GRL Games reveals “Word Chat” for iOS
Word Chat is the latest iOS game to be announced from Graeme Devine’s GRL Games. The goal of the game is to try and guess as many words as possible, perfferebly longer words before the timer counts down. Think of it as a much faster paced “Words with Friends”. The game supports video chat whilst you are playing promoting face to face chat with your friends, encouraging the social element to the game. A trailer for the game has been released as below and the game is set to launch on 1st September. Another game for your iPhones and iPads folks! Read more
NewToy
NewToy was formed in 2008 by brothers Paul and David Bettner, before Ensemble’s closure in early 2009. The studio focussed on creating social games for the iOS platform with a vision to become the “Nintendo of the iPhone“. After a string of enormous success with their “With Friends” series of games, the studio was acquired by Zynga in December 2010. Since then the studio has worked to further fine tune their portfolio of games and created and Android version of the popular “Words with Friends”.
Latest news about NewToy:
- Zynga closes Dallas studios (Formerly Bonfire Studios and NewToy)Yesterday Zynga announced the shocking news that it was closing its Zynga Dallas and Zynga With Friends studios. Prior to Zynga’s acquisition of these teams they were known as Bonfire Studios and NewToy respectively. It was not long ago back in February 2013 that Zynga’s Chief Operating Officer, David Ko announced that it was merging all of its ...
- Paul and David Bettner leave ZyngaEx Ensembler’s Paul and David Bettner who set about forming the hugely successful mobile studio NewToy have confirmed that they have now left the mobile gaming giant, Zynga. Paul and David Bettner joined Zynga after NewToy was acquired in December 2010. Back then the brothers commented that joining Zynga made perfect sense as both parties ...
- Age & Orcs Must Die updates and some information about Zynga acquisitionsOk, so its been a while since the last update! Apologies for that! So what’s been happening lately? First off, the beta testing for Age of Empires Online has come to end. Microsoft and Gas Powered are now wrapping up the game with final touches before launching this August 16th. It wont be long now ...
- Zynga with Friends releases “Hanging with Friends”Zynga’s “With Friends” studio, who used to be known as NewToy have just announced their latest game to hit the iOS market – “Hanging with Friends”. Taking the hugely popular “With Friends” series further, this new game is based around the traditional Hang Man game. One player is tasked with choosing a word while the ...
- Big update Friday: – Atomic City, Gnoll Hunters and something new from NewToy / ZyngaWow we have a pretty big update from Ex-Ensemble formed studios today Friday 3rd June 2011, infact its so big we have three studios involved – Robot, Windstorm and Zynga With Friends. Incase your’re wondering the Zynga With Friends studio used to be called NewToy before they were acquired by the Zynga machine. The “With ...
- Zynga acquires NewToyHot on the heels of Zynga’s acquisition of Bonfire Studios last month, the social gaming giant has recently announced that they are acquiring another studio founded by ex Ensemble Studios members. This time it’s NewToy which is joining the mammoth Zynga studio. As a result of this acquisition NewToy will become “Zynga with friends“. The new studio ...
- Vijay Thakkar of NewToy discusses the benefits of quick and easy game patchingVijay Thakkar an ex-ES programmer who had a short spell as programmer and then lead programmer at Robot Entertainment is now at NewToy as their technical director. Vijay recently took to the stage at the GDC Online to give his insights about the need to have the ability to quickly and effectively patch games post ...
- Quests on route to NewToy’s We Rule!If you have been enjoying NewToy’s kingdom building game “We Rule” on the iOS platform then you will be pleased to hear the budding developer is about to release a whole new feature for We Rule – Quests! According to the press release these quests will bring: -New Reasons to Explore -Exclusive Loot -New Quests Every Week This will ...
- We Rule nominated for various GDC online awardsGood news for NewToy the developers of “We Rule” a game where players can create and rule their own kingdom on their iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. If you do not have an iOS device you can see how the game looks below: We Rule has proved to be a very popular game and ...
- Paul Bettner of Newtoy also to speak at GDC EuropePaul Bettner from iPhone developer NewToy is also going to be presenting at GDC Europe along with Bruce Shelley (these are separate presentations). Paul’s talk is titled “Keys to Successful iPhone Game Marketing”. The talk is likely to draw on things from the studio’s expierence in generating highly successful iPhone games including the highly popular ...
Age & Orcs Must Die updates and some information about Zynga acquisitions
Ok, so its been a while since the last update! Apologies for that! So what’s been happening lately? First off, the beta testing for Age of Empires Online has come to end. Microsoft and Gas Powered are now wrapping up the game with final touches before launching this August 16th. It wont be long now until eager Age fans get to play the next great game in the Age series which has sold over 20 million copies under Ensemble Studios. Luckily the bulk of the work on Age of Empires Online has come from prestigious ex Ensemblers at Robot Entertainment. Read more
NewToy announce new iPhone game “We rule” in collaboration with Ngmoco
Budding iPhone developers NewToy lead by ex Ensemble programmers has announced a new iPhone project in collaboration with Ngmoco a well known publisher on the iPhone platform. The new game titled “We Rule” sees players creating thier very own unique kingdom where they can heavily customise the kingdoms realms, shops, businesses, buildings, banners and crops. The official blurb from the Ngmoco website continues:
You will collect taxes from your citizens and manage a variety of shops and businesses – from bakeries and inns to lumber mills and ore mines.
There do not seem to be any screenshots of the game yet, but stick around and we’ll try and dig some out. Meanwhile check out what you can from the the graphic below. Certainly seems to be a big project but no doubt the Bettner brothers at NewToy are up to the task. For more information on the game the press release follows below and a link to the website.
ngmoco has a new social game, We Rule, in the works. We’re excited to share it with you.
In We Rule, you will govern your very own kingdom. You will act as a city planner and landscaper—customizing your realm with buildings, banners, and botany. You’ll decide what crops to plant and ensure they are harvested on time. You will collect taxes from your citizens and manage a variety of shops and businesses – from bakeries and inns to lumber mills and ore mines.
We’re also pleased to announce we’re collaborating with App Store star Newtoy to create this innovative, next-gen social game. Newtoy has a strong development pedigree on a host of platforms – before iPhone and iPod, the team helped create Age of Empires and Halo Wars. More recently they’ve engineered smash mobile hits Words with Friends and Chess with Friends.
Soon you’ll have a chance to build a kingdom of your own. We’ll be revealing more about the game soon. And if you’d like access to exclusive info and screens, chat with gamemakers and help us make We Rule better, join the ng:community.
Paul Bettner: Newtoy to become a “Nintendo of the iPhone”
![bettner_paul[1]](http://remember-ensemblestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bettner_paul1.jpg "bettner_paul[1]")
NewToy’s Paul Bettner an ex programmer at Ensemble Studios was one of the first to start up a new games company out of Ensemble’s ashes. Paul is now talking to Gamasutra about the new start up company and how he in-visages the companies future. Paul hopes that NewToy can appeal to the unique iPhone market taking into account the platforms easy connectivity and user interaction. The Gamasutra article explains how well the “Chess with Friends” application has been doing since launch, although missing out on the Top 100 the game has had some excellent download numbers:
Chess With Friends came from that philosophy. The game got good support from Apple, which featured the game prominently on the App Store as Pick of the Week in March. The vote of confidence led to a nice jump in sales.
But it still didn’t break the top 100 Apps on the sales ranking list on the App Store, meaning visibility for the game would be low. For iPhone developers, making the top 100 is a crucial requisite for having a successful game.
Bettner said he didn’t pack up and go home. There is a life outside of the Top 100, and it involves sustained growth of a game’s sales and good consumer retention, two things possessed by Chess With Friends and its Scrabble-style counterpart, Words With Friends, he said.
Combined, Chess and Words, which both have ad-supported free and paid versions, have been downloaded 500 million times so far. They draw 50,000 active users daily, and are tracking 200,000 for September, Bettner said. The ratio of free to paid versions is 5:1.
Check out the full article on Gamasutura.
As NewToy continue development on new and exciting applications such as the much awaited “World War Robot” with acclaimed artist Ashley Wood.
Good luck NewToy!
PeopleFun releases ‘Spell Blitz’ on Android, iOS and Facebook
Hot on the heels of PeopleFun’s last mobile game release in January, the excellent Adventure Smash. The studio is hot on the heels with their new game ‘Spell Blitz’ available from now on Android, iOS and Facebook. Spell Blitz lives up well to its name, its a word game where players are presented with a board and 90 seconds to try and spell out as many words from the letters on the screen in time. There are leader boards and higher points can be scored with longer words, special letters and bonuses for fast spelling! Read more
Dave Pottinger on Cavamania post-mortem
Dave Pottinger, founder and CEO of BonusXP has posted his Cavemania post-mortem blog on Gamasutra. Post-mortems are always very interesting reading and Cavemania’s is no exception. In the post we learn about how Cavemania started off as an RPG game as opposed to the “match 3” game we see in the finished product. The blog also talks about various highs and lows during the development and describes the studios design methodology.
Starting from the beginning just how did BonusXP end up with a match-3 Age of Empires esque strategy game? The project first started off and an RPG which was worked on by one full-time programmer. Read more
PeopleFun launches “MixTwo” on Android and iOS
PeopleFun the studio founded by Tony Goodman has launched its second mobile game to the masses. Aptly titled “MixTwo” the latest game shows players two pictures and when combined the pictures reveal a linked word. For example match a cat and stripes and what do you get? Tiger, of course! Read more
Two new ex-Ensemble studios form: BonusXP and PeopleFun. Word Chums expected as launch title (Part 1)
VentureBeat has reported this week on two new studios forming from Ensemble Studios veterans. The first studio to be announced was “PeopleFun” a new venture from one of the key founders and CEO of Ensemble Studios, Tony Goodman. The other announcement was also from one of Ensemble’s long serving employees, Dave Pottinger who lifted the lid off his new studio “BonusXP”. These new studios are both small studios focussing on mobile gaming and join the line of many other ex Ensemble formed studios to enter the mobile market including the very successful “NewToy” and “Bonfire Studios” who were acquired by Zynga. So lets take a look at these exciting new announcements in more detail! Read more
