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| Type | Video game developer |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 31st, 2008 |
| Founder | Chris Ulm, Farzad Varahramyan, Paul O'Connor, Rick Olafsson, Emmanuel Valdez |
Appy Entertainment, Inc., is an American video-game developer focusing primarily on mobile and tablet devices. [1]
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Appy Entertainment was founded on October 31st, 2008 by Chris Ulm, Farzad Varahramyan, Paul O'Connor, Rick Olafsson and Emmanuel Valdez, all former executives of High Moon Studios. [2]
Appy is located at their "Secret Worldwide Headquarters", a loft-style office above an Irish Pub in Carlsbad, California. [3]
Since their inception, Appy has released a number of critically acclaimed and commercially successful products with over 20 million downloads to date.
Appy Newz / Appy Newz Lite (2009)
Users create tabloid covers from photographs and a library of images and share them with their friends.
FaceFighter / FaceFighter Lite (2009)
A comedic first person fighting game where users fight a variety of crazy enemies with an even crazier array of weapons and finishing moves. Users can also import their own fighters using photographs, beat them up and send an image of their humiliated Foe to their friends. FaceFighter (in its various incarnations) has been downloaded over 15 million times.
Weekly World News (2009)
A modified version of Appy Newz themed around the Weekly World News tabloid.
Zombie Pizza / Zombie Pizza Lite (2009)
An arcade puzzle game where the player must fend off Zombie hoards with a variety of disgusting Pizza. Zombie Pizza was award-nominated for its cacophony of gruesome sound effects.
FaceFighter Gold (2010)
An expanded version of FaceFighter with more enemies, weapons and finishing moves. This was the first Appy product to feature in-app purchases.
FaceFighter Gold for Android / FaceFighter Lite for Android (2010)
A conversion of FaceFighter Gold for Android devices. Appy caused a minor stir at a GDC talk regarding the conversion process by revealing the startlingly high proportion of pirated versions of FaceFighter Gold being used on the Android platform.
FaceFighter Face2Face (2010)
An iPad only version of FaceFighte r featuring higher resolution graphics and a "Face2Face" mode where two players could fight each other on the same iPad.
Bright Light (2010)
A utility designed to use the new light features of the iPhone 4.
Make-Up Mirror (2010)
A utility designed to use the new camera features of the iPhone 4.
Tune Runner / Tune Runner Fusion (2010)
A drawing game with a dancing robot that uses the music on the players iPhone to generate levels. Players with the same songs can compete against each other on international scoreboards. To play the player used "Batteries" which, with poor play, would run out and require purchasing as in-app purchase. Players could pay for "Fusion Power" (unlimited batteries) in the Free App or download Tune Runner Fusion which had Fusion Power already enabled.
Trucks and Skulls / Trucks and Skulls HD / Trucks and Skulls Lite (2010)
A physics based puzzle game featuring an outrageous selection of heavy-metal monster trucks facing off against giant skulls in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Described by the press as "Angry Birds for Dudes". The HD iPad version is notable for coming with a Level Editor which can be used to create custom game levels. These levels can then be shared with other players. Trucks and Skulls won "Best Action Game" at the 2010 148 Apps Awards.
All-In-1 ZombieBox (2010)
A compilation of 10 Zombie Themed games including Appy's own Zombie Pizza.
Candy Rush (2011)
An arcade puzzle game that borrows heavily from Zombie Pizza in terms of gameplay but replaces the disgusting pizza setting for a cutesy candy store.
Trucks and Skulls for OSX (2011)
An OSX version of Trucks and Skulls released for the newly available OSX App Store.
FaceFighter Ultimate (2011)
A large update to FaceFighter that pivoted the entire game from Premium to Free-to-Play.
Trucks and Skulls Nitro / Trucks and Skulls Nitro HD (2011)
A large update to Trucks and Skulls that pivoted the entire game from Premium to in-app purchase monetization. New Truck Skins, Truck Abilities and Nitro Boost were added to the game.
SpellCraft School of Magic (2011)
An RPG and Appy's first product designed from the outset to use in-app purchase monetization. The player becomes a student at the SpellCraft School of Magic where they learn to harvest magical plants, brew spells and quest in a deadly (and infinite) dungeon to rescue all the missing teachers. SpellCraft School of Magic won "Best Free to Play Game" and "Best Role Playing Game" at the 20111 148 Apps Awards.
Animal Legends (2012)
An adventure game where the player builds a village then recruits, equips and controls an army of animal warriors, mages and rogues against a bestiary of cute and crazy animal foes. A unique feature of this game is that players can use heroes created by their Facebook friends in battle.
While Appy began with a traditional premium pricing approach for their games, they have since switched to a free-to-play model. They have also changed the pricing model of existing games like Trucks & Skulls from premium to free-to-play monetization. [4]
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Amazon Underground was an Android app offered by Amazon through which people could freely download and obtain in-app items that they otherwise had to pay money to purchase. Amazon used the catchphrase "Actually Free" to describe the policy, and affirmed that Amazon Underground was not a one-time or temporary offer but was here to stay. Participation by app developers in the program was voluntary. Amazon compensated app developers based on the time that users spent within the app, at a flat rate of $0.002 per user minute.
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Maguss was a free-to-play location-based mobile MMORPG with a fantasy theme for iOS and Android. The game offered players a wizarding experience, allowing them to cast spells by drawing glyphs, collect ingredients, brew various potions, battle magical creatures, and duel other players for glory and treasure. The game's shutdown was announced in April 2020.
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