Category Archives: ngmoco

Ngmoco Launches iPad-Exclusive GodFinger

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Ngmoco Launches iPad-Exclusive GodFinger is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

godfinger

Though an iPhone and iPod Touch version was test marketed in Canada last month, ngmoco’s free-to-play life simulation title GodFinger launched in the U.S. App Store this weekend as an iPad exclusive.

GodFinger gives players control over a planet and its primitive inhabitants, with the goal being to cultivate the planet’s surface and establish a working economy for its people. Players can choose to be either a benevolent ruler or a cruel demagogue, though the planet will thrive only through careful management of the natural elements.

As players cultivate the land and convert more followers, they will earn experience points, giving access to new powers and structures. This is where GodFinger’s micropayment system comes into play — players will be only be able to make a small amount of progress daily unless they purchase optional “Awe Points,” which work in a way similar to pet food in Touch Pets Dogs and mojo points in We Rule.

Awe Points are available in packages starting at $2.99 for 35 Points, with a 750-Point package retailing for $29.99.


Ngmoco Launches Free Cooperative FPS Eliminate: Co-Op

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Ngmoco Launches Free Cooperative FPS Eliminate: Co-Op is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

elimcoop

Ngmoco has released an updated version of its free-to-play online multiplayer first-person shooter Eliminate Pro. Eliminate: Co-Op allows players to team up in a new online gameplay mode for additional gear and bonus items.

The new “Co-Op Extermination” mode is a timed challenge in which player-controlled teams take on endless hordes of AI opponents. Players can earn armor, weapons, and items from destroyed drones, while any duplicate loot can be recycled for in-game credits.

Eliminate: Co-Op includes both manual and automatic global matchmaking, and features 10 playable maps.

Co-Op retains Eliminate’s free-to-play model, in which each player’s Power Cells deplete over the course of several matches. Gameplay continues once all Cells are exhausted, but players will not be able to keep earned experience and items afterward. Additional Power Cells can be purchased in downloadable packages ranging in price from $1.99 to $32.99.


GodFinger

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GodFinger is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

(editor note: GodFinger is not available in the US App Store yet, but ngmoco:) says that it is coming soon!)

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of playing Bolt Creative’s Pocket God, you’ll probably understand how much fun it can be acting as ‘God’ over a group of (admittedly adorable) virtual characters. Within the game, players get to control almost every aspect of every day life for the islands small inhabitants, the pygmies. While good in its own right, Pocket God only focuses its attention on one small, virtually insignificant island. Released today, GodFinger by ngmoco takes this genius concept and multiples its size by … a lot.

IMG_0761In GodFinger, you don’t just get to control an island … you get to control a planet. Your planet. To do with whatever you please. Your planets inhabitants are called denizens and you get control them in any which way that you please! In order to play the game you’ll first need a Plus+ account. If you’re not familar with the service, Plus+ is ngmoco:)’s own social network which allows you to interact with other players of certain ngmoco-owned games, store achievements and game progress. If you already have an account, simply login and you’re ready to roll!

Starting out the game will take you on an interactive tutorial in which you complete a number of task to make you familiar with the game and its working. As you act as God, most of the in-game elements are “power” related. For example one of your first tasks is to find and guide your followers to your shrine. Your shrine is the global source of your godly power. Having your followers worship you around this totem-like statute will generate Mana. There are three types of currency you will come into contact with and use in GodFinger. These include; Mana, Awe and Gold. Mana is the “currency” of your powers, and while you have Mana you can perform various different wonders. Wonders are events like triggering a rain shower from a cloud, commanding lightening bolts, or lighting up your planet with sunshine. Your Mana regenerates over time, but you can speed this up by forcing your followers to worship you. If you need a quick fix of Mana you can trade Awe for Mana in the Awe store.

Awe is your virtual currency for buying goodies from the in-app Awe store. Where’s the catch? I here you ask. Well Awe costs real money. You can choose from 35 Awe costing £1.79 to 206 Awe costing £5.99 or go all out and pick-up 750 Awe for £17.99. The last currency used in the game is Gold. Old fashioned, gold will allow you to buy both buildings and other amenities for your followers.

IMG_0762Each of you followers has a bar of energy and each will alert you of what wonder you must perform for them, to keep the level of this energy constant. Every once in a while a new non-believer will be introduced to your planet. using your Mana to perform wonders you must convince these non-believers to become your followers. To pick up a follower and move him or her to a different place on your planet simply tap, drag and drop.

Moving onto actual gameplay, the game is set out on a huge barren planet. Using your fingers as navigation tools, you can virtually turn the planet and its contents either left or right. At any time you can double tap and zoom in on a certain part of this planet and fill the screen with its contents. Using gold you can build upon your planet creating farms and other building for your followers to work in. As you do, you’ll create a system which will continuously create more gold for you. The aim of the game is level up. You do this by gaining more Level XP (experience). For example 73/140 means you have earned 73 out of 140 XP, with 140 XP being the amount of experience you need to level up. This is where the social element also comes in. Supported by ngmoco:)’s own Plus+ network, GodFinger allows you to add contacts as Mystics. Mystics periodically earn you gold on other peoples planets. Adding and assigning a mystic on your own planet will ensure that person receives a wad of gold, too.

Overall, while the game is stunning to look at, and performs well, my opinions of GodFinger fall at the feet of this argument of the ‘Freemium’ business model ngmoco seem to have adopted for most of its games lately. Personally, I can see where they are coming from. They’re not forcing you to pay for in-game elements. In fact, if you like you can play the game for free and never pay for things like Awe. But, I believe there will come a point in the game where purchase is necessary, and therefore the game has to fall into the category of ‘Pay to Play’. While your planet will run without you, you may find the constant push notification asking you to come back and sort things out a little annoying. Sure these can be turned off, bu it doesn’t stop the fact that certain elements of the game will degrade while your away.

GodFinger is a very “hands on” kind of game, and apart from its pay-to-play nature … one I think fits the iPhone nicely.

Developer: Wonderland Software
Price: FREE
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Reviewed on: iPhone 3GS

Gameplay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics and Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars


Eliminate: Co-op Released – Frag with Friends!

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Eliminate: Co-op Released – Frag with Friends! is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

ngmoco’s new games have all been based off of the freemium play model. Whatever your opinions of freemium in other games, there’s denying that for Eliminate, it’s been a huge success; the online FPS has legions of dedicated fans. If you’ve tired of it in recent weeks, however, this might bring you back into the fold: ngmoco has released a new Eliminate app that adds a new and much-asked-for mode to the game. Cooperative play is here!

In the new co-op mode, two players team up to fight off the attacking bots. It includes a bunch of new loot to collect, so you can earn credits to upgrade your player’s armor and weaponry. It’s a lot of fun so far, and as a free update it’s even better. Eliminate fans, go grab the new app!

Eliminate: CO-OP

Category: Games / Adventure
Released: 2010-03-13
Price: FREE


GDC: Trial And Error With Touch Pets‘ Monetization

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GDC: Trial And Error With Touch Pets‘ Monetization is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

touchpets_shotiPhone developer ngmoco released the virtual pet game Touch Pets Dogs onto the App Store in November 2009 as a “freemium” download. But it wasn’t always planned that way.

When the studio was working on the game in early 2009, ngmoco producer Matthew Roberts said they felt the game should be sold for $19.99, in the same price range as games sold on Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

By mid-2009, ngmoco thought it’d be wiser to release the game in the $4.99 to $9.99 range, just based on the pricing trends happening on the App Store at the time. Touch Pets would be a great deal, the studio thought, because it had visuals, gameplay, and depth on par with handheld console-based counterparts.

However the App Store, being the dynamic and unpredictable creature that it can be, made it clear that even a $4.99 game would have an extremely difficult time doing well on a chart-driven storefront that is dominated by 99 cent to $3 games.

Ultimately, Touch Pets became a “freemium” game, or one that is free to download, but requires players to pay in order to enjoy premium features.

‭“‬We were fundamentally trying to get to the answer to the question,‭ ‘‬How do we sell the game‭?’” Roberts said. “‬If you look at the top‭ ‬100‭ ‬apps,‭ ‬that [average] price is generally low.‭ ‬It’s hard to charge more than‭ ‬$3‭ ‬or‭ ‬$4.‭”

‭He said that ngmoco’s strategy quickly shifted from generating revenue at a single point of sale to “[building] the largest audience possible,” then monetizing those players. “‬We just wanted to get it in front of as many people as possible,” Roberts said. ngmoco now offers six different SKUs of Touch Pets, ranging from free all the way up to $40, a scheme that gives players a choice to spend no money, or a relatively large chunk of money.

The games industry is still trying to figure out the free-to-play business model, and ngmoco is no different. In Touch Pets, players give their pets dog food in order to give them energy to play. When they’re out of food, they fall asleep. Want more playtime? Buy more food on the App Store.

But this didn’t take with many players, who left harsh reviews on the game. They felt slighted by the pricing scheme, not to mention that initially when the dog would fall asleep from lack of food, some players thought the pet died.

The studio eventually increased the food replenishment rate, and added the option to directly purchase virtual goods, an option that “tends to be a better value proposition for some customers,” he said. “Understand your monetization strategy,‭ ‬don’t overload mechanics to monetize your game,” Roberts warned.

Finding a balance between mechanics and monetization is key to commercial success. ‭“‬Giving away stuff can increase exposure,‭ ‬but can hurt monetization,” Roberts said. From there, an App Store game has a better chance of reaching the 50, where success can really “snowball.”

[This news item was written by Kris Graft and originally appeared at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra.]


ngmoco:) Buys Freeverse… Pricing Ruined Storewide

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ngmoco:) Buys Freeverse… Pricing Ruined Storewide is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Scrooge-McDuck-money-webYesterday, ngmoco:), the only developer happy enough to show it, raised $25mil and acquired Freeverse, one of the largest, most successful developers in the app universe. Not only do they create iPhone apps, but they’ve also been Mac devs since the 90’s, with some great software such as Comic Life and Lineform.

The real story here isn’t just the purchase though, it’s what the purchase means to us, the consumers. As you may or may not know, ngmoco:) is the pioneer of the “freemium” app. The concept is that everyone in the App Store will buy the app for free and then purchase more and more of the game through in app purchases. In a recent article in TechCrunch, Neil Young, the CEO of ngmoco:) says that “on any given day, you have about 2% of your audience paying you money” With 9 million copies of Eliminate and Touch Pets running loose, the strategy is obviously working.

With the acquisition, Neil plans on transferring all of the Freeverse apps over to the “freemium” model in an effort to juice even more money out of some insanely successful titles such as Skee-Ball and Flick Fishing.

“But dad, I just want to throw the skee-ball one more time!!!” says little Johnny. Dad scrunches his head and retorts “No Johnny, that skee-ball game has cost me $45! You told me it was free!”


Ngmoco Acquires iPhone Dev Freeverse, Completes $25M Funding Round

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Ngmoco Acquires iPhone Dev Freeverse, Completes $25M Funding Round is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

ngmocoProminent iPhone publisher Ngmoco has acquired multiplatform developer Freeverse (Skee-Ball, NBA Hotshot) and just closed a round of funding worth $25 million, which CEO Neil Young tells FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra will help the company “scale as quickly as possible” to its exclusively free-to-play business model.

The series C round closed at the end of last year, and was led by Institutional Venture Partners. IVP general partner Sandy Miller will be joining Ngmoco’s board of directors. Previous Ngmoco investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Norwest Venture Partners, and Maples Investment also participated.

“We’ve been thinking about how to accelerate our strategic growth though acquisitions of companies and intellectual property, and Freeverse was really at the top of our list,” Young told Gamasutra in advance of the formal announcement.

The feeling is mutual: Freeverse was the first developer to adopt Ngmoco’s “Plus+” social network into its games, and Freeverse VP Colin Lynch Smith told Gamasutra the relationship between the two companies has been “like the perfect dating situation.”

Ngmoco recently said it is abandoning the traditional paid application model entirely, in favor of games that are freely downloadable but which include the option for players to buy additional paid content.

The funding and acquisition are “really about trying to get to scale as quickly as possible with the ‘freemium’ strategy,” Young explained, “and one way is to acquire the companies we think have the right blend of talent and DNA and intellectual property we think will work well in the freemium space.”

Brooklyn, New York-based Freeverse began its life as a developer of Mac software, but has recently become much better known for its iPhone applications, many of which have been chart-topping hits on Apple’s App Store. The company now employs about 20 developers — twice as many as it employed a few years ago.

Ngmoco “had to make the case to us for free-to-play,” said Smith. After all, Freeverse recently announced it has passed 5 million units of paid iPhone app sales. But “Neil and the guys at Ngmoco made a really strong case,” he acknowledged.

“Neil’s vision for where the industry is going, and where the market is going, was pretty compelling, and we’re on board with that,” he added. “There are still some opportunities on the paid side, but the real opportunities are on the free-to-play side.”

Young told Gamasutra that Ngmoco made the decision to pursue free-to-play exclusively last summer, around when it bought Epic Pet Wars developer Miraphonic (the acquisition was announced last November).

“We’ve been going full steam ahead on free-to-play since then,” he said, adding that the company “learned a lot” from its free-to-play games Touch Pets and Eliminate — “by far the biggest of our games by download,” with 9 million downloads between them.

Ngmoco also maintains its Plus+ network, a suite of social features that can be integrated into its own games as well as externally-developed titles. Young said that since the system was made available to select partners last September, some 20 million Plus+-equipped games have been installed to iPhone and iPod Touch devices, approximately 12 to 13 million of which were developed by Ngmoco.

This year, Ngmoco plans to release around 20 free-to-play games — and it expects Freeverse will be able to contribute nearly as many on top of that. It has one game in certification with Apple now, and another submitting this week.

And in the coming weeks, Ngmoco plans to expand the features of its Plus+ SDK, and allow approved developers to integrate it more autonomously.

“We’ve built up a lot of operating expertise around free-to-play — goods management, message management, storefronts, virtual currencies — all the things you need to run these games in a way that actually makes money,” Young said of Ngmoco’s work on Plus+.

And although Young made frequent reference to “these types of devices” in conversation with Gamasutra, when asked, he indicated the company plans to stick with Apple in the foreseeable future.

“For now, the iPhone OS — between the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad — is a pretty potent force in the market,” he said. “Both Android and the Windows 7 Phone are going to be interesting, but clearly there’s a big lead Apple has.”

“We’ll keep continuing to watch the progress of other devices,” he continued, “but what Apple has been able to do with a unique blend of hardware and software and application environment is non-trivial to replicate. There’s quite a way the competition has to go.”

[This news item was written by Chris Remo and originally appeared at Think Services network site Gamasutra.]


Rolando 3 Canceled as ngmoco Shifts to Free-to-Play Model

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Rolando 3 Canceled as ngmoco Shifts to Free-to-Play Model is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

rolando2-2

In an interview with IGN, ngmoco co-founder Neil Young confirmed that development for the company’s anticipated puzzle-platformer Rolando 3 has ceased. Young notes that the sequel was canceled in the wake of the company’s shift to a free-to-play release strategy for all of its upcoming titles.

ngmoco recently found success with free-to-play titles like Touch Pets Dogs and Eliminate Pro. Both games are available as free downloads in the iTunes App Store, and are supported by optional microtransactions offering users extended playtime beyond an established daily limit.

“When we made the decision to go free-to-play, we said to ourselves, ‘Look. If we can’t make the game free-to-play, we’re not going to release it,’” Young recalls. “And Rolando 3 as it was envisioned at that time was not a free-to-play product. So we’ve just taken the time to try to figure out how to do that franchise really effectively in free-to-play space.”

Though last year’s sequel Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid met with widespread critical praise (and was named as one of FingerGaming’s top 5 iPhone games of the year), Young notes disappointment with its sales performance. A free version with paid level packs was released in October, and apparently saw limited success.

“It sells every day and we don’t really play around with the price on it,” Young said. “We just kind of keep it there and it does good, but not stellar.”

Young assures that the Rolando franchise is not dead, however, and a sequel will likely emerge once ngmoco can effectively implement a free-to-play release model.

“We’re thinking about it and at the appropriate moment we’ll deliver a new Rolando experience that takes full advantage of everything we’ve learned from the free-to-play world,” Young said.


GDC 2010 Announces Deus Ex 3, Yamaoka, Ngmoco Talks

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GDCbug2010As the March 9th-13th event approaches, GDC 2010 organizers have revealed new lectures on Deus Ex 3’s “cyberpunk renaissance” look, Silent Hill producer Akira Yamaoka’s ethos, and iPhone publisher ngmoco’s move from traditional development to the digital world.

The new announcements come with less than a month to go until the event, which takes place from March 9th to 13th at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, and includes two days of Summits and tutorials alongside three days of Main Conference content.

A pair of particularly intriguing new lectures lead the new line-up announcements. Firstly, Eidos Montreal art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete presents a lecture on “The Successes and Failures of Creating a Near-Future Cyberpunk Setting with a Renaissance Twist in Deus Ex 3“, providing some of the first concrete information about the much-awaited title.

Jacques-Belletete “…will discuss the creative underpinnings behind the unique blend of art style that combines the past, present and future in the next evolution of the Deus Ex franchise”, with particular reference to the title’s “Cyber Renaissance” look, which “is infused across the fashion, characters, environments and story.”

Secondly, veteran Silent Hill composer and recent series producer Akira Yamaoka, who has just joined No More Heroes creator Grasshopper Manufacture, will present a lecture entitled “As Long as the Audio is Fun, the Game Will Be Too”.

This retrospective, taken from Yamaoka’s “first 20 years in video game production”, will present an interesting angle: “People tend not to think about game design and audio design in parallel. I will present my views on audio design in games from a producer’s perspective, having had experience in both roles. With few technological limits remaining, we can focus on achieving realism and interaction. What challenges remain in audio design?”

In addition, as part of a series of GDC 2010 Track keynotes just confirmed, including already-revealed lectures from Metroid creator Yoshio Sakamoto and on StarCraft II’s programming approach, a number of major new lectures have been revealed, including the following:

- In “The Art Direction of Batman: Arkham Asylum – Rebooting a Super Hero Video Game IP”, Rocksteady’s David Hego will discuss making the acclaimed title, “from the challenges of taking a well known IP to new grounds, how to stay true to the spirit of 70 years of Batman comics, and how to rejuvenate its feel and look by injecting a hyper realistic approach to it.”

- Ngmoco (Touch Pets, Rolando) head and former Electronic Arts executive Neil Young will present “Things to Unlearn Moving From Traditional Development to the New Digital World”, and in his talk, will speak “candidly about the challenges that traditional game developers face in transitioning from long development cycles, packaged goods and the one time sale to the essential new models of games as a service, virtual goods, data driven design & minimum viable products.”

- In “Designing a Story for Sound”, sound design legend Randy Thom of Skywalker Sound will discuss how “early collaboration between sound designers, visual designers, the writer, and the director” is vital for audio in any medium. Thom will show how collaboration and experimentation during pre-production on two famous films he was a part of, Apocalypse Now and Wall-E, allowed sound to be a full partner in storytelling.

As well as the nine major Summits, from iPhone to indie and social games — and notable tutorials on the first two days of the show, there are six main Tracks – programming, art, production, business, audio, and design – for GDC 2010.

Game Developers Conference 2010 will also play host to the GDC Expo Floor, including a host of notable tool companies, the recruitment-specific GDC Career Pavilion, the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival plus Awards and the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, open to all pass holders.

More information on many of the highlighted areas of GDC 2010 is available on the official Game Developers Conference weblog, and the GDC 2010 website has a full list of lectures, passes, and opportunities at this year’s event, as well as specifics on registration pricing and options.


Words With Friends Developer Partners with ngmoco in Upcoming We Rule

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Words With Friends Developer Partners with ngmoco in Upcoming We Rule is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

werule

ngmoco has announced the upcoming release of We Rule, an online social game created in partnership with Words With Friends developer Newtoy.

We Rule gives each player control over a virtual kingdom, which can be customized with buildings, decorations, and businesses. Gameplay mixes elements from SimCity and Zynga’s Facebook app FarmVille; in addition to collecting taxes and managing businesses, players will be able to grow, harvest, and sell crops for extra cash.

ngmoco is confident that Newtoy is up to the task of creating a polished social experience, citing the team’s prior experience at Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios. More details regarding We Rule’s social gameplay will be revealed in the coming weeks.


ngmoco Announces New Social Game “We Rule”

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ngmoco Announces New Social Game “We Rule” is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

tumblr_kx6bk3NPSQ1qze438o1_500It’s hard not to love ngmoco. From Rolando to Eliminate, their catalog is bursting with App Store classics. It’s exciting, then, to hear that they’ve got a new game in the works…specifically, a “social game” entitled We Rule.

ngmoco might be calling it a social game, but the first word that jumped to my mind was “simulation.” Here’s an excerpt from ngmoco’s announcement:

In We Rule, you will govern your very own kingdom. You will act as a city planner and landscaper—customizing your realm with buildings, banners, and botany. You’ll decide what crops to plant and ensure they are harvested on time. You will collect taxes from your citizens and manage a variety of shops and businesses – from bakeries and inns to lumber mills and ore mines.

It sounds like the basis for an excellent simulation game, and some sort of social aspect will obviously play a key role. As to what exactly it will be, well, we’ll have to wait to learn more.

Also of note is that ngmoco will be partnering with Newtoy for We Rule. Newtoy has a pretty solid pedigree—the games they helped create range from Halo Reach to Words With Friends—and coupled with ngmoco’s own talent and finesse, We Rule is almost guaranteed to be great. We’ll update you when ngmoco releases more information!


Lionhead Veterans Form Wonderland Software, Announce GodFinger For Ngmoco

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Lionhead Veterans Form Wonderland Software, Announce GodFinger For Ngmoco is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

godfinger_iphoneiPhone games publisher ngmoco (Rolando, Touch Pets Dogs) announced the upcoming release of GodFinger, a life simulation title created by former staff members of Fable series developer Lionhead.

Lionhead veterans Matthew Wiggins and Mark Rose founded the Guildford-based startup development studio Wonderland Software in the summer of 2009, with Al Harding joining the company shortly thereafter. Wonderland’s staff was previously involved in the creation of the Fable series and Lionhead’s 2006 god game Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods.

GodFinger puts players in control of a fledgling deity who must amass an army of followers. As their devoted ranks increase, players will have access to a variety of powers and abilities that will aid in warding off evil forces.

GodFinger’s gameplay involves strategic flooding and terraforming in order to create fertile land. A similar core mechanic was featured in the classic PC sim title Populous, developed by current Lionhead designer Peter Molyneux.

ngmoco has not yet announced a release date for GodFinger, but notes that the game is “rapidly approaching its App Store debut.”