It’s been quite the year here at Blit Blat Games and we’re not done yet! Today marks the release of our Christmas game: XMAS DASH! 

If you’ve not played it be sure to check it out:

This is the fourth game we’ve released this year, here are some stats that stood out. 

Games released: 4

Games front-paged: 2

Awards won: 2

Total plays: 25,452 (and counting!) 

Favourites: 247 (and counting!)

Pixel Mania! was actually front-paged 17 days after it’s release! A testament to all the great content released on Pixel Day! 

Pixel Mania! is actually the game I’m most proud of and if you’ve not played it what are you waiting for?

I actually decided to enter Pixel Day in early January, so Pixel Mania! was conceived & developed in the space of about 3 weeks. I had to cut a lot of content to hit the January 23rd deadline. Proto-World was originally going to be a lot larger, with each coloured section being its own separate world. The NPCs were also going to have more dialog, instead of just floating icons above their heads. 

Cuts aside, I learned a lot during the development of it and am really pleased with how it turned out. Seeing people play it and discover the “real” game by themselves was really satisfying! So a huge thanks to every one who played and found all the secrets! And an even bigger thanks to those who did so not just after the medals!

This also seem like a good time to thank all the talented musicians on NG, who provided the soundtrack to our games this year! Without them our games just wouldn't be as good! So huge thanks to @Aphyllix, @Chipsalot, @PotatoWyvern, @tiyumusic, @tripledigit, @WaxTerK, @Yahtzei, @Haesoo, @themaskedmonocle and @KarlYeah23! You guys rock!

Our other game that was front-paged was Pixel Dash 2:

Or Pixel Dash 2 - Web Edition, to give it's proper name. The version on NG features 40 levels, but the version released on iOS and Android has 80 levels! However, despite having over 12,000 plays on NG, it only translated to a handful of downloads on mobile. Is the $0.99 price tag too steep? Is it not engaging enough beyond those 40 levels to keep playing? If you played Pixel Dash 2 and didn't download the mobile version I'd love to hear why - especially if you're one of the 98 people who added it to your favourites!

The final game we released this year was Knight Escape:

Whilst the reception on NG was modest (to put it nicely!) this game fared better on iOS and Android racking up over 5,000 downloads! However, again this did not translate well in terms of ad impressions or in-app purchases. Balancing issues or lack of engagement (or both) could be to blame here!

The varying (lack of) success of these games has caused a slight re-think in our mobile strategy. Starting early next year will be removing all the ads from our mobile games. Stay tuned for more updates around that!

We're also got some more exciting games planned for next year, Atomic: Redux and The Gauntlet should both be launching early next year, with the latter hopefully arriving in time for Pixel Day 2024! Expect more news around both of them in the coming weeks. Our next big project after that is Pixel Mania! 2: Return To Proto-World. This should be a much more complete, longer and engaging metroidvania style-game expanding on the story of the original Pixel Mania! As well as restoring some of the cut content, there's lots of new ideas we want to bring too. It's still in early proto-typing but we're very excited already!

Overall, 2023 has been a great year for Blit Blat Games, full of triumphs, defeats and learnings. We hope you'll join us for more fun in 2024!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all!