I have been a big fan of developer Ogre Pixel for a number of years now, with such great mobile game releases as Warcher Defenders (Free) and Swipe Casters (Free). So I was pretty excited to finally meet face to face at GDC 2018 and check out two of Ogre Pixel’s upcoming games. First up is a game I feel has enormous promise as it’s a concept I haven’t seen done anywhere before. The game is called Jumper Jon and it’s a Metroidvania style platforming adventure, but with one huge twist: You play the game in 30-second chunks. Each time you start a game you’re given 30 seconds to explore and collect whatever you can, and when that time runs out you’re dead. Luckily you’ll get to keep whatever items you obtained, so for the next 30 second chunk you’ll be able to get just a little bit further than before. I’m probably doing a bad job of describing it but when you see it in action in the following video you can see just how novel an idea it is. Ogre Pixel is hoping to launch Jumper Jon sometime this year.

Following that, Ogre Pixel was showing a game that’s a little further along in development. It’s called Pixel Stars and it’s an extremely simplified runner with an extensive character collection mechanic based around famous personalities from the world of video games and movies. It’s all done in a parody fashion so don’t expect to see the REAL stars these character are based on, but it’s certainly not hard to figure out who is who. With Ogre Pixel’s proficiency in pixel art, it makes unlocking and playing with all these different characters a ton of fun as they absolutely capture the essence of each one. See Pixel Stars in action in the video below and look for it to launch in a month or two.