This is all great news for independent game developers like us, but imagine our surprise when the new re-styled games homepage in iTunes was released and Uggles was a featured game!

Yes, for the second time our first iTouch game Uggles – Collect Them All has been featured in the “What we’re playing” section in iTunes. With all eyes focussed on the new style store I am sure Apple would have considered carefully the games and applications being featured, so to say we are “rather pleased” would probably be the understatement of the year so far. Clearly the spike in revenue we will see in the coming weeks is very welcome, but the kudos of our little indie game being featured twice is just astounding. Did I mention we’ve been featured TWICE!

How did we do it? Not sure really, we are true to our indie development status and don’t have huge marketing budgets (at least not for Uggles). I guess the only advice is to develop a game you love and anything else is a bonus. We’ve had hit and miss successes with the big review sites, although, one stand out is Slide To Play, who have given Uggles a ‘Must have’ rating (their highest score) (thanks guys), and a massive thank you to Apple Inc, without your amazing SDK and hardware none of this could be possible.

Game #2 is progressing well and expect an announcement soon. If it sees a fraction of the success of Uggles we’ll be very happy indeed!

If you haven’t already played Uggles you can download directly from iTunes here.

Now you can wear / display your favorite Uggles anywhere you like, to celebrate Uggles fantastic success on the iPhone App Store we’ve set up a selection of official merchandise.

We will be adding the remaining unlock-able Uggles very soon!

Also, Uggles 1.5 is in final testing and will introduce Uggle Net, more details coming soon.

Uggles has received fantastic reviews from slideToPlay and theAppera.

#1 Slide to Play Review
#2 theAppera Review

Thanks guys and we’re delighted you’re all enjoying the game!

We are also planning to add a FREE lite version for those still on the fence

Uggles 1.2

Uggles 1.2 has been accepted ( in less than 5 days!) and is now available as a free update to all existing customers.

This is a big update and introduces the Collectable framework. Players now unlock collectable achievements and can display them in the in-game display case. We will be releasing new content regularly including new unlockables and new environments.

Here are some screenshots of 1.2 in action.

Uggles 1.3 should be submitted later this week!

We’ll do a full post once it’s available on iTunes but in the meantime here is 1.2 in action…

Uggles 1.2

Collectables are now fully implemented, and we’re just completing the last round of testing. We should be submitting to Apple later this week.

As mentioned before, collectables will be added weekly from 1.2 onwards.

I’m here to tell you Uggles may be simple to control, but I’m willing to bet the farm you won’t find it so easy or casual after a few minutes of play. In fact the game can become quite frustrating, and that is where the addiction begins.

In the meantime here are some screen shots.