New York City based Happymonitor Games Studio announced their debut iOS game today,Islands of Diamonds expected February 2012 on the App Store. The game will initially be launched with Retina display support for the iPhone 4, 4S, and latest generation iPod touch with a dedicated iPad release to follow shortly thereafter.
Happymonitor Games Studio was formed by husband-and-wife team Paul Chambers and Zoe Chan, both Creative Directors with several years experience working in New York for advertising, technology and film companies. Paul has found prior success developing a number of successful Flash powered games both independently and for clients as“Advertainment” but had been looking for an outlet for his passion to move beyond Flash. He found that in Unity Technologies’ Unity Game Development Tool:
Paul: “Unity is really fantastic. It’s allowed me to take my ActionScript skills from Flash development and translate them quickly into a fully three-dimensional environment. Unity allows for rapid prototyping so we can make sure the core game-play is solid as quickly as possible.” “Islands of Diamonds is my opportunity to bring aspects of two of my past passions to life. I always loved Paul Shirley’s 8-bit UK hit Spindizzy and felt the core game-play would work well on a touch device. I coupled that desire with the colorful tropical environments I loved so much from Zelda’s Windwaker. Those were islands I wanted to visit again and so the idea for Islands of Diamonds was born.”
Zoe: “Paul’s keen to bring a gamer’s approach to iOS. Among other things, I’m working on checks-and-balances ,making sure that that game-play is also the right kind of pick-up-and-play for modern Smartphone habits. Game-play that works as a nibble here and there is important for success on today’s platform and my gaming expectations.”
Progress on the development of Islands of Diamonds can be followed at the game’s official website, IslandsOfDiamonds.com or by joining the game’s official fan page on Facebook. For more information, email media@islandsofdiamonds.com
