Posted by admin
on January 11, 2013
Development,
Games,
iOS,
PC,
Web,
Windows Phone /
No Comments
To celebrate the release of MonsterUp for iOS devices, I decided to dedicate a website only to MonsterUp branded games. I have 3 games already using the MonsterUp brand, the original MonsterUp, its sequel MonsterUp Adventures and a kids’ memory matching games called MonsterUp Memory. Since I plan to use the brand on future games as well, a dedicated simple website for all things MonsterUp seemed like a good idea. So I bought the domain monsterupgame.com, installed wordpress and presto – I had a website in about 4 hours :)

It has most of the things I wanted to have, like reviews and screenshots showing on devices’ pictures. I had to hack the template a bit to support multiple platforms, since it was originally supporting only iPhone apps, but I think it works the way I want it to work now.
So, take a look and tell me if you like it :)
www.monsterupgame.com
Posted by admin
on October 21, 2012
Development,
Games,
PC /
No Comments
My first game for Windows 8 Store has passed certification today. Couldn’t be happier. Well, I will be happier when the second one passes certification also (I have 3 more games in the pipeline plus 1 small app that is still awaiting certification). The new game is MonsterUp Memory, a simple cards memory game that can be played by 1 or 2 players for some extra competition if the clock isn’t enough. It features awesome graphics based on the MonsterUp series, nice happy music, fast and fluid graphics (plays great with mouse and touch) and a live tile that gives you the results of your last game. It’s nothing really special, I am still trying to figure out all the new technologies for Windows 8, but it’s a good start, I am happy with how it turned out.

I will be adding a few more things in future updates, I just needed this to come to the store as soon as possible, so don’t be afraid to get this game even if you think it’s very simple in its current form. Updates are always free anyway :)
For more info about the game, please feel free to visit the official website here.
I never owned an iPod. My portable music needs were satisfied by various other players, like an iRiver and a Zune HD. The latest was the one that also proved very useful when I begun developing games for the then up-and-coming Windows Phone platform. The Zune HD is an amazing MP3 player. The software was fast, fluid and intuitive (not to mention it looked absolutely gorgeous). I still use it a lot, and I am sad that it has been discontinued as a product. I always believed that Microsoft should follow the iPhone-iPod paradigm, that of having an extra product that acts like a media player, but is also able to run all the software Windows Phone can, without being a phone itself. That would catapult the platform, since developers would potentially have many more users. Oh, and I would buy one :)
Anyway, back to the feature of the title. While developing my first game for XNA, Tetrada, which essentially became my first game for Windows Phone, and then got pulled from the Marketplace, I discovered that the Zune HD hardware had a unique and amazing feature. While its (gorgeous) touch screen was capacitive (as in “reacted to touch and not pressure”) it also had variable pressure sensitivity (although I do suspect that it was implemented in an “touch area variable” way more than actual pressure sensing). So it would react like any Windows Phone, iPhone or Android phone today to touch, but if you pushed further on the screen, the hardware (and of course software) would register this push depending how strong you pushed. This little feature is amazing and gives many possibilities to game developers. For example, imagine being able to control a racing game’s accelerator or brake pedals by pushing harder. Or control the power of the shot in a football game.
This pressure sensitivity already appeared in this week’s Microsoft announcement of the Surface tablet’s keyboard, so I guess I can still hope!
I would love it if this feature returned to Windows Phones, it would make games on the platform stick out in yet another way.