Game Development - Kongregate Developers Blog

Kongregate News Apr 28, 2022
Kongregate Announces The Bitverse, A Collection of Interconnected Web3 Games Set In An 8-Bit Metaverse

Players will explore a nostalgic universe of games built on the blockchain San Diego (APRIL 28, 2022) - Kongregate, creators of the massively popular web gaming platform Kongregate.com and a pioneering blockchain game developer, today revealed the Bitverse, a soon-to-launch collection of web3 games set in a nostalgic 8-bit universe. Each game in the Bitverse will have different game mechanics and gameplay styles but will live within the same game universe - or metaverse. To start, the Bitverse will consist of three games: Bit Heroes - a Kongregate fan-favorite cross platform mmorpg, Bit Heroes Arena - a battle royale shooter currently in open beta, and a third game currently in development planned to launch later this year. The Bitverse will feature a unique combination of fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for players to collect and earn, rewarding their engagement with the metaverse. Players will be able to play as their "hero" or avatar across games as a non-fungible token (NFT), but each game will also be playable as a stand alone title for those that don’t want to

read more »
Kongregate News Apr 13, 2022
Kongregate Reveals Blood Vessels, A Unique, NFT-Powered, Community Gaming Experience

Vampires meet web3 in a carbon-neutral role playing game driven by the players San Diego (April 13th, 2022) - Kongregate, a leading first-party mobile game developer and architect of the massively popular web gaming platform Kongregate.com, today revealed Blood Vessels: a vampire-themed community storytelling experience. Partnering with ImmutableX - Ethereum’s leading Layer 2 (L2) fully carbon neutral scaling solution - Blood Vessels will feature unique playable vampire characters in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that players embody to shape the game’s story, leaving their mark on a sinister and dangerous RPG world. Early sign ups for Blood Vessels will open this May with NFT vampires available to purchase during the NFT drop in Q2. Blood Vessels is the first game from Kongregate's new blockchain-focused development team Electric Visions, whose mission is to create groundbreaking games for web3. The game is set during the turn of the 19th Century at the Chicago World’s Fair, a celebration of technology and culture. Players take on the role of vampires that have risen from the ashes of the Great

read more »
Kongregate News Sep 17, 2020
KONGREGATE TEAMS WITH NICKELODEON TO LAUNCH NEW MOBILE RPG TMNT: MUTANT MADNESS

The new mobile game is based on the classic 1980’s franchise, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and combines RPG & idle elements to create a fully immersive experience San Francisco (September 17, 2020) - Kongregate, a leading developer of mobile free-to-play games, today announced that TMNT: Mutant Madness is now available for free download on the App Store and Google Play. In partnership with Nickelodeon, the latest collaboration to feature the teenage Turtles, Mutant Madness lets fans of the 1987 animated series continue where the original story left off. Check out the Madness: TMNT: Mutant Madness Launch Trailer here Developed by Kongregate’s Chicago-based studio, Synapse, TMNT: Mutant Madness is a unique approach to the franchise with exciting real-time combat, letting players take a more hands on approach to fighting classic villains on the streets and in the sewers of New York City. With a deep character collection system, fans will be able to build their ultimate squad of heroes (and villains!) to face off against powerful bosses in PvE (player versus environment) and other players in PvP (player versus

read more »
Kongregate News Jun 18, 2020
Stickers & Blocks are Now Available on Kongregate.com!

Blocks are a new form of digital reward that players can earn by playing games, completing badges, and finishing quests in some of their favorite games on Kongregate.com. Blocks can be redeemed to get sticker packs from a special marketplace. Those stickers can then be used in chat rooms on Kongregate.com to help our community express themselves in fun & interactive ways! But Blocks aren’t just for players! Upon launch, we'll be giving out Good Games Grants to game developers for their personal wallets. These grants are based on a combination of ratings score (a minimum of 3.0), accumulated ratings, and total gameplays. As a developer, you can also use Blocks to create badge bounties or schedule promoted listings in order to attract players to your game and reward them for playing. In a badge bounty, Blocks are given out to your players as they complete your game’s badges. A bounty will only be open for as long as there are Blocks available within the bounty and, once all Blocks have been earned, the bounty

read more »
Developer Spotlight Jul 02, 2019
Developer Spotlight: 'NGU Idle'

Idle games began in the heyday of browser-based gaming, taking up screens while players worked through the day or watched shows in the evening. They have since gone global, cross-platform, and exploded in every direction, but at their core, the truest idle games still focus on that one important fact: the numbers have to keep going up. Welcome to NGU Idle, a silly game that launched on Kongregate.com and has now come in all of its weird, immature glory to Kartridge. We got a chance to speak to the game’s developer, somethingggg (4G) about this indescribable but totally wonderful gem of an idle. Hello 4G. Tell us about the development team for NGU Idle! It’s just me, 4G, wearing pants only half of the time as I code and design NGU. There are several members in my Discord community who have helped with bits of code or art here and there (Hi TBlazeWarriorT, Jiur, and Musluk!). How long have you been developing games? NGU’s my first-ever game, which I started in the summer of 2017! Unless

read more »
Game Development Jun 25, 2019
MVP Like Nintendo in 1980

If you work in or around some kind of software development, you’ve probably heard “MVP” sputtered in passing conversation, or seen it scribbled in a comment of a Google Doc. “MVP” is an acronym for “Minimum Viable Product.” The definition of an MVP is a loaded one, and changes slightly from Product Person™ to Product Person™. One popular definition is, “What can we build that will give us the most validation?” The school of thought I personally subscribe to (and will be using for the duration of this article) describes an MVP as “the smallest solution you build that will bring the most value to your customers.” At first, all of this probably sounds straightforward enough, but there’s deceivingly a lot to unpack here; in my experience it’s never just “what’s the smallest solution.” In one of my favorite articles about MVPs, they say, “Starting with a solution is like building a key without a door” (9). It’s easy to fall into a cycle of Build/Measure/Learn (as the first definition I mentioned often

read more »
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.

read more »
Developer Spotlight Oct 09, 2018
How 'YesGnome' Wanted a Sequel to 'Trexels,' and Made It So...

YesGnome, the small game development team based in both India and the U.S., has made a mark on the industry with high-profile hits Champions and Challengers - Adventure Time and Star Trek™ Trexels. With the recent release of Star Trek™ Trexels II: The Next Resolution, YesGnome continues to demonstrate their ability to create exceptional games for big brands. In this interview, YesGnome discusses making sequels, Star Trek fandom, and navigating big brands. [KONGREGATE]: Today we are chatting with YesGnome, creators of Star Trek™ Trexels and the recently released sequel Star Trek™ Trexels II: The Next Resolution. YesGnome is a social mobile gaming company based out of the United States and India. What is the YesGnome origin story? What were your backgrounds previous to starting the team? [YESGNOME]: Ravi: YesGnome is a spinoff of PurpleTalk, Inc. (DBA [x]cube) -- PurpleTalk was started to build games for iPhone, and it actually had a Match 3 game called Firedrop in the App Store when there were fewer than 70 free games in the store, but due to market pressure, they became

read more »
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

read more »