Fight, move forward, reach objectives and survive in Normandy battles for iPad. Buy!
Lay tiles. Level up. Get out! A very unique dungeon crawl for two players for iPad. Info
Identify real archaic words from the list of made up words.
Info
Protect your world by gathering the colourful falling stars.
Info
Avoid bugs that bounce around the screen as long as you can.
Info
Clear the black skulls from the levels in the graveyard.
Info
Help out in the pastry shop by solving puzzles.
Info
Clear the most black marbles from the garden within 60 seconds.
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This is the page where older news stories get archived. It's nice that you're here, but some of this news is really old and not really relevant anymore. But we're sentimental a bit, and don't simply want to throw these items away. 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.
— 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).
— 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.
— May 13, 2009
Development work on our next game, Dr. Bongo's Bouncing Steel Spheroid Emporium, is progressing nicely and the game still on schedule for a late June release. We've been working on the gameplay physics and graphics, as well as the basic sound and music coding, and are pleased with our progress. It's best described as a cross between pachinko, Peggle, and the HBO series Carnivale in atmosphere. The game compiles fine using the latest beta version of Xcode and onto both 3.0 and earlier devices. We've posted a second screen shot showing a simple physics and scoring test on the Upcoming Games page. In addition this month we have also submitted updated version of all six games to the App Store for approval by Apple. The updates added the latest versions of OpenFeint and Flurry mobile analytics where needed.
— April 29, 2009
Cocoa Touch Games is working on the brand new Dr. Bongo's Bouncing Steel Spheroid Emporium! Enter the long-forgotten carnival world of Dr. Bongo and play through twelve levels of decidedly dastardly steel ball mayhem. Drop the steel balls down to the bottom of the screen and make sure to have the fewest bounces off the pegs and walls. Extra features after you've finished all twelve levels include the ability to play any of the twelve levels in practice mode or even a level with the pegs placed randomly! Add a fun carnival soundtrack, visual effects, the Unity3D engine for full 3D physics, and delightful atmosphere, and you've got another hit game from Cocoa Touch Games. Planned for release in summer 2009. Work in progress screen shots of Dr. Bongo's Bouncing Steel Spheroid Emporium can be found on the Upcoming Games page.
— April 7, 2009
Graveyard Marbles, our sixth game, has now been submitted to the App Store. Graveyard Marbles is based on our popular Garden Marbles game, and has all the features you've come to expect from our newest games (OpenFeint social API, Flurry analytics, updated coding etc) we've added a bunch of new features including: all new graphics and artwork, new haunting background music, new sounds, new scoring formula and online server, and many more improvements. It is available now on the iPhone App Store for only $1.99. There are screen shots and more infomation on the Graveyard Marbles page.
— April 2, 2009
We've starting development on our next full game title, due out after Dr. Bongo's Bouncing Steel Spheroid Emporium, CocoaBot. In CocoaBot you must help the little robot escape through the dangerous spaceship he is trapped in. The player programs CocoaBot on each turn and then runs the programmed sequence of moves to try to navigate the robot sequentially and successfully through the rooms of a vast spaceship looking for the exit with only limited energy at their disposal. Along the way he must learn how to avoid dangerous machines, broken-down areas of the ship, electrical obstacles, and other frightening pitfalls that could destroy CocoaBot. This is one of the four original game titles we announced when we first set up Cocoa Touch Games and we are very excited about the direction the game is developing in. Our planned release date is summer 2009. A concept art screen shot for CocoaBot can be found on the Upcoming Games page.
— April 1, 2009
Yes, we've had a busy month updating our games to make them more fun for our players! Our latest update is to our popular Garden Marbles title and we've updated it to version 1.1 by adding a bunch of new features. What's new? First off, we're lowering the price by a dollar to $1.99! We've added OpenFeint's very cool social networking features have been added to the game. We created a new online high score server for the new version and added Flurry mobile analytics to better keep track of how the game is being used so we can decide what features we should include in the next update. We have tweaked some of the physics and movement code for the marbles, and we've spent some time updating many of the game graphics and cleaned up some of game's programming code. And yes, we also added a simple check to see if the application is a cracked version. The free update on the iPhone App Store appeared April 20, 2009.
— March 31, 2009
We've had time to go back and review Dessert Dilemma and we've updated it to version 1.1 by adding a bunch of new features. What's new? OpenFeint's social networking features have been added to the game (but without the usual leaderboards). We created a new online high score server for the new version and added Flurry mobile analytics to better keep track of how the game is being used. We simplified two of the puzzles based on player feedback. Finally, we updated many of the game graphics and cleaned up some of game's programming code. And yes, we also added a simple check to see if the application is a cracked version. The free update on the iPhone App Store appeared April 6, 2009.
— March 21, 2009
Cloud Girls is now new and improved! We listened to feedback from our players and have just finished our biggest game update yet to our popular game Cloud Girls. What's new? OpenFeint's social networking features have been added to the game, as well as Flurry mobile analytics. We added difficulty levels based on the Cloud Girl a player selects. Players can now start with 10 lives (easy), all the way down to only 2 lives. We added a scoring multiplier based on what difficulty you choose (the more difficult the challenge the higher the multiplier). We also added four "levels" in the gameplay so that the game will keep getting harder well beyond the three minute mark now. Finally, we updated many of the game graphics and cleaned up some of game's programming code. And yes, we also added a simple check to see if the application is a cracked version. The free update on the iPhone App Store appeared April 21, 2009.
— March 20, 2009
We updated two of our popular games, Bug Bounce and Dead Words over the past few days. Bug Bounce is now at version 1.5 and the best news is that we've dropped the price a dollar to only $1.99. We've also added the very cool OpenFeint social networking features to Bug Bounce (see previous news item below), as well as a bunch of graphic and code updates. Dead Words is now at version 1.2—the store listed this version as 1.11 but it is 1.2—we added a visible highlight state to the buttons when they're clicked, updated some graphics, corrected a few spelling errors, and updated the code a bit. And like our other games, these titles now have a transparent check to see if the application is a cracked version. As usual, updates to Cocoa Touch Games are free, so update your copies today.
— March 19, 2009
Cocoa Touch Games is part of the OpenFeint social network! Early this month we were invited to participate in the first closed beta testing of the very cool iPhone social API OpenFeint. Adding OpenFeint to our games will bring a wide range of cool features including: social network integration with Twitter™, Facebook™ and MySpace™, global community chat rooms, buddy lists, player profiles and walls, newsfeeds, game specific chat rooms, and leaderboards. OpenFeint is free for players to sign up! We've updated Bug Bounce and Cloud Girls with OpenFeint, so grab your free updates and sign up!
— March 18, 2009
To coincide with all of the updates we've been doing to our popular iPhone/iPod touch games, we decided to redesign the Cocoa Touch Games website. It still uses all the XHTML and CSS goodness you like, but we've tried to make getting around easier by using clean, simple navigation, updated some content, fixed spelling mistakes where we found them, and lots more changes under the hood. The new design will also allow us to update the site easier and add and highlight our new games as they get finished. Hope you like the new design.
— March 11, 2009
Cloud Girls is getting a really, really cool update in the coming two weeks! While we can't get into some of the specifics, we can tell you that there will be a new high score datatbase for version 1.5 owners, enhanced leaderboard capabilities, extra tough levels as the game progresses, some new visual stuff, and a bunch of "social networking" coolness that will add a whole new dimension to the game. The update is on target to launch the end of next week. In the meantime, the original version of Cloud Girls that got great reviews on Pocketgamer, Toucharcade and Everyday Gamers, among others, is still available for purchase on the iPhone App Store, and the update to version 1.5 will be free ... so go and grab a copy today!
— March 10, 2009
The sad reality of iPhone game development is that every single game on the iPhone App Store is cracked and available for download by owners of hacked devices for free. Now, you have to pretty tech savvy to jailbreak your device in the first place, and I'm the first to admit that a pirated/stolen copy does not necessarily translate to one lost sale, but it's still discouraging for developers to see their hard work pirated. I mean, these games are $0.99 in many cases ... you can't spare $0.99 even for a good game? Anyway, the good news is that all cracked games have to be cracked in exactly the same way. Why's that good? Because since all apps are cracked using the same method, then a developer can simply add a check for that crack when their application starts and do whatever they want if it is found. Quit the app, ask the pirate to buy a copy, run it 10 times then shut it down, etc. So that's what I'm going to do for my games going forward. Future updates to existing games and new games will all have this check in them ... simply tell the user they're running a pirated copy, and then offer them the choice to either buy a legitimate copy or shut down. We'll be polite about it, but that's what's going to happen. Sorry pirates.
— March 1, 2009
Our fifth game, Dead Words, a dastardly puzzler game for word lovers, is available on the iPhone App Store now! Buy a copy for only $0.99 or read more about our latest game on the Dead Words page.
— February 23, 2009
Our fifth game, Dead Words, our dastardly puzzler game for word lovers, where players have to pick out real words from fame words, is now complete and has been submitted to Apple for approval. We added some great atmospheric music and have tested the gameplay extensively to ensure it's a fun product. Our current best run is only 15 words (and we wrote this thing!). Can you do better? Dead Words will be selling it for only $0.99. More details and the latest screen shots can be found on the Dead Words page.
— January 28, 2009
Our fifth game, Dead Words, our dastardly puzzler game for word lovers, where players have to pick out real words from fame words, is nearing completion. All of the code is in place and being tested, all of the art assets are in place, and we're simply finishing the music, sounds effects, and final word entries to complete the game. It looks like we will make it available in iPhone App Store by late-February, and we will be selling it for only $0.99. More details and a few early screen shots can be found on the Dead Words page.
— January 1, 2009
Cocoa Touch Games wishes everyone a happy New Year for 2009! We're currently working on our next title, the word game Dead Words. How fast can you pick out real archaic words from a whole pile of made up words? How many will you get right before your game ends? Dead Words is a dastardly puzzler game for word lovers. We hope to have it available on the iPhone App Store by early February.
— November 17, 2008
Dessert Dilemma is now available for purchase on the iPhone App Store. It is our lowest priced game to date and sells for only $1.99. Visit the Dessert Dilemma game page for screen shots and more gameplay details, or simply go right to the store to buy your copy today for only $1.99.
— November 12, 2008
Cloud Girls is getting a really, really cool update in the coming weeks! We're going to keep track of a whole bunch more game stats ... character played, time survived, longest perfect run of blocking the stars and collecting bonuses, and more! In addition, we'll be introducing a system that keeps track of achievements and awards during gameplay. We'll have the update done in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the original version of Cloud Girls that got great reviews on Pocketgamer, Toucharcade and Everyday Gamers, among others, is still available for purchase on the iPhone App Store, and updates to any new version will be free ... so go and grab a copy today!
— November 4, 2008
Dessert Dilemma is now "code complete" and working perfectly. We're putting the final build through it's last-minute testing and plan to have this submitted to the iPhone App Store in a few days. It will most likely be available by mid-November. It's a classic tile moving puzzle game with great art and gameplay. Visit the Dessert Dilemma game page for screen shots and more gameplay details.
— October 7, 2008
Cloud Girls is now available for purchase on the iPhone App Store. It is, we think, our best game to date and sells for our regular $2.99. Visit the Cloud Girls game page for screen shots and more gameplay details, or simply go right to the store to buy your copy today.
— September 30, 2008
Cloud Girls is now "code complete" and working perfectly. We've put the final build through it's last-minute testing and tweaking gameplay to make sure it's just the right balance of fun and frustration, and have this submitted to the iPhone App Store on October 1st. It will most likely be available by October 8th. It is, we think, our best game to date! Visit the Cloud Girls game page for screen shots and more gameplay details.
— September 26, 2008
Garden Marbles v1.0.1 is now available the iPhone App Store. This version fixed a possible screen orientation bug on the high scores screen, and has one line of code added to override the device Auto Lock (sleep) setting whch would put the device to sleep during gameplay. You should see the app update icon on your iPhone or touch indicate the update is available.
— September 20, 2008
Garden Marbles is now for sale on the iPhone App Store for our regular $2.99. We're pretty proud of Garen Marbles as the accelerometer makes for some very fun (and sometimes tense) gameplay as the clock runs down. So stop reading and go buy your copy of Garden Marbles today!
— September 19, 2008
Cloud Girls is almost complete, which means we may actually release two games in a single month! We're working through the high scores coding right now (this one is a pure OpenGL app so we're changing the high score coding a bit) and have to tweak the gameplay a tiny bit to find that right balance between reward and tough gameplay, but it looks fantastic and might be our best game yet! Visit the Cloud Girls game page for screen shots and more gameplay details.
— September 11, 2008
Garden Marbles is within a day or two of being finished. We're proud of this game and will be submitting it to the iPhone App Store by the weekend. Out last tasks have been to track down and eliminate a crashing bug as gameplay ended and the screen transitioned to the game over screen, and to replace the way we generate the position of the obstacles on the various game boards to ensure no trapped marbles. Look for it around September 19 on the iPhone App Store.
— September 10, 2008
Although we planned a first week of October release for our third game, Cloud Girls, the game is looking and playing perfectly, and it looks as though we are ahead of schedule. If things continue this way, we'll be releasing it a bit early and may be able to release two games this month. This title features a new, and highly recommended, 2D game framework called cocos2d-iphone that has allowed our team to do some really cool transitions and graphical effects while keeping framerates high and the project size way down. Drop by the Coud Girls page to see the screen shots and read more about the game.
