Frog The Door Games

I took a short break from Vintage Hero to quickly put together a simple app that may be of some use to you musicians out there. It's called Setlist and it's an easy way to keep track of your band repertoires and setlists. The app is totally free (ad supported) and is available now in the Windows Phone Marketplace.

So I'll think I'll get back Vintage Hero real soon as it would be great to have something ready for this year's Dream Build Play. Although first I'm considering finishing a port I've been sparingly working on of Space Racer for WP7. It would basically be the same as the Xbox version but I plan to add online leaderboards, making it a shit ton cooler. Either way, nothing's slowing down here. Plenty more to come soon! :)

The folks at GameMarx.com are moving on from reviewing games and switching their focus to development. As a final send-off, they're giving away over 50 free Xbox Indie Games, including Alawishus Pixel and Space Racer, to one lucky winner! In addition, leading up to the announcement for the grand prize, they'll be giving away even more free Xbox Indie Games as secondary prizes.

Here's the website with all the details and here's the list of games included in the grand prize.

To enter the contest register here.

The winner of the GameMarx Xbox Indie Mega Pack Giveaway will be announced Friday December 30, 2011

Look, a promo video!

The first update for Space Racer has hit the marketplace. The next time you play the game the patch will automatically install. Lot's of new features this time around including:
-3 new bonus tracks unlocked when all 12 main tracks are beaten.
-Switch between normal and hard difficulties in single player mode at the track select screen.
-When playing 2-player, the loser won't get bumped out after the first race when "Play All" is selected for the circuit.
-You can now pick the same ship to race with in 2-player mode.
-New trial version is a better representation of how the game plays.
-You'll see a congratulations screen after beating all twelve tracks.

Thanks to all who played the game and I hope these changes make the experience more enjoyable. I'll be working at break-neck speed on Old School Hero for the next few weeks and hope to get some new video up soon. I also have some blog ideas to write up on the technical side, including how I did the faux 3-D effect of two sprite circling each other on the congrats screen in Space Racer and the as promised Tile Ripper for tile based games. I'd also like to share some press the new game's received, including being picked by IndieGames.com as one of the best of January's Xbox Indies! Till then...

Space Racer's been out for less than a week and I've been getting some great feedback. Since release I've been working on an update to address some issues people have with the game, the main one being the game's length. So for the first update I'll be adding some new bonus tracks that will be unlocked when you beat all 12 of the main tracks. I'll also be addressing some of the 2 player oddities that are present including the loser getting booted out of the first race when playing all tracks in a circuit. Also, you'll now have the ability to pick the same ship when playing a 2 player race.

I'd also like to thank 1uporpoison.com for holding a contest giving away free codes of the game. Congratulations to the winners, sleepydumbdude, Doug, and philliplynx! Check the comments in the Space Racer review and you'll see they've left a code to get Alawishus Pixel for free. The first one to enter the code wins!

If you don't already get Xbox Indie reviews from GameMarx.com or listen to their fantastic podcast about indie games be sure to start now! This week they're giving away a free code for Space Racer! If you missed the contest, no worries. Watch the GameMarx video review show this Monday and there will be another chance to get a code. Regardless, you should be checking out all the content on GameMarx as they're a highly entertaining bunch. In addition to the reviews, their game search app is also a great way to visually narrow down a list of games with custom attributes you might have. If you're into Xbox Indie Games and haven't seen their website, you're missing out. Leave a comment or send a message and let 'em know you're out there!

If you've played Space Racer and would like to review it here's a couple of websites that allow user reviews.
Xblaratings.com lets users review and rate all Xbox Live Arcade and Indie games.
Popupgamer.com is another review site with user generated content. Rate and review any game on any system!

Check back here for more news and I'll be sure to post when the update is up!

I sure hadn't planned to spend so much time in development with this game but what can I say, I like the polish. A game is, after all, only done when it's done. You can pick it up here or directly on the Xbox 360 marketplace for 80 MS points. Up next it's back to Old School Hero double time now. Doing a racing game was fun but platforming and action games are really where my passions lie. What I got from Space Racer was the much more robust level editor that I needed and a few more experience points in game development. As a result OSH will be better for it. Stay tuned for more...

Well it's been longer than expected but Space Racer is just about finished. I'll be going into peer review today or tomorrow and hope to pass onto the market place soon. Expect an announcement here when the game goes live as well as updates to what's in store for the next game (Old School Hero). In addition, I'm planning a much needed website overhaul perhaps this time free from the chains of Weebly.

While Old School Hero is continuing to be developed, I decided to whip together a nice 2D racer for release to the marketplace. So with that, I'm announcing Space Racer as the next release from Frog The Door Games. It's a 2D top down racer set in space with twelve tracks, four ships, head-to-head jump-in-anytime two player competitions and a trippy neon art style. The idea was to make a simple and fun two player game that wouldn't take long to develop assests for, but still be impressive to look at and have a good amount of replayablity. The result is a frantic take on what's kind of a cross between Spy Hunter and F-Zero. Here's a video of the game in action. Expect Space Racer to be on Xbox Live Indie Games this December.