Pocket Games has
been pursuing its mission to acquire and build brands around truly captivating
IP for the PC and mobile gaming markets since their inception, and is focused
squarely on engaging content and gameplay that has the ability to breathe new
life into the experiences of gamers worldwide. With a considerable amount of
expertise already amassed developing titles for third parties, Pocket Games is
now confidently striding into the indie game arena with an innovative title
that offers players a rich mix of “god game style” terraforming and divine
retribution power usage, coupled with fast paced real-time strategy, and
artificial life civilization building.
Assuming the role of
the god of a tribe of good Furlings, players in Idol Hands must foster a thriving
civilization by terraforming the landscape and creating new units, spending a
mana pool that regenerates more quickly based on how large and advanced their
civilization is. The same mana pool that is used to flatten land, and thus make
room for more units to build their respective buildings and expand the city, is
also used to unleash a variety of natural forces on the enemy population of
evil Furlings. Wisely spending mana between expansion terraforming and tactical
terraforming or acts of divine retribution sets a constant pace for the action
and provides an increasing challenge as the game progresses.
The interface and
essential gameplay mechanics are relatively simple to learn and extremely
intuitive, with food (farmers) and lumber (lumberjacks) being the primary
resources that need to be carefully balanced through measured unit creation.
The player creates new units in a judicious fashion as resources become
available and the specialized Furlings then automatically go out and expand the
city border, building their appropriate building and setting about the task
which defines their unit type. Ore (blacksmiths) must also be gathered to
create soldiers to fight the enemy, which are directed using a simple totem
that is dropped by the player in the world, or priests that increase the
player’s mana regeneration rate further.
The ingenious
removal of micromanagement aspects typical of other games in the genre allows
the player to focus more on tactically terraforming the world, responding to
enemy soldier attacks or enemy acts of god, enjoying the lush scenery, or
otherwise mastering the subtle resource and unit creation balancing act
necessary for success. The gameplay is reminiscent of the classic god game
Populous, or more recent incarnations in the same vein like Spore and From
Dust, with a noticeable undertone of Lemmings, giving the game an instant
appeal factor that makes it a joy to play. Idol Hands is easy to learn and
simple to play, yet difficult to master, making it a truly worthy successor to
such legendary god gaming experiences as Populous.
Originally developed
for distribution as an OEM title with Creative Labs’ (OTC: CREAF) Senz3D Motion
Detecting Webcam, in partnership with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the game has been
under continuous improvement since PKGM signed an acquisition contract early
last year. This improvement process has stripped away the motion detection
requirements and streamlined the game’s interaction system, leading to a
completed PC build and finalized negotiations with a leading game publisher as
of early November 2014. The completed PC build marks the outset of an initial
foray for the company into the PC digital download space that is sure to
capture the attention of both young and old gamers alike when the game debuts next
month.
Idol Hands has all
the makings of hit title for the company and Pocket Games is wasting no time
preparing to position the title in front of an audience of millions via the
biggest and best PC download sites in existence today, like private company
Valve Corporation’s wildly popular and industry-leading game distribution,
management, and social platform, Steam. Steam currently boasts a huge community
of active gamers, with around 7.6M users logged in during peak hours and over
4.2 million users online during even the lowest intervals of activity.
Moreover, Pocket Games has signed up with UK-based PC game distribution outfit,
Green Man Gaming, as one of the first two studios to join the Green Man Loaded
publishing label. This move to have Idol Hands be one of Green Man Loaded’s
launch titles grants key prominence to the product, giving a relatively new
studio like PKGM direct access to consumers on a platform where the title will
not be so easily obscured by the glut of other games which exists on Steam.
Idol Hands
publisher, Green Man Loaded, anticipates strong receptivity to the title and
the partnership projects over $1 million in sales for this godly strategy game,
based on careful observation of current trends within the industry. Pocket
Games is indeed ramping into the market at an auspicious time, with
acquisitions and IPOs in the gaming industry setting new all time highs last
year of some $24 billion (Digi-Capital), amid high profile deals like the $2.5
billion Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) acquisition of Swedish indie developer, Mojang
AB, which created the amazingly successful open world, procedurally generated
sandbox game Minecraft. The iron is hot right now for indie games that can
capture a wide audience via simple, addictive gameplay experiences and Pocket
Games is ready to strike while the iron is hot with their fast-approaching
February 18th worldwide general release date for Idol Hands.
As the potential
user base for PC games continues to expand, with companies like private
high-end hardware creator Razer recently releasing a $100 Android-based set-top
microconsole for streaming PC games onto consumer’s televisions, titles like
Idol Hands, with its gorgeous graphics, incredible style and whimsical
Furlings, can find serious market share among wider home audiences. The company
is doubling down on this growing potential market as well, firmly committed to
delivering the best user experiences possible, and they have announced signing
of a LOI to acquire an established game development and testing company in
India. The company has already generated a solid relationship with this
targeted acquisition, having used them on various projects during the preceding
year.
CEO of Pocket Games,
David Lovatt, will personally fly to India to oversee the acquisition of this
established outfit, which has a solid team and thriving client portfolio, and
the vast experience in game testing and development possessed by the target
company is expected to benefit PKGM in a variety of ways. Not only will this
acquisition be instrumental in reducing cost and further refining the product
quality of future titles, it will provide increased revenues for the company
via game testing contracts, and also give the company a leg up when it comes to
penetrating the mobile gaming market.
For more information
on Pocket Games, visit www.PocketGamesInc.com
About QualityStocks
QualityStocks is committed to connecting subscribers with companies that have huge potential to succeed in the short and long-term future. We offer several ways for investors to find, evaluate, and learn more about investing in these companies.
QualityStocks is committed to connecting subscribers with companies that have huge potential to succeed in the short and long-term future. We offer several ways for investors to find, evaluate, and learn more about investing in these companies.
Sign up for “The QualityStocks Daily Newsletter” at www.QualityStocks.net
The Quality Stocks Daily Blog http://blog.qualitystocks.net
The Quality Stocks Daily Videos http://videocharts.qualitystocks.net
The Quality Stocks “Ones to Watch” http://gotstocks.qualitystocks.net
Please see disclaimer on the QualityStocks website: http://disclaimer.qualitystocks.net
No comments:
Post a Comment