Kongregate Developers Blog (Page 3)

Mobile Publishing Aug 30, 2018

'Star Trek™ Trexels II: The Next Resolution' Beams to Android and iOS Devices

Set phasers to stun -- Kongregate, in collaboration with YesGnome, has launched the sequel to the popular Star Trek™ Trexels mobile strategy game. Star Trek™ Trexels II: The Next Resolution, now available on iOS and Android devices, boldy explores new features and stories. After barely escaping annihilation and becoming stuck in a space-time vortex known as the “Rift,” players will traverse time and space to co-exist or collide. Now trapped in the midst of interstellar forces from multiple timelines, players will explore puzzling planets, unsanctioned alliances, and emerging technologies. Starfleet must struggle with reconstruction and faltering alliances while the Klingon High Council recognizes its chance to be reborn. The Cardassians, Ferengi, and others are beginning to form their own factions while the confusion and confines of the “Rift” have empowered the Borg. The anticipated sequel to Star Trek™ Trexels, Star Trek™ Trexels II is now available on iOS and Android devices. You can find additional information about the game at the website and get the latest news on the official Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Developer Spotlight Aug 28, 2018

Words with Devs: A Conversation with 'Ultrabit'

Ultrabit, a San Diego-based developer sitting at a dozen team members, was acquired last year by Kongregate. With four published titles and millions of downloads and plays across both PC and mobile, Ultrabit is extending their genre reach with their latest title Crossword Safari: Word Hunt. In this interview, Ultrabit discusses their roots, trying new things, what makes a good word game, and how to keep a small team happy. KONGREGATE: Today we are chatting with Ultrabit, creators of Crossword Safari: Word Hunt, Pocket Politics, and Office Space: Idle Profits. Ultrabit was founded in 2014 by veterans from Zynga, Kongregate, Sony Online Entertainment, and Red 5 Studios. How did Ultrabit first come to be? How did the team meet and start working together? ULTRABIT: The majority of the early Ultrabit folks had worked together previously at companies in San Diego, most notably Kongregate and Zynga. Our co-founders were passionate about taking their game expertise into the indie space and so began gathering a team of industry veterans. Over the course of 12-16 months, the team grew to about 10 people

Mobile Publishing Aug 16, 2018

Ultrabit Challenges Puzzle Solvers in New Game, 'Crossword Safari: Word Hunt'

Kongregate, in collaboration with Ultrabit, has launched the charming, adventure-themed word game Crossword Safari: Word Hunt on iOS and Android devices. Crossword Safari is the first word game to be included in Kongregate’s growing portfolio of mobile games and marks the third Ultrabit title published by Kongregate, including idle hits Pocket Politics and Office Space: Idle Profits. Crossword Safari: Word Hunt follows a colorful cast of characters as they journey across exciting vistas such as tropical islands, lush forests, and explosive volcanoes. Players will work their way through brand new game modes and challenging levels. The game features over 750 levels, daily challenges, additional game modes, and is available now on iOS and Android devices.

Kongregate News Aug 16, 2018

Kongregate Signs 'Flotsam,' a Happy-Go-Lucky Post-Apocalyptic Survival PC Game

Kongregate has partnered with Pajama Llama Games to announce Flotsam, the feel-good post-apocalyptic garbage-town builder! Flotsam will enter Steam Early Access early 2019 and will be available for both PC and Mac platforms, and will be playable at Gamescom 2018 in the Indie Arena Booth in Hall 10.1. The survival-based town builder is set in a waterlogged world and features moving towns, procedural world generation, and an eclectic group of survivors. Players will manage a floating village community as it sails across an endless ocean. In their fight to survive they’ll depend on recycled garbage and scrap, used to construct structures that catch fish and create drinkable water. On their journey, they’ll encounter other stranded strangers, dangerous sea animals, and mysterious ruins and wreckages. “Flotsam is a really fun project; the game’s vibrant atmosphere brings a lot of character and personality to the often-grim survival genre,” said Kongregate’s Director of Production Kevin DuPuy. “From building food trucks in your floating garbage town to everyone’s favorite character ‘Steven’ the seagull, Pajama Llama has somehow made

Web Aug 14, 2018

July 2018 Contest Winners

Each month, developers win cash prizes for having the highest-rated new games! Click here for official rules. Check out the official contest page here. TOP WINNERS 1st Place: $1,750 ZS Dead Detective - Murder Case by Lu_Muja 2nd Place: $1,250 Tales of Nebezem: Droid's Quest by Beranek 3rd Place: $1,000 Shamaniac by CrounchyBrothers 4th Place: $750 Crown Dungeon by Drawmaneater1 5th Place: $500 Aspiring artist by Neko_puf We reached out to the top 5 winners to ask about their inspirations and experiences developing last month's top games on Kongregate! First-Place Winner Lu_Muja, developer of ZS Dead Detective - Murder Case: Placing first in a contest always feels great, and that's especially true when it's your first time. It's a real honor for a zombie like me, and so I would like to thank, from the bottom of my rotten heart, all the players who voted and supported my latest entry in the "Dead Detective" series. In the past months, I've written that a developer really needs to value the players' feedback, and

Kongregate News Aug 09, 2018

Insights from Kartridge Developer Survey

Part of our philosophy when building Kartridge was to be a platform that served the needs of both players and developers. In addition to focusing our efforts on making a player-friendly platform, we’ve also been making sure to treat developers fairly, which involves regularly talking with developers to find out what tools and features they need. In this way we can try our best to tailor the platform to the service of developers rather than forcing them to conform to us. This is why we invited a small group of indies to join an early advisory council and why we have been showing off early builds at conferences while taking lots of notes. As part of this endeavor, we recently sent out an email to everyone who signed up for our Kartridge developers update emails (which you can do at https://kartridge.com/developers/). To our delight we had a fantastic response rate, even for the somewhat long survey. So first off, a big thank you to everyone who took the time to fill one out! The survey turned

Mobile Publishing Aug 07, 2018

Taking a Swim with Sharkbite Games: A 'BeSwitched' Q&A

KONG: Today we are chatting with Sharkbite Games, creators of Kongregate’s latest mobile release BeSwitched (available now on Android and iOS devices). Sharkbite Games, founded in 2016 and staffed by industry veterans, is led by Rick Ellis and Susan Mackey-Ellis. For those who are unfamiliar with the startup, can you tell us a bit about your backgrounds and how Sharkbite Games came to be? RICK: Our studio is made up of game industry veterans, people who have been making games for upwards of 25 years. Our current team has all worked together in the past on various projects so we don’t have many of the startup “growing pains” trying to learn each other’s personalities and strengths/weakness, which has been nice. Individuals on the team have worked on some of the industry’s most amazing and popular titles: Steam, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Guild Wars 2, F.E.A.R., Condemned, Paradise Bay, Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, and Deer Hunter to name a few. As a group, we decided that we wanted to build highly social games

Mobile Publishing Jul 31, 2018

Sharkbite Games Brews Match 3 Fun with 'BeSwitched'

Help Lily Defeat the Evil Warlock in Kongregate’s First Match 3 Release Kongregate, in collaboration with Sharkbite Games, has launched BeSwitched on iOS and Android devices. BeSwitched marks the first casual and Match 3 game release for Kongregate and follows Lily, a magical witch, through her Match 3 adventure. Lily's castle has been enchanted by an evil wizard and is in disrepair. Players must adventure through the lands to set her captured friends free and fix up her castle to be in tip-top shape. BeSwitched features over 200 levels, baby dragons, collectible items, and is available now on iOS and Android devices.

Marketing Jul 24, 2018

How Ad Networks Take Advantage of Blind Environments

20 Buzzwords & Other Crap Ad Networks Get Away With Buzzwords are abundant these days. In pop culture it is all about crypto, blockchain, and ICOs. The mobile ads space is no stranger to buzzwords either. A few years ago it was all about "the brands" that were supposedly coming to revolutionize the mobile ad landscape and boost CPMs (they have not). Now we’ve moved onto terms like header bidding, programmatic, flattened waterfalls, and RTB, which will be the next big things on mobile to drive up CPMs. But will they? The answer is that it very much depends on whom you ask and your approach to ads. We Have All Been Getting Screwed... I recently saw a few studies about how programmatic (or header bidding/RTB, same things) boosted CPMs for advertisers by up to 30%. On one hand, that is great news! A new tech (albeit one that has been around on the web for years now) is helping to make the mobile marketplace more efficient and competitive. That is always a welcomed sign, right?