A group of software developers, graphic artists, and technology consultants have come together to form Vendetta Studios. Their first product, a single and multiplayer game for the iPhone/iPod Touch, launches this month.Their first release, called OMNIBALL, is a ping-pong game with a futuristic feel. Jason David Cook, designer and lead artist for Omniball, talks about this inspiration: "We wanted to take something as simple as the 2D ping-pong genre, and take it in a new direction. And that's literally what we did: we took it in every direction, to the full 360 degrees. That's where the name came from, Omniball, and that's also what makes it unique."
In Omniball, players rotate color-coded paddles around a circular arena to prevent a color-changing ball from exiting the ring. Multiplayer puts a new spin on things: while of course you can play a single friend on the same device, you can also play up to three friends using their own device. That's right, four devices: Bluetooth to the rescue. This feature will allow up to four players to band together from their iPhone or iPod Touch for a few matches of some sweet, sweet Omniball action.
Many great games have come from big studios with multi-million dollar budgets, but Vendetta Studios was established to show that even the simplest ideas can be innovative, and that hard work can bring great games to the floor.
"We're here to prove that we can create original and enjoyable material in a non-conformist way," says Brian Mangum, project lead for Omniball at Vendetta. He affirms, "you can tell as soon as the game starts that we want our premiere title to be a hit. Polished art, audio, and rewarding game play are a few of the solid features found in this futuristic, yet retro title."
So, what's ahead for Vendetta?
Brian's thoughts were, "We want to bring new experiences to players and break the paradigm through passion."
Jason commented, "Now that doesn't mean we're always trying to reinvent the wheel. Sure, sometimes we'll try to build a brand new car, but other times we'll take a familiar car and travel down new roads with it." He continued on to say, "I think our biggest strength is that while we want to explore new areas, just like anyone does, we can still appreciate simplicity. So with those concepts coupled together, the online download market seems like an obvious avenue for us. It's new and exciting, but it's also the simplest and most direct way ever to bring developers and gamers together. I guess you could say we're an advocate of that kind of 'entertainment proliferation'. That's what makes the iTunes App Store such a good fit for us. In the future, we'd like to branch out and develop content for other download services such as Xbox Live Arcade, the Playstation Network, and WiiWare."
Omniball will be available in the iTunes App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch in mid-October 2009. Stay tuned for more details and what's next for Vendetta Studios.