Lumpy's Pad

Hoops Madness has been Submitted to Apple!

2010-03-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

It's March Madness Time! And we know some fans are true diehards. They don't want some cutesy blue blob getting in the way of their basketball fever!

Being fans ourselves, we know that sometimes you want your game to be pure organic, non-corn fed goodness. And for this, we made Hoops Madness! A version of Lumpy Hoops without the Lumpy filler.

Checkout this sweet vid that our very own Hermanator crafted!

Hoops Madness was submitted to Apple last night!

Celebrate March Madness with Lumpy Hoops!!

2010-03-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year ... March Madness! Get your game on, when you're not watching the games! Grab yourself a copy of Lumpy Hoops today!

Already own Lumpy Hoops? Find out just how you can score!!

Lumpy Hoops has been Approved!!

2010-03-10T14:15:00.001-08:00

We just got the good word from Apple that Lumpy Hoops is now Ready For Sale. We marked the sale date in iTunes Connect for March 11, 2010. So starting from tomorrow, you can get a copy!

Not bad, considering we submitted late at night on Monday!

Lumpy Hoops Gameplay Video

2010-03-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

Lookie at what we have here ... video action of Lumpy Hoops! Enjoy.

Lumpy Hoops has been Submitted!

2010-03-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

After endless hours of test ... all for your hopefully soon to be playing enjoyment ... we finally submitted Lumpy Hoops to Apple!

Learning from the lessons of the first version of QuitIt!, we took more time to put the product in front of people to get their feedback. We also spent many an hour tuning the game to be fun game after game after game...

So what are the feature of Lumpy Hoops?

Time Mode: You've got 45 seconds to get as many points as possible!
Endurance Mode: Think you got what it takes? See how long you can play and how many points you can rack up!
Special Balls: Can you figure out how to use the Power, Money, and Atom balls to get even higher scores?
Global High Scores: Show the world how you DOMINATE by posting your scores on our Global Scores Tables!
Challenge A Friend: Want to show your buddy that you've got game? Send them a Challenge!
Facebook Connect: See just how much you own the court compared to your friends! Post to your wall from the game when you rule!
OpenFeint Support: Want to see how you're doing versus the OpenFeint community? You can do that too!

'Nuf with the purty talk ... how about some pixies that will speak a few thousand words!?

Introducing Lumpy Hoops!

2010-02-17T16:08:00.000-08:00

As we indicated earlier, we've been working on a standalone version of Lumpy Hoops. This is an enhanced version of the Lumpy Hoops mini game already in QuitIt! We took the core game play of the mini game and added some new elements to it. This includes improved animations as well as special balls to help you get even higher scores! There are also 2 game mode: Timed and Endless (tentative names). Timed is a 45 second game. Endless lasts depending on how well you play. Unlike in the version in QuitIt!, the Endless mode in the standalone will keep giving you new Extra Time bonuses!

Lumpy Hoops is already in beta. We've been spending lot's of time tuning it. We have one more beta test group to go, and then we'll be submitting it to Apple!

We'll post more deets soon ... but in the meantime, we hope you enjoy this screenie...

Lumpy Loves Fan Art!

2010-01-28T22:51:00.000-08:00

Lumpy loves fan art. He really does. And over the course of a few contests as well as random masterpieces conjured up by fans, we've assembled quite the collection of artwork. For the past few days, Lumpy has been reminding us over and over to get the Fan Art Page up. His usual demand for pho was replaced by saying over and over "Fan Art Page?".

Well the other day we were able to finally fulfill Lumpy's request. The Fan Art Page is up! Check out the slices of awesomeness here! You can also always use the link by clicking on the Fan Art image on the right side bar.

Lumpy would like thank all the of his fans that spent their time and efforts in producing those pieces of artwork!

Lumpy Hoops is Coming Soon!

2010-01-18T12:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years everyone! Okay, that message is coming out a bit late. And it's scary that were already halfway through January!

It's been a few weeks since we've last written something. Sorry for all that radio silence! We have been busy at work on things since the start of the new year. Over the next few days, we'll start to post more regularly, which includes posting the awesome pictures from our last contest!

One of the things we have been doing over the last few weeks is working on our new game. Well, it's not that new. It's a standalone version of Lumpy Hoops. For those of you that have QuitIt!, you may have already played it. It's basically a basketball style game where you try and score as much as you can using balls that are made out of Lumpy!

So what's different between the standalone version and what you have in QuitIt!? The standalone will have 2 game modes: Arcade and Pro. The Pro mode adds to the challenge by having you control the direction you are shooting. It also adds more power-ups and special balls to help gain even higher scores. While the QuitIt! version is capped, the standalone can last as long as you can imagine! Our very own Hermanator managed to play a 74 minute game!

Right now we are currently in Beta Testing with it, and are continually improving on the gameplay experience.

More details on that will be coming soon, as well as more deets on EP5!

Lumpy's "Christmas is a Time for Having Fun" Contest Polls Opened

2009-12-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas! Our apologies because we are a little late in posting things! We've opened our touchArcade thread open to the polls! The poll contests are listed below.

The names listed underneath the pictures correlate to the name in the poll. We apologize for the clunkiness of this, but we can't bind pictures directly will poll options. If you wish to vote, jump on over to our poll here! If you're not a member of touchArcade, you'll need to be one!

Lumpy's "Christmas is a Time for Having Fun" Contest!

2009-12-21T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well it's almost Christmas Time! Lumpy is quite excited about the idea of a fat man in a red suit coming down a chimney to give children gifts. He's especially excited that if the lil' kiddies are naughty, they get coal! Being the recipient of many a bad gift, I suppose Lumpy is just happy that he's not the only one that gets a bad gift or two. Or three...

Another thing Lumpy was noticing was that Christmas also seems to be a time where people get together and have fun. So he was thinking, why don't we have a contest just for fun? Okay, fun and promocodes. Since during this time of year, people often make things, he thought we could have a contest based around that. And just like that Lumpy's "Christmas is a Time for Having Fun" Contest was born.

This contest is about making a piece of artwork and then sharing that artwork with everyone! As usual, there will be two parts. The first part of the contest will be about making the artwork. From the entries we'll select finalists that people will be able to vote on for the actual winners. However, since this is not for something going into the game (at least right now), we're changing how the winners work for this one! We're only going to have two winners. The overall winner will get 2 promocodes to do with as they like. The second winner will receive 1 promocode.

So just what is this artwork we're talking about? The artwork has two requirements. It must be Holiday themed and include Lumpy. Other than that, it's totally up to you! We'll give extra consideration to pictures that incorporate wacky Gifts and Pokers. And of course ones that make us laugh!

Now onto a little something called Da Rules. Each contest we've had as of late has been quite the saga. We've had a rigged poll and then accusations of more poll rigging. And in our last contest, we had to get the moderators on touchArcade as well as issue several warnings about disqualifications.

Lumpy's Agent called in a crack team of lawyers to help us generate the rules for this one! But if you ask me, since we were low in bagels and coffee, I don't think they did quite the due diligence on them like we were expected.

An entry will be considered an individual piece of artwork. The artwork must contain at least the two following elements: a Christmas Holidays (this includes the other Holidays such as Hanukkah) theme and Lumpy.
Artwork that contains Gifts and Pokers will be given extra consideration.
Entries must be considered "clean". Anything deemed too graphic or profane will be disqualified.
You may submit as many entries as you want. Entries may be submitted through our touchArcade thread or by sending it to us at support at quititthegame.com.
Entries must be submitted by 11:59PM PST on Thursday, December 24, 2009.
A poll will be taken from the entries we thought were the best. The individual with the highest vote will win 2 promocodes. The second place individual will receive 1 promocode. It will be possible in this contest for one person to win all 3 promocodes!

We'll be amending the rules once the polls start!

Lumpy was so excited that he wanted to submit an entry himself.

We didn't have the heart to tell him yet that he can't enter!

Also remember that we're having a Holiday SALE on QuitIt! Help Lumpy celebrate his first Christmas on Earth by picking up a copy of QuitIt! QuitIt! will be on sale during the Holidays for only $0.99!

Only with your support can we continue to build the FREE updates!

So let's all get into the Holidays Spirit, put on our Creativity hats and have some fun!!

A Look Back at the "Christmas is the Time for Giving Gift" Contest

2009-12-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ahh, the memories. We recently held a “Christmas is the Time for Giving Gift Contest” and looking back, it was all very exciting.

Although there was a bit of controversy; accusations were flying around, votes were thrown out, and we had to call in reinforcements from the big guys (thanks again touchArcade mods!); we also received some very creative artwork from our awesome fans! In the end, it was a very close contest with 1st and 2nd place separated by only one vote! Read more about it here.

Here is a look back at some of the art. BTW, we are planning to have a Fan Art page on the QuitIt! website.

drelbs

hardcoregamer

hardcoregamer

hardcoregamer

Will090

drelbs

and how could we forget this one?

Oh wait ... that was from another contest!

The "Lumpy Thinks Christmas is the Time For Giving Gifts Contest" Polls are Closed!

2009-12-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

We are not quite sure what it is. But for some reason QuitIt! and contests go hand in hand with controversy. Back a few months in our Tale of the Tazer Voting, we actually had to have a recount! And our previous contest was also steeped in claims of vote tampering!

But this one has topped them all with multiple claims of scandals, votes that needed to be thrown out, as well as having to call out to the awesome mods on TouchArcade several times for assistance.

And the results of the poll after validating it for suspicious votes?

The top three winners were:

Robot - Mr Crazy (45)
Magic Carpet - hardcoregamer (44)
Egg that hatches into something good or bad - Devilishly Good (19)

Congratulations to you all! You each have won a promocode to QuitIt! And the Mr. Crazy's robot will also be the next interactive gift in EP5!

Honorable mentions go to our other finalists!

Black Hole - drelbs (17)
Play Dough - abruce42 (13)
Box of Flies - spidey146 (10)
Water Fuel Rocket - akame (7)
Toy Car - akame (6)

You had fantastic ideas as well.

Lumpy of course wants to thank everyone that participated in entering the contest, voting, and of course ... watching. He'd also like to give a special shout out of thanks to the TouchArcade moderators that helped us quite a bit. We're sorry for the inconveniences!

A few interesting poll stats!

Overall, there were 124 voters. This contest was the 3rd highest replied to and the 9th highest viewed thread in the Promo Code and Contest forum. I was surprised when I found this out!

Der-Kleine has Done it Again!

2009-12-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

Der-Kleine is on a roll! He made this other piece of fan art for us!

Look Out Below!

One of the hilarious parts to this picture is what is written in the windows! Can you read it? Me thinks this could also possibly be a pretty fun minigame!!

Lumpy's Pizza Parlor!

2009-12-13T00:36:00.000-08:00

There was some talk amongst our Beta Test Group about what EP5 would contain. Part of EP5 would be allowing you to interact with Lumpy more besides just poking him. The other was to also give you a different place to interact with Lumpy besides the Poketeria.

One of the ideas thrown out was to prepare different foods for Lumpy. Based on what you fed Lumpy, he'd have different reactions. And from this spawned the idea of making Lumpy a pizza! Now Lumpy's had pizza in the past. It was one of the first foods he found acceptable to eat. It's fair to say that Lumpy has slowly come to really like pizza! But that pizza was always prepared by a professional! So how will he react when we make him one?

So when talk of making pizza for Lumpy came around as an activity and location, everyone got excited. Enough to get us planning Lumpy's Pizza Parlor!

Now check out this slice of awesomeness! It was imported all the way over from Germany from Der-Kleine, one of our Beta Testers and member of TouchArcade!

Although you can't read it due to the size I had to scale the image so it would fit, that tomato sauce reads Dec '07. Poor little Lumpy is no doubt scared that his pizza has been laced with that expired sauce! Now you wouldn't do that to Lumpy.

Would you?

Daily Delish: Bún bò Huế

2009-12-12T15:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a cold and rainy day in San Francisco. Not the coldest it's been all week. But with the added element of rain, it somehow felt a bit colder. So when it came to lunch time, what did Lumpy want? Pho, of course!

Some of you may remember that our royal blueness finished the Pho Garden Challenge a little while back. And after that event, while he still demanded pho, it was at a bearable every other day. But as the weather has slowly gotten colder, the requests for it have increased.

So for lunch yesterday, we went to the Vietnamese restaurant down the street. Straying from our usual Phở Gà, I decided to pick another noodle soup that I had seen our audio engineer eat for myself.

This soup was Bún bò Huế, a vermicelli soup.

This soup was served with a side of delightfully spicy chili peppers that the owner told us were imported from Vietnam and then prepared by the chef here.

When Lumpy saw it come out and watched the expression on my face when I tried the side of chili, he instantly blurted out 「ランピーはPhở Gàがたべたくない。それはたべたい。」 Or roughly translated ... he didn't want to eat his Phở Gà anymore, but wanted what I ordered.

I'm assuming none of you have seen a blue blobby alien throwing a temper tantrum in a store, but let me tell you it is something you will never forget. And is something to avoid at all costs. Upon seeing his eyes slowly swell up with tears at the moment that his Phở Gà appeared, I knew I'd have to switch dishes with him.

Lumpy's verdict? 「辛いけどおいしいよ！」 or "It's spicy but delicious!". Well, I guess the upside is that we found something else he likes besides pho!

The "Lumpy Thinks Christmas is the Time for Giving Gifts Contest" Polls are Open!

2009-12-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

The time has come! We selected 8 entries as the finalists to be in our poll to see which Gift will show up in EP5. We tapped into the creative juices of our fans and got many great ideas! But in the end, there can only be 1!

Our finalists are narrowed down to

Black Hole - drelbs
Box of Flies - spidey146 (strangely appropriate for his name!)
Egg that hatches into something good or bad - Devilishly Good
Magic Carpet - hardcoregamer
Play Dough - abruce42
Robot - Mr Crazy
Toy Car - akame
Water Fuel Rocket - akame

The finalists were selected based on if we felt it could represented in the app well and whether or not we already didn't have a plan for it in the future.

To all those that submitted entries, we thank you for your participation!

Now is the time to rig ... errr vote! To vote ... go here!!!!

And and a special word to Boospengi! Your Rudolf toy idea was pure awesomeness. But since we'll be past Christmas, we didn't include it on the list! Lumpy hopes you understand!

A Very Merry Christmas from Apple! EP4 is now Ready for Sale!!

2009-12-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Upon returning from lunch on this cold and rainy day in San Francisco, I was greeted by an e-mail from Apple. I held my breathe as I took a glanced at the subject line. And smiled as I read the "Your application is Ready for Sale"!

Truth be told, I was a little worried this round, only because we had a couple of rejections from EP3. Things turned out for the best and we got accepted on the first pass!

If you've been on the fence about QuitIt!, now's a great time! We're on SALE for the Holidays for $0.99. Already have a copy? Then let your friends know about it. Especially if you've been enjoying the FREE updates!

We can only continue doing the free updates with your support. So please spread the word and leave us a review on iTunes!

EP4 Gameplay Video Trailer!

2009-12-10T15:29:00.000-08:00

EP4: And Along Came Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy isn't out yet, but we have a trailer for everyone to check out! We'll be updating our website with this video as well as adding screenshots soon. And we'll post some of the EP4 screenshots here later.

We also had another fan that is looking to be an up and coming reviewer of iPhone apps ask us if he could do a preview of QuitIt! EP4. Check out this video that he made!

You can check out more of his reviews at http://www.youtube.com/user/ReviewerOfTheGames.

EP5: Look Who's Walking (Tentative Title) is Underway!

2009-12-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Even before we hit submit in iTunes Connect for EP4, we were already thinking ahead to EP5. We certainly have a lot of plans for QuitIt!. In fact too many! Which leads us to the challenge of what order do we do things.

There are a couple of things we'd like to do sooner rather than later.

Allow players to interact more directly with Lumpy aside from poking
Provide different areas to do different activities with Lumpy

We will be using EP5 as the start of doing just that! And hence the tentative name of our title.

If this sounds like a lot of work ... it certainly is. Obviously with the Holidays around the corner, there will be issues with time. But it is our goal to get EP5 submitted as soon as possible.

Remember that our updates are FREE. So if you've been enjoying the episodes so far and want to see us make more episodes, we need your help! Help us spread the word so more people know about QuitIt! and Lumpy, and leave us a review on iTunes. Each time an update comes out, you're allowed to update your rating and review.

Only through your support can we continue to improve QuitIt!

EP3 Screenshots Posted!

2009-12-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

We updated our website to include some screenshots from EP3! They can be found here!

QuitIt! Christmas Wallpaper

2009-12-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

This will be Lumpy's first Christmas here on Earth! So why not celebrate it with him by using Lumpy's QuitIt! Christmas wallpaper?

You should be able to download this image and then load it onto your iPhone or iPod touch. Feel free to share it with your friends!

We'll be posting another Christmas wallpaper soon!

Christmas is the Time for Giving Gifts Contest

2009-12-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

It's the Holiday Season and this will be Lumpy's first Christmas here on Earth. Much like Halloween and Thanksgiving, each new Holiday is greeted with having to explain to Lumpy what the Holiday is and what our traditions are. When Lumpy heard that part of the Christmas tradition involved giving gifts, he thought, why not have a contest for his fans? Why not have his fans come up with a new gift idea that will be in EP5?

Lumpy's Agent thought that this was a particularly great idea. And provided us, while waving a copy of Lumpy's contract in the air, with enough compelling reasons why we should have it.

So it's official. We're having a Christmas is the Time for Giving Gifts Contest!

Just what is a Gift in the world of QuitIt!? We have two main types of Gifts. Interactive and non-interactive. Non-interactive ones arrive and age over time before they disappear. They may be good or bad. An interactive gift is something that you and Lumpy can interact with.

We'll be doing our Gift giving by giving out 3 sparkly promocodes to the winners!

Rules:

Only 1 promocode may be won per individual.
You may submit as many entries as you want. Entries may be submitted through our TouchArcade thread, by leaving comments to this posting, or via e-mail here.
Time of entries are determined by their timestamps.
Any entry that is the same or similar to a previous entry will be disqualified.
Please do not go back and edit entries. It will invalidate your timestamp. We will use the later timestamp as your entry date.
Entries must be specific. They cannot be too general. For example, stating that a good gift would be a "fish" is too vague. Saying that the gift would be a 20 day old Salmon would be better. If the gift is interactive, describe what you'd like to see the gift do. Remember that we need to be able to implement the gift! A more specific entry will supersede a vague entry.
Picture references are encouraged.
Entries cannot infringe on other copyrights or trademarks.
Entries must be considered "clean". Anything deemed too graphic or profane may be disqualified.
In the event that the gift is already planned for a future episode, that gift entry will be disqualified.
Entries must be submitted by 11:59PM PST on Friday, December 11, 2009.
A poll will be taken from the entries that we thought were the best as well as feasible to get into the app. The top 3 winners of the poll will be receive the promocodes. In the event that the top 3 winners happen to be the sam individual, we will keep going down the poll results until 3 unique individuals have been selected. The top winner will be included in EP5.

EP4: And Along Came Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy Has Been Submitted!

2009-12-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last night we submitted Episode 4 of QuitIt! EP4 has a few Christmas themed items in it. So we're hoping we get approved before the Holidays are over! We also have a new minigame called Lumpy Bounce, which all our Beta testers have pretty much said it's the best one yet!

EP4 will also introduce tattoos that you can put on Lumpy as well! Oh, and who could forget Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy!? He's there too!

We'll also be starting on EP5 next week. We have some stuff already planned out. More deets on that soon!

Episode 3 - Lumpy's Best Friend is OUT!

2009-12-02T22:54:00.000-08:00

At long last, EP3: Lumpy's Best Friend has finally been approved by Apple!

Here's a gameplay of Episode 3.

And just what's in EP3?

OpenFeint support with Leaderboards and over 40 Achievements!
A brand new minigame: Lumpy Hoops!
Over 25 Pokers to tease or please Lumpy with, including more Lumpy animations for ALAKAZAM!, BRAIN FOOD, WHO'S BAD?, and YE OLDE TURKEY LEG!
More than 20 Gifts, including more interactive Gifts. Be sure to check out Lumpy's new best friend, Zynx! Can you find out how to do all of his tricks?
More Accessories to dress Lumpy up in!
More Wacky Room Themes to buy!
Even more Achievements and Secrets!

If you already have a copy of QuitIt!, be sure to update it as soon as you can! If you don't have a copy of QuitIt!, why not pick it up and join the fun!?

If you like QuitIt!, please help us spread the word about our app so we can keep building even more Episodes! And remember that once you update, you can also update your review and rating!

EP4 iPhone Icons

2009-12-02T00:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we're a bit torn on this. We have tie amongst everyone on what the newer icon for EP4: And Along Came Fuzzy Wuzzy will be. Lumpy suggested we post it up on his blog to see what you folks think.

Cast your vote for the icon you like in our poll on the right sidebar!

Lumpy in Sepia

2009-12-02T00:06:00.000-08:00

This cool image was posted in our QuitIt! Beta testing group on Touch Arcade by Devilishly Good. Pretty cool looking, so I thought I'd share it with everyone!

Too bad Lumpy doesn't have a cowboy hat on. Hmmm ... not a bad idea for later on!

EP4 Beta Testing is Underway!

2009-11-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

Our Beta Testing for EP4 has started. We actually started it 2 days ago. But with the Thanksgiving Holiday, we didn't get a chance to post it until now.

Most of our testers that have reported in liked our minigame prototype for Lumpy Bounce ... so we'll be refining it and including it in EP4!

Happy Thanksgiving Part 2!!

2009-11-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

What's Thanksgiving without seconds? In EP3, YE OLDE TURKEY LEG turned our blue pal into a turkey. Or maybe it was all a dream because everyone kept talking about a huge feast of turkey coming soon?

Maybe it was all a dream? I wonder if Lumpy will be able to partake into this evenings feast of turkey?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

Lumpy wants to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! This is from EP3, but people can't see it yet, as we are still waiting for Apple approval!

I will be posting a video later today of a movie of this finality! So check back later!

Monday's EP4 Update

2009-11-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well it's Monday, and I thought I'd give everyone an update on EP4. We have a bunch of new Accessories this round. Three are Christmas related and one will be for New Years. And of course we have the "Octo-Beard". Which really isn't an octo-beard because there aren't 8 "legs". But the name sounds funny, so Lumpy likes it! Ohhh, and we shouldn't forget the tattoos! There are two of them. Most of the Accessories are done already. We're just finishing up on the Octo-Beard and the New Years party hat.

We shouldn't also forget Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy! Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy is being debugged right now. He has multiple possible outcomes depending on what you do with him. More info on that later.

We've also been working on possibly getting in a new minigame for EP4. We have a prototype of it up and running. We'll be using today to figure out whether or not it will be any fun or not. But if not, it'll get cut from EP4.

Lumpy's Molar Madness Monday!

2009-11-23T10:43:00.000-08:00

Okay, just warning you ... that Candy Cane Poker is not in EP3. It will be in EP4, but seemed pretty funny to put in this screenshot.

Lumpy's Spellbound on Sunday!

2009-11-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

What's that? Are Lumpy's friends borrowing citizens of Earth?

Lumpy's Scary Saturday!

2009-11-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Yikes! I'm sure Lumpy won't hurt you!

Right?

Lumpy's a Frog Friday

2009-11-20T09:13:00.000-08:00

'Nuff said! Ribbbbbiiiittt!

More EP3 screenies on the way :)!

MobileBen Gets a "Gift" ... ala QuitIt! Style?

2009-11-20T00:30:00.000-08:00

During production, there are various ways that you lose time. It can be lugging a blue alien blob around to forage for his 3rd bowl of pho for the day, planning out a portion of the game, debugging a nasty bit of code, or even doing *ahem* market research on the latest and greatest game out. During production, you sometimes get tunnel vision. Concentrating so much on the submission that you don't see the benefits of changing course. Take for example, art processing.

People have commented on how smooth and cartoon like our animations are. We are highly appreciative of such comments. We achieve our look by not doing what a good majority of dev groups out there do: flip-book style animation. If you saw the texture sheet for those types of games, it would look like a series of frames of the character. This is a very straight forward way of animating 2D games, but smoothness of animation comes at the cost of large amounts of texture space. Comparatively, our texture sheet would look like a bunch of parts.

Lumpy's main set of animations is around 4500 "frames", while the animation sets for specific Pokers is usually around 500-900 "frames". To put this in time perspective, we animate at 30 fps. So Lumpy's main set of animations consists of about 2.5 minutes worth of animation. Each Lumpy specific animation set to a Poker ranges around 16 to 30 seconds worth of animation. And don't forget that gifts and pokers (not all) are animated as well!

And as if handling that many frames of animations wasn't enough, how about adding that most our objects (ie. Lumpy) are relatively large. Oh, and you have limited memory. So what do you do to have smooth looking animation using limited system resources? Our method of solving this requires talented artists, some slick tools, and a fair about of CPU horse power.

One of the problems we have encountered as of late is that because our animation data set is so large, it now takes a lot of time to process. Given that time is relative, what's a lot you ask? The worse file can take up to 2 hours. That's right, you read that correctly. But how is that possible you ask? Our process involves subdividing animations into a smaller subset of parts. We then generate a texture sheet and animation data for all the parts. This is relatively straight forward with our tool set, but it requires that combo of art savvy and CPU processing power.

During the end of EP3, it was getting prohibitively expensive time-wise to process our animations. Mistakes potentially became half day set back. We came to that crossroad where we needed to decide how to resolve this issue. Do I take the hit and upgrade machines? Do we just live with these long processing times? In the end we took a hybrid approach of getting a faster machine ... not top of the line ... but one that was dedicated for just processing the data so I wouldn't need to worry about getting my dev environment up on a new machine. This meant that I got to get a present!

The good? It was a fast shiny new dual core workstation! But much like things in the world of QuitIt! ... all good things aren't always as good as you think. So just how long did it take for this blazingly fast machine to churn through our data? It now takes the worse case scenario only 1.25 hours to process. Definitely faster. But still not quite fast enough! Looks like Ben needs to find some time for some tool optimizations as well!

Design an Accessory Contest Winners Revealed!

2009-11-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, we started a Design an Accessory Contest. After a couple of days of taking entries and a day of polls, we have our winners! For this contest, we had a lot of entries. Around 180 or so! This made narrowing down the field pretty difficult. In the end, we narrowed it down to these 10 finalists.

$ Sign Necklace (Claridosa)
Burger King King-ish Beard (Devilishly Good)
Dragon Tattoo (Mr. Crazy)
Durian Hat (drelbs)
Italian Mustache (5duc29)
Octopus Beard (spidey146)
Paper Hat (spidey146)
Pickelhaube (Devilishly Good)
Spikey Punk Har (Claridosa)
Star Sunglasses (Mr. Crazy)

And after some intense voting and some minor controversies over poll rigging ... again ... we got our 3 winners! The overall winner and new Accessory for EP4 is the Octopus Beard, submitted by spidey146. The two runners up were tied: $ Sign Necklace (Claridosa) and Durian Hat (drelbs).

And check out this bit of awesomeness ...

This started with a slice of awesomeness from drelbs. Then spidey146 pimpified ... or rather GIMPified ... it. Then Mr. Crazy asked about the dragon tat (4th place). And was modified once again by drelbs into this masterpiece honoring the top 4 spots! Although technically, Devilishly Good's Burger King King-ish beard should be shown since it was tied for 4th.

Lumpy fell out of his chair laughing when he saw this.

The one thing tho ... doesn't that dragon tattoo look like curl? Sorry Mr. Crazy!

Lumpy's LA Twilight Premiere Sighting a Hoax!?

2009-11-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we had quite the incident with Lumpy's Agent storming into our offices raising a stink about some paparazzi pictures of Lumpy at the Twilight sequel's movie premiere in LA. Lumpy's Agent is usually one cool character, so it was a little surprising to see him that emotional.

So today, when Lumpy's Agent returned, people weren't too sure what to expect. And after hiding the last of the bagels, everyone quietly slinked off to work on EP4. Much to everyone's surprise his first words were "I'm sorry Lumpy."

As it turns out, the pictures of Lumpy were fake. An overzealous fan (?) apparently made use of Photoshop to composite our boy Lumpy into last year's premiere pictures. All this in order to shakedown Lumpy's Agent for a little blackmail money.

Upon hearing this, Lumpy's reaction was a bit scary. He started spouting off about how he should talk to this guy Montezuma since he apparently knows how to take care of these things. He then continued rambling if anyone was gonna shakedown anyone, it would be his new crew.

A bit after things settled down, I asked Lumpy if he wasn't at the Twilight premiere then where was he? And why was he all moody lately? Apparently he had spent the last few days trying to find the perfect spot to watch the Leonid Meteor Showers. He told me that on Zgrunturos, meteor showers are a common occurrence. How common? No different than seeing a sunrise or sunset here on Earth. But since he's been here on Earth, he's hasn't seen any. So when he heard about the Leonid Meteor Shower ... he had to see it.

Awwww, it seems like our pal Lumpy is maybe a bit homesick?

Lumpy Dissed At Twilight's LA Premiere?

2009-11-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

Last night Lumpy came home late. Really late. And when I asked him where he had been, he simply went straight to his room and locked the door. Before I continue, let me back up a bit...

We thought it was odd that he hadn't been in the office for the last couple of days. We first thought that he simply was getting some much needed R&R after all the hard work everyone did for our submission of EP3 to Apple.

But after a day, we were getting a bit worried. But just how does one go to the police to report a missing blue blob? So, we thought we'd give it another day ... or two. After all, Lumpy's always been spouting off about how his new crew has got his back. So we figured, he was safe and was just hanging with them.

So today, at the office, Lumpy was still quiet. And clearly annoyed. Suddenly, his Agent burst in throwing down these pics on the table.

"I already told you Lumpy, you weren't invited to the Twilight Premiere! I haven't said it clearly before, but I'll say it now ... you were canned from the Twilight sequel. Canned!" his Agent screamed. His Agent then grabbed the last bagel and stormed out.

So it appears our boy Lumpy made his way down to LA to be part of the Twilight Premiere! And judging from these photos, it's pretty clear RPattz is still holding a grudge against Lumpy and is giving him the silent treatment.

Once the reality of his Agent's words hit him, Lumpy did the expected. Hope no one has to go to the bathroom for a bit!

Pictures are Copyrighted to their respective owners.

EP4 - And Along Came Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy - is Underway!

2009-11-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

We haven't even finished archiving all our assets for EP3, and people are are already talking about EP4. Lumpy keeps asking what part he's going to play next. All the interns are asking when they can dress up Lumpy in next. And our Beta Testers are asking what gonna be in EP4?

EP4 production already started a couple weeks back. We tasked out some of EP4 assets to back then. And while we were resolving all of the OpenFeint issues last week, we had the other artists start up on the other assets.

And as for the feature set? I promised to tell the Beta Testers what they would be first!

Monday's EP4 Update Updated 11/23/2009!
EP4 Beta Testing is Underway! Updated 11/26/2009!
EP4: And Along Came Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy Has Been Submitted! Updated 12/05/2009
EP4 Gameplay Video Trailer! Updated 12/10/2009
A Very Merry Christmas from Apple! EP4 is now Ready for Sale!! Updated 12/11/2009

EP3 - Lumpy's Best Friend - Submitted!

2009-11-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

At the end of last week, we submitted EP3: Lumpy's Best Friend to Apple! We had to actually pull an earlier submission due to issues we had with OpenFeint. We're currently working on getting up some screenshots and a video as soon as possible. And of course we're already working on EP4: And Along Came Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy.

The rough EP3 feature list is:

OpenFeint Support
4 New Lumpy animations to Pokers (ALAKAZAM!, WHO'S BAD?, BRAIN FOOD, YE OLDE TURKEY LEG)
1 new minigame; Lumpy Hoops
44 Achievements (including ones from EP2)
18 Secrets (including ones from EP2)
8 New Accessories
2 New Interactive Gifts, which includes Zynx!
2 New Food Items, one which will give Lumpy the ability to fall asleep!
1 New Poker

Stay tuned as we'll also start posting deets on EP4 soon!

Design an Accessory Contest!

2009-11-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

The top voted item people wanted to see in QuitIt! was Accessories. And as it turns out, EP3 will be giving everyone 8 more fun accessories. And we have also already secretly finished 5 more for EP4.

Being an actor, it's no surprise that Lumpy enjoys dressing up for his parts. And when he heard that his fans wanted more Accessories, he declared that we should have a contest! And when his royal blobbiness makes a demand ... well we have to adhere. Or endure being chased down by his Agent waving contract in hand.

In QuitIt!, we can support several different Accessory types that you can put on Lumpy. Check out this snapshot some paparazzi took from our set. It shows most of the Accessories possible. And what's that? Is Lumpy sporting a tat? OMG, it is! Those tats are an EP4 feature! So that paparazzi clearly earned his keep!

Accessories at this moment are can only be hats/wigs, eye pieces (including glasses), noses, beards, mustaches, and of course lower body tats like you see in the image.

You may submit as many entries as you want.
Only 1 promocode may be won per individual
Time of entries are determined by timestamps. Any entry that is the same or similar to a previous entry will be disqualified.
Entries must be specific. They cannot be too general. For example, a simple "baseball cap" is too vague. The deets of the baseball cap must be made more specific. Reference images always help!
Entries cannot infringe on other copyrights or trademarks.
Please do not go back to edit entries. Clarify them using a newer post. This is because it will invalidate your timestamp.
Accessories must be "clean". Anything deemed too graphic or profane will be disqualified.
Accessories must be able to fit within the area they will be placed. Anything that cannot be made to work properly on Lumpy will be disqualified.
Entries can be submitted as comments to this posting, on our TA contest thread, or via e-mail here.
Entries must be submitted by 11:59 PST on Tuesday, November 17, 2009.
A poll will be taken from the entries we thought were the best. The top 3 winners will be selected from by the poll.

So let the designing begin!

Lumpy's Gonna (Open) Feint!

2009-11-14T19:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it's finally happened. We've submitted to Apple earlier today! Actually, we submitted the other day, but we pulled that build. We had gotten word from one of our Beta Testers that he was suddenly experiencing a bunch of random crashes relating to the OpenFeint functionality that we added to the game. We felt the issue was serious enough to keep looking into the matter to try and figure out what was wrong. The problems were created by the OpenFeint SDK/database, but at the end of the day if a crash occurs, users will blame us, not OF.

For those who are not familiar with OpenFeint, it's a Social Gaming Platform that we're using for online leaderboards and letting players compare each other's progress with one another. For social gaming, it is one of the main players in the iPhone market. And while it touts a large community, the SDK and support are lacking. We lost quite a bit of time during development due to bugs in the SDK, very poor documentation, slowness in getting answers to questions, and an inconsistency in how OF performs across different devices. I literally found myself having to dig through their internal code to try and figure out why things were crashing. When you find yourself doing that at 3 in the morning, you know there is something seriously wrong.

This morning, by pure random luck, our simulator build started to exhibit random crashing. That coupled with the information provided by the Beta Tester with the issue allowed us to put the pieces to this jigsaw puzzle together. We were able to fix this problem. Does this mean we're free of all issues with OF? I highly doubt that. Given what I saw in their SDK and how it behaves, there will probably some other cases that will cause crashes. We just happened to get "lucky" enough to get repeatable conditions to figure out this one.

Lumpy and the 2n crew wants to thank all the Beta Testers for EP3. Without their help and feedback, we couldn't have gotten EP3 out!

A special shout out goes to Devilishly Good! He patiently downloaded the new versions, crash after crash, until we could finally isolate the problem.

Afterwards, Lumpy asked about what all the hassles were that delayed our submission. It's a production after all, so shouldn't things be 100% accounted for? So we explained what the problems were and all the hoops we had to hop through. Looking a bit skeptical, he shook his head and hopped away. Later on, Lumpy's Agent approached us, telling us that upon pondering the issues we had to contend with this round his client said that he felt like he wanted to faint.

It's All About Me!

2009-11-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

That was what Lumpy said to me the other day when I asked him why he drank the last of the milk in the fridge but still left the empty carton behind. I don't know what I was taken aback by more ... the thought that all this time Lumpy's been drinking straight out the carton and I've been getting his sloppy seconds OR that he so quickly blurted out the words that I imagined the younger child-star version of Lumpy would have said. To think that I praised him the other day for thinking that he had the chops for being a serious actor.

Recently we asked everyone what you wanted to have added to QuitIt! We even had a poll about it. We listed the following choices.

More Pokers
More Lumpy Animations to Pokers
More Holidays
More Accessories
More Interactive Gifts
More Food Items

The most popular answer were Accessories, interactive Gifts, and Lumpy animations to pokers. As it turns out EP3 has all three of those items covered! EP3 introduces 8 new Accessories, 2 new interactive Gifts, and 4 new Lumpy reactions to Pokers. Including one that will make him look like this!

In future episodes, we'll keep your wishes in mind!

Didn't get a chance to vote? Want to see a different feature? Just drop us a line! Or leave of a comment in our blog!

Wednesday's EP3 Update!

2009-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday and almost ready to submit. Today is a day of caffeine, caffeine, caffeine. No wait. What I mean. Bug fixes, art optimizations, and clean up! Hopefully soon, you'll all see the "we've been submitted" posting!

Veterans Day Double Trouble!

2009-11-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

Today is Veterans Day. We had a special day made for it in EP3. Unfortunately, we're on the verge of submission, so Lumpy's fans won't be able to see it in-game. Lumpy suggested we post an image of it.

So in our studio this morning, we took a quick picture. Seems like we caught Lumpy and Zynx in action.

Much to our confusion, there were two Zynx. And if that wasn't enough they were flying around Lumpy doing what Lumpy called later a Buzz Attack.

I asked him later if he got hurt. He let me know that Zynx is his BFF here on Earth and they were just horsing around.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that Zynx is nothing more than a toy dog!

Many Faces of Lumpy

2009-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Our boy Lumpy is an actor. On his home planet, when Lumpy was a young lad, he gained notoriety from his snarky one liners and his once ever so popular catch-phrase "It's lumperrific!". Like many child stars here on Earth, Lumpy never quite transitioned from a cute and snarky to a serious actor. He nailed the teen heartthrob roles, but that marked the apex of his career.

His arrival here on Earth was to broaden his acting horizons. To get the street creds to be considered a serious actor back on Zgrunturos. Or so his Agent claims. Word on the street, or more precisely in our office, has it that Lumpy actually is suffering through some financial problems back on his home planet. So he's here getting roles that he couldn't or normally wouldn't get/take on Zgrunturos. In a bizarre way, not unlike how certain American celebrities do cameos for ads in Japan, like this:
I'm not sure if that's true, but I'd have to say I'm starting to become impressed by Lumpy. When I first heard we were getting some bratty ex-child star from another planet to star in our show, I thought we'd get some prima donna strutting around the office asking for 30 degree temperature water or no brown M&Ms.
While he does have his demands, I'm thinking maybe he has way more acting chops than people ... errr ... aliens think!
I mean, what other actor could pull off this range of roles?

You'll be seeing these many faces of Lumpy in EP3. And even more in future episodes!

Monday's EP3 Update

2009-11-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

We've come to another EP3 Monday update! This will hopefully be the last Monday update for EP3! Over the weekend, we've been getting in a lot of artwork. We've also been putting in more of our Achievement and Secrets support. This includes Open Feint integration. The OF system and our system pretty much match, so if OF isn't your schtick, then you won't be affected. Right now, we're currently testing it internally and will very shortly give it to our Beta Testers!

While there are still a slew of issues we need to handle before submission, it should be very soon. And now that Lumpy's washed off all that flour, he's been running around like a school kid. I guess after quasi-hibernation ... you have lots of energy!

The Redemption of Lumptacius Hrudkovity

2009-11-08T15:46:00.000-08:00

During this past Halloween, Lumpy was disappointed because he thought he was going to be able to dress up and go trick or treating. But much to his horror, he discovered that everyone thought he was already in costume! And when he took first place at a local costume contest for his "Casper" costume, well, that was just too much.

Through his Agent, Lumpy demanded that we have a poll to prove to everyone that he does not indeed look like one Casper McFadden. Well the results are in! People generally agree that our blobby blue friend does not look like Casper. Upon hearing this news, Lumpy was relieved. So much so, he resumed his normal activities of talking about his new friends and cleaning around the apartment.

He was spouting off about his new friends telling him they had a super important cleaning job for him soon. As he had not cleaned in the past few days he was a bit overzealous, worried he was out of practice.

During vacuuming he knocked over a container of flour, causing a huge flour dust storm all over the place. And afterwards, once everything settled ... he saw a quick glance of himself in the mirror!

Oh great. I just heard the lock on the bathroom door!

Help Us Improve QuitIt!

2009-11-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Game development is hard work. But it's fun hard work! How many other jobs exist where you contemplate what the emotional state of a blue blobby alien would be when poked by a stalk of celery?

Clearly, we have some pretty odd ideas over here at 2n. And while we all really really really enjoy working with Lumpy and on QuitIt!, we're not just making the game for ourselves. We're also making it for you the fans! We're nearly ready to submit EP3. And we've actually already secretly (well not any more) been working on EP4. During our last production meeting, Lumpy asked ... but what do my fans want?

Well, we want to know! Help us improve QuitIt! Let us know what you'd like to see. We've already had some great suggestions in the past like the JOY BUZZER, and CINCO DE MOLAR. And recently we've gotten cool suggestions like the GOLDEN MARSHALL (see the comments).

Lumpy suggested we start a poll on the right sidebar to help you better point out what you'd like to see worked on sooner versus later. Do we have a feature not listed there? Or do you have a more specific idea for a Gift or Poker? Then just leave a comment here!

Lumpy's One Smooth Criminal!

2009-11-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

You may not know it, but Lumpy is a huge fan of MJ. Not only does he like Michael's music, but I suppose he can also relate with the struggles that another once-child star goes through.

His Agent is quite insistent that Lumpy has met Michael before. He further claims that Lumpy was also supposed to have had a cameo in Michael Jackson's This Is It movie. Unreliable sources say it was cancelled due to the other dancers complaining that Lumpy's dancing skills were upstaging them!

During the early production of EP3, Lumpy's Agent approached us, contract in hand, demanding all the Lumpy get to share the moves he had been practicing for the movie with everyone.

At first we were reluctant. But after we saw the blue blob move ... we were sold.

It also seems that Lumpy recently has a fondness for acting like he's a bit of a toughie. Lately he's also been donning MJ's Smooth Criminal hat. But that's probably just because This Is It just came out.

Rumor has it that if you do the right thing in EP3, Lumpy will do a special dance just for you! And just maybe you'll be able to get that hat too!

Pho Garden Challenge ... the Aftermath!

2009-11-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since our boy, Lumpy, partook in the Pho Garden Challenge. Lumpy managed to finish the challenge in a record break pace of 10 minutes flat. A time so mind-boggling that Pho Garden owner Brenden Lam declared that from that point on, only humans would be allowed to take the challenge!

After finishing, Lumpy asked for seconds.

Before they could bring out a second bowl, the original bowl got its revenge on Lumpy! Apparently a little known fact about Zgrunturians is that when they eat too much, they enter a quasi-hibernation state.

The last few days at the office and at my apartment have been quiet. And if I dare say, I think I may be missing the energy of having his royal blueness around!

Now I feel like eating some pho...

Friday's EP3 Update

2009-11-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

This has been quite the week! Between Lumpy taking the Pho Garden Challenge and being in Beta, time has really flown by! On to the deets on the EP3!

We are still in production. We've almost finished tuning our minigame, Lumpy Hoops. And right now we're plugging in the Open Feint achievements as well as all the achievement and unlock points in this Episode. This time around, we're will make getting some of the Achievements and Secrets easier! We apologize if EP2 was too hard.

EP3 will also have some Thanksgiving themed items!

Our current goal is to try and submit by Monday! This is an ambitious goal, but as Lumpy keeps telling us ... "If you don't aim for the stars, you'll always be on Zgrunturos." He assures us it is a saying that sounds better in Zgrunturian.

On a sad note. The other day we found out that Lumpy's animator's girlfriend's Mother passed away. We're deeply saddened by this news. Lumpy and the 2n team sends our condolences to their families.

Celebrate King Tut Day with Lumpy ... with a SALE!

2009-11-04T09:51:00.000-08:00

On November 4, 1922, King Tutankhamun's (aka King Tut) tomb was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

Today is King Tut Day ... a Holiday we had included for EP3. But since we're still in Beta testing, the fans won't be able to see it until next year or if they change their calendars. Then again, maybe we'll be putting in a special mode later on to see all the different rooms!?

Lumpy felt bad that such a cool looking room is in EP3, but that it isn't available yet for his fans. So he wanted to give something to the fans.

King Tut was 9 years old when he became pharaoh. And his reign lasted about 10 years. He died at the age of 19. When Lumpy heard about this, he thought why not a 19 hour sale for $1.99?

Lumpy's Agent disclosed the details of the sale to us this morning, saying it the 19 hour sale would be from now until 11:59 PST.

When someone in the office mentioned from now to 11:59 PST is less than 19 hours, Lumpy's Agent simply remarked "This interview is over."

So, as his royal blueness requested ... celebrate King Tut Day with Lumpy with a sale. Today only until 11:59 PST!

Lumpy Takes the Pho Garden Challenge!

2009-11-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Life around Lumpy, for the most part, has been a pleasant experience. Learning about a new alien culture is not an opportunity that everyone gets. But sometimes, we also end up learning about the quirks of another culture. And in the case of Zgrunturians, one of the bigger quirks is the sheer volume of food they go through each day.

In normal circumstances, this would not be a problem. But as luck would have it, Lumpy forgot to pack his microfusion powercells for his food replicator. Since then, we've had to find Earth food that he could eat. Which really hasn't been too much of a problem. Except for people around the office. On a fateful day back in August, our blue buddy was introduced to a dish called pho. To say he likes it would be an understatement. Ever since then, Lumpy has demanded pho nearly every day.

As of late, it's really taken it's toll on everyone. As mealtime roles around, everyone suddenly has a reason to be somewhere else. And who's left to handle the dietary needs of our Star? Yours truly. Normally, I'm a fan of pho. Really, I actually like it quite a bit. But after multiple meals of pho ... daily ... how would you feel?

Just when I was feeling I was reaching my wits end, I discovered something ... big. In San Francisco, there is a restaurant called Pho Garden. At Pho Garden, they have what is called the Pho Garden Challenge. And just what is this challenge? Try 2 pounds of noodles and 2 pounds of combination beef with tripe! If you can finish that ginormous bowl of pho within 60 minutes ... it's on them. For me, it wasn't about getting a free bowl of pho. It was about teaching his royal blueness that too much of a good thing isn't always good!

And just what happened when Lumpy took the Pho Garden Challenge? The full story can be found on our website here.

And if you want to check our more pics of Lumpy in action during the challenge ... go here!

Pho Garden is located at 2109 Clement Street in San Francisco, CA. Deets on Pho Garden and the Pho Garden Challenge can be found on their website: http://phogardensf.com.

Meet Zynx Part 2 ... and Monday's EP3 Update!

2009-11-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Aside from out little problem with Lumpy not getting to wear his costume on Halloween, things have been going swimmingly.

We started Beta yesterday and will continue adding in our last features as well as tuning the app. Since we realize that EP3 will be the version everyone will have around Thanksgiving, we decided to add a few delicious Thanksgiving goodies for you in it! Stay tuned for more deets on that.

We also wanted to show you a bit more of Lumpy's new BFF, Zynx. Check him out in action in a little video we made. This is still a work in progress and some things are still being cleaned up.

Something weird happened to Zynx over the weekend. It seems that he has a special ability that we didn't discover until we were filming him. You can catch that bit at the end of the video. Can you figure out what the heck he's doing?

EP3 Beta Underway!

2009-11-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

We just started our Beta testing with our AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME! Beta testers! Lumpy and the 2n team wants to thank all those participating! We expect to be in Beta for probably a bit more than a week. We want to add in a few more features since we missed that Halloween window!

Interested in Beta testing? Let us know. We work with a small group, mainly because we like dealing directly with everyone to get the feedback. And we like getting to know them! So we usually work with people that communicate with us via our threads on Touch Arcade, through e-mail, or through comments here on this blog.

Lumpy Takes First in Local Costume Contest!

2009-11-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Halloween. Lumpy was excited at the notion of getting dressed up and going trick or treating. Before going out, Lumpy was quite insistent on ... *sigh* ... getting some more pho.

Walking down to one of the many pho restaurants we're regulars at, a strange thing happened. I started to hear a lot of "Your boy is sooo cute!", "What do we have here? A little ghost?", and "That's the best ghost costume I've ever seen! It looks so real!". At first I thought I was overhearing conversations between other people. Then it slowly dawned that they were talking to us!

And just what ghost did they all seem to think he was? Why Casper!

Everyone apparently thought he looked so much like Casper that he even accidentally won first place at a local costume contest.

Lumpy was so distraught about this that he had his Agent demand that we make a poll to prove he doesn't!

If you check out the sidebar to the right, you can vote on it. Does Lumpy look like Casper?

Help put Lumpy's mind at ease by voting No. Or give him a complex by voting Yes. Or better yet ... keep him wondering by voting Maybe!

In the end? Our blue little buddy never got a chance to dress up! It seemed au naturale won out as the best costume.

And how did Lumpy take this disappointment?

After first locking himself in his room. Then the bathroom. Then his room. He came out declaring all the crying has left him dehydrated and hungry. But nothing that a few bowls of pho couldn't cure. So here I sit, blogging this on my iPhone. As Lumpy gently sobs between mouthfuls of pho.

Someone ... help ... me ... please....

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is Lumpy's first Halloween here on Earth. On his home planet, Zgrunturos, they have holidays. But none like Halloween. He's tickled blue at the concept of dressing up and going out trick or treating. No one here at the office had the courage to tell him that trick or treating is only for the 'lil ones. Although Lumpy, by Zgrunturian standards, is still a young adult, he's acting very much like a little kid!

We took a few pictures of him earlier today, trying on his outfit for later tonight. And what did Lumpy want to do after a few hours of trying on costumes? You guessed it. The boy wanted to eat some pho. I will find a way to cure him of his pho habit!

Every Day is a Good Day When It's Cinco de Molar!

2009-10-30T16:27:00.000-07:00

The poll results are in! With a pretty strong finish, Cinco de Molar took the winning spot. Cinco de Molar was submitted by Bronson15. The two runners up were My Sweet Tooth (Mohammedrules) and Drill, baby, drill (Devilishly Good).

So the next time you have to go to the dentist ... remember. It's not so bad. Cuz when it's Cinco de Molar ... it at least sounds like you're gonna have some fun!

Lumpy's Halloween Wallpaper!

2009-10-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

For EP3, Lumpy has been zombie-fied quite a few times. And he's getting quite used to it. When he heard about our Earthling holiday called Halloween and realized it had a relationship to zombies, he suggested we make a wallpaper for you guys to enjoy. We have 3 different varieties for you enjoyment!

You should be able to download these images. If you're not sure how, ask! Lumpy and the 2n team wishes everyone a Happy Halloween! Okay, it's early ... but it's fun!

Name the "Dentist Day" Polls are Open!

2009-10-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we started a contest in celebration of us getting into the top 100 Entertainment apps and being featured as What's Hot in the US iTunes App Store. We had over 190 entries and narrowed it down to 10 choices!

Cinco de Molar (Bronson15)
Dia de los Molars (Kalel39)
Drill, baby, drill (Devilishly Good)
I See Numb People (evilhomer)
Molar Madness Day (Touchgamer3g)
Mouth Mangling Numbday (drelbs)
My Sweet Tooth (Mohammedrules)
My Toof Hurz (Devilishly Good)
QuitIt Cavities Day (Rachel)
Twice a ... Day (Will090)

So let the voting begin! If you want to cast your vote, poke on over to our thread in Touch Arcade here!

Lumpy wants to thank everyone that submitted their entries!

On another note, we're bordering on breaking into the top 50 in Entertainment apps! For those that have been helping spread the word thanks!

If you haven't please do! Only through your support can we continue to bring you more updates!

Help Us Name the "Dentist Day" Holiday Contest!

2009-10-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Lumpy is pleased as punch that we're in the top 100 Entertainment apps. He suggested that we have a little contest to celebrate!

EP3 has a bunch of new Holiday themes to purchase. One of them is what we are simply calling Dentist Day. Lumpy Agent told us the other day "My client thinks the name Dentist Day is too straightforward and does not represent the depth and complexity my client is portraying in the QuitIt! experience."

After receiving a few blank stares his Agent said "He wants it to have a new name." Options such as "Tooth Day" and "My Toothy Ouchy Day" surfaced. None of which pleased his royal blueness. So Lumpy thought, why not ask my fans to help out?

Help us rename Dentist Day! Leave suggestions here or on our thread at Touch Arcade here. We'll give away 3 promocodes to the best names!

If you already have a copy of QuitIt!, you can still participate. Lumpy says "Sharing is caring." ... so give that promocode to a friend and help us let even more people know about QuitIt!

QuitIt! Back in the top 100 Entertainment Apps!

2009-10-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

QuitIt! is back in the top 100 Entertainment Apps in the US iTunes App Store! Lumpy is excited to be back there. EP1 also got into that top 100 list. Last time, we made it to 19, but then fell shortly thereafter. We're hoping with all the improvements that we have made with EP2 that we can work our way to the top of the list ... and stay on it for the next weeks to come!

If you have QuitIt! but haven't reviewed it, or haven't updated your review for EP2, Lumpy would be ecstatic if you could! And of course spreading the word to others is always a good thing. The more we can get people buying Lumpy and QuitIt! the longer we can continue doing the FREE updates!

Meet Zynx!

2009-10-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had a contest to pick the name of Lumpy's toy dog. Internally, we named the dog Barky. The fine folks over at Touch Arcade had some different ideas! We had a poll, and the top 3 name choices were Zynx, Lil' Bit, and Byter, with Zynx being the winning name! Mr. Crazy came up with that one!

The look of Zynx has changed a bit to read better on the screen. As everyone knows, Lumpy loves cute animals and things. As it turns out, Zynx is pretty dang cute. So as you can imagine, Lumpy really likes Zynx. Lumpy likes him so much that he wanted to post a picture of the little guy...

Zynx will be able to do some tricks too! I wonder what they'll be!?

What's Hot? Why QuitIt! is ... again!

2009-10-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

Lumpy has been working pretty hard in preparation for EP3. He's allowed himself to have spells cast upon him, he's allowed himself to be zombie-fied, and he's played homage to MJ. He even has been practicing a few more sweet moves no one has seen quite yet.

This evening, he was relaxing a bit at the office, poking around the interweb, while I was trying to finish up my work for the day. Suddenly, I heard a big thud. When I looked around I saw that Lumpy had fallen out of his chair. When I asked him what happened he kept saying "What's Hot ... What's Hot". He then hopped up and then nudged me towards his computer screen.

I saw he was on Oprah's website reading about Wednesday's episode where Oprah will hear from MJ's fans talk about his new movie: Michael Jackson's This Is It. As I was rolling my eyes, I realized something else. Next to that window was iTunes. And on the iTunes page, QuitIt! was listed as What's Hot!

Lumpy was overjoyed because this is the second time we've been listed as What's Hot! since we first came out!

Lumpy and the 2n team would like to express our gratitude to all the fans that have supported QuitIt! and we ask for your continued support in helping to spread the word about QuitIt! By spreading the word and giving us good reviews on iTunes, you'll allow us to continue building new Episodes for your enjoyment!

Lumpy's Hungry Pho Sure!

2009-10-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

All of the recent cleaning has apparently caused Lumpy to build up quite the appetite. The boy eats a lot. Every day, he probably woofs down a good 7-10 meals. He claims his weight is the exact same compared to when he first hopped on Earth. Especially since he's been practicing some new moves for EP3. But I swear he's put on a few.

On top of the increased appetite, San Francisco has also gotten a little chillier. This has set off the Perfect Storm for increasing Lumpy's cravings for his favorite food here on Earth ... pho. Lumpy is insatiable when it comes to pho. Before, he would demand it daily. Now, he is asking for it nearly every meal. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. Except everyone in the office has left it up to me to be the go guy when it comes to pho. Today, after lunch, I demanded people at the office step up and either find a replacement food that will spark Lumpy's attentions or find something that will sate his penchant for pho. To help drive the point across, I locked everyone in a conference room for 1 hour ... while Lumpy incessantly chirped "Lumpi ha pho tabetai."

When I unlocked the door, I was suddenly greeted by a much more understanding look from everyone. I'm thinking someone will have a solution soon!

Seriously, what the pho!?

Monday's EP3 Update

2009-10-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

A little late in the day for this update, but I wanted to get some news out. We're close to starting our Beta test. Project time right now is being divided amongst debugging of some of our data from the tool update, getting our new minigame, Lumpy Hoops, balanced, adding in support for Lumpy's toy dog, Zynx, and of course a slew of other things!

Ideally, we want to submit EP3 at the end of this week. We are then going to try and crank through a really quick EP4 for another release before Thanksgiving.

Our goal for these back to back releases is not only to get out new content, but also to hit Thanksgiving with some fun Thanksgiving themed items!

At the same time, we don't want to compromise the level of polish that is currently in the game!

I'll post the next EP3 update once we start Beta testing!

EP3 Update - Lumpy's Got Some New Moves!

2009-10-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

We've started the transition of giving Lumpy new poked/tickled reactions to the Pokers. This first started with the JOY BUZZER and recently was followed up by WHO'S BAD?. This week, we were putting the finishing touches on two newer Lumpy animation sets: ALKAZAM! and BRAIN FOOD.

We thought now would be a good time to give everyone a peek into what these are looking like. It also shows you the craziness we can get into the QuitIt!

All newer Lumpy animation sets to Pokers have a hidden finality. These ones are pretty funny. Let's just say they involve Moon Walking, a unicorn, and a graveyard!

Since we decided to forgo hitting Halloween due to our Perfect Storm of issues, we're going to pimp out EP3 more than we wanted to by trying to get a couple of more animation sets in the game. We'll keep you posted!

Each episode will give you newer Lumpy animation reaction sets to Pokers.

Thursday's EP3 Update!

2009-10-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

Building a game is all about data management. Sure, you have your AI, engines, game play elements, etc. But at the very end it is all about the data. Moving data X to point Y by time Z. And while QuitIt! is really an Entertainment app with some game elements, it relies heavily on data management. For those that have played QuitIt!, you may notice the smoothness in animation. QuitIt! is pure 2D, but if you watch the anims, it really doesn't look like we're using a flip book of animation, like so many 2D apps use. And that's because we're not! There is a complex web of data that is used to properly animate everything in the game. Which translates to ... a lot of data!

Over the past few days, we've upgraded our tool chains. What this will allow us to do is have better control (hopefully) over how Accessories are placed on Lumpy. But in doing this, it basically required that we reprocess all of our animations. Once reprocessed, we then had to process the data to generate the runtime data.

In QuitIt!, there are roughly 1000+ asset files. Around 185 of those are sound files, about 350 of those are textures, and the rest are data. During an average snapshot at runtime, we have loaded into memory around 128 sound effects and roughly 53-60 textures. All these assets are juggled around on the fly when you switch Pokers and get new Gifts, providing a seamless play experience.

Now that's a lot of data! Which means that it took quite a bit of time to make all those changes. As we're a small company, and I'm the only tech guy, I was the one doing all that reprocessing of the data. I finished all the data processing yesterday and am validating everything. While it's awesome we got all that behind it, it's not so awesome that it chewed up so much time. The upside is that this should allow for a better Accessories (eg. hats, beards, etc) experience as well as continued expandability for QuitIt!

Lumpy Even Does Laundry!

2009-10-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Color me impressed, because Lumpy is still chipping in at the apartment!

At first I thought it would be a passing fad. But he really seems committed to a career in cleaning. Lumpy told me that his new buddies have been very encouraging. Claiming he's a natural. And that it's the perfect side job to have when you're an actor, because you can get cleaning gigs between your acting ones. They also added that if he gets acting roles in other cities or countries, they may have cleaning jobs at those locales that they could hook him up with.

So this morning, I found Lumpy doing my laundry. Which I found extra impressive. Since, as you probably could tell, Lumpy really doesn't have clothes. So I figured he'd draw the boundary at laundry. But I was wrong.

When I asked my blue pal why the sudden urge to do laundry, he curtly replied "I was told I needed to branch out and launder things." Apparently he is expecting to being doing a lot of laundry in the near future ... because he was also asking me where all the 24 hour Laundromats are in San Francisco.

Monday's EP3 Update ... The Perfect Storm

2009-10-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this Monday's EP3 Update! The things that happen during a dev cycle never fail to amaze me. Sometimes you get by with little or no issues. Other times you get a few bumps and bruises along the way. But just like eating airline food, you mostly walk away just fine.

This time, however, we've seem to have hit the perfect storm of issues. Our artists, for various good reasons, have all gotten sidelined during this production cycle. While the timing of these events is unfortunate, these are, as they say, the breaks of the game.

What this means is that art is coming out a bit slower than expected. And rather than rush job things solely for the sake of speed, we'd rather make sure the stuff comes out well. For a game like ours, artwork is pretty important. The smoothness of animation and maintenance the consistency of the look requires some damn good artists and time.

We're also taking this time to do a bit of technical housecleaning. I've rewritten part of our tool chain to better encode some more information into the game to improve our handling of Accessories (eg. hats, beards, etc). The unfortunate side effect of this is it means all our assets need to be reprocessed.

Yes, the Perfect Storm indeed. But as Lumpy often says around the office, "The Show must go on!"

And it will!

A Lumpy Upgrade Request

2009-10-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

I found out the other day that someone did not want to upgrade to EP2 because the icon has Lumpy in a distressed state. Compared to the Pilot Episode, where Lumpy is all smiles. She didn't not want to see an electrified state of cute and adorable Lumpy.

We've realized that some people feel really bad about hurting Lumpy, because they like him so much. We even found that this feeling would even affect which Pokers they chose to use on the Lumpster. For example, MIGRAINE RELIEVER bad. PLASTIK-O FLAMINGO good.

But fear not people. Lumpy is a trained actor. We can assure that while things appear to really hurt him, it's acting! And if you're feeling bad, it just shows you that Lumpy's got the chops!

EP3's icon will be a friendlier icon ... and the update will also have more things that you can make Lumpy happy with. So those with a guilty conscious ... soon you'll be able to smoother him with good things.

When Lumpy heard that a fan didn't want to update because of the icon, he was in tears. After all, the boy spent weeks under the hot lights of the set during the production of it. He wanted to personally address her, to let her know he's okay.

Since she wrote this in Japanese, it is only fair that Lumpy replies 日本語で. Japanese after all, was the first Earthling language that he learned.

So Lumpy says to that fan 「アップグレードしませんでしょうか？お願いします。」

A New Friend for Lumpy!

2009-10-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

In EP2 - Shock and Oww, we introduced a friend for Lumpy ... Clappy the Monkey! Clappy was a pioneer in a couple of ways. First, he was interactive. You could pick him up, throw him around, and even feed him to Lumpy. And maybe some of you also figured out that if you used the LET'S GO BANANAS!! Poker, Lumpy would follow it! And run away from the JOY BUZZER! Clappy also was the first of Gifts that make Lumpy happy!

EP3 will introduce a new interactive Gift for Lumpy. Meet Lumpy's new friend...

This lil' fella doesn't have a name yet. And we're looking to you to help name him! And what's this lil' fella do? He's a toy dog. A futuristic one at that! Maybe the sort you find on Zgrunturos? Does this dog do tricks? You betcha! I guess you could consider him Lumpy's pet ... don't worry he's house broken! Hmm, do we even know if he's a he!?

To make it more interesting, we're going to give out promo codes with the naming as well. We're working out the deets on this one, but we'll be giving out 3 promo codes for the best name candidates. Depending on the number of suggestions, we may take it to the polls to select the top 3!

Leave your suggestions here or on our thread in Touch Arcade.

EP2 Achievements and Secrets Revealed!

2009-10-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

Some people have commented that either they weren't too sure there were Achievements and Secrets in QuitIt!. Or they didn't know how to trigger them. We've updated our blog to contain this information. And soon, we'll update our website as well.

This information can be found in our FAQ here. For each new episode, we'll update the Achievements and Secrets section.

Lumpy's Helping Out!

2009-10-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Lumpy's a Star. And on top of that, he's an ex-child Star. Which means that growing up, his sense of responsibility was skewed. Being the meal ticket to his Mom as well as to the various media execs resulted in a kid that has no concept of household chores.

When Lumpy first arrived here on Earth, I was the person elected to give him a place to stay. This has been challenging in more ways than one. From the grocery bills, his eclectic taste in TV programming, and the strange friends. And on top of it all. Lumpy doesn't do his share of the chores.

When it comes down to any form of manual labor around the apartment, Lumpy doesn't lift a finger. Okay, he doesn't have fingers ... but I've thought many a time that it sure would be nice if he pitched in every now and then. Especially since the upkeep on a blue blobby alien is quite high.

Recently, however, things have changed. It all started when I was awoken by a strange sound. When I went out into the living room to investigate, I was amazed to find one Lumptacius Hrudkovity vacuuming! Over the last few days, Lumpy has been quite helpful. Not only has he vacuumed, but he's also done dishes, and even cleaned the bathroom! Lumpy has somehow transformed into quite the helpful little alien!

When asked as to why he was suddenly helping out, he told me that his new friends suggested to him that on top of acting, he may be good at being a cleaner. They've already apparently have been offering him cleaning gigs. But, Lumpy said, he wanted to practice before accepting ... so he wouldn't let anyone down when he started to clean professionally.

Not sure if it's empathy gained from watching all of those episodes of Oprah or solely from the influence of his new friends. But this is a welcome change in Lumpy! And if the changes are due to his new friends ... they're alright in my book!

Fan Review by Real Racing Fan

2009-10-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was approached by Real Racing Fan on Touch Arcade. He's a budding young iPhone reviewer trying to make a name for himself in the interweb. He asked if he could do a video review on QuitIt!. What really made his request stand out was that he said he'd buy the app and then review it. For those not in the know, what usually happens is you get a ton of people asking you for promo codes so they can review your app.

So this was a refreshing change!

Yesterday he sent us an e-mail letting us know the video is posted on YouTube.

Lumpy knows what it's like starting out and trying to make a name for yourself. So he suggested we post his video. Lumpy wants us to encourage Real Racing Fan by checking out his video. If you like his videos, why not subscribe to his YouTube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/iP0dsandiPh0nes)?

Lumpy's Other Secret Exposed?

2009-10-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

What's this?

An intern in our office snapped this picture of Lumpy. Is there something we don't know about Lumpy? Or does this just represent a softer side to Lumpy? After his recent bouts of being short-tempered, perhaps this shows us that he's really just a good guy deep inside?

When confronted with this picture, Lumpy's Agent demanded we wipe the interweb clean of all images. When told that it was already out there, he said "Clearly my client is showing his vast array of acting skills. Real men aren't afraid to show their feminine side."

And after that, he dragged me aside and said "Now you find a way to get it into the game!"

Lumpy's Crew

2009-10-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

I previously mentioned that Lumpy has been hanging out with some new friends I have never met. And this has been accompanied by some strange behavior. An otherwise upbeat, pleasant, and kind Lumpy occasionally morphs into a short-tempered blue blob that tells people that if they don't watch it, they'll "get theirs".

Towards me, Lumpy is a bit protective. I guess it is a perk of being the handler and his roommate.

Last night when we were out, someone accidentally bumped into my chair. Lumpy got a bit confrontational. Afterwards when we got home, I told Lumpy he shouldn't have done it, but he said I was being disrespected and he had to do something about it. He added that I shouldn't worry about it and he'd talk to his crew to make sure that guy would never bother me again.

As he shooed me out of his room, he said he needed to hit the mattresses soon. I guess he was tired from a long day of working on EP3, but it was only 8PM!?

Monday's EP3 Update ... Who's Badder?

2009-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

This is our first Monday EP3 update. It has been a few days since you're heard any deets on EP3. After our submission to Apple and our release of EP2, we've been spending most of our time planning it. Since we're a small company, it unfortunately means people wear many hats and things can, at times, take longer than expected. But fortunately we have Lumpy to remind us that his needs are priority.

We are going for a more modest update with EP3. This doesn't mean that we're going to water down the episode. We just want to try and get a version out around Halloween, since there are some Halloween themed items here.

Two of the bigger features we are putting into EP3 are Open Feint and more ways to make Lumpy happy. This will include having Lumpy's idle be happy too, when his meter is happy. We are also slowly updating Lumpy to have specific reactions to pokers.

Take this for example.

Lumpy likes MJ. And as a tribute to him, he wanted the first "happy" Poker to be augmented to be Who's Bad.

Here is a small video clip to show you the craziness we have in store. The first part shows how Lumpy currently reacts to Who's Bad. The last part shows what it may look like soon! And also remember that each pimped out Poker will have a special finality animation that you have to discover!

EP3 will have 3 pokers upgraded. In honor of Halloween, one will be Brain Food. We're still selecting the other one.

Thoughts on the newer Lumpy animations to Pokers to come?

So Who's Badder now? Lumpy!

Lumpy Trivia Contest Promo Code Giveaway Result!

2009-10-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Lumpy wants to thank everyone that participated in the Trivia Contest! He hopes it was fun. Some people mentioned they felt it was a little too hard. Lumpy apologizes if you think it was ... but is happy that now you know a little bit more about him!

Here are the answers to the contest:

Question 1: Where is Lumpy originally from?
Answer: Lumpy comes from Zgrunturos where he was an ex-child star. The answer could be found here.

Question 2: Who was the person Lumpy thought had it in for him?
Answer: Montezuma. After eating a burrito, his first food on Earth, Lumpy found it didn't quite agree with him. After the concept of Montezuma's revenge was mentioned to him, he couldn't figure out why some being name Montezuma was after him. The answer could be found here.

Question 3: What documentary made Lumpy go into hiding?
Answer: District 9. Lumpy was disturbed on how poorly the aliens were treated in this documentary. After viewing it, he believed the MNU was after him and went into hiding. The answer could be found here.

Question 4: Which show did Lumpy's Agent stop the production of EP2 on in order to watch?
Answer: The Oprah Winfrey Show. We all have our guilty pleasures. And if yours happens to be Oprah Winfrey as well. We won't judge. The answer could be found here.

Question 5: What chemical did Lumpy's Agent say was okay for his client, and what was it going to be used for?
Answer: Brilliant Blue G and blue augmentation therapy. When rumors had it that Lumpy was a candidate to be the stunt double for the Blue M&M, questions arose as to how Lumpy would manage it since their skin tones are slightly different. The answer could be found here.

And now our winners!

All our winners are from TouchArcade, although one of them did submit their entry via e-mail! The winners, in order of getting the answers right are:

gac
zvnthynn
5duc29

Congratulations! If you anyone found our blog amusing, then follow us on the blog or on Twitter @2nProductions. Or even better, help us spread the word about QuitIt! and the blog! Your help will allow us to make future episodes for a everyone to enjoy.

Oh, and Lumpy wanted to add that if any of his fans have suggestions, please feel free to leave them on our blog or e-mail them to us here.

Saturday EP2 Promo Code Giveaway Contest!

2009-10-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

As people know, Lumpy's not from here. Being new in town can be tough. But what about if you're a blue blobby creature from another planet? Lumpy's Agent suggested we help people get to know Lumpy better, by having a Promo Code Giveaway Contest.

To which an intern quipped "But how's that going to get them to know Lumpy more?". After the freshly Joy Buzzed body was moved to a resting area, Lumpy's Agent provided us with the following information.

The Lumpy Trivia Contest

Rules:

The first three (3) people to correctly answer all of the following five (5) questions about Lumpy will each receive one (1) promo code to QuitIt!
You may enter as many times as you want.
A person may win only one (1) promo code.
Winners picked will be based on the order/timestamp recieved.
Contestants must submit their replies by either PM to "2n Productions" on TouchArcade or to support@quititthegame.com.
Only answers submitted by the methods above will be considered valid.

Misc deets:

All answers can be found in this blog.
You are encouraged to leave funny comments in our blog.
Post on our TA thread to let us know you submitted your answers.
If you need a hint, ask us via comment in this blog or on the TA thread.

Questions:

Where is Lumpy originally from?
Who was the person Lumpy thought had it in for him? Hint: This is related to a food incident as well as a dish, as the saying goes, that is best served cold. You could always just google "dish best served cold" to find out what that refers to. Then look in July. You only need to look at the blog post titles to probably figure it out then!
What documentary made Lumpy go into hiding?
Which show did Lumpy stop the production of EP2 on in order to watch?
What chemical did Lumpy's Agent say was okay for his client, and what was it going to be used for? Hint: This chemical was to be used to alter something with Lumpy in order to make him look right for a role. This chemical was also found to have two effects on mice. The first being it helped to mend something. The second being it changed it's appearance. You have probably eaten this chemical too!

Winners will be announced on Monday!

Look Up in the Sky! It's a Bird...

2009-10-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today, Lumpy heard loud roaring from the sky. He noticed the source of the noise was from these blue objects racing around the sky.

We had to explain to him that here in San Francisco, it's Fleet Week. And during that time, the Blue Angels perform an air show. A few days before the show, they do practice runs over and around San Francisco.

Lumpy was mesmerized by the blue objects darting through the sky. He seemed deeply moved, as if reflecting all of the space travel he has done in his lifetime.

After a few minutes of watching this afternoon's impromptu air show, Lumpy remarked "Why are they moving so slow?"

SPOILER ALERT! Emoji Mystery Solved!

2009-10-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

If you want to figure out how to unlock the secret gift yourself, stop reading this post! If not, read on!

After yesterday's shocking revelation about the secret gift hidden away in QuitIt! by Lumpy, we've been doing some sleuthing and discovered the secret to unlock it!

We overheard Lumpy's Agent talking to the Lumpster in the Green Room and the Agent said, "Oh, okay Lumpy, so the trick to unlocking the emoji is to poke you 7 times with the ALAKAZAM!! Poker first. And then buy the LIL' CRATE O' MYSTERY from the GIFTS store. So, after the Gift comes out, I just simply touch it to unlock the emoji! Ingenious!"

After we overheard this conversation, we tried it, and by gosh it works! So, for your convenience, here are the steps we used to unlock the emoji!

Choose or Buy the ALAKAZAM!! Poker.
Poke Lumpy 7 times with the ALAKAZAM!! Poker.

Go to the GIFTS Store and buy the LIL' CRATE O' MYSTERY Gift.
Go back into Lumpy's room and open the Gift when it appears.

You should see a message that says you've unlocked emoji. That's it!
Now go to our How to Enable Emoji FAQ and enable the emoji on your device!

There are couple of things you need to know:

Make sure to poke Lumpy 7 times. If the steps above did not work for you, Lumpy may have dodged one of your pokes. Make sure that you poke him 7 times!
Do not buy any other Gifts while you're unlocking emoji. The Gift that is opened immediately after you poke Lumpy with the ALAKAZAM!! poker MUST be the LIL' CRATE O' MYSTERY Gift.
If the steps above did not work for you, you will need to choose another Poker other than ALAKAZAM!!, and then go back into Lumpy's room again and then follow steps 1 through 6 above.
If you have emoji unlocked already, you will get a message that says you have emoji enabled already on your device.
If you're still having problems unlocking emoji, contact us by e-mail.

Lumpy's New Friends

2009-10-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

Living with roommates is an interesting experience. You have your ups and downs. But what if your roommate is a blobby blue alien named Lumpy that eats a lot? And what if said alien is also a Star?

Then it becomes an adventure.

Lumpy hangs out with an interesting bunch of people. Some are internet phenoms, some are outright famous, while others are known for other reasons. And don't get me started on the quirky wannabe actor crowd.

Being Lumpy's handler, I'm usually forced to go out with Lumpy and his friends. Which can be good and bad.

But recently, Lumpy has made some new friends. Friends I've never met. And it's beginning to worry me, since Lumpy also seems to be getting a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Occasionally he gets short with me. At other times he becomes very magnanimous, picking up the tab. During those times, if I try to pay my share, he tells me to forget about it. When I tell him he's still just a semi-Star and to watch what he spends, he insists on a big payday coming soon.

Don't get me wrong. I like the Lumpster. I really do. But something is strange...

Lumpy Gives Back!

2009-10-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

People may remember that we mentioned that there was a secret gift in QuitIt! for everyone. We weren't sure if there was, but both Lumpy and his Agent kept insisting there was one. How could an intergalactic ambassador of Good Will possibly lie to us?

This morning, Lumpy woke me up at the crack of dawn and demanded I change the in store icon to the app. Half asleep, I begrudgingly did so. And after I hit "Save Changes" I actually took a look at it.

Are my eyes deceiving me?

I'm not quite sure how he did it, but he got it in there. And as proof, he gave me this screenie.

Which leads to the two big questions...

How did he get it in there with out me knowing and where is the thing hidden?

Hmm, but the mystery has been solved! It's hidden here!

QuitIt! FAQ

2009-10-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Click on the links below to see more information on each topic!

What’s QuitIt!? Updated 10/08/09
Lumpy Updated 10/08/09
General Info Updated 10/08/09
General Gameplay Updated 12/11/09
Zynx Updated 12/17/09
Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy Updated 12/17/09
Where's My Stuff? Updated 1/21/10
Pokers Updated 12/11/09
Gifts Updated 12/11/09
Holidays Updated 10/08/09
Minigames Updated 10/08/09

Achievements and Secrets Updated 12/10/2009
Note: EMOJI is no longer available in QuitIt! It was removed at the request of Apple.

Still not sure about something? Then send us e-mail here.

What the Pho!?

2009-10-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

When Lumpy's Agent is not around, by default, I become Lumpy's handler. During the slightest mention of money, contract, sequel, etc ... his Agent miraculously appears. Other than that, he's no where to be found.

When Lumpy first came to Earth, everyone in the office quickly volunteered me to put him up. So not only do I share an office with the Lumpster, I also live with him. Which can be challenging.

The TV always seems to bark out re-runs of Oprah, he is always inviting over his quirky wanna be actor friends, and he devours all of my food. The boy eats a lot. I mean a lot. If I leave anything in the fridge or cupboards, the food is good as gone. And when there is no food, he's always asking me to go with him to get some.

Since the completion of EP2, he's apparently built up quite the appetite. I guess all of the hours method acting his way around the Joy Buzzer burned up a lot of calories.

Day in and day out. Home or office. Lumpy keeps giving me the puppy eyes and says "Lumpi ha pho tabetai." Don't get me wrong. I like pho. I really do. But not as much as Lumpy does!

Any suggestions on what to do?

Pick The Next Lumpy Reaction to a Poker!!

2009-10-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

As everyone here knows, EP3 is in production. One of the new features we added to EP2 was specific Lumpy reactions to pokers. This was done for the Joy Buzzer!

After shooting this Episode, Lumpy told us he thought that the experience of acting with the Joy Buzzer "expanded his acting horizons". Later his Agent came in demanding more "roles" like that.

So we are not in breach in contract, we find ourselves once again catering to his royal blueness. He is a Star after all!

EP3 will introduce 3 new Lumpy reactions to Pokers. For each upcoming episode, we'll also introduce newer Lumpy reactions.

We've already selected 2 of them:

Who's Bad? (MJ Hand)
Brain Food (Zombie Hand) locked item in EP2

We'd like to find out from you, what you'd like to see.

Here is the complete list of current Pokers:

Pilot Episode Pokers

Pokers Added in EP2

Not sure what a Lumpy reaction to a Poker looks like? Check out this video. The Joy Buzzer is in action near the end of the video.

Or gander at this. This little video shows you the what the "normal" poke reactions look like. I'll post something later which shows Who's Bad before and after being changed!

We're also running this on TouchArcade ... where we'll be giving out some promocodes. So check here for deets on that!

So give us your suggestions and your favorite Pokers will get priority to get done first!

Episode 2 - Shock and Oww is OUT!

2009-10-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

Lumpy wants to let all his fans know that EP2’s been approved by Apple and is now available for immediate download from the iTunes App Store!

He would like to thank all his fans for their patience, and thinks that everyone will enjoy all the new features.

Speaking of which, he just gave me the “Come on already and tell everyone what’s in EP2!” look. So without further ado, here’s a quick summary of the goodies packed into EP2:

A brand spankin' new feature: Minigames!
Over 20 Pokers to tease or please Lumpy with, including our very first full featured poker: the zaptastic Joy Buzzer!
Longer lasting Pokers
More than 15 Gifts, including 2 interactive Gifts!
Dress up Lumpy with accessories ... if you can find them!
Wacky Room Themes to buy!
Holiday Room Themes to brighten up Lumpy's day!?
See how Lumpy feels with the Mood Meter
Tilt and shake to tease Lumpy!
Stats and Achievements
A bunch of secrets ... can you find them all?
Lumpy gives back! Yep, Lumpy wanted us to hide a special gift in the game for you!

Episode 3 is Underway!

2009-10-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

As soon as I hit the submit button for EP2, Lumpy did two things. First he said"Lumpi ha pho tabetai". Then he he said "EP3 itsu ka?" As if on cue, his Agent stuck his head in the doorway and said "He says when's EP3?" and then quickly disappeared.

As his royal blueness requested, we've been hard at work last week planning out Episode 3 for QuitIt! We plan on trying to get in some Halloween treats in this one ... which also means getting the update out in October! This will definitely be a challenge since it means we need to submit around mid-October.

Here's a quick rundown on what we have planned for EP3:

A new minigame
More poker specific Lumpy animations
More interactive gifts
More Accessories to dress Lumpy up in
More wacky user themes
Open Feint support
And more stuff to be revealed later!

The details are a bit vague now, but we'll fill them in soon! Also remember, our updates are FREE!

As with the last update, I'll add the hyperlinks to other postings relating to EP3 in this posting. You can click on the reporter Lumpy icon for EPISODE 3 on the sidebar to the right.

Lumpy and the production staff here at 2n are listening to your comments! Feel free to leave suggestions or feature requests in these postings. Or leave a comment if you just want to say "Hi!". Lumpy loves making new friends!

Monday's EP3 Update ... Who's Badder? Updated 10/12/2009!
Monday's EP3 Update ... The Perfect Storm Updated 10/19/2009!
Thursday's EP3 Update Updated 10/22/2009!
EP3 Update - Lumpy's Got Some New Moves! Updated 10/23/2009!
Monday's EP Update Updated 10/26/2009!
Meet Zynx! Updated 10/27/2009!
EP3 Beta Underway! 11/01/2009!
Meet Zynx Part 3 ... and Monday's EP3 Update 11/02/2009!
Friday's EP Update 11/06/2009!
Monday's EP3 Update 11/09/09!
Wednesday's EP3 Update! 11/11/09!
EP3 - Lumpy's Best Friend - Submitted! 11/16/09!
Episode 3 - Lumpy's Best Friend is OUT! 12/02/09!

EP2 Video Goodness!

2009-10-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

Poor Ben, the guy can't seem to get a break. Despite all the insane hours he's been working during the last few weeks to put EP2 together and the work underway to get EP3 going, the Lumpster's been quite demanding about getting promo stuff together for EP2. He's very eager to spread the word about EP2 to all his fans.

I thought I'd be spared from his royal blueness, but nope, no such luck for me. Earlier this week, the Lumpster gave me the "Have you posted the trailer for EP2 yet?" look. I was already working on it when I got the look from Lumpy, but it wasn't quite ready at the time. He's been after me ever since.

Well, thanks to help I got from Herman and Ben, the video is now ready for prime time! Wahoo!

EP2 Screenshots!

2009-10-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Upon arriving at work today, Lumpy gave me a look. The "Have you posted any screenshots of EP2 yet?" look. You would think with all the EP3: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? planning I've been doing, the boy would cut me some slack. But alas, Stars are a demanding bunch.

So, as his royalness has requested via a look... some screenies of the submitted episode! If you also want to see some more, we have them posted on the QuitIt! website here.

The video is also now posted! To check it out, poke on over to here. We'll also post more deets on the EP2 features.

"Okay, maybe I won't eat those Lumpy Ohhs!"

"That looks delish!"

Lumpy Shoot

Poke Attack

Looks like Lumpy is surrounded by new friends!?

EP2 Submitted!

2009-09-25T21:33:00.001-07:00

Wow, it's the end of the week already! A few minutes ago, I submitted Episode 2: Shock and Oww. The last couple of days were hit with a slew of bugs that got found late in the cycle.

My catch phrase for today was "What you have on your iPhone is the final version.". After around the 10th time of saying that, it became "Just take it!".

Lumpy would like to thank all of the Beta testers that donated their valuable time to help refine EP2. He hopes it was a pleasant experience! We're sorry that we could not address all of the issues that people have mentioned, but we'll do so in future Episodes.

Lumpy is also quite excited right now! One may even say glowing. But as you know stars are demanding. He's already asking me what EP3 is all about. The only thing I can tell him is the title: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

Wednesday's EP2 Update

2009-09-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Soooo close to submission! The saying goes the last 10% of a project takes 90% amount of time. And it is an appropriate saying for this episode.

It has taken some time for our first update, but we've made several changes to how QuitIt! works. We want QuitIt! to be a quality product in the long term, so we thought it would be better to try and make EP2 meaningful. This update should start to address several of the issues that people have cited in reviews and direct feedback.

Lumpy is anxious! Everyone's anxious!

We're doing the final testing and tuning right now. I did just find a crash bug a few minutes ago related to the Joy Buzzer and having no memory to dynamically load in all the needed assets for it. Should be a straight forward fix, so it should not impact us too much. Our goal is to get it submitted end of day today or first thing tomorrow. Hmmm ... for me right now, end of day and first thing the next day seem to be the same...

Grab Yourself an MGD!

2009-09-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

That's Mini Golf Appreciation Day! We made this holiday already, but since we have not submitted it yet, you wouldn't be able to see it until 2010 (or if you changed your calendars). Lumpy suggested we post this up on our blog!

I'm not sure which is scarier. The Joy Buzzer, the clown, or the kid!?

Monday's EP2 Update

2009-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend was filled with joys of Beta Testing, huge volumes of coffee, and last minute changes/tuning. Lumpy wants to thanks everyone that has participated! We got some very helpful information and will take the next couple of days addressing some of the comments.

The ones we can't get to this round will be addressed moving forward! I'll start to post EP2 features soon! And once submitted, you should see the EP2 Update News change to EP3. Yup, we'll be going right into production for EP3!

Ahoy! Talk Like a Pirate Day

2009-09-19T11:51:00.000-07:00

Arrrh, avast ye mateys! Lumpy's sayin' he's all shipshape fer Talk Like a Pirate Day! Yaarrghh! He's also hopin' those participatin' in t' Beta testin' are havin' fun!

Beta Testing has started!

2009-09-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

At long last, we're in Beta. While we certainly have some last minute tweaks and tuning, we're looking forward to getting feedback from the fans that have volunteered their valuable time to make QuitIt! a more enjoyable experience for all!

This weekend we plan on cleaning things up, tuning as well a integrating in as much feedback as possible from the testers. Our goal is a submission on Monday or Tuesday!

Lumpy's nervous, excited, and a bit sleepy from the long nights...

DAILY DISH - Is that Lumpy's Missing Food Replicator?!

2009-09-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

Lumpy heard about a new documentary about food called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs so he decided to check it out because it looked simply delish. But after viewing the documentary, Lumpy was shocked to discover another food replicator that looked suspiciously like his missing unit.

Lumpy snapped a picture of the replicator from the documentary:

After watching the recent District 9 documentary and dealing with the MNU, including the disappearance of his Agent, Lumpy is starting to wonder if there is some kind of Earthling policy to borrow alien technology and to adapt it to questionable uses.

Lumpy’s now rummaging through his stuff to see if other high tech Zgrunturian gizmos are missing…

EP2 Icon

2009-09-16T11:44:00.001-07:00

Well, people have had mixed reactions about the icon. While the battery seemed like a funny concept at the time, maybe it was a bit too much!? We removed the battery and left the bolts of lightning. We're now experimenting with the background color a bit (red and dark yellow).

When asked about the having an icon with battery versus not, Boyd's wife said "one is an act of nature and the other is an act of torture". If I was drinking milk at that moment, it would have been coming out of my nose...