Autumn.

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 by Alex in Site, Thoughts

Condensation

Tomorrow is officially the first day of Autumn, already it’s the time of year again when condensation greets you in the morning, leaves of wonderful colour fall from the trees and a there’s a chill in the morning despite warm days. I think autumn (or, if you’re American, fall) is my favourite time of year – spring is full of promise, autumn full of reflection. The only thing I don’t like is that it points out how quickly the year has gone. There’s still plenty left, and the next few months are going to be very busy.

Articles wise, AltDevBlogADay continues to grow and I’ve been far better at keep my articles up to date on there – I admit I haven’t given my own website a great deal of attention of late. Gamasutra have been reposting many articles from AltDev, and have put a couple of mine up now as well – a double edged sword because we have to find them for ourselves: I missed contributing to a healthy comments thread in time on the last article of mine they posted. It is exciting to see your words up on a big website though, there is no denying that.

The value of money

Posted on September 4th, 2011 by Alex in News, Thoughts

It’s only been out a few days but already Hog Rocket have lowered the price of Tiny Invaders down to the lowest paying price available on the App Store: just 69p (or $.99 if you’re States side).

This brings up an interesting point about the App store – why does £2.49 feel like a lot of money? If I’m in a coffee shop I wouldn’t blink twice at paying that for a coffee, let alone walking into a physical Apple Store and spending over £1000 for a laptop (I bought my Air without so much as a whimper). And I’ll happily buy any of the Hog Rocket team a pint. Yet seeing that “install” button roll over to “2.49″ creates a hang-on-a-sec… reaction. Why?

I don’t any answers for this and I know I’m not the only one to ask it. Possibly Apple themselves don’t even know. But it’s certainly an interesting psychological question. For now though, relish in the delight that is Tiny Invaders for just 69p – hours of entertainment for less than bag of chips:

A pinch and a punch…

Posted on September 1st, 2011 by Alex in News

The first day of September, the sun is shining and Hog Rocket have released their first game, Tiny Invaders, to the world:

It’s a great little game that gets mighty addictive the deeper you get into it, I’ve been part of the beta test and still love playing it which is always a sign of a good game. And you don’t just need to take my word for it either, Touch Arcade have posted their review already, giving it 4/5 stars.

“Tiny Invaders is an excellent debut from the folks at Hogrocket. Its puzzles are infused with such urgency that you’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat, mashing reset to take one more shot at beating the timer.”

Good work Pete, Ben & Steve!