TubeTwist-iness

TubeTwist launched about 6 weeks ago on GarageGames.com and has been selling very well, converting at a whopping 6% (which is very high for a puzzle game made with Torque). The reviews for the game have been pretty good:

INSIDE MAC GAMES (8 out of 10) [Full Review]
"All in all, TubeTwist is an ingenious, fresh, and innovative new puzzle game. With its straightforward concept, simple execution, and its encouraging and empowering philosophy, this innovative game is accessible to the whole family, regardless of age or intellect."

MacWorld (4.5 out of 5.0) [Full Review]
"TubeTwist is a fantastic, family-friendly, puzzle game that features imaginative designs and great production values."

Myth Games (9 out of 10) [Full Review]
"TubeTwist is a refreshing addition to the puzzles genre. Don't just think games like this are for 'casual gamers' - give it a chance, it might be the most fun you've had since those first exciting few player kills in World of Warcraft."

We are working on a 1.1 patch that addresses some performance issues on lower end machines. This is always a nasty chore of PC game development that we hold off on until we soft launch the game and find out it's doing well (or not).

This time around, our performance problems were related to high poly counts on the tubes, ODE collision routines, and the particle system. We are hoping to have the 1.1 patch completed by GDC where TubeTwist will be on display the whole week in the IGF Pavilion.

Speaking of which the audience award nominations are open for IGF. If you dig TubeTwist (or want to support 21-6), please vote for TubeTwist here:

www.gamespot.com/misc/igf/index.html

Also related to IGF is an article Gamasutra posted about our journey developing the game. If you are interested, check it out here:

www.gamasutra.com/features/20060124/carless_01.shtml

Finally, it's been an exciting week for TubeTwist and 21-6 because we got our first retail deal! We partnered with Halycon Media to release the game in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and it "hit store shelves" just this past week.

The game is already the 2nd most downloaded demo of all time on the Halycon Media site and also getting good reviews (although they can be hard to read in German)! The game has even been featured on a popular German Games TV program which you can watch here:

www.tubetwist.com/downloads/ct-magazin_tubetwist.mpg

If you watched the video, you will see that the game was completely translated to German including the voice-overs. For some reason, I totally dig seeing our games run in different languages (same feeling for Orbz on Xbox which ran in 5 languages).

Halycon did a great job with the box art, printed manuals, CD inserts, and Macroton-branded toys which are part of the promotional package to retail dealers. This is the box art:



We are thrilled that TubeTwist is getting off to a good start. The next step is to open up the game to more game portals (once the performance patch is finished) and hunt for that ever elusive domestic retail deal.

If you have yet to try the game, check out the free demo here:

www.garagegames.com/pg/product/view.php?id=57

Holy links batman!