Upside Down
Puzzly, tilt-controlled maze game currently ranked fifth in its App Store category.
Joinville, August 24, 2009
Available for a week now in the Appstore, “Upside Down” is an innovative puzzle game that uses the iPhone’s capacities to their potential. The goal of the game is to guide a character through mazes and, using the accelerometer, each movement is made by turning the iPhone 90° or 180°. The game’s brain-teaser dimension adds a generous dose of fun.
“Upside Down’s” gameplay is based on logic and does require any particular dexterity, making the game accessible to a very large audience. The difficulty resides in how to make the character reach that level’s exit by overcoming the numerous traps that have been set on his path (lasers, moving boxes, trap doors…). You must correctly anticipate what the character’s trajectory will be, then move him while reflecting on what your next move should be.
“Upside Down” adds meticulous design, especially regarding graphics, to the originality of its gameplay. The game offers numerous hours of play throughout 70 increasingly difficult levels.
Some initial and encouraging results
Only a few days after its release, and simply by word of mouth, the game was ranked as the 5th best-selling puzzle in the major category of puzzles, demonstrating its potential. New levels will be available shortly for owners of the complete version. One should note that there also exists a free version of the game, called “Upside Down Lite”, meant for use as a free trial offer. The complete game is sold for €0.79 (USD 0,99) thus proposing one of the best quality/price ratios on the market.
“We believe very strongly in the iPhone market,” says Michel Bams, co-founder of White Birds Productions. “We are persuaded that when quality and innovation are there, sales can be very significant. White Birds Productions is already working on several titles for the iPhone that are expected to be ready at the end of the year.”
Game design summary
In Upside Down, you play Bob, an outer-space junk collector who earns his living by roaming around, gathering various objects and metal from abandoned space stations. Bob will encounter an evil creature that he has had the misfortune of waking up from an inter-galactic slumber! His only chance is to run away! Help him find his way out of an old station, danger lurking in every corridor…
Only you can get him out, with a little cunning and by defying the laws of gravity!
Upside Down is an addictive puzzle and action game, providing you with hours and hours of challenge. At each level, the goal is easy: reach the exit. But, in outer space, moving around isn’t so simple…and the corridors aren’t so safe, filled with booby-traps and old, free-floating containers that could flatten you like a pancake…
- 70 levels of increasing difficulty. Find the exit, and if you can, beat the record for the number of movements needed to reach it.
- all kinds of obstacles, moving blocks, lasers, saws…
- two interface choices: pivot either your IPhone or the screen to move Bob around.
- the game is easy to learn and the rules are clear, helping you to dive right into action.
- very simple and intuitive commands and interface. A tutorial is available to help you if you need.
Save Bob! Out there in space, you’re the only one who can help him!
Useful links
Link for the game’s complete version:
http://tinyurl.com/upsidedowniPhone
Link to the game’s free trial version:
http://tinyurl.com/upsidedownlite
Link to the website devoted to White Birds’ designs for the iPhone (under construction): www.whitebirdstouch.com
About White Birds Productions
White Birds Productions is a video game studio created in 2002, based in the Paris suburb Joinville-le-Pont (94) and employing 35 people. The studio is a specialist of “mass-market” games, notably in the adventure sector with titles from its author-associate Benoît Sokal (“Syberia”, “Paradise”, “SinkingIsland”…) or original designs such as “Criminology”. Since its inception, the studio has developed more than 15 games for platforms such as the PC, Wii, Nintendo DS, PS3, XBOX 360 and the iPhone. Moreover, White Birds is a member of the PlayAll project, a middleware cross-platform created in collaboration with other game studios and university laboratories.
Contacts :
Michel Bams
– White Birds Productions
+33 1 42 83 51 69 -
mbams@whitebirdsproductions.com
Nathalie Lepori
nlepori@free.fr
- 06 07 04 49 85