Feed a hungry Froad with YoYo Games' latest GameMaker-produced iOS and Android title

Froad is a new iOS and Android title from YoYo Games. Like most of YoYo Games' releases, it's been created using the publisher's own GameMaker software package. GameMaker is a low-cost tool that takes a lot of the hard, technical work out of multiplatform and mobile game development while still remaining flexible enough to ably handle producing titles in a variety of genres. Froad is the latest of many games released by YoYo Games as a showcase of what the GameMaker package -- and the community using it -- is capable of. Froad casts players in the role of the titular creature, a cheerful-looking amphibian who is supposedly part frog, part toad, hence his curious name. Gameplay is very simple -- each in-game day, players are challenged to feed Froad to his satisfaction by catching the bugs he is thinking of as they fly, jump, crawl and burrow past the branch where he is perched. Tapping on the screen causes Froad's tongue to shoot out to where the player tapped, catching anything in its path. If it catches something that he wasn't hungry for, or worse, a "bad bug" such as a bee or wasp, his hunger level declines, with the game ending when this reaches zero. Conversely, catching the bug he is thinking of increases his hunger meter and allows for progression through the level. Consuming a particular quota of bugs initially shifts the game to a night-time theme, and subsequently to the end of an in-game day. Following this, the process repeats, with a larger quota necessary each day to progress. The game gradually grows in challenge throughout by introducing more types of bug, each of whom moves in its own distinctive manner. On each in-game day, the player is also challenged to catch a fast-moving "Golden Bug" to show their skills. Additional challenge is added by the fact that sometimes other bugs get in the way of the ones Froad is hungry for, meaning that the player must time their taps carefully to ensure they only snare the bugs that the amphibian hero really wants. Completing ten in-game days on the first woodland-based level unlocks a second pond-themed environment in which the player can help Froad feed. Here, gameplay is identical, but the bugs and other creatures present are more appropriate to the aquatic environment. The game features extensive Game Center support on iOS, with 69 achievements on offer for players to challenge and six different leaderboards, ranging from best combo to the total number of bugs eaten over Froad's "career". The majority of the achievements are endurance-based, such as eating a total of 1,000 bugs, eating 10 of a specific bug or playing through a total of 365 in-game days. In this sense, the achievements are being used as a means of user retention, encouraging players to invest more time into the game's simplistic mechanics if they want to fill out their Game Center profile with all Froad's special awards. As a very new release, there is not currently enough data to track Froad in the App Store charts. However, you'll shortly be able to follow its progress using AppData, our tracking service for social and iOS games and developers.

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Feed a hungry Froad with YoYo Games' latest GameMaker-produced iOS and Android title

Pete Davison

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Pete Davison