Cannon Cat

Clearly NASA are Cannon Cat fans as well

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:30:09 -0400

Clearly NASA are Cannon Cat fans as well

Zone 3, Stratos, is out! 40 more levels of gravity-switching,...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:29:19 -0400

Zone 3, Stratos, is out! 40 more levels of gravity-switching, flower-beam propelling fun!

Photo

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:15:36 -0400

JayIsGames writes lovely review of Cannon Cat

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:21:00 -0400

http://jayisgames.com/archives/2012/04/cannon_cat.php

Wow. Thank you everyone :)

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:52:00 -0400

The past 3 days have been a whirlwind. Don and I are still in a state of disbelief as to how well Cannon Cat has been received throughout the world. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine our first mobile game would get this much praise. We thank each and every one of you for trying out Cannon Cat, and for giving two indie developers like us a chance.

We poured our hearts, our time, and money into this game. And with your support and enthusiasm, we will continue to do so. In fact, we are currently working as fast as we can to create Zone 3, Stratos. We’ll keep you updated as things progress.

In the meantime, here are a bunch of the nice accolades we’ve received so far:

#2 New & Noteworthy Worldwide

Game of the Week in Europe & other countries

#3 free iPad App (Overall)

#1 free iPad game for Kids & Adventure

Thanks everyone! Now to boldly go where Cannon Cat has never gone before….(hint)

Great Review from AppAdvice!

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:20:48 -0400

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/04/quickadvice-cannoncat

“The game features cute graphics that look great on the Retina display of the iPhone and iPad. If you are a cat person (even in the slightest), then you should find our feline hero to be adorable — I sure did. The music is also pretty fun.”

“it’s definitely quirky and creative, which deserves some attention. It may seem extremely simple, but it’s actually pretty challenging.”

Cannon Cat’s Trailer got on the frontpage of TouchArcade!...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 01:22:44 -0400

Cannon Cat’s Trailer got on the frontpage of TouchArcade! Thanks to those lucky New Zealanders that get a hold of the game early :)

Leave a comment on the forum and give us some love:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=132197

Amazing interview of us on PocketNext!

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:00:00 -0400

Blast into the Great Unknown!

http://www.pocketnext.com/interviews/blast-into-the-great-unknown/

Some quotes:

“If you want to stand out you need to work to get an emotional reaction from people testing your app. If you don’t have that, you can forget about any chance of success.” — Don

“[You know], I just realized Cannon Cat is a perfect metaphor for game design. He keeps dying over and over again, but eventually wins. And the player doesn’t even have time to dwell on those failures. You just immediately come back and try again.” — David

Our Interview with TouchMyApps!

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:00:00 -0400

http://www.touchmyapps.com/2012/04/19/qa-with-lochearts-david-ngo-and-don-quach-from-rocket-scientist-to-game-developer/#more-67715

“Don and I only see how we can make it even better. It’s a compulsion of ours. I don’t think we ever are fully satisfied, and that’s why I think people should stick around with Cannon Cat and experience all the fresh new mechanics and content we have lined up.” — David

How Cannon Cat has evolved

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 19:52:00 -0400

Here’s a sort of wide-angle view of how Cannon Cat has evolved visually. This is just a small subset too. I can’t tell you how many variations of clouds, cats, robots, interfaces, and icons we went through. Iteration is the key to getting to something great.

Preview on AppAdvice!

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:13:08 -0400

“What a crazy, fantastic place Cannon Cat’s world is.”

“A cute game with endearing characters and enjoyable gameplay”

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/04/cannon-cat

Join our Facebook Launch Event!

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:03:00 -0400

To help remind everyone to download and rate Cannon Cat on April 26th (next Thursday), we’ve created a Facebook event.

https://www.facebook.com/events/252145858214776/

It has all the links and videos and such you need to share with your friends and reminds you to join all of us in celebrating the launch of Cannon Cat.

We don’t have any marketing money, so we rely solely on nice people like yourself to spread the word. So please join and invite your friends as well :)

Our new updated Trailer! Launch date: April 26th!

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:07:00 -0400

Our new updated Trailer! Launch date: April 26th!

Mention on IndieGames!

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 18:05:56 -0400

We got another mention on IndieGames :)

http://indiegames.com/2012/04/trailer_cannon_cat_loqheart.html

Gamezebo's Preview of Cannon Cat!

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:30:38 -0400

Cats can fly in Loqheart’s Cannon Cat for iOS, though they still require the assistance of a cannon (not to mention an adorable flight suit).

Click here to read the entire article

Funny Photoshoot

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:37:05 -0400

Instead of just a pixel-graphic version of us,

here’s finally some real-life pictures. We did a small photoshoot for an upcoming interview, and even included some cut-outs from Cannon Cat to lighten things up.

Thanks to Emily for being our awesome photographer and capturing these ridiculous moments :)

Introducing the very first Cannon Plush Toy!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:49:13 -0400

In celebration of completing Cannon Cat, I stayed up till 2 am last night hand-sewing our very first Cannon Cat plush toy!

Cannon even celebrated by blasting fireworks all over my screen! :)

Eat your heart out Angry Birds ^__^

Cannon Cat is Completed!

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:30:13 -0400

We just completed Cannon Cat, and are in the process of wrapping it up and sending it to Apple! *Crossed fingers* We hope they like it.

What do you think? Is the bow too much?

Push Forward

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:19:00 -0400

Reflecting on David’s earlier post, I thought I might share some of my experiences as well. I’ve been down that road of self-doubt, caring what the doubters think, poor health, the isolation and all the crap that comes with striking it out on your own to make your visions come true.

I’ve earned my gray hairs as a result of treading the entrepreneurial creator’s path. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

- What do you get when you don’t get what you want? Experience. Failure is for those who refuse to learn the lessons of their prior attempts, and who refuse to try again. Keeping learning, keep trying and when you cross the tipping point success will be achieved.

- You’re only as alone as you want to be. Sometimes being alone is a good thing to focus and find your own creative spark. Other times reach out to get feedback and get out of your own head to see things from others’ point of view.

- Poor health in my case was a choice to save money or time over my health. Now, I’ve made it a habit of working out and eating healthily otherwise I’d feel terrible. I stopped stashing money in my ROTH IRA, saving up for when I’m 65 and instead of investing it in stocks I’m investing it in my own stock (health, mind, and endeavors).

- Motivation gets substituted for compulsion. When you remove motivation and have a goal that must be accomplished the only thing you need after that are the resources to achieve the goal. If you keep going, after a while your goals end up being the only thing left worth doing, and it becomes a way of life.

The rain has stopped. Time to hit the sack.

-Don

The Moment of Truth

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:10:00 -0400

It’s 4:40am.

Once again, my mind is racing and I can’t sleep. I was literally dreaming about how I could improve my game the entire night, and had to wake up just to get some rest…from my sleep.

This is the moment of truth.

But not because in 2 weeks we’re going to release the game and see whether our game is going to be successful or not. And not because in 1 week, we’re going through Apple’s approval process and sending out our game to a bunch of review sites.

But because this is the unique moment in time when I can reflect on this entire process of being an indie game developer, and NOT be tainted by whether the game was a hit or not.

See, in a few weeks, I’ll either look back on all of this and think, “It was all worth it” or I will still be grinding and improving on this game, kicking myself about what I could have done better. But none of that really should change the reality of what it’s like making your own game, starting your own business, and whether you wake up everyday to continue doing it.

So for now, I can speak truthfully about what it’s like and what I’ve done. And I can say one thing to all the people who want to go out on their own and become an indie game developer:

THIS IS NOT A PLEASANT EXPERIENCE

Be prepared for fights with your loved ones over whether it’s worth it or not. Whether you should go out and get a job. Fights with yourself everyday over that same question. Sleepless nights, ruining your health, and months without seeing any friends or going out to have fun. I’m already somewhat of an introvert, and I can say this has been the most isolating period of my life. All I think about is one thing. My game. And that’s terrible in a lot of ways. I forget almost everything else in my life. I don’t have time or money to spend on family/friends, on college reunions, on traveling, or even on going out to dinner. I’ve never eaten so much ramen and McDonald’s in my life. I never thought I’d be more poor and sleep-deprived than when I was at MIT. But here I am.

And yet, despite all this. I keep doing it.

Why? Because I am compelled to. Just like anyone else chasing a dream or following their passion. You just do it. It is who you are. Because working for someone else, compromising your values…kills your soul. Anything else would be MUCH worse. And it really doesn’t matter whether this game is a hit or not. Because I know I will still wake up everyday and continue creating and improving my craft.

Will it make it all feel better if Cannon Cat is a huge hit? Of course. Will it make it feel much worse if it flops? Of course. That is why this is a singular moment of clarity. Where nobody else’s opinion can taint my view of what I am doing with my life. And in this moment I can honestly say….

I LOVE MY LIFE. AND I LOVE THIS GAME. IT IS THE BEST THING I’VE CREATED IN MY LIFE.

Never give up. It’s all worth it, to be able to say that to yourself.

-David