Piddlepup Games - Games for the whole family.

Crumb Reviews

Keith — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:16:42 -0500

I've been busy making improvements to Crumb and working with another company to modify Crumb for a more Casual Game focused market(more about that in a later post). In the process I've been able to make the game much more solid, fix some bugs, and make the levels better. Sales have been steady and I've enjoyed the great feedback I'm getting from customers. Hearing people say that they play the game with their kids and found it fun and challenging really makes my day. Some people have compared Crumb to games like Adventures of Lolo and Chips Challenge which are the types of game I was going for.

More Water Hazards

root — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:19:32 -0500

Notes: The top of this level is the hardest part. Once you get to the middle it will become much easier to find your way.

Report from GameFest 2008 – Microsoft Casual Games

Keith — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:42:51 -0500

The keynote address in the morning was not very good. However it did show a diagnostic tool that can be run in real time with your game. It records the frame states of your game and you can play through them on a graphical interface to see where you get spikes in graphic, sound, etc processing. The example they showed was of Gears Of War. The presenter ran through about 1 minute of play with no lag. Then he pulled up the tool and could see the same play and it’s graph at the same time. Very impressive and it didn’t slow the game down at all.
The rest of the track was focused on Casual Games. It consisted of 6 topics.

Jorel Corral

root — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:34:05 -0500

Push a rock into the water to create a bridge to the lower right section.
Push one of the center rocks to create a bridge to the lower left section.(#1) The rock must be placed at the opening to the lower left gate.
Collect the yellow potion and push the rock in front of the potion across the bridge you made at #1.
Move the rock you are pushing one square to the left before pushing it across to the upper left section. You must line it up with the opening in the fence.

Hildar Islands

root — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:14:08 -0500

Start at the point #1 and work your way around the map building bridges. If you follow the route in this diagram, you will eventually arrive at point #2.

Note: The lines on this diagram are designed to show direction of movement not exact crossing points.

Helpful Hints: Plan each water crossing carefully. It may take more than one rock to make the bridge to get to the next level.

My new toys and the portals

Keith — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:24:38 -0500

It's been a busy summer. I've gotten my game out to three portals. Two (Mac Game Store and Reflexive) have released and one is pending. Hopefully it will be out in the next few weeks.
I'm very pleased with the exposure, but the sales on my own site have not been great. I suspect this is mostly to the fact that I don't have the exposure necessary to pull the required amount of downloads.
I just recently got a PS3 and have been having alot of fun playing with that. Not as many games as the 360 but I like what I've seen so far. My wife and I have been playing Guitar Hero Aerosmith and having a blast.

Annies Corral

root — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:07:18 -0500

Go to the lower left and get the flame crumb by moving rocks and making a bridge in the water.
Move the rocks in the middle section to get to the crumbs on the left and right and make a bridge to the upper left area. Don't make a bridge to the upper right. Use the remaining rock in the upper left area.
Use the rock you pushed over from the middle to move up the left side and get the crumb in that area.

Crumb Hints and Solutions

root — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:28:57 -0500

Are you stuck on a level of Crumb and need some help? This page will give you hints and solutions to the most challenging levels.

Email us if you are stuck on a level not mentioned on this page. Please mention the level name and what part is presenting the challenge.

Water Route

root — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:27:23 -0500

Notes: This level is very hard. The only path to the question mark shapped crumb starts from the top orange door and involves 3 stones.

You will need the orange key in the lower right first.
The stones circled in black are the ones needed to access the crumb from the top orange door. Stone #1 can be pushed in front of the open door (make sure you open it first). Stone #2 needs to be pushed up from the bottom one space before you can move it in front of the door. The far left stone(#3) must be pushed down and then back up after getting on the other side.

Marketing and Distribution

Keith — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:34:56 -0500

So I've been silent since my last post due to lots of work in the Marketing and Distribution area. To get Crumb as much exposure as possible, I've had to spending lots of time marketing it. This has included writing and distributing press releases, creating and distributing PAD files, and writing to and signing contracts with distribution partners.
I think anyone wanting their game to make a big impact in the market should expect to spend about a months time in refining the game, making fixes, creating custom builds, and negotiating with people. I'll write more about my experiences with fini