Hey! I figured since I have always announced my new games here on these forums (even though the games have not actually used Allegro in years), here we go again: me and my friend released a new mobile puzzler earlier this month. The game is called Oddhop, and I think the game is quite unique -- definitely not a match-3, like couple of my earlier releases have been! Which is nice.

Anyway, to describe the game: think Peg Solitaire with cute creatures instead of pegs and feature-filled terrains instead of a wooden board with holes in it. Add lush graphics, innovative game mechanics, charming atmosphere, and over 100 challenging puzzles and you get Oddhop!

It's free on Android and $1.99 / 1,99€ on the App Store. Check it out and leave comments below if you find time to try it! Don't let the disarmingly cute appearances fool you, some of the puzzles are quite tricky!

Oddhop on the App Store
Oddhop on the Google Play
Launch trailer
More info on the game!

Thanks for the interest!

Hey there.

I'm not usually a fan of these kinds of games, but this one looks pretty good! Judging from the trailer alone, the art style looks good. I like the cute characters and good use of color. The gameplay looks nice as well.

By the way, if you're not using Allegro, what are you using to write your games these days?

Best of luck to you!

I appreciate you sharing it with us. The permissions look reasonable so I'm excited to give it a try!

Thanks guys! I've previously used my own custom engines for all my games, but for Oddhop I decided to use Unity since I've been interested in trying it for years.

I'm bit of an Unity fanboy these days actually, it has its own issues and quirks, but as a parent of 3 kids and little free time, I appreciate not having to do everything myself! I don't have the urge nor the time to do custom engines any more. Plus I like C#, haven't missed C++ all that much.

I finally got a chance to play it tonight. I'm not really one to care for casual games, but I must admit this is very well done. There are failure conditions and multiple levels of success to let the player achieve as much as they care to. There are multiple levels of complexity with regards to the "pieces" and "tiles" and the varieties in which they can be combined. The puzzles can get pretty complex and require you to explore all the options. And there appears to be a very good number of available puzzles. I like it. I made it through the intro and about 21/24 of the first block or however many there are before I quit for the night. No real complaints. It's a pretty good time waster and if you manage to earn a decent income from the ads or ad-removal then you deserve it.

Thanks bamccaig! I'm glad you like the game. We've got a few new gameplay mechanic ideas (and of course new puzzles), but it remains to be seen if it's worthwhile to implement them. Currently very few people know of the game, we've been struggling to get press coverage, which is unfortunate, considering ~95% of player comments we've seen have been positive.

Personally I'm happy to have the game out after these 2+ years, but can't deny I'm also a bit disappointed that nobody posted about our launch (we had a 50% off sale, too). Oh well, gotta keep trying. Spread the word if you enjoyed it and know of somebody who might too!

Well done! A beautifully polished game with lots of interesting puzzle mechanics.

My only gripe is that I struggle to think very far ahead, which results in me mostly resorting to trial and error. It's still fun, but not fun enough to be truly addictive.

I think I made it about half way through the world with the lilly-pads.

Unfortunately the market these days is incredibly competitive. As I was telling my colleagues, if I make enough to buy myself a good steak, then I will judge my Android game to have been a success.

I wouldn't worry too much. You've created something of high quality that is worth being proud of.

My only gripe so far is that the game appears to not have saved my progress... So when I returned to it I was annoyed to find myself starting off at the beginning again. And I just don't have the time nor patience to repeat the levels.

Thanks James!

Alright, fair enough! So you'd say the levels are not too easy, then? When developing we got to the point where we could see many solutions instantly and only some levels remain challenging. But from the comments we've seen so far it's probably not too easy for most people. Which is good.

Really? Did the progress just reset, and you had to do the intro again, or just lost stars on some levels? If you background the game mid-level that one level will reset if the app is purged from memory, but progress should save on every level completion. You're on Android, right? Which device? In any case that's not good at all. Haven't seen any data loss on my own testing, but you never know.

My bad, Mika. I realized it was my mistake last night. I think that I had played originally on my tablet and attempted to continue on from my phone.

Missed this one, thanks for the kind words! I am proud of the game (especially considering my last few games have been match-3 thingies!). Just shame that nobody wants to review it, at least in the US (which is the main market, most of the players on my old mobile games are from the US). I've seen a couple of European reviews (positive, from what I could tell thru translation) but nothing in English. Don't really know why the press doesn't want to touch it. We have marketing budget of zero, so I guess I just gotta give it time. Maybe word of mouth gets it going at some point. Maybe not.

Phew! Btw if you want to sync your progress, sign into the Google Games thingy and it should keep the devices in sync. Get some achievements too!

I like the atmosphere. Is this being advertised as a Halloween game? You could play up that aspect, when the season arrives.

Thanks! Not really a Halloween themed game, but it is a good idea. Perhaps zombify all the creatures and so on? Spooky version of the theme music? Originally we actually meant to do very gory deaths for the eaten creatures, body parts and blood flying about the playfield, but in the end decided against it. Maybe for the Halloween-edition, then?