Gnomic Development Blog

Recently there’s been quite a bit of press about our upcoming Windows Phone 7 release of Square Off. The most recent post on wmpoweruser says this:

Gnomic Studios, the creative minds behind the critically acclaimed Xbox LIVE Indie game Square Off announced that the same game will be available on Windows Phone 7 as Xbox LIVE title. The gameplay will be same as Xbox version while sharing stats like high scores, achievements through Xbox LIVE.

Unfortunately this is not true. Microsoft has not yet contacted us, so we are likely to publish it ourselves, meaning no support for Xbox LIVE Achievements. We have an achievement system in place, but without being LIVE enabled, it’s really not worth the testing that is necessary for these things to work well.

We’re still on track for an end of April release (unless Microsoft has a change of heart), so stay tuned!

Thanks to Daizoren aka EPIC FAIL for doing the review, and also thanks to Gerald from IndieNerds.com for posting it.

Pity he didn’t show any of the non-trial levels

This Friday I’ll be speaking first up about our experiences developing Square Off on the Xbox Live Indie Games platform. More information about the event can be found here: http://letsmakegames.org/2010/08/27/short-talks-by-perth-game-developers/.

Thanks to Nick from onetwenty.org for organising the talks. I think it’s a great way for local developers to share experiences on their respective platforms and I’m really looking forward to hearing what the other three developers have to say!

UPDATE: Video of the talk has now been posted on the tube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe4t6iyl8DQ

This is a massive contest. Win one of 50 copies of a total of 28 different games. See how to enter here: http://www.xbla360.fr/shmup%20for%20ever.html.

Many thanks to Mike Wall at armlessoctopus.com for writing such a glowing review. Please have a read: http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2010/08/26/xbox-indie-review-square-off/

There are so many great quotes to put on our critical acclaim page so I’m still deciding which to use. For now I’m leaning towards “an extremely fun multiplayer experience that ranks up there with Castle Crashers, Bomberman Live and Rock Band.“. 

I can’t actually post links about this, but if you have a US gamertag, sign in with it to see Square Off getting some all important extra dashboard love. We’re in there at the 3rd spot which should give our sales a very nice kick.

We’re still planning to do a proper sales data analysis soon. This should provide another interesting point to talk about.

The other week I got together with BigDaddy and Quanrian to discuss life, indie games and Square Off. After some technical difficulties due to my internet (thanks Telstra) and timezone confusions (we were spread across UK, US and AUS), the end result is a half hour segment in their podcast. Have a listen here: http://www.veterangamers.co.uk/blog/?p=679

Thanks a heap to Michael Quigly (aka Quanrian) for reveiwing Square Off. Have a listen here: http://www.veterangamers.co.uk/blog/?p=665.

Next week’s podcast should feature me, talking to the Veteran Gamers guys about the making of Square Off.

Good work setting up the site Joel (not to mention composing and producing the music!). Check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/joelmtaylor

It should soon be available on iTunes too.

One of those codes available to win is for Square Off. The other games look great too!. For instructions on entering, see this post on indinerds.com.