Therefore, to get you ready for the release of the biggest update ever to Chuck’s Challenge we thought we would give you a brief history of the game and a sneak peak at the over 75 new features that are coming in Chuck’s 2.0!

This first post will cover the history and origin of Chuck’s Challenge with an interview and insights from designer Chuck Sommerville himself.

Why did you decide to make Chuck’s Challenge?

Chuck:  Even though I created Chip’s Challenge in the 1980s, I still get many requests to build new games, especially from a large homebrew community, which I’ve been working with.  So far they have made hundreds of new levels based on the original game elements. Adding this enthusiasm with the new uptake of digital publishing and the adoption of smartphones, it was the right time for us to develop a new game; with Chuck’s Challenge being that game.

What’s different between Chuck’s Challenge and Chip’s Challenge?

Chuck:  Chuck’s Challenge has the ability to rewind time so the player can undo multiple mistakes. Whereas Chip’s Challenge was brutal! You would be playing a level for 20 minutes and if you made one mistake, it was right back to the beginning again. But there is a clock ticking, even when you rewind time, which rewards player who don’t use the undo function.

We also decided to make the levels shorter, not only to appeal to the new player, but also to make the game less repetitive and more concentrated.

Was the development of Chuck’s Challenge different to the development of Chip’s Challenge?

Chuck:  The development was extremely different.

I was the only programmer On Chip’s Challenge, but I had a team of about 10 level designers and 10 testers to speed me through the process. All those engineers and testers had just finished the rest of the initial Lynx games set, and were available to help finish my game. After finishing the game code, my job consisted mostly of bug fixes, and being an editor, selecting and arranging the levels into a sequence I liked.

On Chuck’s Challenge, since I didn’t have the experience developing for the iPhone and Unity, we have a very talented development team to do all the heavy lifting. My job is to oversee the design to make sure the game has the same flavour as Chip’s. It’s more of a level of abstraction for me, but I think it works.

Who decided to call the game ‘Chuck’s Challenge’ and base it on you?

Chuck:  It was our executive director’s idea who also decided we should make all the characters richer. As such, we spent months designing Chuck, Woop, and his pets which we shared the evolution of on Facebook, so we could get feedback from the fans. Amusingly, we spent more time doing this than it took me to originally code Chip’s Challenge (which only took 10 weeks), but I’m really pleased we did.

Do you think there will always be a place for simple but addictive puzzle titles such as Chuck’s Challenge on mobile platforms?

Chuck:  Yes, however I think a game can evolve with the player.

So, currently we include over 70 different game elements with many more coming, with several more already designed that we plan on releasing further on. For example, we have some logic switches, so you can build a basic computer if you wanted to. Watch this space!

What do you think separates Chuck’s Challenge from other puzzlers in the App Store?

Chuck:  Chuck’s Challenge was designed from the beginning to be a user-generated gaming platform. The team strongly believes that a person’s first steps into game development should not be about learning how to code, it should be about game design.

So, you choose to be a player, a reviewer, or a designer – it’s up to you.

Follow Chuck’s Challenge on Twitter (@ChucksChallenge) and Like Chuck’s Challenge on Facebook to be kept up to date on the latest news on Chuck’s Challenge 2.0!

Make Something Unreal Live

Four teams of students enrolled on the Train2Game course competed against each other to create four iOS games based on different books from the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ series by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. Commando Kiwi, developer of “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters”, was chosen by Ian and Steve as the overall winner, but all four games will be published by AppyNation in the coming months. Read our blog post on the Make Something Unreal competiton here.

Our own Robin Clarke discusses AppyNation with Pocket Gamer

Pocket Gamer approached AppyNation to find out more about what our philosophy is behind what we do with an interview with our own Robin Clarke. Read Robin’s answers and gain an insight into the complex and exciting world that is AppyNation.

Chuck’s Challenge 3D is Kickstarted!

Chuck’s Challenge, by AppyNation developer Niffler, is going through a radical makeover and transitioning to full 3D for PC and Mac (with an Android and iOS version in the near future). But, in order for the dream to become a reality, Niffler needed the support of fans to raise the $12,500 needed to develop the game and, with just a few hours to go, the target was reached and exceeded! Head of Niffler, Barn Cleave, gave an interview about his experience with Kickstarter to HookShot Inc.

Remember to follow AppyNation on Twitter (@AppyNation) and Like us on Facebook to be kept up to date with all the latest news, releases, and exclusive pictures and videos.

The GCSE exams are fast approaching, and if you (or someone you know) could do with a helping hand with revision then we’ve got the perfect tool!

AppyNation have teamed up with Mastertronic and 3MRT to bring you InQuizitor - a series of iPhone and iPad apps that turn the key GCSE subjects into fast-paced, fun and challenging revision quiz games.

With InQuizitor you can sharpen your skills and revise the syllabus anytime, anywhere.

Plus, for a limited time, you can get the ENGLISH, FRENCH, PHYSICS, GEOGRAPHY and BUSINESS STUDIES editions of InQuizitor completely free!

InQuizitor is available now on the iPhone App Store for the following subjects:

• GCSE English – FREE!
• GCSE Maths
• GCSE Physics – FREE!
• GCSE Biology
• GCSE Chemistry
• GCSE History
• GCSE Geography – FREE!
• GCSE French – FREE!
• GCSE Design and Technology
• GCSE Business Studies – FREE!

For more information, please visit: http://www.appynation.com/apps/inquizitor/

We wish everyone the best of luck in their exams!

- The AppyNation Team

P.S.: Keep an eye on our blog or join us on Facebook and Twitter for even more great games and apps!

AppyNation is pleased to announce that we will be publishing the four finalists projects from the Make Something Unreal Live Competition.

Organised by Epic Games and Train2Game, the competition saw four teams develop iOS games based on books from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s reknowned Fighting Fantasy series.

On Sunday Steve and Ian crowned Commando Kiwi as their winning team, feeling that their game, ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters’, most closely reflected the feel and story of the original gamebook.

As winners of the competition, Commando Kiwi will receive a full source Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS for its next title, and to reward them for their months of sacrifice, dedication and hard work, a holiday to Aqua City water park in Slovakia.

Fighting Fantasy co-creator Ian Livingstone OBE was very impressed with the high quality of all the games, noting how ”It’s remarkable what these teams were able to produce working remotely for such a short period of time using UDK,”

“Although only one of the teams has won this amazing prize, the experience they have gained is invaluable and I fully expect to see many of them working in the video games industry.”

The Competition

The competition began last November, when more than 100 developers came together to create games in just 48-hours using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK).

After five months of hard work the four finalists were whisked away to the Gadget Show Live to work together over 5 days to perfect their games, whilst also presenting their projects to industry veterans twice a day to implement feedback from the likes of Peter Molyneux, Jon Hare and Cliff Bleszinkski, to name a few, before finally showing their games to the Fighting Fantasy creators themselves, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, for final judgement.

All four projects will be completed over the coming weeks and released on the App Store, with a portion of proceeds being donated to The Prince’s Trust.

Links

Make Something Unreal Live

Commando Kiwi (@CommandoKiwi) – “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters”
Derp Studios (@DerpStudios) – “Citadel of Chaos: Dire Consequences”
Digital Mage (@TheDigitalMage) – “Armies of Death: Rise of Agglax”
Indigo Jam (@IndigoJamGames) – “Deathtrap Dungeon”

Epic Games (@EpicGames)

Train2Game (@Train2Game)

Fighting Fantasy (@FightingFantasy)

The Prince’s Trust (@PrincesTrust)

AppyNation (@AppyNation)

As described in the last post, AppyNation is a consortium of developers spread all over the country. Therefore, we decided to meet everyone in the middle (literally) and hosted the meeting at Supersonic Software‘s offices in Leamington Spa.

The meeting lasted all day and covered a wide range of topics, from games we’ve previously announced to those nearing release, legal hurdles and general issues, as well as some very exciting opportunities and developments in the near future – so keep your eyes peeled!

The meeting was eventful and intense, as all these meetings are! Whenever we all get a chance to meet face to face we find we can discuss a lot of points in a short amount of time, and bounce a number of great ideas off one another, leading (we hope) to much better games through the sharing of wisdom from six experienced game studios.

Our next meeting is scheduled to take place in a month and a half (due to the strange number and position of bank holidays due to the Diamond Jubilee) and this time we will all be traveling up to Proper Games‘ offices in Dundee.

So until then, thank you Pete and Supersonic Software for hosting us and stay tuned for our next adventure to Dundee!

- James

So what is a virtual business?

First of all, a virtual business is not the same as outsourcing. Outsourcing is the act of turning a specific function over to a third party provider to implement and support, for a fee. However, a virtual business is the act of decentralizing an operation for the greater good of the company.

A dictionary definition of a virtual business is ‘An organization that uses computer and telecommunications technologies to extend its capabilities by working routinely with employees or contractors located throughout the country or the world. Using e-mail, faxes, instant messaging, data and videoconferencing, it implies a high degree of telecommuting as well as using remote facilities.‘

In the extreme case, a virtual business could be a sole person managing a company with every employee located elsewhere.

However, AppyNation is not quite that virtual. We have a core team of people working from our offices in London which oversee the production of our six studios spread out across the country (see the map for their locations).

What are the challenges?

The biggest difficulty is communication, and maintaining an up to date picture of each member’s current progress. Unlike a traditional office where you can ask across the room for an update, it is a bit more difficult to maintain that level of spontaneity with teams as far apart as London and Dundee!

Therefore, we have to make efficient use of multiple technologies, with our biggest allies on this front being email and Skype. In order to keep on track we hold a weekly conference call over Skype to discuss milestones for the coming weeks, resolve problems that have developed, and discuss the general strategy of AppyNation. Further to this we also call individual developers to keep on top of their personal challenges and ensure everything is moving forward.

Skype and email do have their limitations and sometimes you can’t beat having a face to face round-table discussion with members of the whole Nation, with the products physically to hand and everyone putting forth their ideas and suggestions. Therefore, every two months or so we all meet up to have one of these discussions and a lot of valuable ideas and info are generated, leading to better and more efficient working, and improvement of the products.

In fact, we are having our next meeting this Friday (tomorrow) which everyone is looking forward to, as it is also a good chance to see everyone again, which is important in building up friendships and trust.

So we will let you know how the meeting goes!

Until next time,

- James

If the clip doesn’t work it may be region locked to the UK but you can always try the original article by clicking here.

The awards were hosted by Dara Ó Briain, a comedian with a genuine enthusiasm for games and whose patter was refreshingly free of the old “spotty nerds” stereotypes.

Highlights of the ceremony included Ian Livingstone presenting a special award to Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson, Battlefield 3 taking the GAME People’s Choice award, AppyNation’s own Pete Williamson presenting the Game Innovation award to Media Molecule for LittleBigPlanet 2, and Portal 2 netting three awards including the prestigious Best Game award.

Some blockbuster games (Deus Ex Human Revolution, Uncharted 3 and Modern Warfare 3) went home empty handed in spite of being nominated across several categories, and this was the first time since 2001 where Nintendo weren’t among the winners on the night.

After the gongs had been dished out, the partying began in earnest. Industry luminaries including Ian Livingstone, Gary Penn, Charles Cecil, Jon Hare, David Braben, Notch and the Pickford Brothers rubbed shoulders with celebs including Aaron Staton (L.A. Noire’s Cole Phelps), Ortis Deley, Charlie Higson, Jonathan Ross and Jane Goldman.

Our thanks go out to the AppyNation table (James, Robin, Pete, Barn, Mary, Julie) and our special guests Tim Green, Rob Crossley, Kristan Reed and Graeme Struthers for helping the night go excellently.

Check out our photos of the evening on our facebook gallery.

You can review a list of all the nominees and winners on BAFTA’s site.

One of the main challenges that the new iPad introduces to all iOS developers is the enormous 2048×1536 display. This means that iPad-only apps will now have two screen resolutions to target (equivalent to the situation we currently have on the iPhone), and universal apps will have to support up to four distinct screen sizes.

I expect that in the fullness of time supporting the iPad retina screen will become another standard feature apps will be expected to include, but it’s possible that this shift will be a gradual one.

Support for the iPhone retina display was accelerated by rapid uptake of the iPhone 4/4S and iPod Touch 4, as well as the fact that 960×640 screen was close enough to the iPad 1 and 2′s 1024×768 screen that assets could often be reused. While the new iPad will undoubtedly see rapid uptake, it will still start out as a minority device in the wider iOS ecosystem. Furthermore, Apple are keeping the (non-retina) iPad 2 on the market at a reduced price, further ‘growing the pie’.

It will be interesting to see whether apps and games (particularly cheap or free universal ones) that omit support for the new resolution will meet resistance.

The new iPad also introduces a number of improvements under the hood, with a new A5X CPU, quad-core GPU and (not confirmed as I write this) 1GB of RAM. The device will definitely need this extra horsepower to drive the display, but it will also further extend the high end for iOS games, moving it ever closer to the standard of PC and console games.

This development has been met with dire prognostications from some quarters. Surely this will be the device that finally shifts the balance on iOS to the big traditional publishers, raising consumer expectations to the point where no developer without a multi-million dollar budget will be able to compete?

I’m sceptical of this. Every new mobile device since at least the Nokia n-gage has been heralded as the one that will finally ignite this shift in the market. But as the App Store charts have consistently proven, glitzy 3D graphics aren’t a necessity for a game to be a mainstream success. While I have Infinity Blade and GTA on my iPhone, I’m just as likely to play a polished 2D game like Jetpack Joyride or Magnetic Billiards.

Finally, a more unambiguously positive development is that Apple have raised the file size limit for apps downloaded over 3G networks from 20 to 50mb. All the data we’ve seen suggests that making your app obtainable over the cellular network results in more downloads, and now many projects already in progress (throughout the industry and within AppyNation) will avoid the interminable hassle of trying to slim down their apps to fit the old limit.

Although, of course, if you opt to support the 2048×1536 display that will quickly eat up that extra space…

- Robin

It’s AppyNation‘s first GDC and almost a year on from when we first started putting the whole concept together seriously. The bright and fresh weather over in San Francisco is a nice way of highlighting the brighter and fresher future for games designers, makers and players in my view.

There has been radical change in the ways that games are not only made but how and who sells them. Strikingly simple changes have happened, yet they seem to have caught the traditional (often referred to as AAA/boxed) business totally on the blindside. That shows you how blinkered some have been in the traditional space. Maybe too much profit can be a bad thing after all?

Firstly, the way games have been sold has now changed. No longer do game makers need to charm, bribe or even threaten global retailers into stocking their wares. Shops all over the world used to cater for 99% of all legitimate game sales. There was always a small mail order specialist market of course, but in the last 8 years digital distribution methods have simply grown beyond all expectations and show absolutely no sign of slowing down. I know this as back in 2004, our flight sim and train sims were just not wanted by retailers, yet we knew we had tens of thousands of fans who wrote to us to tell us that they loved the work of Just Flight and Just Trains. So we started selling our sims by mail order. From there we designed and built our own download tech and figured it all out. The rest is history.

This move to digital has had two very distinct effects.

First the price of games is falling as the access to more and more digitally connected players is increasing. This digital connectivity has definitely grown the market and there are now so many new and vibrant games companies around, that what used to be defined as the ‘games industry’ is well overdue a redefinition.

Second, as the race for the attention of the games player has become more fierce, the battle for resources if you will, has yielded some real world casualties. Some of the older school developers, publishers, distributors and retailers have been laid to waste. As the value chain is redefined, so the market just takes out those who add little or no value in the brave new world of digital entertainment. We are seeing established, world wide companies being put to the sword and for some this is not going to be pleasant. Without naming names, we all know a couple of high profile game making and selling companies that will be lucky to see the Summer.

So, the way games are sold has changed, and will continue to change. But also the way games are made is changing and becoming even more interactive and even more real-time and iterative. This effects not only those who make the games, the developers and the publishers, but fundamentally those who play the games.

Games are woven deep into our human DNA. We love competition, we love to win and sometimes to lose and believe it or not, we need rules to play by. We also love playing collaboratively with friends and we love to discuss and socialise around games. We also love to invest varying amounts of time into our games playing, maybe a few minutes here and there, maybe hours on end. Whatever we do, we love to play.

But we also love to interact. If things change along the way, great, if we can help engender that change, then even better. That’s why there has been an explosion in the number of games made and the change in the way they are made is here to stay.

Here at GDC the storm clouds have been gathering. Some have broken in recent weeks and months,  but overall the air is fresh, the skies are blue and the prospects are all good.

AppyNation – the publisher set up by developers for developers – is set fair to be able to enjoy these new and exciting times. Times when one or two retail buyers or publishing execs stop you from putting your game ideas in front of a diverse audience in the hope that some of them will pay you for more.

All we need is this new digital stage, on which to entertain. The audience is out there in their millions if not billions and they have the appetite for fun, laughter and enjoyment. If we get it right, and win an occasional encore, then we will get the rewards we deserve. Let no single person stand between us and that destiny!

- Andy