Ow My Balls! The game

Today was a difficult day for My Balls.

Late last night we released the game to the app store. Shortly after we released it we started getting reports from friends of crashing bugs that we had not encountered. At first it seemed like these were anomalies, but as the day went on it was clear that there was a bug causing significant crashes that we hadn’t caught.

So you’re going to have to wait just a little longer for My Balls. Hopefully mid-late next week, depending on how long the approval process takes. Sorry for the delay, but we just can’t allow broken balls to ship.

We’re all setup to ship tomorrow. Unfortunately there is an issue with our iTunes Connect account that continues to hold the game back. We’re working every channel we can to try to get this resolved. As soon as it is, the game will be in the store. Patience… Patience… Patience…

We’re excited to announce that Ow My Balls! will be available in the App Store this Wednesday 4/22. You may see it as early as Tuesday depending on when the iTunes Store gets updated. We’ll have download links up here as soon as it is available.

Look for more exciting news coming from us including promo videos very shortly.

Here we go!

UPDATE: Still waiting for our iTunes Connect account to be converted. As soon as that’s done we’re in.

Caught a great piece this morning on indie game development on On The Media. Definitely worth a listen for all indie game developers out there. We’re part of a revolution.

LISTEN TO: On The Media – DIY Gaming

This week on the “Time Machine” radio show I told the story of Ow My Balls! from conception to completion. While this blog is entertaining, the radio show is funnier.

LISTEN TO: The Story of Ow My Balls – Live on “The Time Machine” show on vSide 88.7FM

The story is put to music by fantastic artists like Common Market, Immortal Technique, Pink Floyd, Tricky, Smashing Pumpkins, and Jay-Z. Guaranteed 45 minutes of entertainment.

I’d like to take this opportunity to plug my favorite entertainment destination vSide. I co-host a show on vSide with my good friend and My Balls sound engineer John Greene. Awesome place to hang out; drop by every other Thursday for our show.

We are happy to announce that “Ow My Balls!” has been approved for the App Store and will go on sale for the iPhone and iPod Touch soon. This is a great moment for My Balls. Soon they will shine for the whole world to see. For now we are tying up some loose ends. We did not expect to make it in the store this week, so we’ve got a small bit of catching up to do.

We would like to thank everyone who has helped to make Ow My Balls! a reality. This was a massive undertaking that took way longer than expected, and it couldn’t have happened without the support and contribution of many people.

Contributors:
Josh Michaels (Development, Business)
Tim Smith (Art, Illustration, and Animation)
Eva Agus (Character Art)
Brad Smith (Development Support)
John Greene (Sound Engineering)

Play Testers:
Marijane, Moshen, Leslie, Igor, Joshua, Dave, and countless others whose face we shoved the game in.

Thank you.

If you think it’s funny when a dude gets kicked in the balls, wait till you see a bear get a nutshot! Enjoy:

After much thought and discussion we have identified a set of changes that will allow the game into the App Store. I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the App Review team at Apple who have taken the time to listen to our situation and offered excellent suggestions on how to make the game appropriate.

I learned something today. It’s really easy to look at Apple as this big abstract entity that acts as one. Some days it’s good, some days it’s evil, some days it’s amazing, and others disappointing. The reality is underneath Apple is a group of extremely dedicated and hard working people just trying to do the best they can to push technology into the future.

The App Review process has some issues. Any young process like this will have issues, especially when placed under heavy load. We as a developer community should be doing whatever we can to help fix them rather than complaining about it being broken. I look forward to contributing my experiences and perspective to help make this process better.

Today is a great day for My Balls

Through some extended networking we’ve managed to get in contact with some very kind people in the App Review team. They have treated us with the utmost respect and we would like to thank them for helping us understand the issues with Ow My Balls. After several weeks of desperation today there is hope.

OK it’s time to lighten up the mood. It’s time for some nut cracking action. So here’s the single best ball hit video I found on YouTube. Enjoy.