*** Crashes with V.1.0.0 and 1.0.1 ***

PLEASE READ THIS FOR AN IMMEDIATE FIX TO THE EXISTING ISSUE!

If you are experiencing crashes with IncobotoMini, please log in to Game Centre on your device. That will work around the issue and allow you to play while the next version is being approved by Apple!

Sorry for the inconvenience! I thought I'd squashed all the bugs - apparently there was another huge one I never came across because I was always logged in to Game Centre for the last round of testing, and missed this test-case. Yuck.

The good news is that you *can* play by logging into Game Center. If you don't know how, just follow the instructions below.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/feature.asp?t=how_to&c=23394

- Dene

It's about a week since Incoboto Mini was released. It's also about a week since I realised there was an iPhone 5 bug. And fixed it. And sent it off to Apple. The sense of doom when you know that people are downloading something with a percentage chance of a crash (that might put them off your work forever) is quite unpleasant. 

All I can do is wait and thank those people who are waiting for the fix for their patience. For those of you feeling angry or dejected: hang in there. It's coming.

In other news, I've decided to release another fuzzy teaser shot of BeMuse. 

In case you're thinking: 'Hmm... looks like another side-scrolling platformer,' let me assure you - it's not.

I'll also give another hint by saying that my 3D skills are improving a great deal. 

That's right folks - all scenes in the game will be in 3D. They'll rotate, pan and zoom - for reasons that will become clearer as I develop it further. 

I'm using Unity this time around, and I think you'll start to understand why as details are released.

As for what kind of game it is... well, the icons at the bottom left and the strange amorphous thingy at the top left provide a clue. Plus... is that a beam of light in the background?

Key words for today: Illumination, Imprecation, Invocation. I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to define the difference between a friend, a pet and a deity. Fun stuff. For those of you who rejoiced in the death and entropy of Incoboto, you'll be pleased to hear that I don't lighten up a single bit with BeMuse. There is no Corporation this time around, but there is The Circle, equally faceless, bureaucratic and stupid... and useful.

This is going to be the most bizarre game I've ever made, and I hope you join me on my journey into the weird... or should that be Wyrd?

As ever, I welcome speculation, by mail, blog-comment, Twitter or even by posting in the forums. The forums will also where I'll be posting links to the web-version when it becomes available for testing.

Have a good weekend.

For those of you who desperately wanted to experience the vast, mind-staggering, interspacial galactic mood-fest of Incoboto on a tiny, weeny screen covered by your chunky thumbs, I'm pleased to announce that Incoboto Mini edition is out now.

It is identical in nearly every respect (bar a couple of level tweaks for performance reasons) and features the new 'normal-person friendly' joypad controls... if you turn them on. 

Please click on the big fat picture above for a link to the App Store.

NOTE: There's currently a weird bug when running it on iPhone 5 that causes it to crash on some phones. An update is already with Apple, awaiting review! Thanks for your patience!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am prone to a certain unique style of... polemic. I get a bit ranty from time to time. It's usually on a subject nobody cares about ("Why is 'bling' in the dictionary? People will claim it's valid in Scrabble!") or for amusement ("Brussel Sprouts were never intended for human consumption, but were reserved for the 10th circle of hell where they are used to punish the souls of people whose lives involved too little cabbage in their diet.").

I am also aware that it is 'bad form' to rant in a blog. Or even be negative about anything. Amanda Palmer says so, so it must be true. But...

When did it become acceptable for non-reviewers to ask developers for free games? While a great many things are free, some are not. This is called economics. It's what ensures we can all eat, drink, and remain relatively free of disease.

It is not acceptable to go into Starbucks and beg for free coffee. One can't tap on the window of Gap and point - first at a fetching pair of pantaloons and then at oneself - and expect the goods to be handed over. Furthermore, people begging in the streets do not do it wearing a Northface jacket, brand new Nike trainers while playing a Nintendo 3DS XL. 

There will be those who say: "Ah, but you have to understand - an iPhone game isn't like a coffee. It's a punt. An unknown quantity. Customers don't know if what they're buying is of value until they've bought it, so you can understand their caution. And a lot of games are crap."

Valid - but that's a different point. That's a point about pricing. I can see why uncertainty of value is the engine of the 'race to the bottom'. I agree that this is a good reason for many developers to go F2P, or at least present a free demo. We need to minimise barriers to entry and do our utmost to ensure that customers feel comfortable via pricing, representative demos, good reputation and reliable branding.

But I'm pretty sure no economist thinks that customers have the right to free luxury goods - especially where costs are involved (where goods are necessities, it's a different story, and taxation is there to ease the burden on those who genuinely can't pay for the basics).
 
But none of this explains customers simultaneously saying:

"Your work is worth zero to me"
and
"But I want it, and have the right to have it. So give it to me."

Perhaps they view themselves as desperate victims of... oh, I don't know, 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here' poisoning, or 'X-Factor Syndrome' or something. But I suspect they - bafflingly - regard themselves as poor.

If you're experiencing real poverty, you'll have my sympathies and those of most people. But, you can't plead poverty when engaged in buying luxury goods, whose very use is predicated on owning a nice expensive electronic device.

It's silly and insulting.

Anyway - enough said. I'm off to shake my fist at some dubstep.

A bit of a cheeky entry, really. It's a little semi-treat for anyone who was a fan of Incoboto and who cares in the slightest bit about what I'm doing next. 

This is part of a pre-production test for Bemuse that I've blurred into near indistinguishability. 

I'm not giving away any details about how you play...

...but the community is going to be a huge part of it. I'm genuinely relying on you guys to make this a stunning, moving, amazing adventure.

If anyone wants to speculate, or enter into a discussion about any aspect of it, there's a forum out there which I hadn't planned on doing anything with for a bit.

I'm sure there are those of you out there who have played Inco and finished with it. 
I also believe there are a fair few of you who never got around to playing it due to the lack of iPhone support and who have asked if I could make a version for the smaller devices. Well, your wishes have been granted!

Incoboto is coming out iPhone soon - hopefully before the holidays. The joystick-style controls have also been utterly revamped to make for a smoother playing experience, and levels have been tweaked so it runs at a reasonable pace even on older 3G iPhones. 

I've named the project 'Incoboto Mini' and adjusted the price to reflect the fact that it's an experience on a far smaller screen. Thanks to those of you who have been testing it so far.

Fingers crossed the next week or two go smoothly, and that Inco and Helios can make their way to your tiny mobile platorms soon!

This is my first attempt to build some kind of Wordpress-related page. It seems to work relatively well so far. Weebly is relatively flexible (if you're okay diving into a bit of CSS and happy reverse engineering some of their themes!), and makes design and content upkeep fairly simple.

Some exciting things are happening soon, and I want this to provide a nice robust platform for you and an easily updated publishing platform for me.

You'll have to tell me how it works for you.