It seems crazy that the release of Jack B. Nimble ($1.99) was well over a year ago, back in September of 2014. This plucky little runner combined the simplistic running and jumping of a typical runner but added in an extra dimension with the ability to crack a whip mid-jump, making it feel like the lovechild of Canabalt ($2.99) and Castlevania. We really enjoyed it in our review, and two post-release updates sweetened the pot by adding in two extra environments, two new color palettes, Game Center integration, and an extra playable character. Since its last update in December of 2014, Jack B. Nimble hasn’t seen a whole lot of love, mostly due to it being the passion project of sole developer Sean Noonan. There have been big plans in the works for the game, they just haven’t had a chance to come to fruition.
Well recently Mr. Noonan began a new developer video log series on his YouTube channel talking about the many new things that are going to be implemented into Jack B. Nimble. The first dev log video from a couple of weeks ago is focused on menu flow and UI changes, and while very interesting and certainly worth watching, it’s a little light on gameplay. The second video embedded below shows off plenty of new features like new playable characters, new themes, new levels and more.
If you missed out on Jack B. Nimble previously and enjoy a good runner, definitely check it out. One of its greatest strengths is that in a world full of runners stuffed with too many mechanics, power-ups, in-game currencies, timers, social sharing, and more, it keeps things nice and simple, but still has clever scoring mechanics to keep it engaging. Like I mentioned before, Jack B. Nimble has a similar simplicity to Canabalt along with a nice snappy pace. The additions being added to it don’t seem like they’ll muddle the experience either, only add to it.
There’s no word on exactly when the next Jack B. Nimble update will hit, but there are tons and tons of animated .gifs and updates on the game’s progress in the forum thread, so be sure to check that out and we’ll let you know when there’s more news to share.
