Cornstalks Demo Night: SkyVu by Ben Vu (Video)

Fresh off a successful trip showing their wares at Comic-Con in San Diego, Ben Vu and the SkyVu team demonstrated two games to a hometown crowd on Thursday at Cornstalks Demo Night. First, they ran through their most recent release, Battle Bears Blast. Second, they showed off their next project on the horizon, Battle Bears…

(From left: Ben Vu, Drew Utterback and Joshua Augeri demonstrated for SkyVu at Cornstalks Demo Night. Photo by Danny Schreiber.)

This is the first post in a six-post series recapping the demonstrations that took place at Thursday’s Cornstalks Demo Night. To learn more about the event, see our post, “These six startups will present at tonight’s Cornstalks Demo Night.”

Fresh off a successful trip showing their wares at Comic-Con in San Diego, Ben Vu and the SkyVu team demonstrated two games to a hometown crowd on Thursday at Cornstalks Demo Night. First, they ran through their most recent release, Battle Bears Blast. Second, they showed off their next project on the horizon, Battle Bears Royale, which is targeted for a September release.

Blast, which was released last month, is a one-person shooter game in which the gamers’ character, a cartoon bear named Oliver, uses a microwave to fight off hordes of ill-intentioned pink bears called Huggables. The game can, as Vu illustrated, be played with one finger. But that’s not to say it’s simple. While demonstrating the game, Vu shed some light on the strategy involved: “To master this game,” he said, “you want to learn how to hit as many color combos as possible.”

Royale, which the SkyVu crew demonstrated second, marks a significant step for the company, as it’s SkyVu’s first multiplayer game, allowing up to eight participants. Vu, who used an iPad to play, was joined on stage by two other players, one using an iPhone and the other an iPod touch. Said Vu of making a multi-player game: “Battle Bears Royale is probably our most ambitious production to date.”

Vu said the game is aimed at teens and other gamers who play first-person shooter games like Call of Action. “This interface is a little more comlex,” Vu said when demonstrating how to launch Royale, “because we anticipate a little more hardcore audience playing this game.” 

But with its cuddly, cartoony characters, Royale isn’t quite your run-of-the-mill first-person shooter. Vu mentioned that as he illustrated to the crowd the various weapon and attire options available. “We believe this element of cartoony weapons,” he said, “is what separates Battle Bears.”

Those weapons and accessories, Vu said, represent a potential revenue stream for SkyVu, because Royale is the first game for the company that will utilize a freemium model, under which downloading and playing the game are free but certain upgrades cost money. 

For more on SkyVu, see our recent article “SkyVu cleans up at Comic-Con, presses on with big projects.”

 


This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN's origin »

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