Greetings Bad-Egg-Website-Viewers!  We realize it’s been quite a while since our last update, and I just missed talking to myself so much I decided to make another post.

We really hope that everyone who tried out Pew Pew Pod enjoyed it! We’re proud to say that our first title was critically acclaimed, receiving positive reviews from just about every site that tried it out (TwoFedoras, WastedSeconds, GayGamer and others). Thanks to everyone for your support.

So what next? Back to Shattered of course! Production for Shattered has been going for quite a while now, considering we decided to pretty much scrap everything and start from scratch. We’re really pushing to make this a masterpiece, and are doing our best to make sure we make the GDC deadline later this year. Unfortunately, we don’t have too much that I’m allowed to show off yet. Just know that everything you’ve seen before is now going to be 10 times better. Yes, even Trey’s wondrous music and Alex’s beautimous art. Unfortunately, my wit will be just as stagnant as ever. Keep checking in for more updates and hopefully we’ll have something to show off next time!

Pew Pew Pod

Pew Pew Pod serves as the first of what we hope to be many outstanding, high quality titles by Bad Egg Studios (and also has one catchy title).

What Is Pew Pew Pod?

Here’s Pew Pew Pod in a nutshell :

Pew Pew Pod is a frantic arcade shooter with strategic influences. Four unique weapons offer endless avenues of assault against the merciless enemy forces. There are six unrelenting game modes that can each be played with up to four players. Be the best with our global highscore boards divided amongst the gametypes!

Features

• Fast paced, top down shooter action!
• Four completely unique weapons that have different situational uses
• Six game modes – each of which can be played with up to 4 players
• Clean interface and quality art
• Local high scores to keep track of your own progress
• Say it with me: Global. High. Scores. (for 5 of the game modes!)
• Thousands of particles on screen at once, making the action even more chaotic

The Weapons

You can switch to any of the four weapons at any time! Each weapon has a color that is aligned with the 360 controller buttons. Hit the button and switch to the weapon! The weapons are assigned to the shoulder buttons as well. These are their descriptions:

Machine Gun Laser

These bad boys are your bread and butter. Assigned to the A button (or RB) on the controller, your ship and HUD changes to green and makes your gun a rapid fire tool of neon destruction.

Plasma Cannon

The plasma cannon keeps the board under control. Hit X (or LB) on your controller and you’ve got yourself a pretty blue ship and HUD, complete with large bouncy bullets loaded into your gun!

Photon Torpedo

Photon Torpedoes are your ranged cluster breakers. The torpedoes are set to the Y (or LT) button, complete with a yellow ship and HUD along with your own personal torpedo launcher. And you don’t even need the Force to hit your target!

Shotgun Laser

The shotgun laser tears through close enemies. B (or RT) is the button to press if you’re in a tight spot and need to do some cleaning up. Oh, and your ship and HUD will turn a nice, menacing red to match the enormous amount of firepower sitting on top of your ship.

The Game Modes

Pew Pew Pod offers six addicting game modes, each of which can be played with up to four players and five of which utilize our Global and Local High Scores!

Arcade Mode

You have three minutes and three lives to kill as many enemies as you can! You also get an extra 1000 points for each life you have at the end of the round.

Survival Mode

Try to live as long as you can off of three lives! You don’t gain any points from getting kills, but you do get points for staying alive!

Waypoint Mode

You have three lives to collect as many waypoints as you can! Each is worth one point, and there’s no points for kills.

Zones Mode

Sit in the zones to collect points! After five seconds the zone will disappear and another will appear somewhere else. See how good your aim really is!

Think Fast! Mode

Unique Simon Says style mode. Follow the instructions to earn points! You’ve got three lives to last as long as you can, and there are no penalties for not following the rules. There’s no points for not following the rules though!

Versus Mode

Versus is the only mode where you have to have friends to play. Then destroy them! Each hit is worth different point amounts depending on the weapon. Highest points at the end of three minutes wins!

The Trailer

Check out the trailer on YouTube or…Right here!

Pew Pew Pod is available in the Indie Games section of the Xbox Live Arcade. Buy it now and make your mark on the high scores!

Buy Pew Pew Pod NOW!

Press

Press Kit (Includes Screenshots, Box Art, Logo)

Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnwih7KZojk

Contact Email: press [at] badeggstudios.com

With the release of our first title “Pew Pew Pod” just hours away, I figured it would be a poignant moment to discuss perhaps the most important aspect of how exactly a game is made, the Design Document.

When creating something with moving, attachable, and interchangeable parts, engineers, architects, and the like all agree that some sort of blue print or Master Plan is necessary to organize everything that goes into the project in one place. In the gaming industry, this blue print is called the Design Document.

We at Bad Egg have had our ups and downs with design documents; in our first round with Shattered, we made it as we went, assuming that it was merely something that distributors wanted to see before we submitted the game. Not true! As far as Bad Egg Studios is concerned, Alex and Cory reside in Richmond, while Kevin and I are stuck in the boondocks of western Virginia. A Design Document is actually what keeps companies like ours in touch with what one another are doing in spite of little face to face contact.

Essentially, the Design Document is a tool that, when properly executed, allows a team with multiple parts to work in total autonomy while maintaining perspective and awareness of the rest of the project. So if you’re thinking about starting production of a game, or even if you have already produced a game, consider making your next step a complete and detailed Design Document. You won’t regret it.

Hey guys!

Just a quick update – we’re now 91% of our way through the peer review process! Unless a crash is found, this means that we’ll most likely pass through sometime today. Unfortunately, there is a 48 hour minimum time period to the review process, so we’ll be out sometime Monday morning. Thanks to all the reviewers for being so helpful – and speedy!

EDIT 1:28pm: We just passed through! 100% completed review! We’re going live tomorrow for sure!

Kevin

To those of you following our Twitter  (@BadEggStudios), you know that we pulled Pew Pew Pod from the peer review process, requiring us to sit in a “locked” state for a week before being able to resubmit the game. I though I’d share the thought process behind this decision, and why it will benefit our fellow gamer.

The major issues we pulled for are as follows:

• Present feedback when the user isn’t allowed to buy the game, but tries
• No ability to change storage device, once one is officially selected by the user
• Game doesn’t pause automatically when controller disconnects

In addition, there are about 20 other smaller issues, some internally that the average gamer wouldn’t recognize, and some small usability increases that will also be added to make the game an even more polished experience.  The extra time will also allow us to submit to a playtesting area of the Creator’s Club that will give us additional feedback on small things that would provide a better experience when playing.

The good news is no crashes or bugs were found during our first review process, every issue presented was a small usability issue, so we should make it through review again with no issues. We look forward to resubmitting in 7 days, and showing the world what we’ve created!