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We're just a few short days away from PAX East, one of the biggest gaming conventions in North America. If you haven't yet had a chance to play The Counting Kingdom, here's your chance!
Stop by the MassDiGI Made in MA: The State of Play booth #499 to get your hands on a demo. Jenna will be there with the game from 1 pm - 5pm each day.
Press: If you're interested in getting a personal look at the development of The Counting Kingdom, get in touch at jenna@littleworldsinteractive.com
Another win for the team! We are so excited that The Counting Kingdom was named the winner at the Big Indie Pitch Jr. at GDC '14! Jenna pitched the game to a panel of media judges at the Minna Gallery in sunny San Francisco on March 20. The event had a "speed dating" format, so each company only had 5 minutes to impress each table of judges. With some quick talking and a demo of the game that speaks for itself, Jenna was able to show the judges the importance of educational games like The Counting Kingdom. This is the first year that the event had a separate event dedicated to pitching games for a younger audience, so we're doubly proud to be the first winner!
We are incredibly excited and honored to announce that The Counting Kingdom took home the overall Grand Prize and the Serious Game Prototype category awards at the third annual MassDiGI Game Challenge! The weekend was a whirlwind of mentoring sessions, pitching, and swapping tales with other game developers. This year there was a total of fourty-five teams, including both indie developers and students from around the Northeast. With a judging panel of industry veterans and a packed house of game developers, the event showcases the growing games industry in the Boston area.
The competition was stiff but at the end of it all we got to bring home two shiny trophies! This is the first time that a serious or educational game has won the Grand Prize, making the whole weekend extra special for us. A huge thank you to all of the judges, and to MassDiGI for hosting such a great event and its ongoing support of game development in the region!
This is Jenna's extra happy face.
It's been just a few weeks since the last build but we're back with even more fun things to share! Not signed up for the alpha yet? Sign up here to download the game for PC or Mac and start playing! Here's what's new:
You've been asking for this, and we're happy to say it's now possible to play the game in full-screen mode or at different resolutions. When you open up the game you'll see a menu that lets you choose your resolution and whether you'd like to play in 'Windowed' mode (ie not fullscreen). The game current supports these aspect ratios: 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10. We recommend trying the game on fullscreen at the highest resolution!
To exit the game while you're in fullscreen, you can click on the Exit button on the title menu or hit the "Esc" key from anywhere in the game. We have a known issue where closing the game down takes up to 5 or 6 seconds - we're looking into it and hope to have it resolved soon.
If you select the first castle from the World Map you'll be treated to a short cinematic that shows how this whole kerfuffle began! The artwork is still a work in progress, but let us know what you think!
If you wind your way through the meadows, past the harbor, under the trees, beyond the icy tundra and up the mountain, you've saved the kingdom! Rescue all 30 castles to see a special fireworks celebration that we have in store just for you.
Our first round of sound effects has finally gone into the game! Birds chirp, potions gurgle, and spells go KABOOM. Let us know how it looks (err.. sounds)!
We're always working to make sure that the difficulty curve of this game is just right. In this build you'll notice that the game is easier across the board, and gets more difficult at a slower rate. If you're playtesting with kids, we'd love to know what you think of the difference!
We're incredibly grateful for all of the feedback and bug reports we've received so far, every e-mail from you helps make our game better. We'd love to ask you another favor - help us spread word of the game! A mention on Twitter or a screenshot posted to our Facebook page can go a long way in helping us get the game out there. Also, if you know anyone who might be interested in the game please share the link for alpha testing with them!
Jenna will be putting on her business hat (which, to be fair, still looks like a wizard hat) to attend the second annual LearnLaunch Conference titled "Across Boundaries: How Can Edtech Scale Student Success?"
She'll be joining five hundred other industry experts and educators to discuss the opportunities for the edtech industry to improve K-20 education in the US, and will be exhibiting The Counting Kingdom at an entrepreneur demo table.
If you're attending the conference be sure to swing by the table and say hi, or follow along on Twitter!