We figured it’d be fun to share what we’re both playing currently in our spare time. We play games on several platforms, but by and large I think it’s safe to say we’re both still very ‘traditional’ gamers spending most of our time on consoles or PC. As you’ll probably tell in a bit, Adam and I tend to spend our times in vastly different games/genres. I’m a multiplayer freak. He likes Mario. The end. Ok there’s more to it than that…

Mario Galaxy 2 [Wii]

I personally haven’t played Mario Galaxy 2, but from what I hear is that it’s more Mario. Which is usually a good thing. Adam’s been taking his sweet time in playing through this game and recently beat it. He’s now playing back through Mario Galaxy 1. Only Mr. Miyamoto knows why.

Solipskier [iPhone]

This game’s mechanic was really fun. My first exposure to it was on my iPhone 4. If you’re on a flash capable device you can play solipskier on Mikengreg’s site. The music is great and the sense of speed you experience in the game is awesome. The design of the game is very tight, laser focused and very polished. TA’s review was positive, but interestingly enough it stirred up some controversy in the comments thread. The all important ‘price point’ was the contentious issue for what was on offer. To me, this game was worth it. They even have a 100% free version for those to check out first, so I feel the price is right. Worth checking out!

Archetype [iPhone/iPad]

Alright, this is a weird one for me. I bought this on my iphone 4. Then I bought it on my iPad (Archetype HD). The game feels nice. I think it’s probably the best FPS experience you can get on the iphone or ipad right now. The game from a technical standpoint is nothing short of impressive. The ability to jump in and out of multiplayer matches so easily with no hassle is no small technical feat. I really wanted this game to be “it” for multiplayer experiences for me on the go. So much so that I even gave the iPad version a try. Again, TA’s review I think is spot on that it’s the best on the platform. But I think that’s just it. It’s only the best on the platform. That doesn’t say to much considering there’s only a handful of decent FPS’s on it. It’s early yet so I feel this will only get better. To get an idea of where I’m coming from you should know that I’m not a fan of FPS games on the console. I’ve made due and spent tons of time playing on the 360 because the games themselves are great. But give me keyboard and mouse any day. I actually have a lot to say on this topic from a game design perspective, but I won’t go into it right now. Just know that Archetype is good fun and definitely worth checking out.

Shot Shot Shoot [iPad]

I played this game with a friend over the past weekend. I absolutely love the design of this game. A very pure competitive game that despite it’s simplicity in it’s rules elevates to something much more complex when you add the human element. Shot Shot Shoot provided lots of enjoyment, and if you’re looking for a fun competitive iPad game then this is it.

Starcraft 2 [Mac]

My current “addiction”. I’m playing this game more than I need to be probably (just ask Adam). I was hooked on the first Starcraft over a decade ago. Games like Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War got me mildly back into RTS’s, but at the time I was very much into online team-based FPS’s. I didn’t think I’d still be playing Starcraft 2 after the first couple of weeks, but there’ something about this game that keeps me coming back. The sheer depth mixed with the almost twitch-like gameplay mechanics for controlling your armies is a great mix and something I can sink my teeth into. Warcraft 3 didn’t do it for me, but I appreciate the things they tried in that game to help push RTS’s forward. Starcraft 2 harkens back to a much “simpler” era before RPG’s and RTS’s started having children.

One Man Left Studios will be releasing Tilt to Live’s iPad incarnation this September. More than a mere resolution bump, the HD edition will feature completely revamped weapon effects, four times the arena space of its iPhone counterpart, and optimized tilt controls for the iPad platform. It’s bigger, it’s prettier, and best of all: it will be free to try before you buy.

All four of the iPhone’s gametypes will be returning, now with super-sized play areas. That’s four times the space to flee in Code Red, and twice the ground to defend in Frostbite. The current nine-weapon arsenal will also be available to unlock, each sporting an impressive graphical facelift. And speaking of unlocks, the AGON platform will be reprising its role as TtL HD’s (rebalanced) awards and leaderboards provider.

But what’s all this “free to try” business about? Well, in the spirit of drug dealers and food court Chinese restaurants, we’re offering our users a sampling of TtL HD absolutely free of charge. In demo mode, you’ll fight for the highest score in a giant Classic gametype with its own demo leaderboard. There will be four freshly-beautified weapon pickups at your disposal: the nuke, blastwave, cluster missiles, and ice blast.

If you likey what we makey, you can access the full version for a $3.99 in-app purchase. That’s five unlockable weapons, rebalanced award challenges, all four giant-sized gametypes, and the iPad-exclusive leaderboards for each. Keep your eyes peeled for more details on this blog, as the September release of Tilt to Live HD approaches.

Click for actual size.

See more screenshots on our new TtL HD page.

We somehow managed to squeak by with an update in what feels like the very last minute in July. Frostbite mode is finally out and the leaderboards are already filling up with some insane scores!  So what does this update entail? See for yourself:

New

• The all new Frostbite Game Mode!
• A new devastating weapon, the Burnicade!
• 7 new awards to earn!

Improved

• AGON updated to 1.5.1 – better leaderboard functionality
• player visibility improved

Fixed

• minor iOS4 issues
• sound effect issues

Thanks to all who’ve supported us! Next Up? Tilt to Live on the iPad!

The Frostbite update was, at last, submitted to Apple for approval today. Did we take our sweet time with this gametype? Yep. Did we break our first promise, and then push the boundaries of our second promise? Absolutely. If something sucked, we unsucked it. And the result? A unique, fourth Tilt to Live gametype that we’re confident will rock your socks off. We’ll post all the details as soon as the update hits the App Store, but you’ll probably be too busy playing it to care.

For now, you can check out the fabulous Frostbite theme, composed by the very talented Whitaker Blackall. You may recall Whitaker’s previous Tilt to Live track for the Code Red gametype. His creativity and attention to detail continue to impress us. As far as we’re concerned, he is the sound of Tilt to Live.

With one entire game under our belt, we’ve got reams of knowledge and experience to impart to aspiring designers everywhere. We did some new interviews recently, and they went a little something like this:

• Midlife Gamer Meets: One Man Left Studios
• Multi-touch Fans: Interview with OneManLeft Studios

After a month of teasing and delaying, it’s finally time to share the details of Tilt to Live’s upcoming Frostbite update. This is all still in development, so the specifics are being tweaked and balanced as I write this post, but here’s the big picture:

Frostbite Mode

This new gametype will transport you to a winter wonderland. One where all the dots rain pre-frozen from the heavens, gift-wrapped and ready to die. Because in Frostbite land every day is Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Muslim Christmas. But here’s the catch: Those frozen dots are falling towards that steamy hot spring at your feet. If my high school education serves me: frozen dot + steamy hot spring = thawed dot! And in an arena marred by an unfortunate weapon shortage, thawed dots spell big trouble. Looks like you’ve got some thorough shattering to do.

Luckily, a weapon shortage is not a weapon drought. And the pickup we’re tossing you every-so-often just happens to be the perfect safety net for a dot blizzard.

Meet the Burnicade

Intuitively enough, the new burnicade pickup will engulf your cursor in a burst of hellish flames, launching you across the arena in a blaze of glory. But the real payoff is the barricade of burning justice you’ll leave in your wake. This fire is deadly to dots, but not to you, because we think there are already quite enough things trying to kill you.

As you can imagine, the burnicade will be a rare sigh of relief in Frostbite mode. And because it’s built into the rules of that gametype, this weapon will be available in Frostbite from the moment you update/install the game. If you want to play with fire in Classic or Code Red, though, we suggest you work on your AGON PocketScore. The burnicade will be the next unlockable weapon beyond the Lightning shield.

And that’s the news, boys and girls. Frostbite and the burnicade will be giving your iDevice hot flashes in July.

Hello all, and happy Friday! As you’ve heard in our previous post, we’re in the middle of reorganizing. This is mostly me (Alex) packing up and relocating over the next week so that Adam and I can work in person. When we started developing Tilt to Live, we had very little idea on whether it’d be flop, mildly successful, or even a hit. The response was absolutely nuts! Our  fans truly enjoyed the game and went out of their way to let us know, and let their friends know. And for that, we can’t thank you enough! With us now transitioned to working fulltime to create awesome games for you guys, you can expect to see some cool stuff in the coming months with a bit more frequency :).

To help celebrate this milestone for One Man Left Studios, we collaborated with freeappaday.com to promote Tilt to Live for a very limited time at the extremely ludicrous price of $free$ this weekend. So be on the look out! Got a friend who’s incapable of spending money? Are they on a strict app budget? They simply can’t find their wallet? Now’s the time to get them to jump in and have fun with Tilt to Live, on us :).

I’d like to preface this post by pointing out that our banner did promise to shatter your expectations. So it’s totally inaccurate to call us liars.

The Frostbite update will be taking a backseat to some company reshuffling that’s going down this month, so its release has been pushed back to July. One Man Left (that’s us!) is experiencing some welcome growth, so we need a little me-time to reorganize. What this means in the long term is that we will be able to do our thing considerably more efficiently. In the short term it means that we are disappointing.

As a consolation prize, I will now reveal the name of our new weapon so as to engage your eager imaginations! Included with the Frostbite update in July, prepare to scorch the earth with a mighty BURNICADE. We’ll be posting screenshots and gameplay details for Frostbite and the burnicade later this month.

Ahoy! We’ve sacrificed May’s update early this morning to the AppStore Gods so it should be live in a few days. So what’s new in this update? For starters, Gauntlet Mode and Code Red have new songs! We were able to work with the talented Whitaker Blackall on getting a custom track done for Code Red and it sounds intense, especially when trying to ward off the hordes of red dots! So hats off to him on creating a catchy piece of music! Here’s a quick preview of the track opening:

[audio:http://www.onemanleft.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Code-Red-Preview.mp3|titles=Code Red Preview]

… you’ll have to wait for the update to hear the rest ;).

So what else is new in the update? Lots of minor stuff, but the high notes are:

New Stuff

• New Music
• 6 new awards to earn
• Tilt sensitivity now available under options or the custom position screen
• You can now play tilt to live on your toaster. (finally!)

Improved Stuff

• Added some more graphical elements to Gauntlet mode
• Increased the invincibility time after getting hit in Gauntlet mode
• You can cross your eyes and play tilt to live in 3D mode. (James Cameron eat your heart out)

Fixed Stuff

• AGON pocket score display now shows correct number
• Music no longer cuts out
• No longer spawns hell demons devouring your family and dog after dying in first 5 seconds of Code Red (sorry about that one!)

The much requested tilt sensitivity is finally in, and boy does it help! I tend to crank it up because I’m lazy and the less tilting I have to do the better. It’s also great for those that wish to play at a steeper angle and were having problems with the horizontal movement.

So what’s next? Our June update will have even more new content with a new weapon and all new game mode.

I was recently asked by an interviewer to describe my dream iPhone game, the game I would produce if unfettered by the confines of marketability and social norms. I answered earnestly, but was ultimately shut down by OML’s other half, Alex Okafor, the dream policeman. He called my dreams “creepy” and “probably illegal”. So I agreed to provide the interviewer with a watered-down answer, one that did not reflect my true passions as a game designer, as long as I was allowed pour my heart out to our true fans: the OML blog readers.

And now I am proud to present the uncensored schematics for my dream iPhone game:

“I have a couple of dream projects. My favorite is like a Tickle Me Elmo, but it’s better because you can take him around with you in your pocket, on your iPhone. You can tickle him all over and wear headphones, so that only you can hear how happy you are making Elmo. That way what happens between Elmo and me stays private, instead of everyone staring and possibly misinterpreting.

The best part is that you can use the phone’s camera to take pictures of strangers, and then you can tickle the strangers. That adds a social aspect to the game, and contributes to my premise of ‘touching the world’. You could even upload and share your favorite strangers with your friends, or with other strangers!”

In other news

Someone changed our banner to tease next month’s new update, but they forgot to show off the new weapon. They just put a question mark! I’ll get on that ASAP.