What format is the game?

It’s a 2D, top-down, vertically scrolling shoot ‘em up, with some cool new twists!

What’s different about this game to other vertical scrolling shooters?

You can teleport!

We’ve designed the gameplay around the teleport mechanic, so there are physical dexterity challenges where you teleport around the screen, and action based logic puzzles, which require teleporting around the level. The world is constantly scrolling, and most levels require multiple passes using the teleport for 100% completion. As with Coconut Dodge however, we’re designing it so that casual players can still progress through the game having fun without going for the 100% awesomes.

The game sounds like it could be difficult to play, is it?

No. Many people thought Coconut Dodge looked too difficult to play when we first showed gameplay footage, but as with many great games, it takes no time to learn, and takes a long time to master. We’re using the same approach on this game. It will be accessible for people new to the genre, for example people who don’t get on well with shooters, but who really loved Coconut Dodge and want to play our next game, and it will also give hardened bullet-hell lovers something new to master.

What is the game called?

We don’t have a name for it yet, so we’re inviting people to suggest names for the game and the lead character, with a chance to win a free copy when the game is released! Check it out here: Name Our Game Competition.

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We’ve just launched a competition to name our new game on PlayStation Blog! If you haven’t seen it already, check it out!

Name Our Game!

For those that have, here is some more information on the game; our goals, design philosophy and the reason behind doing such an elaborate teaser campaign for a minis title.

Design Philosophy

We surprised many people with Coconut Dodge. It’s a game that is very simple because we didn’t have any money to spend. We knew our limitations before we started, and we knew that if we worked hard at gameplay design, we could make something unique and addictive with a great deal of longevity and value for money. This approach resulted in glowing reviews and a handful of perfect 10/10 scores, culminating in a Metacritic rating of 81. Not bad for our first game!

This is the same approach we’re taking with our shooter. We still don’t have a lot of money, so we need to be very careful about the design, to ensure the same level of fun, addictiveness and value for money.

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Whilst developing Coconut Dodge, I kept a close eye on the PlayStation Store to see where the bar was being set for minis games. It was exciting because I genuinely believed Coconut Dodge was a higher quality game in all respects than most games on there. Of course, Fieldrunners and Aero Racer were clearly awesome, but they were also ports of games already enjoying success on other platforms.

Coconut Dodge is an original IP exclusive to minis, and in that sense, I believed it was the best game I’d played on the platform.

That is until I played Arctic Adventures: Polar’s Puzzles.

Three hours later I gave it a 5 star rating on PlayStation Store, and felt compelled to write this post.

It’s the first minis game I’ve played (aside from Aero Racer, Fieldrunners and of course Coconut Dodge) that genuinely brings value and quality to the platform in my opinion.*

Hurray for Eiconic Games! The platform needs more developers like this to improve the reputation of minis.

Go and get it!

*If anyone reading this believes there are other minis games up to the standard of the ones mentioned here, please post your thoughts, and I’ll check them out!

Coconut Dodge has been a surprise for many people. When we first posted screenshots online, comments were scathing, and when we posted game play footage, most people’s reactions to it were that of ‘meh’.

It’s understandable, because on the face of it Coconut Dodge looks like a free Flash game.

However, we’ve been making Flash games for over 6 years now, and during that time we’ve never had the opportunity to develop the kind of cunning game play that steals people’s attention and never gives it back. This is because all of our Flash games have in some way been designed to promote other products.

Coconut Dodge is our first game for the sake of being a game, our product.

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