The Moron Pests is Out!

Yup! Its up! Go get it and see how many oogles you can run! Remember, you can only get to the Island of Misfit Crossovers in the Pygmy's dreams!

And don't forget our custom packs! If you appreciate all the free content, show your support and buy a pack today! This time around, you can make your barking spider, an actual barking spider-dog, among others!





Dave and I are currently busy working on the next update for Journey To Uranus....we're adding the planet Mercury, which will include its own interactivity AND a brand new mini-game! We've enlisted the help of new artists to help us get everything done, and so far it looks awesome!

And hey, guys. If you want the updates to keep coming, please tweet and post on Facebook how much you love this update and want them to keep coming! Click one of the buttons at the bottom of this post. Who knew it was going to last this long, but if sales dry up, we may have to work on a new app, and then our episode days are numbered. Let's try to get to episode 50!

Also, the above Moron Pests promo image was created by Chris Kennet!

Dave Talks Pocket God on Electric Playground

Hey, why's Dave standing around doing interviews when he could be updating Pocket God? Just kidding. Kids, we all need to mix it up now and then. Our butts get sore. But check out this slick interview on Electric Playground!

Dave's State of the Island

Last week we submitted the latest update "The Moron Pests", the long-promised crossover with the Moron Test! We weren't sure how it was going to turn out but we think it came out great! It also involves a new island!

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

Valentine Pygmy Killing!

What better way to send Valentine love than to kill your friends (at least their pygmy versions) on Pocket God Facebook! So Pocket God Facebook (Beta) is coming along, and has 160,000 Monthly Active Users to date. We're not Citiville yet, but its a great start! Frima is working really hard to evolve it in our usual way, one episode at a time! Currently up is Episode 3: The Birds, which of course, has added the dodo. As with most Facebook games, you gotta keep playing to get all the cool stuff, so you better get on it!


As extra motivation, we are currently holding a Valentine challenge to gain points. Join in and kill your Pocket God friends to add to the Valentine's Day slaughter and you can win extra experience points and pocket change (the currency you use to buy cool Pocket God powers and idols). You can also send and receive LOVE to and from your friends to bestow devotion bonuses, which increases the amount of pygmy sacrifices you can make to earn even more points. So show your sadistic love, quick, before time runs out!

CLICK HERE OR THE PYGMY ABOVE TO CHECK IT OUT!

And by the way, you can now name your Pygmies, and select their gender, click my screen shot below to see who I most like to smite.


Next up will be Pygmy customizations!

First Update for JTU Approved!

We were just notified the update for Journey To Uranus was approved and should be up soon! The graphic says it all, but Dave also describes the update in his Touch Arcade Post:

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

He explains the update and reveals the next planned Uranus update!

P.S., the above awesome graphic was created by Chris Kennet!

Christopher Tin makes our loops, and is a Grammy Nominee!

So, the first few loops (background music) on Pocket God were cobbled from stock music and were lucky finds. But by the Ice Island, we realized we weren't going to be able to rely on stock music. Plus there was the fact that now we had a budget! So I went to a guy I'd worked with in the past, and knew was awesome, Chris Tin (tinworksmusic.com or christophertin.com). And he's been banging out our loops in between his bigger gigs ever since. He's worked on compositions and recordings for major movies and games, but still makes time for us! And now, he was just nominated for, not one, but TWO Grammies! Obviously its not for Pocket God. But we are really happy for him!

He stepped it up for Journey To Uranus. Click these to hear a couple examples:

Pygmies in Space
Dragons On Uranus

I thought I'd try something new and post an Q&A with Chris! Read on...

How did you get started in music? Did you go to school for it?

It was something that I'd always done from an early age... piano lessons, followed by learning trumpet, guitar, joining choir, joining jazz combos, etc. I didn't go to school specifically for music initially, even though I eventually wound up majoring in Music. However, when I got accepted to a Master's in Composition program at the Royal College of Music in London after college, I finally decided that I would make a run at a career in music.

Do you play instruments?

Play some piano and some guitar.

What kind of projects have you made music for? Which ones got you a nomination for TWO grammys?

I've done almost everything. I've scored feature films, commercials, video games. I made a demo song for Apple's 'Garage Band' software. I also co-created a startup song for Microsoft's 'Surface' operating system. I also release my own albums... in fact my debut album 'Calling All Dawns' has been nominated for two Grammys: 'Best Classical Crossover Album' and 'Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists' for the opening song, 'Baba Yetu'. Getting nominated is a thrill, but to win I have to get past Herbie Hancock and Bobby McFerrin. A tall order.

How do you compose your music? What software do you use?

Generally a combination of writing it out by hand, and using Apple's Logic sequencing platform. I usually use Pro Tools to record and edit audio, and Sibelius to notate scores.

Do you play video games? If so, what kind? Any favorites?

Much more of a casual gamer than anything else, so it tends to be various Wii games with my girlfriend: Super Mario Wii, Rock Band Beatles, NHL 2K10, etc. The game I turn on the most, however, is definitely Pocket God. I play it all the time (mostly Ooga Jump... highest score 4400 Oogles.)

Do you have any personal pet projects we should know about?

I'm co-producing an electronica album right now, called Stereo Alchemy (www.stereoalchemy.com). We've taken a bunch of Renaissance and Romantic Era poetry and turned it into gothic, trip-hoppy electronica. We're very excited about our album release, which will hopefully be in the next couple months.

Thanks Chris for all your great work and good luck!

And by the way, Journey To Uranus, episode 2: Electric Booga-Loo was submitted lat week and hopefully will be approved soon. Dave and I are currently working on PG Episode 37: Moron Pests...it will contain a whole new island, and mini-game! Oh, yeah, and its also a cross-over...but you probably already figured that out.

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 :)