
  
• Deadline for entries is Aug 30, 2010.
  
  >> CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE DIGITAL VERSION NOW ON iTUNES!!! <<
  
  

Dave's State of the Island!

Dave talks about the delays, next update, skin pack and asks people's opinion on the next episode's title!

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

Back From Comic-Con

Hey guys. Dave and I came back to San Francisco from San Diego yesterday after spending four days at the ever-popular Comic-con trade show! This was my first time and it is truly and amazing event. CROWDED but amazing. Ape had two booths and we did our signing at their new off-shoot brand "Kizoic" every day for two hours. We brought posters as a give-away, and Ape had produced the first issue of Pocket God for us to sell! We gave posters to everyone who bought a comic and signed everything. We also previewed the Pocket God plush prototypes, created by Alix. We are in the process of producing the standard Pygmy, but decided the next one to produce HAS to be the Zombie Pygmy. We also showed people the initial version of Journey To Uranus, which still needs a lot of work, but got a lot of approval for it. It was a lot of fun for us and want to thank everyone who stopped by! It made our year!

As for the update....why is it taking so long? Well, to be honest, we were hoping to line up a bunch of promotions at the same time to get people to buy the comic, but some of it may or may not happen. I was actually a little confused myself and thought it was submitted a while back and we were holding it for the comic and promotions to go through..but again, everything is taking too long but it looks like the comic will be approved soon. So we decided to just submit it last week and release both, no matter what, on August 3, promotions or not. Sorry for the delay, but Dave took that time to optimize the game more and it runs MUCH faster even on slower devices. He also cut a bunch of time off the initial load...so at least we used the time. I used the time to work on "Journey to Uranus" but now will go back designing the next update which will involve......more primates!

If anyone reads this blog and received the comic at the Con, feel free to give their review in the comments...We want to hear 'em good or bad!

If you are in Chicago in late August, be sure to come to the next convention "Wizard World". Dave and I will be doing more of the same there, but will also have more exclusive stuff to give away and will even have plushes for sale!

Here are some pics that were snapped at the booth...

Comic-con Schedule

Oh boy! There is a lot of frustration about waiting for the update in the comments. I'm really sorry I haven't gotten to responding to them. I'm, actually, just as frustrated as you are and just trying to push through the pile of Pocket God work. There is some somewhat unfortunate stuff going on behind the scenes that I can't go into. Every time I hope we can move forward something is in the way. Thanks for everyone's patience! Dave has done some awesome work optimizing, so the next version will not only run faster, but he has fixed it so we can cram in yet MORE content to the Pygmy's world.

So, yes, going to San Diego, will interrupt my progress on Episode 34 (the next one, not the one in the queue)...but I am really looking forward to Comic-con. I've never been and I hear it is a blast. Plus we will be hanging with dudes from Ape Comics and they are really good guys. Dave and I will have our laptops and will be working during the off-times...but I'm going to want to get in some comic and toy shopping!

So, Ape basically has us scheduled to do a signing every day and we urge you to come by! We will be giving out posters, comic samples (I think), and if you say the code word "Summer Squash", we will give you a Pocket God figure (till supplies run out)! No, its not the plushes, but those are in production.

We will be at the Kizoic/Ape Booth, and our signing times:

Thursday, July 22, 2PM - 4 PM
Friday July 23, 4PM - 6 PM
Saturday July 24, 1PM - 3PM
Sunday July 25, 11AM - 1 PM

Stop by and say hi!

Back from vacation and the chaos begins

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of blog entries. We're incredibly busy, but I just came back from a week-long vacation, and before that Dave and I traveled for a Pocket God related meeting. Here's what's going on...

The comic is in the approval process and the update is submitted as well. Should be out any minute now. I am working on getting art to the programmers for Uranus. I worked on much of the preliminary art months ago, and now am getting my head back in it. Uranus will involve some 3d elements which is looking great! Dave is working with the guys to solidify the game mechanic. Once I give them enough to keep them going. I will work on the art for the second part of our Primate trilogy...which will involve monkeys! These monkeys will be of a smaller variety.

Dave and I will fly to San Diego Comic-con next week to support the Pocket God comic.

In the mean-time, Diamond Publishing has posted an 8-page preview of the PG comic. Check it out!

>> Read the Comic Preview Here <<

The cool art above is from elbetor.

Journey To Uranus coming to iPad

Hey guys! Remember that teaser image we put up a while ago.... well, finally, we're unveiling the next Pocket God project, "Journey To Uranus", coming this Fall to the iPad! It won't be a remake of Pocket God or even "Pocket God II", but Pocket-God spinoff set of mini-games centered around being able to take Pygmies to other worlds. All the interactivity will focus on the strengths of the iPad, namely the bigger size, the extra screen real estate and multi-touch.

>> Read CNN Article Here <<

This doesn't mean we are stopping Pocket God "proper". We have recruited the programming team (Paul Pridham and Elias Pschernig) to help us out while we still work on PG updates. We are already working on the next update as part of our primate theme. And the current update "A Pygmy A Day Keeps the Ape Away" is ready to go...We just have to wait a bit for the comic to be reviewed so we can time both to come out at the same time! As usual, sorry for the wait!

...another video

This is too cute not to post!

Slow News Week - Random Videos!

As I get my head into the next PG update...waiting to be able to submit the current one "A Pygmy A Day Keeps the Ape Away". Why? Well, we're trying to make an event out of the release of the comic. And so we have to line up the comic app, and some publicity at the same time. I know, its annoying! But Dave is taking advantage of the time to see if he can get PG to run faster on older devices. Not sure if he'll get that portion in before the release, but its a step in the right direction!

Additionally, there is some new exciting stuff that is starting to come together. Some I can't mention, but as we already posted, we are having PG plushes manufactured and I saw the most recent prototype, based on Alix's design and am stoked.

I realize there are people waiting so I thought I'd post some fun videos I found on YouTube.

ALL THE SINGLE PYGMIES!

Okay, since this was posted, I noticed the video was pulled....so the breach of copyright use of Beyonce's All the Single Ladies got "All the Single Pygmies" pulled from YouTube for violation. I guess 2 minutes and 5,000 views of pygmies dancing to Beyonce's song is more offensive to the record company than almost 4 million views of this...


Just sayin'

POCKET GOD HISTORY LESSON

Nice overview of Pocket God updates! Good work, berndbousard!

POCKET GOD IPAD

ilikecheese111 starts playing doodle jump but then does a nice run through of pocket god stuff!

Pocket God at Wizard World!

As we've mentioned in this blog, Dave and I are attending San Diego Comic-con and joining Ape Entertainment to promote the PG comic. But now, Wizard World, the publishers of the famous Wizard Magazine, and the hosts for Wizard World Comic and Pop Culture conventions across the country, have asked us to join them at Chicago Wizard World. Of course we were honored, and after checking out the other attendees, are in some awesome company. We are figuring out how we can participate in a Q&A session and setting up exclusive PG giveaways as we speak, so if you are in the Chicago area, come check it out.

They've already announced us on the site:

>> Wizard World <<

Pocket God Claymation!

So, the newest update, "A Pygmy A Day Keeps The Ape Away" is basically finished. But we have to wait a couple days for iVerse to have the PG comic (created by Ape Entertainment) ready , so we can submit both at the same time and have a big release! Meanwhile, at WWWDC (the world wide web developer's conference), Dave learned some techniques to optimize our app, so he is working on that while we are waiting. With any luck, the app will work faster and smoother than ever! But any day now, the update will be submitted.

In the mean time, I wanted to share with you this awesome claymation project made by TANNgERineProduction! We are very flattered that Pocket God was the subject!

Happy First Anniversary, Pocket God Forums!

It was just a year ago that a group of PG Fans set up a forum to discuss the current updates, what they'd like to see, and share fan art. I go there every so often to see the cool fan art and read the wild speculation. They often go off on tangents and talk about their other favorite apps, games or other random things of concern.

It has a lot of cool art, PG based avatars, pygmy emoticons, and even page styles based on the Pocket God locations.

The list of admins include:
saintsalive
jamesbond007
pocketcow

And the mods:
MatthewCurr (Formerly Superskateman)
SuperPygmy

Thanks to the guys! Go and check out the forum. I've done an exclusive interview that reveals some secrets and production art for the upcoming Pocket God comic!

>> Read interview of Allan on Pocket God Forums <<

>> Read their anniversary message <<

P.S. The next update and comic will be released very soon. There has been questions about the cost of the comic...and I've put in an inquiry with iVerse. But I think they are revising their pricing strategy so I didn't get an immediate answer. This is out of our hands, as we merely licensed the property and assisting with the marketing efforts. I'm sure it will be reasonable though! I will post soon.

Pocket God Plushes on the Way

Dave, doing the rounds at WWWDC, let the cat out of the bag to Jon Jordan at PocketGamer. Read all about it here!

>> Prototype Pocket God plushes in the wild <<

The prototypes were made by Alix at http://www.arixystix.com

Check out her site and hers shop!

Crash Bug Fix

Yikes so some people who have the latest update suddenly couldn't open the app. The problem was very difficult to replicate.....as it happens in a very specific circumstance, so most people never had an issue.

Its people who first opened the app without internet connection (wifi or 3g). We are submitting the fix right away (no, it won't contain the next update, but it is 80 percent completed, so it will be coming soon after).

You can fix it by doing the following, keep in mind you will need internet access for this to work (either wifi or 3g).

1. delete the app
2. connect to the internet (wifi or 3g)
3. reinstall the app (just buy it again in the app store, it will not charge you twice if you use the same account)
4. run the app, go through the feint screens, and keep the app open for a few seconds (so it updates the news file from the internet)
5. close and open it again. you should see a news item that talks about doodle jump, if you dont see it, open and close it again.

Once you see the doodle jump news icon, its fixed. you dont have to have it connected to the internet anymore.

some things to keep in mind…

Deleting the app will erase your achievements and highscores, if you want to keep this data, wait for the fix we will be submitting tomorrow. We will try and get the fix out as quick as we can (sometimes apple pushes fixes through quicker than normal) but it may take up to 1 week. If you dont have a wireless network at home, you can probably go to a coffee shop, library, school, or McDonalds. Many of these places have free wifi.

If you delete your app, you may have to activate your skin packs again, it will not charge you twice if you use the same account.

The reason many people don't see it, is that they probably updated the app over an internet connection and therefore opened it with an active internet connection.

Sorry about that!

The Pocket God story and is there one?

Kotaku just posted this about the upcoming Pocket God comic, created by Ape Entertainment. In it Dave talks about the Pocket God story...and there's a new sneak preview also!

The Pocket God Comic Book Has a Story Somehow

Now, the title implies that they (among others) wonder how or why Pocket God got its own story! Just ask the fans who've created comics for us in the past:

• Saintsalive
  
  
• Curtis Smith
  
  
• Kyle
  
  
• MLB1229
  
  
• Chris Atkins (Nerdism)
  

So really, with all that inspiration, we just had to do it.

After spending well over a year on the project, Dave and I had fleshed out much of the back story of the characters, just so we could build a structure to the updates that would eventually lead somewhere. If one is paying attention (and believe me, some are!) one might spot clues going on in the background that hint at a larger story. Who are these Pygmies? How did they wind up trapped on these islands? Who left behind the idols and booby traps? Why are they forced to suffer the whim of angry gods? These were all things we asked ourselves, and from our ideas and fan suggestions, we started to formulate a bigger story to be used in future updates and games. When we got involved with Ape, we spent a lot of time with their creative team to solidify some of these ideas so they could create a compelling story around the property. We wanted adventure but we also wanted to stay true to the humor of pocket god. There are many fun surprises that will be revealed in the 4-issue series.

Furthermore, I believe there have been many simple ideas that were expanded upon to create something great (remember a simple arcade game with an italian plumber with a hammer and a big monkey?)... and the guys at Ape Entertainment are the ones to do it! We really love the artistry and skill that has gone into creating the comic and are sure you will too!

The comic is due out in the next couple weeks on the app store (using iVerse) and we will release our next update at the same time....and in case you haven't heard, in honor of our friends at Ape Entertainment, it will involve a new island and yes, an ape!

Crack is Wack approved!

Should be live some time today. So I won't re-explain the update, but here are a few screen shots




And a couple of the ice monster skin in the ice monster skin pack!



Oh, and don't forget the Story Mode! We've added the story "Crack is Wack" and added a few new states including the ability to have a pygmy fall down a crack in the Earth.

Dave's State of the Island

Dave discusses the latest update, talks about sources of inspiration, and all the goings on that is currently complicating our lives!

"So, I guess I ran out of excuses, another update that took a long time. The only thing I can say is that we are super busy. It's pretty exciting but also pretty stressful because there are so many things happening at the same time. The Comic Book is coming along really well and should be in iVerse’s hands next week, not sure how long it will take them to make it available but it should be available by the end of this month or early June by the latest."

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

You can see yet another comic page form the Pocket God comic along with our latest icon!

Crack is Wack submitted

For various reasons, this one kept getting delayed, but we've submitted it and we hope everyone likes it. We kind of went to town on it...Dave's touch arcade post should be coming soon! I'll let him explain it.

Pocket God Comic Sneak Preview

So, I've been dying to blog an image from the upcoming Pocket God Comic, so I decided to do it today! Did I do it to distract you from the fact that the next update has taken longer than we expected? No way.

I was tempted to post a more action-packed spoilerish image, but Dave and I decided the first page was appropriate since it reveals the comic-ized look and feel of the Pygmies, with their customized features. In order on the top page we see Klak (just barely), Booga, Klik, Dooby, Nooby and Ooga paying reverence to the gods with a pile of stinky fish. Ew! And of course, danger is coming from above, and only Ooga seems to have taken notice.

Ape Entertainment has been flooding us with scripts, designs and comic pages like crazy and we totally love everything they're doing. The created a 4-issue story of the Pygmies and an adventure that takes them off the island and into great (surprise surprise!) danger! Also included will be mini-stories in each comic that will cover various aspects of life with the Pygmies, including an origin story! Well, I better not give it all away, but we are very excited.

I want to thank the guys at Ape , David Hedgecock, Brent Erwin, Jason Burns as well as the amazing artist Rolando Mallada for all the fantastic work they've done. We are really honored to work with them.

And okay, I won't ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room (no, not Ape!). The next episode "Crack is Wack" is taking longer than expected. But it is VERY cool. The mini game, the runs, even gets its own theme music, and extra creatures and of course brutal deaths. The god power referenced in the title isn't too shabby. I keep seeing speculation that this episode has DRUGS in it. No, we haven't put drugs in Pocket God! Not yet anyway :) So... thanks for your continuing patience. An operator will be with you shortly.