Monkeynaut Games has released its first game for the iPhone and iPad, titled ‘Shoot & Plunder’. It is the company’s first commercial release.
Shoot & Plunder is a SHMUP (Shoot ‘em up) game where the player takes the role of a fierce pirate and sets sail against a never-ending tide of enemies. The game is fast and frantic, and features beautifully rendered art with an immersive soundtrack. The controls are simple, using one side of the screen to move and one side of the screen to fire. Gameplay is endless and based on collecting as high a score as possible. There is also treasure that can be collected during the game, which the player may then use to unlock new ships. Different ships respond to player input differently, moving faster along particular axes.
There is already a significant update to the game being developed which adds multiple boss fights to the game, set for release late December 2013. Bosses set to be included include Poseidon and a fire-breathing Sea Serpent. An Android port is also being developed, set for release with the new patch.
The game was developed by Monkeynaut Games, a newly formed indie developer based in Sydney Australia. The company was formed in June 2013 when two old friends, Petr Joura and Mark Hingston, decided they wanted to create games for a living. Petr Joura was a former games industry producer who had worked as everything from a life coach to a ghost writer, and Mark Hingston was a programmer for the financial sector.
The two had originally been working on another project- also a pirate-themed game for iOS- from the company’s conception, but decided to make Shoot & Plunder as a quick release in order to qualify the company for a government funding program for small businesses.
‘This was just meant to be a quick release, nothing crazy or special, just something that could make us [some] money so we could get onto the program. You had to be able to generate profit from day one to qualify’ Petr said. ‘But as we worked on it, I guess we both fell in love with it.’
‘I’m really glad we made Shoot & Plunder’ Petr continued, ‘as actually making and releasing one small simple game together really makes more ambitious projects seem easier and more manageable. “Plus one hundred XP” hahaha’.
Regarding the trailer used to promote the game Petr said ‘We just started having some really stupid ideas when thinking about how to market the game, so I just put the best of them together and produced this trailer. It’s our hope that it’s funny and quirky enough to get us some attention, because honestly, when it comes to marketing, we both know bugger all. It was a lot of fun to make.’
Shoot & Plunder is available now on the app store as a free download, with an ad-free version available for $0.99. A large content update is planned for the next few weeks and an Android version will likely become available with it.