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:

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!

Sorry for not updating the front page for a few weeks (six as it turns out!): summer has been zooming along at a merry pace, even if the weather hasn’t been along for the ride.  As before things have been very busy in the background, and my most recent article on UI is the game, the game is UI on AltDevBlog has even been picked up by Gamasutra.

It’s an interesting process having that happen, mostly because it’s actually quite difficult to find out that it has.  Mike, who set AltDevBlog up, has done great things in helping it get noticed across the industry and as contributors we’re all aware of where our articles might end up.  And it’s nice to see them leaping forward into the wild.

None games related, recently a few of us went to the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool to see a performance of As The World Tipped.  These small pictures don’t really do it justice, but the seemingly simple act of turning a stage 90 degrees to make it vertical made for a breathtaking visual feast.  It’s certainly got me thinking about how we should be able to do similar things in games – changing a player’s perspective on something to create a new sensation.  If you ever get the chance to see a performance like this, definitely go along.

Just a short update to let you know what’s going on with the articles.  I am still working hard at them and have a few well into progress, and I’ve also signed up to be a contributor over at #AltDevBlogADay.  My first post has just gone live here, and it’s an updated version of ‘what designers do’.

As AltDevBlog is a place for lots of people to talk, I’ve disabled the comments on my site to try and keep any discussions on my articles in one place.  There’s still the facebook page as well if you want to get in touch.

I’ll be keeping all articles on this site up to date and it’s most likely they’ll be published here first (mostly so I have at least one in the bag for when it comes round to my allotted time to post!).