At Casual Connect USA last week, I didn’t just interview big mobile studios like Handy Games and Game House. I also spoke to smaller gaming studios on the verge of releasing Windows Phone and Windows 8 games.
Take Sic’em Studios, for instance. They may not be a gaming giant, but they have sizable plans for mobile Windows platforms. Steven White, a former QA Lead at BioWare, is the owner and programmer at Sic’em. His studio will be releasing two games on Windows Phone 8 this year: Rambledam’s Escape and Detonation. See them on video after the break!
Rambledam’s Escape
This little game stars a character called Professor Jim Bob Joe Mortici Rambledam, or Rambledam for short. The Prof has accidentally unleashed a tainted moonshine that turns its consumers into zombies onto fair Aardvark City. Before long, the city dam breaks and Rambledam is forced to swim for his life amid the chaos.
Rambledam’s Escape is an endless swimming game. Basically, it plays a lot like Jetpack Joyride but underwater. The goal is to swim as far as you can while avoiding death by “zombie-pedos,” jugs of moonshine, mines, and zappers.
The other long term goal is to collect as much money as possible. Cogs act as the currency instead of coins. Pick them up in the water or complete missions for cog bonuses. The cogs can then be spent on power-ups in the shop. Sic’em also plans to add new things to spend them on in the future.
I’m not crazy about the simplistic art style in Rambledam’s Escape, but the gameplay looks pretty addicting. It has a unique sense of humor, which also counts for something.
Rambledam’s Escape will cost 99 cents when it launches on Windows Phone 8 later this year.
Detonation
Now here’s a game whose art I can get behind. Detonation utilizes a fine retro style that resembles classic games like Golgo 13 and Elevator Action. The theme is fairly serious too, as players control a bomb robot sent in to aid SWAT teams as they battle terrorists. Sic’em still slips in some humor though, like a tip screen dedicated to their favorite animal: the aardvark.
Detonation is essentially a maze game. Players have to navigate their bomb through buildings and other structures without hitting any girders. The bomb line uses realistic physics, so it will swing around if you move it too fast.
The buildings your robot bomb carrier navigates are filled with good and bad guys alike. Touch a SWAT team member to gain extra time. But touching despicable terrorists takes your time away, so watch out for those losers.
Detonation will cost 99 cents when it arrives on Windows Phone 8. The upcoming sequel will follow at a similar price point.
Big plans for Windows platforms
Of all the developers we spoke to at Casual Connect, Sic’em Games was the only one other than Arkadium (Taptiles) who is actually interested in releasing its games as Xbox Live titles.
Rambledam’s Escape and Detonation have online leaderboards and achievements anyway, so why not incorporate Xbox Live? But these games are still in development and Sic’em hasn’t applied for Xbox Live status yet, so we’ll have to see what happens.
Either way, both games should arrive on Windows 8 sometime after the Windows Phone 8 versions.
Update
For now, Sic'em Studios has put plans to port these games on hold. Instead, they will be releasing Text and Die on mobile Windows platforms.
