# Mole - An iPhone game made by a furry... OMFG Free promo codes!



## Caroo (Feb 8, 2010)

Hi everyone!

Caroo here. It's been a few months of hard work in the making but i've finally completed my first commercial iPhone game. I wanted to let the fandom know a little bit about it. 






The game is called Mole. A digging/mining score based game. It's designed to be a bit of casual fun for those who love to try and get the highest score!

You play as Mark the mole as you quest to find the fabled Terracore gem! 
 Gameplay features: 


An easy to play touch based game with no complex and cloggy GUI controllers. Simply touch any location to have Mark dig to it!
Explore the deep underground and dig through randomly generated levels. Each level is a new bite sized adventure!
Collect metal to upgrade your mining tools so Mark can dig deeper, faster, longer!
Post your best dig scores on twitter and ranked online leaderboards!
Progress through 4 different mining ranks and unlock 10 achievement medals!
 You can check it out in the app store here: http://tinyurl.com/ydkmsaj 
 We also have a website and online leaderboard portal. You can access the website here: http://escfactory.com/mole/

And because I know how much a furry loves free swag. Here are 3 promo codes. If you take one of these codes please post under this to let people know which one you've taken! 

Code 1: T9FTLYKRYN7K
Code 2: JRHYWKR6RTLH
Code 3: JA6F496LYKFK


I'm also really hoping to be able to advertise this on FA. I've noted Dragoneer via FA but got no response out of him?  Anyone got any ideas on how I can contact him to enquire about advertising on FA?

Thanks everyone.


----------



## ArielMT (Feb 8, 2010)

If you followed step 1 of the advertising requirements in FA's help, then there's not much else to do but wait for him to read and consider it.

Also, no offense meant, but a mod less awake than I might've deleted this post and mistakenly banned you as a spambot, for it's formatted very much like the kinds of Chinese spam we've been seeing lately.  That's why the filter trapped it in the queue as spam.

About the game, it looks pretty good: simple, easy to understand, and addictive.  I'd buy it if I had an iPod.  Do you have any plans to port it to other platforms, whether mobile or traditional?

Edit: Welcome to FAF!


----------



## Vintage (Feb 8, 2010)

i took code 1. expect a detailed review in the next week or so.


----------



## TwilightV (Feb 8, 2010)

I'd take one, but I don't have an iPhone... :V


----------



## Aden (Feb 8, 2010)

Redeemed Code 2. I shall also review it (under 'schecterfennec') after playing it a bunch. Thanks!

Edit: Haven't transferred to my iPhone yet, but I can say I like the icon at least


----------



## ChaoticSpark (Feb 9, 2010)

I'll just pirate it.


----------



## Aden (Feb 9, 2010)

You can pirate iPhone apps now wat


----------



## ChaoticSpark (Feb 9, 2010)

Aden said:


> You can pirate iPhone apps now wat



inorite? The capability has been around for a few months now ;D


----------



## Caroo (Feb 9, 2010)

> If you followed step 1 of the advertising requirements in FA's help, then there's not much else to do but wait for him to read and consider it.


Thanks! I'll send a new e-mail being a bit more formal then. I have sent enquiries in the past month or so but i've gotten no reply. I would think at the least if he deemed the product unacceptable he'd let me know.



> Also, no offense meant, but a mod less awake than I might've deleted this post and mistakenly banned you as a spambot, for it's formatted very much like the kinds of Chinese spam we've been seeing lately.  That's why the filter trapped it in the queue as spam.


Really? Damm didn't know you guys where being spammed.

The format of the post in my eyes was a mix between casual "look at this thing i did." and my sort of salesman pitch. I'm really passionate about trying to let people in my fandom know about the game. 



> About the game, it looks pretty good: simple, easy to understand, and addictive.  I'd buy it if I had an iPod.  Do you have any plans to port it to other platforms, whether mobile or traditional?


For those who are iPhone or iPodless we made a free online version. It's a bit less refined and polished then the final product though. More so a demo. But none the less: https://benbritten.s3.amazonaws.com/moleWebGCAP.html

Hope you like it. =D


----------



## MizuDoragon (Feb 9, 2010)

EDIT: I can't, as I am a canadian and cannot access the US store ^^;


----------



## Adrianfolf (Feb 10, 2010)

I will have to check this out if I ever get one. From the screenshots it looks really fun


----------



## Kesteh (Feb 11, 2010)

Scored *300,425.* Leaderboard'd but since it's not on the phone you don't get ze medals for it.
I'm guessing your tools/tank/etc also upgrade when you get certain medals, right?
I know I found the last pickaxe on the bottom, but the rest appeared after I got a medal.

...Am I reading this right or am I really first place? It also looks like it submitted my score twice.


----------



## Envy (Feb 11, 2010)

:C

I wanna play but I have no iPhone XD;;


----------



## Riptor (Feb 11, 2010)

Don't have an IPod/IPhone, but it's always nice to see a non-porn furry game. Good luck with everything, hopefully you'll get enough money to make a port.


----------



## ArielMT (Feb 11, 2010)

Caroo said:


> For those who are iPhone or iPodless we made a free online version. It's a bit less refined and polished then the final product though. More so a demo. But none the less: https://benbritten.s3.amazonaws.com/moleWebGCAP.html
> 
> Hope you like it. =D



Unfortunately, I can't try the online version either, because Unity Web Player is not compatible with Ubuntu even with Wine.  If I'm to believe search results, support for Linux-based systems (including Ubuntu and Android) won't be coming any time soon despite overwhelming requests.

:c


----------



## Vintage (Feb 12, 2010)

draft

 In the casual game Mole, you play the role of Mark the mole, who, unsurprisingly, owns a lucrative mining business. It's the player's job to guide Mark through digs, collect gems and collect metal, while keeping an eye on the oxygen level in his air tank as he digs to his goal of uncovering the Terracore gem, an amalgam of tons of precious metal that would put the Hope Diamond to shame, if it were ever found in the real world. The game is light on the story, but delightfully so. The game's also light on the loading - I zoomed to the core gameplay in less than thirty seconds.

Collecting gems serves no purpose except to raise your score, but metal, for all intents and purposes, is money in this world; the player uses it to buy upgrades for the four tool types that make Mark's life easier. One, the pickaxe, allows Mark to dig faster; another provides a greater scanning range for Mark's detector, a device that scans out in a radius and uncovers gems. The player can also collect air bubbles that will offer a temporary boost to Mark's air tank timer. Metal will also upgrade the air tank. These tools are expensive, but their price isn't excessive. You'll be able to save up to buy them without feeling too discouraged.

The morsels of gameplay that are the digs are planned and executed so that an awesome, well-balanced incentive structure is preserved. As you dig deeper, you will encounter different layers of soil. Some of them don't have air bubbles; others have dozens of huge rocks jutting through otherwise traversable dirt. Naturally, as you go deeper, the risk of not having enough air to make it back to the surface climbs. This risk is somewhat mitigated by large mining machines, which act like elevators to bring you directly to the surface (sometimes for a small fee). It's all for a nice payoff, though: at deeper levels, you will find more metal, rarer and rarer gems, and you will eventually progress to the deepest layers, where you can put yourself in extreme peril to earn hundreds of thousands of points. And the rewards are visually satisfying, to say the least; the gems, metals, tools and environment all look spectacular.

That's not to say the game is perfect, but the things wrong with it are minor.

-The collision detection seems kind of dodgy, especially when it comes to placing bombs and collecting things that have just appeared. I'd also like to see the ability to continue in a direction indefinitely without having my thumb on the screen the whole time. In particular, my thumb would block my way up when I started to collect things while moving to the surface. Since I tend to save any air that pops up in the first few layers for my return to the surface, this annoyed me.

-The interface is wonderful, although going to the instruction page forces you into the game whether you want to play or not. The instruction page is also frustratingly vague when it comes to the mining machines. It says, "Be on the lookout for these!" That's not enough information. I assumed that they were bad, since they look somewhat menacing. I didn't actually use a mining machine until I beat the game. As an aside, in the gameplay, the "Complete Dig" button seems to be hooked to the environment instead of the interface, resulting in a button that you would not expect to move to move.

-One flaw in the game's incentive structure regards large gems encased in rock, rock that you have to detonate. These gems aren't worth enough early on; I found myself bypassing them in favor of digging deeper.

-The character design looks decent, but I'd like to see it brought up to the level of graphical glory that encompasses everything else.

-I didn't use the social networking features of the game, but when I tried to identify myself to the online scoreboard, I wasn't able to. Seems broken.

Bottom Line: a very fun, addictive game with minor issues
Price: $1.99
Worth:         * At least five dollars*


----------



## mystery_penguin (Feb 12, 2010)

If the mouse had blond hair, then I'd accuse you of furrifying Winry from FMA


----------



## Foxstar (Feb 12, 2010)

When you push this game elsewhere, for the love of God, don't use "Made by a furry" as a selling point. Ever.


----------



## Vintage (Feb 12, 2010)

Foxstar said:


> When you push this game elsewhere, for the love of God, don't use "Made by a furry" as a selling point. Ever.



yeah don't do this. quickest way to selling two copies a month on the fucking planet.


----------



## Vintage (May 26, 2010)

i feel obligated to mention that there is a new, completely overhauled, version of this out. 











http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=55687

they're also adding more levels to it. it's $1 for those who didn't own it before and a free update for those who did.

edit: it's also only $1 until june 1. then it'll probably go back up to $2.


----------



## Tycho (May 26, 2010)

goddammit now I want an iPod touch or something.

This would make an awesome port to the DS, don't you think?

Damn better port/buy than the Desktop Tower Defense port to DS.  Porting a free flash game and doing a crappy job of it to boot, way to go.  -100 respect points for Paul Preece.


----------



## auzbuzzard (May 26, 2010)

I want to build little apps and put it into my iPhone. Unfortunately, that'll cost me 99/year

And also, i'll need to learn coding before enjoying.


----------



## Vintage (May 27, 2010)

Tycho said:


> This would make an awesome port to the DS, don't you think?



this would be pretty cool on the ds as it would get my thumb out of the way. don't think it's gonna happen, though.


----------



## Apollo (May 30, 2010)

auzbuzzard said:


> I want to build little apps and put it into my iPhone. Unfortunately, that'll cost me 99/year
> 
> And also, i'll need to learn coding before enjoying.



Or, jailbreak your phone using Spirit and follow this guide to develop without the $99 fee.


----------

