Announcing Tails of Adventure
We asked the twins what they really wanted to build — and the answer is Tails of Adventure, a papercraft dungeon crawl heading to Kickstarter this early summer.
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Mech Mice
In the fantastical land of Roden, mice were once at the very bottom of the food chain: tiny, fragile, and hunted by everything. Then the Crystal Shards fell from the sky. Within a single generation, these glowing crystalline gems transformed mice from simple prey into an intelligent, technologically advanced civilization. Armed with plasma blasters fueled by berry juice, piloting hand-crafted war…
Mini Bash
The spiritual evolution of the iconic online social games of the 2000s, Mini Bash combines exploration, real-time party modes, and combat with friends in a living, connected world. Select and customize your Mini and jump into a wide variety of PvP mini-games across the Mini Bash world. From competitive challenges like Coin Collect and Squeak Squash to the more relaxing Fishing Mode, there’s…
Epic Snails is Moving to Battle Snails
Thank you for 7 years of Epic Snails. We took everything we learned and built Battle Snails, a new game focused on one thing. Fun with your friends!
Battle Snails
The Idea I’ve always wanted to make a family-friendly shooter. Something you could play with your kids, your friends, anyone. No blood. No dark tone. Just pure, chaotic, laugh-out-loud fun. The problem with most shooters? They take themselves too seriously. So we asked a simple question: what if the tanks were snails? That’s it. That’s the idea. Snails with shells that double as…
Vampires vs Penguins
We love games. We make games at our job. We make games on vacation. We make games in our dreams. And that’s exactly what happened when we sent our best team of professional penguin game makers on a camping trip in a deep dark wood. They returned a week later with lots of mosquito bites, and with a new game: Vampires Vs Penguins! That’s right! From the creators of your favourite…
Box Critters Battle System
This last summer, I’ve been busy building a new battle system for Box Critters . My goal was to create a unique card game, largely inspired by my love of board games and the classic Card-Jitsu from Club Penguin . I scrapped my original turn-based system because it was too slow. Instead, I’ve blended the best parts of three great games: the card playing from Clash Royale , the monster…
Exploring the Future of Box Critters
Hey Critters! I’ve been super busy working on the new client for Box Critters, and I wanted to share some of the exciting developments with you. We’re reimagining the server structure and backend systems to make everything smoother and more robust. One of the coolest things I’m experimenting with is blending a 2D and 3D engine to bring you even richer effects, animations, and…
Building the Foundation
Hello Critters! I’ve been incredibly busy these past few weeks focusing on the backbone of our game – the servers and systems that will power everything you love about Box Critters. While there’s nothing visually exciting to showcase just yet, the foundation being built now is crucial for our future success. Embracing Nakama After extensive research, I’ve decided to implement…
Sprites and Sprouts
Sprites & Sprouts is a cozy game of enchanted farming set in Mythwind Valley. Designed by Manny Vega (creator of Flamecraft), players take on the role of magical sprites helping the Farmer tend and grow their sprouts through the seasons. Over a series of rounds, players strategically place their sprite workers to plant, tend, prep, or unleash magic, manipulating vibrant sproutling tiles on an 8x8…
Threshold
Threshold is a solo and cooperative board game of epic proportions, designed to capture the experience of playing an MMO or ARPG like World of Warcraft or Path of Exile in tabletop form. For 1-4 players, the game offers multiple playstyles including solo questing, cooperative dungeon runs, world exploration, relaxing crafting, and epic raids. Despite its massive scope—the box is the size of a…
Early Preview of Our Dialogue System
The team has been busy working on our new dialogue system. We believe that story is key to Box Critters, and having conversations with the characters in the world unlocks more depth. When building a world, it’s important to create lore—the stories behind everything you encounter. Our focus is on developing lore and characters, not just plot. We’re also working on description text for…
Sneak Peak at the New Animated Emojis!
One of the exciting improvements we’re working on is introducing animated emotes for Box Critters. How will emotes work in Box Critters? It’s pretty simple. You’ll be able to collect, earn, and unlock emotes. Each emote in Box Critters will have a unique impact on the online community. For example, imagine using the coffee emote and your character gets an energy boost! Join on…
Mech Mice Board Game
In 2013, I launched Mech Mice as a mobile strategy game. Unfortunately, the game didn’t take off—perhaps we were ahead of our time. Despite this, my passion for the story, lore, and characters of Roden has never waned. As an entrepreneurial creator, I’m always seeking opportunities to bring my worlds to life. A few years ago, I started a board game company, and we’ve found…
Villain! Penguin Edition
Earlier the team decided to create our first edition of our Villain Card Game! Villain is a simple game where you work together to defeat the Vampire Lord. But you don’t know who is the Vampire Lord?? Gasp! We have a couple themed decks planned. Our first edition is a penguin themed deck. We need around 1000 backers to print this game. Join on Patreon
Private Servers??
The team has been busy working on the combat card game. This game is how you and four friends will explore dungeons, battle monsters and earn loot. I have been busy working on two key systems. First the world itself. When you start Box Critters you and your friends will start on your own private server. Together you will create your own little world. Second is the marketplace. New critters, items…
Box Critters Card Game
The team has been busy working on the Box Critters Card Game. The cards are key to all your adventures as you explore the world and battle monsters. Cards with a 😡 symbol target 1 opponent. Cards with a 😡😡😡 symbol target all opponents. Some cards with a special splash symbol apply their effects to everyone but the first target! Join on Patreon
Busy Working on the Card Game
Lots of fun collecting cards and working together to battle monsters. I really enjoyed seeing the critters again and cannot wait to show you. Next steps are to add the game to our new server platform and begin testing for scale. We need to be able to run thousands of games simultaneously. Join on Patreon
More Adventure Is on the Way!
Thank you, Box Critters Community, for making Box Critters a fun, silly, and zany place to hang out! The Box Critters Alpha Test is now complete, and we have learned a lot. We are busy working on the Beta and expect to launch sometime in 2024. We can’t wait to share all of the new and exciting things we’re working on! Join on Patreon
Coming Soon
This is Box Critters. Join on Patreon
Stone Saga
Stonesaga is a cooperative, campaign-style survival crafting board game designed by Max Brooke and Luke Eddy. Set in a persistent world shaped by your choices, the game unfolds an epoch-spanning story of people living in a remote glacial valley. Each session represents one generation, with players guiding characters through harsh conditions, wondrous mysteries, and encounters with giant monsters.…
My thoughts on the Metaverse
I don’t know. I do know Club Penguin was a virtual world. A digital space that you created a character and played with your friends. Club Penguin itself was never a game, it was a community. A community that gathered around events and celebrated together. Shared stories and activities connected the community. As a game designer we often have to consider the metagame. The game about the game.…
How Many People Does It Take to Make a Video Game?
TL;DR… A game could take many people or just a few. My suggestion? Stay as small as possible. I love what Supercell says about teams — “the best teams make the best games.” It’s true. There’s a common belief out there that you need a big team to make a game. From my experience, you don’t. At least not when you’re starting. From my point of view, having a big team is a big…
2019 Goals, Dreams and Critters!
I cannot believe that it is 2019. I started RocketSnail in 1999 almost 20 years ago. What an amazing journey. Here are a couple updates for you. Feel free to message me and ask questions.
Creating Games and Starting Companies
What an awesome month! I really enjoy creating games and starting companies. March was an amazing month for powder. I attempted to spend most of my mornings skiing. I love living and working in Kelowna. This is a beautiful place.
Digital Toy Maker
I think of myself as a ‘digital toy maker.’ Start with the Character! I start with an idea, usually the character first. I will sketch a couple ideas then hire a professional character designer and begin creating the character. All my characters need to be simple and iconic. The character represents the player and anchors the entire world.
Epic Snails BETA
Items, Catalogues and Shops!
Here is a little secret, between hiking, biking, skiing and being the CEO of Hyper Hippo Games, I do find time to create Virtual Worlds. Usually I spend a couple hours in the morning, drinking coffee and rewriting all my code. Today my focus is on items, catalogues and shops. I believe collecting is a core feature of virtual worlds. Overall I am planning a simple system. As a designer it is my job…
Busy Week
Wow, another amazing week! I have been busy working on a number of things. Here is a quick update. MMMO Server The majority of my work has been developing a single server platform for all my Virtual Worlds and MMO games. I am slowly working through the core features and how they will work together. My goal is to create a single server for HTML5, Steam and Mobile. For those interested I am using:…
Time to get back to work!
A couple years ago I started Hyper Hippo a game studio in Kelowna, British Columbia Canada. Through a series of endless twists and turns the studio created more than 80 games in the last 5 years. Many of the games failed, but we learned a lot! We learned how to test, we learned how to validate, we learned about the mobile market and we learned how to listen to our the fans.
What are you building?
Many of you have been following me on Twitter and Facebook and I have been posting a series messages about my secret project call “coffee”. The idea behind coffee is to start small and create a single multiuser space for desktop and mobile. My goal is to develop the following core features: Server - I am using a Photon server to connect all the players. Triggers - Triggers are…
Game Analytics
Google Analytics Google Analytics
Curious and Determined
RuneScape Idle Adventures
A little secret about Club Penguin
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The history of Grub!
Grub Yums! Grub Yums!
Club Penguin turns 10!
The First Newspaper The First Newspaper
Mech Mice Animated Series and Toys
Lance Priebe with Mech Mice Prototype by PlaymateS Toys Lance Priebe with Mech Mice Prototype by PlaymateS Toys
Ninjas and Penguins
The original penguin ninja from Penguin Chat 3 The original penguin ninja from Penguin Chat 3
I don't play Video Games
I have a confession to make. I don’t play video games. Well that’s not entirely true. I casually play 2-3 video games per year. I am always surprised to hear that people think you need to play games to be a game designer. This is not true. I believe playing games can limit my creativity. The most damaging phrase in the language is “It’s always been done this way” -…
Pebble Beach
Pebble Beach Pebble Beach
Visiting Jagex
I have always admired Jagex and it was amazing to finally meet the team behind Runescape last week. When Club Penguin first launched in 2005 there were a handful of studios experimenting with online browser games. Fans loved the idea. Both games had explosive growth from 2005-2010, aquiring millions of new players. Runescape recently announced that they just past their 200 millionth player and…
Working on Mech Mice
Concept: Rocket Snail
Concept: Howitzer Snail
Concept: Tank Snails
Adopt your own RocketSnail
AdVenture Capitalist goes mobile
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