Gamestop shipping Riptide GP on tablets

Video game mega-chain Gamestop has started selling Android tablets in a select group of stores around the country this holiday season.  The tablets come pre-installed with a hand-picked selection of games, and guess who's on the list?

Riptide GP will be preinstalled on thousands of Gamestop tablets and playable in demo stations at over 200 stores around the country (including Powell St in San Francisco).  We're in pretty elite company, too:  the other games in the lineup are Dead Space, Monster Madness, Sonic CD, and Re-Load.  That's a pretty package of gaming goodness right there.

The other thing Gamestop is rolling out that we're pretty excited about is a bluetooth gamepad, for $39.  One of the great things about Android is you can easily connect a gamepad via Bluetooth or USB; prop your tablet up on the table or connect it via HDMI to your TV, and you've got yourself a game console that travels.  The problem's been that decent Bluetooth gamepads are hard to find -- hopefully the Gamestop intiative will change all that, and encourage more developers to add gamepad support to their games!

More info on the Gamestop deal can be found here, in this article on Inquisitir.

OpenFeint gives thumbs-up to Riptide GP

Social gaming network OpenFeint has named Riptide GP it's Featured Game for the weekend!

We love OpenFeint, because we're addicted to Achievements and to dominating Leaderboards, and we've got it deeply integrated into Riptide GP.  Not only can you bump up your points with funky Achievements and rank yourself against the best players in the world, but you can also race against your Friends' best times in-game.  

Now that Riptide GP is available for multiple Android devices, iPhone, and iPad, OpenFeint has graciously featured us on their home page, both in a banner up top and as a Featured Game.

Thanks, OpenFeint!  

Link to OpenFeint site.

Riptide GP page on OpenFeint.

Only an App developer...

Some days my life seems.... a little unreal.

How else can you explain the picture to the left?  The hottest new iPhone and one of the hottest new Android phones bought by the same person within an hour of each other.

And why?  Not because I'm going to use them.  Oh no.  So we can debug some stuff on them.

Weirdest conversation with the guy at the Apple Store too:

Me:  Hi, I'd like to buy an iPhone 4S!

Genius:  OK, what carrier do you want?  Sprint?  Verizon?  AT&T?

Me:  I don't care.  Whichever you have in stock.

Genius:  Er, OK.  Well what size do you want?  16GB?  32GB?

Me:  Whichever is cheapest.

Genius:  Ah, OK.  And, uh...what color do you want?

Me:  I don't care.  Whatever you have in stock.

Genius:  Really?  Most people ... whatever, OK --

Me:  No wait, white.  [After realizing all our other iPhones are black, so white will help us tell them apart more easily.  Who's the Genius now??]

Genius:  Ok, white.  Well you're in luck, we have just a couple in stock.  These things have been selling out really fast.

Me:  That's awesome, thanks.  What's your return policy again?

The guy must have thought I was a freaking lunatic.  

Actually I'm being kind of a jerk about it -- Sorry, I'm sleepy.  It's actually a really sweet phone.  So's the S2.  The nerd in me would be drooling over getting a chance to play with both of these puppies.  If I weren't so busy.  And if my credit card weren't emitting low moans of ultimate pain and suffereing from inside my wallet.

SHH!  Bad credit card!

Riptide GP Splashes on to iOS and Android This Month

San Rafael, CA – October 6, 2011 — Indie game developer Vector Unit is proud to announce that their critically acclaimed water racing game Riptide GP™, previously an NVIDIA® Tegra™ exclusive, will be released for iPhone, iPad, and high-end Android devices in late October 2011. 

Riptide GP is a speed-infused arcade racing experience featuring realistic, physics-based waves and stunning visuals, ushering in a new era of console-quality titles on mobile devices.  

“We’ve taken all of our console game experience, passion for games, and our proprietary Vector Engine,” said Matt Small, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Vector Unit, “and jammed every ounce of it into Riptide GP to create a big, exciting, over the top 3D racing extravaganza for mobile players.” 

Players stunt, boost and rocket their hydro jets through twisting canals and rivers, futuristic cityscapes, and mysterious research facilities over an ever-changing torrent of unpredictable and undulating water.

Riptide GP goes wide end of October 2011.  

The long days of summer

Wow.  I just realized it's been months since we posted anything up here in the old Vector Unit blog.  Sorry for the extended downtime -- we've been craaaazzzy busy.

What have we been busy with?

Well there's Riptide GP for one.  We haven't really made any official announcements, but I don't think it's any surprise at this point that Riptide GP is on its way to iPhone, iPad, and non-Tegra Android phones and tablets.  We've been hard at work porting the game over and testing it to make sure the game is as fast and fun as possible on a whole range of new devices.  

We've also been working on a brand new game which we're really excited about.  I won't say too much about it, except that it involves water.  And moonshine.  And chickens.  Stay tuned for an announcement sometime in October.

OK well that's enough time in the blogosphere.  Gotta get back to work!  

Riptide GP Postmortem on Gamasutra

Vector Unit's Creative Director Matt Small shares his thoughts on what it takes to make the switch from console to mobile development, in this Riptide GP Postmortem on Gamasutra.

Riptide GP was developed in less than 5 months with a team of 2 people.  In addition to the challenging schedule, it was the first mobile game developed by Vector Unit.  As you can imagine, the process had its challenges:

The problem as always with a very small team -- in our case, a very, very small team -- is that there is virtually no wiggle room for unforeseen variables. We went from three week Scrum sprints at the start of the project, to two week sprints, to one week, and towards the very end we tossed Scrum completely and just went with prioritized task lists, squeezing as much as we could into the time we had. As hard as it was, it was creative, rewarding work, and somehow we managed to get it all done on time. But the process wasn't always pretty.

Check out the full article on Gamasutra for insights on pipeline efficiency, alternative business models, piracy, and more!

Riptide GP - Now with Gamepads!

The #1 console-quality racing experience on Android just got a little more console-y.

The latest update to Riptide GP (version 1.1) adds support for Bluetooth and USB gamepads.  Now you can kick back on the couch, crack open an ice-cold beverage of choice, shove your hand into a bowl of buttery popcorn and play Riptide GP without getting crumbs all over your shiny new Thrive or Photon 4G.

Bluetooth controllers can be paired with your device, and are supported on all Tegra phones and tablets.  USB controllers require that you have Android 3.1 or higher (currently this means it's only supported on tablets.)

For the best possible experience, hook up your device to your TV with HDMI too.  Now you really can have console-quality gaming on your mobile device -- only better, because when you need to hit the road, you can just unplug it and take it on the road with you.

For more information about configuring your device, check out the Riptide GP Gamepad FAQ.

Riptide GP in print

The September 2011 issue of GamePro magazine features Riptide GP on page 85, under the heading "What's a Blast on Public Transit".

Reviewer Will Herring writes:

I'm generally pretty faithful to my iPhone, but playing this impressively rendered racer on an office-owned Android made me, admittedly, just a little bit jealous that it hasn't hit the iTunes App Store yet.

We're glad to hear you liked it, Will.  And don't worry -- your iPhone may not have long to wait.  Stay tuned!

Click for a scanned version of the article. 

How Free is Freemium?

Playing Gun Bros this weekend I think I finally "get" the dual-income Freemium business model.  

I was always puzzled about why you need to design two different kinds of money in a Freemium game (at least, this type of Freemium game.)  Why not just one?  But now I get it -- Money A is is for the cheapos out there (like me) who just want to earn money by grinding, Money B is for people who give a little back to the developers -- who are willing to click on ads, invite Friends, or pay out real money -- in exchange for extra special buffs or upgrades.  (Of course you can buy extra Money A too if you want.)

I have to say, to my surprise I'm even finding Gun Bros fun.  It's a silly game, the art is cute, the game is entertaining, and the plentiful upgrades are pretty satisfying.  Even the economy -- while it seemed complicated at first -- is not overly annoying.  Haven't actually paid any money yet, although I've definitely felt the temptation.  

We've been talking a lot at Vector Unit about whether it makes sense for us to try and design a game around this type of economy, rather than our usual "old fashioned" way of just making games that people pay for once and then just...play.

Freemium is tempting.  You get craptons of downloads, and from everything we've seen if you design the game right, you can make a lot more money than you can with a regular pay-to-play game.  Also it helps combat piracy (why pirate a free game?)

But man, I don't know.  I still have some problems with this whole model.

For one thing, it seems odd to call these games "casual" when in fact the currency management is as complicated as any mid-level console RPG.  It seriously took me a while to figure out Gun Bros, and it's not even complicated compared to Farmville or something.

But also, I think there's something kind of messed up about a game that allows -- even encourages -- players to spend this much money.  In Gun Bros, the cheapest coin package you can buy is $2.99 -- which is probably about how much the game would cost if it were a P2P game.  The biggest package of in-game booster currency you can buy costs $199.  TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS.  For a simple dual stick shooter! 

I wonder if there will ever be some kind of backlash against games like this and Farmville. From a social-good standpoint, it seems like there's a very fine line between online gambling addiction and Freemium gaming compulsion. 

And what about the gamers who support these "free" games, who complain about mobile games that you have to pay for?  Do they realize what they're giving up?  That the game mechanics are designed around increasing your frustration and impatience, rather than your entertainment and enjoyment? 

I'm not saying we're not going to try this out at some point.  Man, the numbers don't lie.  But I still feel like there's something to be said for paying $2, or $5, or -- gasp -- even $20 or more for a clean, well designed game experience that doesn't ask anything from me other than my pleasure.