News from Koko Tap

This is where we'll post current news items about what we're up to at the moment, links to games, and how our next game titles are coming along in development. If you want to follow along with Koko Tap news via your snazzy RSS reader, rather than visiting the website all the time, feel free to subscribe to this link.

OK, we lied. We're back with a new iPad-only game ...
Move It, Soldier!

— June 28, 2010
After seeing the iPad we knew we'd have to make something cool for it. We wanted to create a unique game that combines our love of tactical WW2 wargaming and unique game mechanics. We're now well along in the development of our newest title, Move It, Soldier! and expect it to be released sometime late in 2010. The formal description reads:

"Fight, advance through terrain, and gain your objective in random battlefields in the Normandy countryside in the summer and fall of 1944 in this exciting 2-4 player game of WW2 combat. Assume the role of a single infantryman. Balance risk by accepting more orders or move cautiously to your objective ahead of the other players. The choice is yours, soldier.

It's a 2-4 player game of balancing risks; to try to get orders to move forward but trying to avoid enemy fire at the same time ... of knowing when to move and when to take chances. Gameplay, mechanics and inspiration for Move It, Soldier! are a unique mash-up between card-driven games; dice games like Zombie Dice; cool WW2 board games like Up Front!, Frontline D-Day and Combat Commander; and some WW2 miniatures rules that have unique mechanics like CrossFire and Rules of Engagement. We think you'll enjoy it. Visit the Move It, Soldier! website for more details.

Koko Tap removes apps from the store.

— October 29, 2009
After almost seven weeks of trying to work with Apple to get our revised apps posted to the Store, we have had no success. No reply to any of our emails, in fact. Despite being assured that the changes that Apple requested would receive some form of accelerated approval and posting once we did what we had been asked to do. (OK, honestly, we weren't really expecting that to happen ... we're a bit of a small fish ... but a single email reply within seven weeks would've been nice.) For example, changing the bundle identifiers in our apps as requested from com.cocoatouchgames.game-name to com.kokotap.game-name now means that the developer interface will not even recognize the new versions as being the same app. That's kinda frustrating, as a developer.

In addition, when we first began developing our simple, fun and joyful games it was just that ... fun. It has become apparent to us that we are no longer to compete well with the myriad of new games that appear on the store every day (over 120 every day) and that the development of our games is taking too much time away from other things that are much more important in our lives (family, kids, books, boardgames, playtime and relaxation, and our cats). Time we could be spending elsewhere, much happier.

As of today, we have removed all of our games from sale. We wish everyone developing small indie games for the platform all the very best, and we will continue to purchase and play those occasional brilliant gems that still manage to appear in Apple's little walled garden, especially the hidden ones off the top 10 list that deserve to be played.

Koko Tap's fall news update.

— October 1, 2009
It's been a busy summer here at Koko Tap. We have finally completed updating our games to comply with Apple's requests regarding our original brand and company name. We've done new artwork and some coding for our apps to make them fully Koko Tap, they've all been tested now and are ready for our users. We even managed to fix a few small bugs that had been reported to us so the apps are fully ready for uploading to the App Store.

That said, things aren't so smooth at the Apple end. One of the things we've had to do for Apple is change the application bundle identifiers from com.cocoatouch.gamename to com.kokotap.gamename. Fair enough. But now these new versions are not being recognized as our own apps and we can not, as yet, get the new versions uploaded to the store to update the previous versions. We've emailed Apple's Developer Relations people (almost two weeks ago!) and have yet to hear back to get this issue resolved. So, new versions are coming ... whenever Apple gets around to helping us do what they asked us to do.

Dr. Bongo's continues to be a slow work in progress. We're working on some of the game's basic coding and physics and things are looking very nice, but there have been some setbacks to the schedule and we're simply moving it along at a slow pace ... that is, developing it as we have the time. What is that phrase that other game developers use? "It'll be done when it's done."

Finally, we have removed the OpenFeint social networking code from our games. We love the OpenFeint guys and their work, don't misunderstand, but didn't see the sales increase and extra exposure that we had hoped with their product. And since we're a smaller, indie developer it's hard for us to ensure we have their code up to date and make sure it all works properly. Our own online high score servers are still included in our games as they always have been, however. Expect to see this change as soon as we can get the apps updated (see above).

Cocoa Touch Games changes name to Koko Tap due to trademark issue with Apple.

— July 19, 2009
On July 16, 2009, Cocoa Touch Games received an email from Apple in which they requested that our company stop using the trademarked words "cocoa touch" for our website. Apple also immediately changed our company name on the iTunes App Store for all our games back to our own personal name, even though we operate as a registered business in the Province of Ontario. We are, naturally though, going to comply with their request (it is Apple, after all).

When we established the company and website on May 13, 2008, we were unable to locate any trademark related the those terms. There was, however, an application for trademark made by Apple in March of that year that we missed in our search ... made at the trademark offices in Trinidad, where online searching is not available. Much like the order for Earth's destruction in Douglas Adam's brilliant Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, we simply could not afford to fly down to Trinidad to review all of the trademark applications in person. So it naturally slipped under the radar of our business advisors.

As of today, therefore, we are changing our name and branding to Koko Tap. We are in the process of changing and resubmitting all of our games to the App Store, and hope that Apple will be able to expedite the approval process for our updated apps. Everything else about Koko Tap remains the same, especially our desire to bring fun, simple, joyful games and apps to the iPhone and iPod touch.

A press release is available online, as a downloadable PDF, by clicking here.

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