Johannes Hubert, head of the one-man independent game studio Spyn Doctor Games, announces that he plans to release his newest game Your Doodles Are Bugged! on Xbox LIVE Indie Games in February 2010, without first submitting it to the software rating boards for an age rating.
Initial plans for the new game were to create an "ultra-violent, blood-and-gore splatter fest" that would ensure an all important Mature/Adult rating, that could be used as a valuable marketing tool to create the maximum possible appeal for gamers in the intended target audience. This genius marketing plan has however been foiled by recent revelations during the final testing phase of the release candidate of the game. A submission to a rating board seems therefore pointless, as it would most likely only result in a "Suitable for Everyone" rating anyway, which has no usefulness for marketing whatsoever.
"I am very disappointed about how things turned out. When I had a look at the release candidate, it turned out that there were no Zombies at all, no decapitation, no blood spatters or other gory effects - instead there were quaint doodles everywhere, with those charming little bugs with cute squeaky voices swarming all over them. Disgusting! But I am too late in development to change this now, so all I can do is to release the game, write it off and move on. If this weren't a one-man studio, I'm sure that heads would be rolling by now!"
The pitiful game play that the player now has to deal with revolves around those cute and squeaky bugs, which apparently have been hexed into the magic doodles of Doodleus the Master Doodler. Armed only with a magic pen, it is the task of the player to help the bugs to escape from the doodles, by drawing new lines, connections, bridges, stairways and whatnot into the doodles, to build a path to the magic honey. In addition to lots of levels that were lovingly hand-doodled in a quaint and unique art style, offering hours of doodling-fun, and tiny bugs that populate these doodles in the hundreds, the game also features unlockable content as well as local and global speed-run record lists, that allow the player to see how well he does in comparison to other players in his home and worldwide.
The game is scheduled to be released on Xbox LIVE Indie Games in February 2010, for 80 MSP.
http://www.spyn-doctor.de/doodles/