Are you a developer or publisher with a product that is near or at an Alpha state? Are you concerned with fears of your app or game just not being the best that it can be?

Your answer is as simple as contacting 1988 Games!

Available now and for a limited time only, we present our $100 Design Boost service.

This rapid-turnaround service is designed to take your project and give it an immediate design and quality boost from an outside and unbiased source that is not entrenched in your development cycle. Common mistakes made due to tunnel-vision, as well as critical errors in QA will become immediately visible with our expedited review process.

Process Includes:

• Complete (Top-To-Bottom) Review

Items such as controls, usability, gameplay and graphics will be reviewed, examined, and analyzed. Upon completion, multi-tiered suggestions for solutions to problems as well as general improvements will be provided in a basic report (*deluxe report available for extra fee).

• Basic 2-Hour QA Pass

Roadblock issues such as usability errors, program instability and gameplay/flow logic will be diagnosed, reproduced, and documented. This includes the ability for team-specified bug hunting, for those hard-to-reproduce issues that nag the typical internal QA process.

Any project, any scope; we’ll make the difference. Guaranteed.

Contact us today to setup a free consultation!

(C) 2012, Flarb

(C) 2012, Flarb

A new iOS® & Android® app from our friends at Flarb, Brick Buddies™ is an exciting pet brick simulation! Pet it, feed it, accessorize it, and love it! See if you can ‘go for the gold’ and unlock the elusive golden brick. Easily the most exciting brick-based game of 2012!

Apple AppStore: http://itunes.apple.com/app/brick-buddies/id500582999?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D2

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flarb.bricks

As the word begins to spread about our 2012 Black Paper, the highly-regarded industry website and magazine Develop was kind enough to grant us an interview and a spotlight!

Click Here to read the full interview.

Too hot to handle, too cold to hold…

Hot on the heels of our just-released 2012 Black Paper comes an exciting interview with Ralph Barbagallo for the Casual Connect Podcast!

Presenting the first official publication of our 2012 Black Paper, a report on console evolution. Since our formation we have been able to accurately prognosticate several key technologies and evolutions within the game industry. Now, at a time of great upheaval and speculation, we release our definitive treatise on the evolution of the console format and industry. This report, filled with key insights from such industry figureheads as: Dave Perry, Michael Pachter, and Ralph Barbagallo is available as a completely open-source knowledge solution.

Download links are below.

(C) 2012, 1988 Games

1988 Games – 2012 Black Paper (Console Report) -  (33.2 MB)

1988 Games – 2012 Black Paper (Console Report) (Compressed) -  (5.6 MB)

An intimate look inside the making of the Zombie Massacre feature film trailer and the motivations behind it. A fun featurette brought to us by the insanely talented team at Extreme Video.

Join The Massacre!

(C) 2005-2011, 1988 Games

Just in time for the holiday season, 1988 Games has yet another vulgar and exciting concept for all of the kiddies to sink their thumbs into. Jump in the role of Santy Clause as you unwrap a tongue-in-cheek Christmas adventure originally designed for the PlayStation®2/PSP®. Though casually pitched to several publishers at the time for a larger-scale production, Crimas Time!! remains yet another great idea that could easily be transitioned onto tablets and mobiles!

Speaking of which… Hey SCEI®, you should ask us to make this for your new hand-held!

Crimas Time!! (2005)

Concept:

After the international “Banque de France” forecloses on Santa Clause’s workshop on Christmas Eve, Santa Clause takes his sleigh and two helper elves to get even and save “Crimas!” Controlling Jolly (and now vulgar) old Saint Nick, players must fly Santa’s sleigh from shopping mall to shopping mall, stealing presents, fighting off mall security, and avoiding surface to air missiles! After arriving at each mall, Santa is free to roam through the entire facility and enter any store he chooses. Once inside, Santa has to use his ‘yoink’ button to snag presents and put them in his sack. Of course, Santa’s sack can only hold so many gifts, so he’ll have to return to the sleigh to deposit what he stole. To add to the peppermint-flavored action, players will have to fight off mall security of various ranks and powers using Santa’s sack, candy cane baton, and any weapons (brass knuckles, guns, bats, napalm, stun guns, pepper spray, etc.) that mall security leaves behind. Trek across 8 cities and help Santa fight/steal his way to a merry “Crimas!”

Controls:

(Free Roam Mode)

Left Analog Stick: Directional Control (Mario 64-Style)

Right Analog Stick: Camera Control (Click to Lock View)

D-Pad: Misc. Options

R2: Not Used

L2: Not Used

R1: Toggle Weapons/Items

L1: Toggle Weapons/Items

Square: Attack Using Fists Or Selected Weapon (Can Combine With Jump)

X: Jump (Can Double Jump & Butt Stomp)

Circle: Attack Using Sack

Triangle: ‘Yoink Button’ Steals Anything Highlighted By Santa’s Line Of Sight Icon

Select: Enter/Exit Sleigh (Only When Sleigh Is Parked)

Start: Pause Game

(Flying Sleigh Mode)

Left Analog Stick: Directional Control (Pilot Wings 64-Style)

Right Analog Stick: Camera Control (Click to Lock View)

D-Pad: Misc. Options

R2: Not Used

L2: Not Used

R1: Fire Machine Guns

L1: Fire CCS-9 Santa Missiles (Air-To-Air & Air-To-Ground)

Square: Increase Speed

X: Decrease Speed

Circle: Drop Presents

Triangle: Release Missile Countermeasure

Select: Enter/Exit Sleigh (Only When Sleigh Is Parked)

Start: Pause Game

Ideas:

• The more ‘full of gifts’ that Santa’s sack is, the more powerful it is as a weapon.

• Santa should be very angry and use a lot of profanities while attacking or stealing. He should also make rude comments to various NPCs that roam the malls. Perhaps Bruce Willis could voice Santa…

• Basically, again, this is like a 3D Final Fight® but with stealing and a cool sleigh-flying mode.

• Transitioning from a parked sleigh to flying sleigh will be handled with a simple yes/no menu each time Santa approaches it. While flying, the player will be able to land the sleigh on any rooftop with sufficient room. These rooftops and buildings will be marked with a bright HUD icon. Once the sleigh is stopped, the player can exit using the select button. If the player lands on a roof that does not have an attached free roaming area (not a mall) they will not be allowed to exit the sleigh.

• Santa’s sleigh is not bound by the laws of physics, and as such can perform various feats that don’t make sense. It can: accelerate, climb, dive, and hover. When the sleigh is flown close enough to the ground at a slow enough speed, it will automatically set down. Regardless, Santa’s sleigh is still pulled by the reindeer, and comes equipped with machine guns and other Christmas-themed weapons (like the AIM-9 Candy Cane Sidewinder Missiles).

• If Santa’s sleigh is destroyed in the air, Santa will be shown slowly gliding to earth attached to a parachute made of wrapping paper, holding his sack of toys. At this point a Game Over/Continue Screen will be shown. The game will auto save all progress each time Santa enters his sleigh.

• This game must be themed with rock n’ roll and hip-hop perversions of favorite holiday songs.

• This game must convey the sort of creepy feeling of running through dark and empty shopping malls at night, with only security and mall music to accompany the player. Of course, the game will have its own soundtrack (Christmas Rock & Upbeat Music) and Santa will be FILLED with funny quips, but overall the environment should be a little creepy.

• Santa’s ‘yoink’ move should be unrealistically fast. Things can be thrown into Santa’s sack as quickly as the player can align Santa’s line of sight with an object and press the button.

• Some stores in the malls will be locked up, forcing Santa to break into them by either breaking the window or finding an alternate strategy. This will be something that the S-Rating player can exploit, as they will memorize the locations, security setups, and entry points of the most valuable stores.

• During the flying mode in between malls, players will also be able to earn super mega points by performing “bomb runs.” These runs will be triggered when the player flies low over a residential area, and will allow players to drop gifts like bombs from a bomb-bay down people’s chimneys using a special downward looking camera with crosshairs.

• Any item within Santa’s ‘yoinking’ view is highlighted with a small HUD indicator that shows its overall value in American Dollars and with a color ranging from green to yellow to red (with red being most valuable).

• As a power-up, Santa can find bottles of ‘Holiday Spirits’ brand Brandy, Cognac, and Schnapps scattered around the mall. These will make Santa temporarily invincible much like a super-star in the Mario® games, but with the added benefit of also temporarily boosting certain player attributes (jumping, running, or fighting) respectively.

• During the flying stages, players will know which houses to “bomb” (shoot presents into) by paying attention to the game’s HUD. The HUD will highlight each house with a naughty or nice indicator, as well as with a total dollar amount of presents needed. Any house that doesn’t receive its quota will cause negative points!

• The real secret to keeping this game from becoming repetitive will be to make each mall unique in its design, store layout, and merchandise. Additionally, strategies for capturing said merchandise would vary per mall and store. Players must always be kept on their feet and left feeling clever for finding new quicker ways of looting each mall. The items that they steal must differ per-store and per-mall, and should always be creative. From diamonds to Power Wheels® cars, the player should be able to take it all!

• Many of the stores inside of the malls should be parodies of actual popular stores. Others should just be completely made up and should vary in themes from serious to completely preposterous and fictitious (Swords Inc.: A place for swords!).

• Santa can use anything he steals as a weapon. Whether it’s a sword or a Power Wheels® car, Santa can find a way to break something or someone with it! Once stolen and in Santa’s sack, items can be toggled and brought into play using the L1 & R1 buttons. Once selected, Santa can use them for an attack or for another purpose (riding, combining, unlocking, etc.).

Game Taglines:

• “It’s the stocking-stuffer fisticuffer!”

“It’s the fisticuffer stocking-stuffer!” (Alternate)

• “It’s a 12-hour dash to save Christmas past!”

• “It’s the holiday break-in that’ll leave the French shakin’!”

“It’s the holiday break-in that’ll leave the guards shakin’!” (Alternate)

• “Bring joy and cheer through pain and fear!”

• “It’s a last-minute holiday looting spree, bursting rocketry!”

• “It’s a holiday rumble that’ll leave the French humbled!”

(C) 2004-2011, 1988 Games

For all the shorty-luvs… This was 1988 Games’ magnum opus of romance and intrigue. Again, another design that was ahead of its time, and one that would work brilliantly for today’s mobile/tablet scene.

Super Action Cupid (2004)

Concept:

This is a puzzle game where players control a cupid angel who’s standing on top of an apartment building downtown and whose mission is to target and shoot pairs of people with his cupid arrows. Doing this successfully will bring said people together and they will form a romantic connection. Players will be rewarded with special bonuses and will eventually level up and move to a new location once they have met their love quota.

Challenge:

There are three points of challenge for playing this game:

–Aiming–

Players will have to move side to side along the roofline and then will have to use the analog stick to move their crosshairs and shoot their love arrow. Players will then have to target and hit their other person to make the love match before they walk off of the screen.

–Timing–

Players will be playing against a time limit always, so unless they meet their love quota before the timer expires they will lose a life and have to retry the level. The time challenge in this game will come mostly from timing when to shoot at people walking by. There will be times where a person will have to be tagged right from the moment they appear on screen, and then the player will have to wait for the perfect match to appear and tag them before the first person walks off of the screen. Generally though, the time limits will not be too demanding and will only serve to limit how many matches can be made and add just enough challenge.

–People–

If speaking in puzzle game terms, these are the blocks that fall from the sky. The people are what add the true puzzle element to this game. People will walk across the sidewalk from left to right or from right to left, and will have to be paired in order to build points and meet the love quota. People will be different for each stage and will have various genders, races, and occupations. It will be the player’s responsibility to recognize the ideal pairs or potential for ideal pairs, and shoot at them in the hopes of pairing them up. Many times an obvious pair will be visible, but the player would be wise to shoot a valuable single person, and let them walk a little in the hopes of having a second super valuable person appear on screen to be paired. This will add much gameplay to this game!

Level:

The following is a visual layout of how a level in Super Action Cupid works.

(C) 2004-2011, 1988 Games

Ideas:

• Of course, we will reward the player for being a sadistic bastard by giving extra bonus points when they pair unlikely couples (like an Old Man and a Cheerleader).

• Players will also be allowed to pair up more then two people at a time. So for example, they can create a trio of a Nun, a Construction Worker, and a Rapper.

• Once People are initially paired by the love arrows, they will move towards each other and move off the screen at a slower rate than before. This will give the player an opportunity to tag more people onto that couple for extra sadistic bonus points.

• If the player manages to match every person on the screen, they will earn a special graphic/sound effect called the “Love Sweep.” This will be worth many points.

• After completing a level players will be transported to another part of the city where they will have to deal with new sets of people and locations. Of course, the challenge level will increase as the player progresses through levels. Levels will be separated by humorous cut scenes where players will learn more about our hero Super Cupid.

• Players can earn bonus points for shooting out the tires on passing cars. Hey, why not!?

• Super Cupid (as he is called) will have to be a really cute looking cherub who smokes and has a surly attitude! And he HAS to wear dark sunglasses (those really dark gangster rapper sunglasses worn by Eazy-E). It would also be funny if for no reason at all, Super Cupid had a 1980s mullet.

• Although this game encourages creative matchmaking, some matches will be considered wrong and will not be allowed. On screen characters will be represented with a colored HUD element indicating their compatible personalities and general romantic inclinations.