Kongregate Developers Blog (Page 3)

Kongregate News Apr 18, 2019

'Hell is Other Demons' Now Available on Switch and Kartridge

Kartridge, the new PC gaming platform from game publisher and developer Kongregate, has partnered with Cuddle Monster Games to launch Hell is Other Demons, the lightning-fast bullet hell platformer! Hell is Other Demons is now available on PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch. This arcade shooter is driven by quick, creative gameplay that rewards fast decision making and faster reflexes. Jump into the hooves of a demon out to kill a bunch of other demons as you progress through an extensive campaign and dominate wonderfully over-the-top bosses. In addition to the pulse-pounding maximalism of the campaign, fans of classic, high score-based arcade games will find a cozy home in Arcade Mode, which offers unlimited, procedurally generated action and endless replayability. Hell is Other Demons’ bold colors and chunky pixels are backed up by a heavy synthwave soundtrack composed by Rémi Gallego, of The Algorithm, and retro sound effects by Magnus Pålsson, composer of the VVVVVV OST. “Hell is Other Demons started out as a GBJam entry where you are limited to using four colors. Most other entries stuck to green hues,

Kongregate News Apr 11, 2019

March 2019 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 Tales of Nebezem: Elemental Link Part 2 by Beranek 2nd Place: $1,250 The Dark One by Tenfor 3rd Place: $1,000 Temple of the Four Serpents by Ferociter 4th Place: $750 Idle Harvest by Tetronomics 5th Place: $500 Life in the Static by TadasGloom 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 Beranek, developer of Tales of Nebezem: Elemental Link Part 2: I would like to thank Kongregate, especially Greg, and of course all my players. If anyone likes the lore in the Nebezem games, there's a wiki site –- not fully completed, but it already contains a lot of information about the games, characters, nations, etc.: https://nebezem.fandom.com Second-Place Winner Tenfor, developer of The Dark One: Hey there Kongregaters! Firstly I'd like to thank everyone who played and special thanks

Developer Spotlight Apr 02, 2019

Developer Spotlight: 'Mutilate-a-Doll 2'

One of the games with the highest number of plays on Kongregate.com is Mutilate-a-Doll 2: a sandbox game where -- you guessed it -- players can take control of a ragdoll and expose it to everything their imagination can come up with. Boasting 36 million plays, 1,700+ items, and a ton of user-generated content, MaD2’s premium edition has finally come to Kartridge. We got to chat with 0rava (Dash-rava) about his experience with MaD2 and its journey from online project to downloadable sandbox sensation. Are you an independent developer? How long have you been developing games? I’m a solo developer who’s been making games for a decade or so now, since 2008...ish. I’m primarily self-taught when it comes to programming, so the exact “How long have you been developing games?” timeframe is a bit fuzzy for me. A lot of my early stuff was simply me learning how to make games in the first place, so there were lots of tutorial clones and experimental prototypes (not so much actual games) in the beginning.

Kongregate News Mar 26, 2019

Kongregate to Publish ‘Pine,’ Launching on Nintendo Switch and PC in 2019

We at Kongregate are thrilled to announce that we'll be publishing Pine! As announced at this year's Nintendo Nindies, Pine is an open-world action adventure simulation game. Take on the role of Hue, a brave young adult who belongs to the last remaining tribe of humans on the island of Albamare. Find your way through an ever-changing world in which all creatures have lives, goals and quests of their own. Albamare’s factions trade and fight with each other over food and territory, while Hue learns about ways to influence the ecology, in search of a new home for the humans. Features: A stirring open world with beautiful biomes to explore, puzzles to solve, and secrets to discover A continuous ecology in which everyone struggles for survival, even when you’re not involved An engaging combat system that learns from your every move An exciting range of tools and contraptions to help you explore, fight and trade your way to a new home Pine will be available on the Nintendo Switch, Kartridge and other PC platforms in August 2019. Wishlist

Web Mar 14, 2019

February 2019 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 Medieval Cop 9 -Song & Silence- (Part 1) by VasantJ 2nd Place: $1,250 Tales of Nebezem: Elemental Link Part 1 by Beranek 3rd Place: $1,000 Idle Dice by Luts91 4th Place: $750 Aurie by RawEgg 5th Place: $500 Mini Switcher by NoaDev 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 VasantJ, developer of Medieval Cop 9 -Song & Silence- (Part 1): It has been three years since the first Medieval Cop episode was published on Kongregate and thanks to the awesome support of the fans of the series and the Kongregate team, the series has become popular and gained a following far beyond my expectations for the series. It has been over a year since I put up a Medieval Cop episode and that's because "Song and Silence" is a delicate

Kongregate News Mar 06, 2019

Premiering on Kartridge: Kongregate Announces the First Set of PC Exclusives

Kartridge, the new PC gaming platform from Kongregate, has partnered with some stellar indie game studios to curate "Premiering on Kartridge," a set of limited-time PC exclusive titles. Starting in late spring, Kartridge users will be able to play some of the best upcoming games before anyone else. The first batch of games include Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, Hell is Other Demons, and Swords & Souls: Neverseen. Also, Kongregate is partnering with Damp Gnat to announce the sequel to the indie hit Wonderputt! “We're excited and honored to be the launch partner for these very talented developers and their fantastic games,” says Anthony Pecorella, Director of Kartridge Content. “With nods both to our Flash game roots and our indie origins, these games are perfect matches for Kartridge.” "Anodyne 2,” he continued, “is the sequel to the critically acclaimed hit RPG, this time exploring its surreal world in both two and three dimensions. Hell is Other Demons is a challenging action-platformer whose symphony of bullets is as mesmerizing as it is deadly. Turn-based RPG Swords & Souls:

Web Feb 21, 2019

January 2019 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 Idle Breakout by Kodiqi 2nd Place: $1,250 Tyrian Cavern by jacksoguy 3rd Place: $1,000 Light The Way by say892 4th Place: $750 RowRow by WayWayStudio 5th Place: $500 Feed the Mouse by AraGames 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 Kodiqi, developer of Idle Breakout: Happy new year! This is my third game on Kongregate and my second idle game. Some players might remember my previous game Religious Idle. I've been making games for a few years, mostly doing game jams such as Ludum Dare. I'm not sure exactly where the idea for Idle Breakout came from, but I've always had an interest in arcade classics and adding newer mechanics to them. Early versions of Idle Breakout were a lot closer to the classic Breakout/Arkanoid games, with a single ball

Marketing Feb 12, 2019

A Beginner's Guide to User Testing

A few years ago, I was baffled by the performance of an email my team was sending to our users. At a glance, the unique open and click-through rates were fantastic by our industry standards, but when the users landed in our app, the bounce rate was uncomfortably high. Paradoxical, indeed. When we looked at the feature activity data, it seemed that users were either bailing seconds after arriving or clicking aimlessly before eventually leaving, missing the feature we told them about entirely. It was almost as if they had no idea what to do once they got there. Determined to understand why the email was clearly failing at what we wanted it to do (and under a somewhat intimidating time constraint of the upcoming sprint), I printed it out and took it to the food carts down the street. I had every food cart owner read the email, and in their own words, tell me what the email said. Each and every conversation went something like this: Me: “Hi, can you please read this example email?” Food Cart Owner:

Developer Spotlight Jan 24, 2019

Developer Spotlight: '140'

Games like Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero have defined the Rhythm genre for a long time, with newer titles like Crypt of the Necrodancer and Thumper bringing in a wave of fresh ideas and cool mechanics. With its simple but elegant design, easy-to-grasp controls, and incredibly rich audio features, 140 plays like a platformer adventure built in a musician’s creative process. Headphones are 100% recommended for this one. We got to talk with Jeppe Carlsen about the experience of building 140 from the ground up. 1) Tell us about your Development team. Are you an independent developer? Do you have a small crew of friends working together on your project? Jeppe and Jakob studied computer science together and both worked at Playdead. Jeppe was the lead gameplay designer on both LIMBO and INSIDE, and Jakob worked as audio programmer on INSIDE. During the development of INSIDE, Jeppe started working in his spare time on 140, and he asked Jakob to do some music loops for his prototype. Friends introduced us to artists Niels Fyrst and Andreas Peitersen, who