Announcing DUOtrix

[JDog053]

DUOtrix has passed peer review and certification!   It will definitely be available on Xbox Live Community Games on November 19th. It is priced at 400 Microsoft Points.

And yes, I finally updated the Caffeine Monster website.

Have all of the ingame changes been made? So everything now says Duotrix instead of tris+ ? maybe they found DUOtris on BinaryZoo and they thought you were copying Lol.

Yep. We actually passed cert last week, but had to do it all again in order to rename the game. The issue is that, historically, The Tetris Company has cracked down on games which end in "tris", which was mentioned to us by a fellow developer during the peer review. We have no idea whether TTC would have sued us or not, but we decided to play it safe and call it DUOtrix anyway.

Cheers,
Mo

Good move, but i'm pretty sure the Tetris company had a game which ended in Trix, but i'm not sure if I just made that up or not. Looking forward to getting it! Does it have ingame leaderboards that actually save the data? If so, excellent, if not, shame Of course it does, it has zoots, what was i thinking

[fog]

DUOtrix has passed peer review and certification!   It will definitely be available on Xbox Live Community Games on November 19th. It is priced at 400 Microsoft Points.

And yes, I finally updated the Caffeine Monster website.

Have all of the ingame changes been made? So everything now says Duotrix instead of tris+ ? maybe they found DUOtris on BinaryZoo and they thought you were copying Lol.

Yep. We actually passed cert last week, but had to do it all again in order to rename the game. The issue is that, historically, The Tetris Company has cracked down on games which end in "tris", which was mentioned to us by a fellow developer during the peer review. We have no idea whether TTC would have sued us or not, but we decided to play it safe and call it DUOtrix anyway.

Cheers,
Mo

There's a piece in this months Edge magazine about devloping games on the iPhone/Touch and it says the reason there aren't loads of clones etc. on there is because Apple are clamping down or people like The Tetris Company are getting at developers before they have a chance to release.

We possibly made a wise move.


EDIT:

Does it have ingame leaderboards that actually save the data? If so, excellent, if not, shame Of course it does, it has zoots, what was i thinking

Yes.  Zoots, in game highscore tables and it also stores your progress through the puzzle levels.

[Banzai]

Just got around to trying out the demo. I like the tweaked powerups and the 'excessive' shaderzzz are sweet.
I would by the game but I only have 60 MSpoints at the moment. Next time I get around to refilling my points I'll definitely give it a buy.

[fog]

Just got around to trying out the demo. I like the tweaked powerups and the 'excessive' shaderzzz are sweet.
I would by the game but I only have 60 MSpoints at the moment. Next time I get around to refilling my points I'll definitely give it a buy.

Gald you like the 'excessive' shaderzzz.  It's the only way for real men (and women) to play 

[JDog053]

It has a demo ? When was this released and is the game Live now ?

I need MS points too!

[JDog053]

I just played DUOtri, that game is filled with content and looks amazing! It was fluid to play, the graphics were great and I love the effects everytime you match 3! I am defnately going to get this game just to unlock psychadelic mode!

Awesoem game, great fun! The fact that you're playing 2 modes at once is pretty great too (I know much like the original DUOtris.

Hope all goes well and i'll tell you when I purchase the game.

[fog]

Thanks JDog.  Glad you like it.

It's just a shame XBCG doesn't support proper online leaderboards yet so you can grab yet another top spot

[PaulCunningham]

There's a couple of work arounds I've heard about for lack of Leaderboards.  One approach is have the game display an encrypted score / password that can be entered on the devs web site. A bit clunky yes but at least it's an option.  Biology Battle (I think) uses some kind of peer to peer query system to distribute the top scores around.  Don't know too much about the implementation - may only be to profiles on your friends list but it's pretty ingenious I reckon.

[las6]

There's one problem with this release and well, it doesn't have so much to do with the game, but with the distribution channel.

Consumers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain will be able to download Xbox LIVE Community Games for purchase at launch. We'll be adding support for other regions later in 2009 and beyond.

In other words, I can't even try it.

[fog]

There's one problem with this release and well, it doesn't have so much to do with the game, but with the distribution channel.

Consumers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain will be able to download Xbox LIVE Community Games for purchase at launch. We'll be adding support for other regions later in 2009 and beyond.

In other words, I can't even try it.

Yeah it's a right PITA.  There is a way around it if you are prepared to set up another account (IMO it's probably worth it just to try the trial games and see what the standard is like )

http://www.gamerbytes.com/2008/11/how_to_play_community_games_wh.php

As far as DUOtrix is concerned, then if you still have your Creators Club membership Mo can send you a version that will run through that

[PaulCunningham]

A round up of some XBLCG games here...

http://www.bytejacker.com/episodes/p003

DUOtrix is mentioned at 03:35.  I won't spoil the excitement by telling you if they like it or not

[fog]

A round up of some XBLCG games here...

http://www.bytejacker.com/episodes/p003

DUOtrix is mentioned at 03:35.  I won't spoil the excitement by telling you if they like it or not

Yeah we've seen that thanks Paul

I didn't have great hopes that they would get it, but they seemed to enjoy it.  The fact they were pissed probably helped   

It's always good to get positive reviews, but if you're writing something like DUOtrix then you can't be too sensitive about reviews.  If you're worried about stuff like that or sales figures then you do a nice safe Tetris clone

That's not to say that I'm not open to constructive criticism mind

[PaulCunningham]

So I just bought my first BZ / CM game - awesome work guys

[fog]

So I just bought my first BZ / CM game - awesome work guys

Cheers Paul

That's a least one copy we've sold anyway lol.  Hopefully I'll be able to buy a Pumpkin Games release soon

[JDog053]

I'm getting some MS points around Christmas so you don't need to hold your breath for that second purchase! It looks like an amazing game that wouldn't be out of place in my games collection.