It was time for a new office.

We enjoyed the time we spent in our old office but it was time for a little upgrade. Here are some shots of the old office. These were taken on moving day so there is a little more clutter than normal but you get the idea.

Here is the new and improved stuff. What do you think?

Keflings DLC To Arrive Oct. 26!

In t-minus 8 days the new DLC for A World of Keflings, "It Came From Outer Space", will set down on Xbox Live Arcade. The new add-on, which includes a new alien-themed kingdom, will increase the game's total content by more than 30% and add two to four extra hours of gameplay.

"It Came From Outer Space" is set to release on Wednesday Oct. 26 and will be priced at 320 Microsoft Points.

A World of Keflings DLC Finally Announced!

Alien DLC On Its Way For A World of Keflings

NinjaBee announces 'It Came From Outer Space'

They're coming. Unexpected visitors will soon set down in A World of Keflings when indie video games developer NinjaBee releases "It Came From Outer Space" in the coming weeks. The first DLC announced for the hit Xbox LIVE Arcade city-building game, "It Came From Outer Space" will add a new, alien-themed kingdom to the Kefling world, adding hours of additional gameplay and content.

"It Came From Outer Space" includes a full cast of Kefling-sized alien characters and an entirely new kingdom where, playing as their Xbox Avatar, players can build an entire alien city for their extra-planetary friends.

"Aliens have crash-landed in the Kefling world and you and the Keflings need to use your mad building skills to get them home," said Mike Nielsen, lead designer on the DLC. "You'll be building giant robots, crazy alien structures, and even robotic Keflings all in the name of repairing their mother ship. There's plenty of new stuff to explore - a new kingdom, new characters, new resources, new buildings... It's pretty substantial."

A release date and price are not currently available.

About A World of Keflings

A World of Keflings was first released on December 22, 2010 and is exclusively available on Xbox Live Arcade. A sequel to A Kingdom for Keflings, A World of Keflings allows players to play as their Xbox Avatar and go on an adventure to help a tiny people called Keflings build up cities in kingdoms across their world. An easy-going city-builder, A World of Keflings is surprisingly addictive. The game is one of the premier Avatar titles on XBLA, allowing players to play as, and fully control, their Avatar.

Trashing Hopes and Dreams

NinjaBee moved to a new and shiny office. In the process of cleaning up I threw away a bag full materials submitted by artists who had recently applied. The trash bag, that was destined for the back corner of the dumpster on a rainy Saturday afternoon, represented many hopes and dreams. A lot of time was spent crafting a perfect resume, choosing the right paper and burning a CD. For a brief second I felt a twinge of guilt as I flung the trash bag into the smelly pile. It simply had to be done.

A note to future applicants: A link to a blog or web site can be stored on a list for a long time. A CD or folder with a printed resume will eventually hit the trash cans.

NinjaBee at PAX!

If you're gonna be at PAX in Seattle this weekend make sure you stop by our booth (#3806) and say hi!

This is our first time ever having a booth at the show, so we put together some new NinjaBee gear for the occasion. You like?

If you swing by, you might just get a chance to bring home your very own Kefling :)

Akimi Village Party

To celebrate the launch of Akimi Village we held a little party in the park, NinjaBee style.

The dragon from the game came to life in cupcake form ... and then was devoured by his creators.

NinjaBee in the news

When a video game topic came up in the local  news they turned to the real experts for an opinion.

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top_stories/story/Utah-reacts-to-ruling-on-video-game-ban/1DC8SND9EEG2wtPItu9vCA.cspx

Video Game Developer Softball Tournament

It comes as no surprise that, generally speaking, we who work in the video game industry aren't the most athletically gifted bunch. But that doesn't stopped us from trying.

Last weekend NinjaBee was invited to a Utah video game developer softball tournament. There's a decent community of game devs located around Salt Lake City, and we get together from time to time for stuff like this.

We finished the tournament with a respectable 2-2 record. We lost to EA and Disney Interactive but picked up wins against Epic's local studio Chair Entertainment (Shadow Complex, Infinity Blade) and Smartbomb Interactive (Snoopy Flying Ace). Therefore: Keflings > Shadow Complex :) Yes? No? I guess we'll let you figure that one out. Hope you like the pics.

Akimi Village Releases on PSN!

NinjaBee is officially on the PS3! Our newest game, Akimi Village is now available to download on the PSN! Check out the trailer and press release below.

NINJABEE AND SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT PRESENT AKIMI VILLAGE, NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON PLAYSTATION®NETWORK

OREM, UTAH and SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - June 15, 2011 – Akimi Village, the city-building simulation game from NinjaBee, published by Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), is now available exclusively on the PlayStation®Network for USD $9.99.

Those familiar with NinjaBee's previous city-building titles, A Kingdom for Keflings and A World of Keflings, will assuredly enjoy the gameplay of Akimi Village. Set on a mysterious floating island in the sky where the tiny Akimi villagers are trapped in the tight grip of the Gloom's thick shadow. Players must help the Akimi by putting the villagers to work harvesting and refining resources, unlocking a huge set of blueprints in order to rebuild their village, spread the light and purify the island from the Gloom's dark power.

"We are extremely excited to release our first game on the PlayStation®Network as we’ve definitely made something special just for PlayStation®3 gamers," said Brent Fox, Art Director at NinjaBee. “Akimi Village is about much more than just building a city; it's about freeing a people and their island from darkness by closely managing resources and securing blueprints to construct buildings, developing land and building a beautiful living city!”

“At SOE we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver immersive play experiences for a diversity of gamers,” said Christopher Sturr, Executive Director of Business Development, SOE. “Akimi Village absolutely accentuates our portfolio and features unique and fun non-combat centric gameplay that engages players regardless of their age or gaming background.”
Akimi Village is rated E for Everyone and is now available exclusively on the PlayStation Network for USD $9.99. Akimi Village is scheduled to be available in European territories on June 22.

For additional information and assets, please visit:
http://www.soepress.com/release.asp?i=417

Puke-Happy Ooga Arrives Today on PC

Steam, Direct2Drive release Ancients of Ooga with free DLC

Like most things swallowed by its strange cast of characters, Ancients of Ooga is about to come up for a second appearance - this time on PC. But when the game finally does spew forth today it will include new downloadable content, "The Forgotten Chapters," for free!

"The PC version comes with the new 'The Forgotten Chapters' DLC we released earlier this week on Xbox Live Arcade - but for free," said John Nielson, founder of Bacon Wrapped Games. "It adds seven all-new levels intermixed straight into the game's main adventure."

In Ancients of Ooga's 50-plus levels players fight to liberate their enslaved Oogani tribesmen and resurrect their murdered chiefs. Each level presents new challenges and puzzles that must be solved in order to unlock and wield the lost powers of the seven Oogani tribes. And, of course, players draw heavily on the Ooganis' ability to eat and puke just about anything they can get their hands on.

In addition to the added DLC, the PC version of Ancients of Ooga has been updated to include new features like extra achievements, while the Steam version also adds Steam Stats.

"Ooga's achievement count more than doubled for PC," Nielson said. "It now stands at 25 - the original 12 from the Xbox and another 13, new for PC."

Ancients of Ooga was developed jointly by indie developers Bacon Wrapped Games and NinjaBee,. The studios consider the game to be the spiritual successor to their previous hit, Cloning Clyde, another platformer that recently released on Steam and Direct2Drive. Both games were previously exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade.

The PC incarnation of this bizarre, regurgitation-happy platformer lands on Steam and Direct2Drive for 9.99 USD (£7.99 / €9.99) and 9.95 USD (£7.95 / €9.95) respectively.

To download the full or trial version of Ancients of Ooga on Direct2Drive visit: http://www.direct2drive.com/10938/product/Buy-Ancients-of-Ooga-Download

The game will become available on Steam later this afternoon: http://store.steampowered.com/

Ancients of Ooga Gets DLC

The Forgotten Chapters arrives on XBLA for 160 MS Points

Today NinjaBee and Bacon Wrapped Games released "The Forgotten Chapters," a new add-on for their bizarre action platformer, Ancients of Ooga on Xbox Live Arcade.

"The Forgotten Chapters" adds seven all-new levels to the game's main campaign and includes new puzzles to solve, more enemies to fight and extra characters to rescue and recruit. The downloadable content pack continues the story of the Oogani revolt, returning players to each land of the Oogani world where they must use all seven Oogani tribes' unique powers to free their trapped tribesman to join the insurrection.

Ancients of Ooga stars a cast of strange, gremlin/monkey-like characters with a propensity to eat, and puke, just about anything they can get their hands on. Join the revolt with the bizarre Ooganis as they use their ancient powers to free their lands and the seven enslaved tribes with the use of a variety of ancient, mystic powers.

"The Forgotten Chapters" is available for download in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 160 Microsoft Points.

Unlock "A World of Deathlings" Today on XBLA

Unlock "A World of Deathlings" Today on XBLA

Keflings to Bust a Cap

OREM, Utah - Apr. 1, 2011 - It's been along time coming for the happy-go-lucky Keflings. Today, it's payback time. NinjaBee announced that it released a patch today that unlocks the long-missing combat in A World of Keflings, turning your avatar's peaceful tiny helpers into raging 'Deathlings.'

All players have to do to activate the new feature is log into A World of Keflings and perform an in-game emote.

"Really, who wants to play an RTS where there's no combat?" said Brent Fox, Art Director at NinjaBee. "That would just be stupid. Not a lot of people know this, but making Keflings the easy-going game it is now was just a big mistake. We meant the original game to be like Age of Empires, Warcraft or Starcraft, but somebody messed up and forgot to build in the combat. I blame our QA department."

Core gamers eat your heart out.