Interview: HullBreach Studios New Game "Tomeling In Trouble"

Tomeling in Trouble splash art--not in game

Yesterday NintendoLife revealed HullBreach Studios new IP "Tomeling" and the first two games using this unique character; "Tomeling In Trouble" for Android and iOS and "Tomeling RPG" for Wii U. Today I'd like to give you a new set of details on the two games. First up the interview with HullBreach Studios Robert Gump:

•Gamers everywhere want to know, what is Tomeling?

Robert Gump: Tomeling is a living book. His origin will be explained in more detail in the Wii U Tomeling RPG (currently unnamed), but for now I can say he is based on Tsukumogami, which is in Japanese folklore. The alleged concept behind it is once any object reaches its 100th birthday, it comes to life and becomes self-aware. Tomeling's RPG back story is already written out, but I don't want to spoil anything that may be surprising for the Wii U RPG.

2D  concept art

3D

•Wow! Its not everyday books spring to life! How did you first come up with the character Tomeling?

Robert Gump: The original idea Tomeling was from an attempt of mine to pick on one of my friends at work for his handwriting on our office dry erase board. When I saw how he had "Tunneling" written out, I connected the rest of the "u" and the "nn" and said "Tomeling? Is that a book with legs?", then I drew out the original Tomeling!

•That is hilarious! What is the theme of the upcoming game? Are there any literature based environments and levels?

Robert Gump: In the Wii U RPG most definitely! Tomeling in Trouble's initial release however will only have one level, which will be a library with bookshelves. It is unknown at this time if there will be any further environments or levels. Mainly it just depends on the voice of the players!

The game itself is going to be sort of along the same concepts as Frogger. Tomeling is under attack by Superworms (book worms with capes). You help guide him through the endless waves of the Superworms as the waves speed up. It's going to be a simple concept game where each round will probably take under a minute or two. The goal is to give people something to play while they have a few minutes waiting on dinner, at the doctor's office (as long as cell phones are allowed in the facility), or even between rounds in Mario Kart 8!

•Do you have any supporting characters in mind?

Robert Gump: Not for Tomeling in Trouble, it will just be the Tomeling and the Superworms.

Yes for the Tomeling RPG, but more details will be released in the future about this.

•What combat/defensive techniques does Tomeling have?

Robert Gump: For Tomeling in Trouble, he has no combat or defensive techniques. For the upcoming Wii U exclusive RPG, though, expect some pretty powerful combat from this book! He can dish out more than paper cuts!

•What is your target art style for Tomeling RPG? Will it be a 3D venture?

Robert Gump: All Tomeling games are going to be more cartoon-ish and 2D-style. The models that the sprites are based on are 3D, so who knows what could happen in the future. For now, though, there is no plan in making a Tomeling 3D game.

•What's the development cycle look like so far for Tomeling? Your studio of 3 gamers have 5 games in development, how do you guys find the time?!

Robert Gump: It can be tough at times juggling our current jobs and making games, but we seem to be making good progress on the games still. Tomeling in Trouble should be out this quarter (really I'm hoping within a month). I should have a prototype by this weekend to test on a couple devices.

•When can we realistically expect Tomeling to release for Wii U?

Robert Gump: I honestly have no clue. It would be nice to have out by Christmas 2014, but a more realistic guess would be the end of Q1 2015 or the beginning of Q2 2015. When more development is done on it, we will be able to give better info.

•We can confirm the upcoming Tomeling RPG includes Tomeling In Trouble which releases this year?

Robert Gump: Yes, Tomeling on Wii U will include Tomeling In Trouble and Tomeling In Trouble will include Revenge of Tomeling, sort of how Final Fantasy 7 had an arcade, Tomeling in Trouble will have one, too. At a certain point in the game, you will reach a city with an arcade that has a few mini-games where, based on the scores you get, you can win special, usable items. But I'm sorry! That's all I can say until around this weekend!

•Thank you Robert for your time in giving a brief look into the newly announced Tomeling! Looking forward to this weekends first footage!

And last, but not least, I'll leave you with a fact sheet for Tomeling in Trouble and a fact sheet for the Tomeling RPG:

Name: Tomeling in Trouble
Platform: Android, iOS, Wii U
Release Date: Q3 for Android, Q4 iOS, Wii U TBA(will be included with the Tomeling RPG exclusive for Wii U)
Genre: Action
Price: Free with ad support on mobile devices
Description: Guide the Tomeling through endless waves of Superworms.
Features*: The initial release will be the main game with possibility of some of the following:
•Share score on social networking sites

•Achievement system
•Share achievements on social networking sites
•Tomeling's Revenge unlockable game mode (Based on achievement points, this game mode will be unlockable)

Name: Tomeling
Platform: Wii U
Genre: RPG
Features: 2D/3D

*Any of the listed features not in the initial release will be added in a later release.
-----------------------
The first screens and footage of Tomeling In Trouble will be raveled later this week! 

The Technology Hobbit is Rebooting

Starting tomorrow morning with an exclusive interview, you can expect 2-3 new features posted on The Technology Hobbit each week!

I'm planning on moving away from posting news stories (though I haven't actually post many news stories as of late) and moving towards more exclusive content. Such as interviews, reveals, and opinion pieces.

I hope you all will enjoy the changes!

Project Reggie-fy Part 3: I Come Bearing .gif-ts For E3

"Chuck Reggie"

My latest batch (see Part 1 & Part 2 for more) of Nintendo gifs just in time for E3! While this one doesn't have as many as some of my past batches, I still think this one is one of my best. Enjoy!

"The Nintendo Avengers"

"Beware the Fils-A-Mech/What Really Happened to Don Mattrick"

According to the Latest VGChartz Update the Wii U Sold 187k Last Week

Pretty good for the Wii U if you ask me. Here's some charts to put it in perspective (Jan, Feb, Mar, and April US data is from NPD, the rest is from VGChartz):

If VGChartz is right (and based off what we've seen they should be within 30k of being so) the Wii U sold better this week then it did in any one month this year.

Project Reggie-fy: Gifs Featuring Reggie

Last year I made a number of Reggie gifs while getting ready for E3, but I never did post my first batch on my blog. Time to fix that, enjoy!

If you have any reasonable requests, feel free to ask them in the comments and I'll see what I can do.

PS4, X1, Wii, & Wii U First Half Year Sales Comparison

I thought it'd be cool to make a comparison of the PS4's, X1's, Wii's, & Wii U's first half year on the market, so here you go (all data from VGChartz):  

It looks like that unless the PS4 sees a huge boost, the Wii will overtake it in a few weeks. Still doing amazing though, the Wii was just a monster. This chart kinda makes it look like the X1 isn't doing well (selling so slow you can't even read the numbers), but it is actually doing quite well. Can't say the same about the Wii U's first half year though (besides that it was selling so slow you can't even read the numbers). Speaking of the numbers, here they are:

PS4:

1,051,921

1,151,677

2,101,114

2,444,207

2,923,886

3,675,237

4,146,957

4,414,273

4,611,661

4,787,250

4,952,256

5,128,791

5,289,857

5,446,628

5,910,108

6,088,071

6,225,981

6,373,948

6,599,009

6,781,802

6,951,562

7,091,812

7,233,883

7,361,167

7,482,361

Wii:

529,658

1,067,537

1,656,510

2,071,242

2,669,210

2,954,781

3,258,928

3,510,426

3,755,861

4,007,149

4,238,167

4,459,141

4,675,920

4,908,832

5,109,095

5,290,489

5,483,691

5,682,984

5,838,056

6,025,248

6,232,739

6,467,829

6,766,286

7,056,910

7,300,493

7,529,767

7,770,221

8,017,779

8,266,516

8,521,676

Xbox One:

1,106,779

1,564,197

1,850,023

2,222,474

2,623,299

2,919,036

3,073,662

3,157,188

3,225,111

3,289,643

3,358,051

3,430,832

3,516,015

3,600,514

3,679,652

3,751,783

3,905,448

4,009,383

4,093,077

4,171,147

4,262,812

4,348,013

4,427,537

4,505,168

Wii U:

472,099

810,320

1,369,472

1,708,668

2,046,093

2,247,216

2,370,867

2,419,254

2,456,311

2,489,560

2,525,755

2,561,664

2,600,026

2,634,973

2,664,374

2,692,698

2,720,660

2,774,550

2,839,051

2,883,262

2,916,752

2,948,775

2,978,288

3,009,207

3,034,307

3,057,073

3,081,156

3,104,846

3,126,789

3,147,621

Mario Kart 8 Pre-order Data *Updated 5/28/2014* Final US Numbers! Final COMG numbers!

How to Understand the Charts:
Japan: COMG! is a chain of ~16 video game stores in Japan and unlike most stores they publish daily pre-order numbers for games. As a general rule 1 point = 1 pre-order in a COMG! store, what these numbers translate into for launch day sales is really depends on the game, but 1 pre-order at a COMG! usually translates into 1k sales in all of Japan at launch. Though Nintendo games don't always follow this formula and are often <1 point = 1k pre-orders.

As for reading the chart, the top across row tells the game the data under it is for while the first down row tells the number of days before launch that data is for.

US: VGChartz is a website that estimates and tracks video game sales data. The numbers are the amount of pre-orders the game has, what these numbers translate into for launch day sales is really depends on the game and time of year.

As for reading the chart, the top across row tells the game the data under it is for while the first down row tells the number of days before launch that data is for.

Japan (source: COMG via tbone51 on VGC)

DAYS             MK7              NSMBU        DQX       SM3DW     Pikmin 3     Mario Kart 8
45 days ~                          33 points                                                                   47 points
44 days ~                          34 points                                                                   47 points
43 days ~                          34 points                                                                   48 points
42 days ~                          34 points                                                                   49 points
41 days ~                          35 points                                                                   49 points
40 days ~                          37 points                                                                   50  points         
39 days ~                          38 points                                                                   52 points
38 days ~                          40 points                                                                   53 points
37 days ~                          40 points                                                                   55 points
36 days ~                          42 points                                                                   55 points
35 days ~                          43 points                                                                   57 points
34 days ~                          44 points                                                                   62 points
33 days ~                          45 points                                                                   65 points
32 days ~                          45 points                                                                   68 points       
31 days ~   49 points        47 points                                                                   69 points
30 days ~   52 points        48 points                                                                   70 points
29 days ~   58 points        48 points                                                                   74 points
28 days ~   74 points        48 points                                                                   75 points
27 days ~   79 points        48 points                                                                   78 points
26 days ~   86 points        51 points                                                                   84 points
25 days ~   92 points        59 points                                                                   90 points
24 days ~   95 points        64 points                                           17 points         94 points
23 days ~   97 points        70 points                                           19 points         103 points
22 days ~ 100 points        74 points                                           21 points         105 points
21 days ~ 104 points        80 points                                           23 points         108 points
20 days ~ 107 points        85 points                                           24 points         109 points
19 days ~ 118 points         91 points                                           24 points         112 points
18 days ~ 126 points         95 points    30 points                       24 points         124 points
17 days ~ 128 points        100 points   30 points                      27 points          131 points
16 days ~ 129 points        107 points    34 points                      31 points         136 points
15 days ~ 131 points         115 points   37 points                       33 points         137 points
14 days ~ 135 points        120 points    39 points                      38 points         143 points
13 days ~ 140 points        125 points    41 points                      44 points         146 points
12 days ~ 145 points        134 points    42 points                      48 points         162 points
11 days ~ 157 points        141 points    45 points                       49 points         182 points
10 days ~ 162 points        143 points    45 points                      50 points         189 points
9 days ~   170 points       149 points    46 points   24 points    54 points         192 points
8 days ~   185 points       156 points    47 points   26 points     57 points         195 points
7 days ~   193 points       160 points    50 points   29 points     59 points         204 points
6 days ~   206 points      167 points     54 points   35 points     64 points         208 points
5 days ~   219 points      175 points     55 points   43 points     65 points          221 points
4 days ~   241 points      185 points     59 points   51 points     67 points          238 points
3 days ~   253 points      187 points     58 points   55 points     70 points          244 points
2 days ~   274 points      193 points     59 points   59 points     73 points          251 points
FINAL  ~   297 points    200 points    59 points   66 points     74 points          259 points

First Week Sales  SM3DW= 99,588     NSMBU= 163,528   MK7= 423.619
Pikmin 3= 92,720     MH3= 106,388     Nintendo Land= 72.121

US (source: VGChartz via me):
                   NSMBU     LegoCity    Pikmin 3    WWHD    SM3DW   DKC:TF      MK7        MK8
27 weeks ~                                       38,943
26 weeks ~                                       39,820
24 weeks ~                                       40,679
23 weeks ~                                       41,577
22 weeks ~                                       42,258
21 weeks ~                                       43,127
20 weeks ~                                       43,901
19 weeks ~                                       44,626                                        
18 weeks ~                                       45,420                                        
17 weeks ~                                       46,227                                        
16 weeks ~                                       47,048                                                                           49,787
15 weeks ~                                       48,217                                                                            52,414
14 weeks ~                   35,296         48,953                                                                            54,922
13 weeks ~                   40,739         49,929                                                                            56,909
12 weeks ~                   42,595         50,909                                          32,129                       59,404
11 weeks ~                   43,628          51,698                                          35,570                       63,176
10 weeks ~                   44,813         52,193                                           40,931                      66,582
9 weeks ~                     46,547         52,634                                          50,585     61,741       71,588
8 weeks ~                     47,873          53,154                                          60,095    66,912        77,274
7 weeks ~                     49,129          53,654                                          67,516     75,084       83,658
6 weeks ~                     50,569          54,126                                          72,767     87,848       88,400
5 weeks ~                     52,683          69,997                                          78,253     110,385      105,892
4 weeks ~ 53,051         54,473         73,173                                           81,875     144,517     144,069
3 weeks ~ 64,327         56,134          76,821                                          86,329     193,028     175,476
2 weeks ~ 82,970         59,917          81,555       70,568      65,904      90,999     263,359      231,863
1 week  ~ 114,207        66,714          85,633       78,079      96,619       97,638     423,986     279,054

NSMBU = 266,344 Lego City Undercover = 76,854 Pikmin 3 = 103,345 Wind Waker HD = 128,371 SM3DW = 144,156  Donkey Kong Country: TF = 108,845 Mario Kart 7 = 643,733
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
So far so good for Mario Kart 8. It looks as though it could become the fastest selling Wii U game at launch by quite a bit.

April Fools! (+Technology Hobbit Reboot)

16 days late saying it was a joke, but The Technology Hobbit is staying The Technology Hobbit!

April Fools!

Also I'd like to announce that I'm going to try rebooting this place soon. Maybe give it a new look (already changed it some) and without a doubt start posting regularly.

The Technology Hobbit is now The Technology Goat!

I was playing Goat Simulator when I realized my true purpose in life, to make a blog about everything goat/technology related! I hope you enjoy the new focus.

Wii U Sales Improving Year Over Year Part 2

Disclaimer: these charts use my own special VGC/NPD mix, take it as you will.

Wii U Sales Improving Year Over Year

Wii U sales are still lower than they should be, they are up year over year. If this trend keeps up this year should be a lot better sales wise than last year.

Week 1 of 2013 is Jan 6th-12th 2013 while Week 1 of 2014 is Jan 5th-11th 2014.

All data comes from VGC.