Newtquest Games Limited

Factsheet

Developer:
Newtquest Games Limited
Based in Manchester, UK

Release date:
May 12th 2015

Platforms:
Apple App Store (iOS 7+ iPhone/iPad/iPod)

Website:
manorgoat.com

Regular Price:

Description

Listen to goat noises and decide if they're real goat noises or a man pretending to be a goat!

The developer spent weeks with his microphone recording goats at local country shows, farms and goat keepers. He also spent weeks recording goat impressions in his car!

He somehow turned these noises into an iOS game for iPhone, iPad and iPod.

"One of the few games at EGX this year that actually made me laugh out loud. To the point where I nearly fell off my tiny stool" - Pocket Gamer

"A hidden gem of ridiculousness! A genuinely fun experience!" - bytesizedtech.net

The gameplay

Man Or Goat includes 81 levels and 10 different game modes to unlock. The gameplay is casual and light-hearted at first but the challenge ramps up if you want to unlock all 81 levels and game modes. The faster you correctly answer MAN or GOAT the higher your score.

Some game modes put you under pressure to answer correctly and quickly. It's hard to get on the scoreboard on Hero Level 3 game mode. In Poo Bucket game mode you fill your bucket with goat poo as fast as you can.

In Beat The Shepherd game mode you are challenged by an angry goat shepherd to complete missions in the other nine game modes. He's a cruel mistress.

Game Center is fully supported with 18 leaderboards and 59 achievements. Local leaderboards are also included for players who want to beat their own scores.

Features

• Speed run
  To be the best at Man Or Goat you need to be fast. Answer as soon as you know if it's a man or a goat!
• Catch goat poo in a bucket
  Man Or Goat has a game mode called Poo Bucket; this involves catching goat poo in a bucket. You've probably never tried this in real life which just means you're normal.
• Beat The Shepherd
  You are challenged by an angry goat shepherd to complete missions in the other nine game modes. The shepherd won’t make it easy for you and he’s grumpy. He laughs when you fail and he complains when you win. Every now and then he’ll give you a little bit of credit for your efforts.
• Local leaderboards, achievements and Game Center
  Beat your own scores or beat the world on Game Center; there are 18 different leaderboards. There are 59 achievements and 9 game modes to unlock. Game Center includes daily, weeky and all-time leaderboards.
• 972 unique goats
  Each unique goat has its own unique noise and character design.
• Ridiculous noises!
  Goats make funny noises. Humans goat impressions are also rather funny. Probably the largest curated collection of goat noises in the world.
• Lots of game modes
  You start with Classic game mode with 81 levels. Soon you will unlock more game modes including the HERO game modes. These are really hard and require speedy goat noise deduction under pressure! The game caters for casual players who want to hear a goat noise to brighten their day and hardcore players who want to be the best.
• High scores are rewarded
  All the levels, game modes, goats and noises can be unlocked by speedily identifying the noises correctly and getting higher scores. The more quickly you answer MAN or GOAT the more highly you score.

History

After laughing at goat videos on YouTube Gareth thought it would be fun to make a game about goat noises.

Getting hold of quality goat noises was just the beginning. Months of development followed. Eventually the game took shape and hopefully people will find it fun to play.

Man Or Goat is the first game for Newtquest Games.

From The Developer - Gareth

1. I seem to have no shame

Me and my microphone spent the summer months visiting country shows, garden centers and local goat keepers recording goats.

At first I tried to do this by sneaking around with a hidden microphone, getting some very strange looks. Soon however I found honesty to be the best policy and I told people why I was recording the goat sounds, most people were very helpful.

I became a confident goat recorder with many goat keeping friends!

Eventually I had 1000 real goat noises; enough to create a game out of. Read about how Man Or Goat got started in my blog post
The Making Of Man Or Goat.

2. Pseudoscientific research

I quickly discovered that goats don’t just bleat, they make all sorts of strange noises. In the most scientific way possible, I gave each noise one of 25 different categories. These included categories like I'm About To Crash, Crying, It Tickles, Oooh I'm Scared and Too Polite To Scream

I recorded my goat impressions (category by category) in my car at supermarket car parks.

Read about this process in my blog post
Recording Goat Noises And Picking The Best Ones.

3. It was hard work

I created 972 unique goats for Man Or Goat. 972! I hired an artist to create 20 perfect goats and then hacked the individual goat parts into 972 mutant goats. I wrote a "Goat Editor" so I could move all the body parts around to create unique goats.

Read about how I created all 972 goats in this blog post;
How I lost my summer to 972 goats.

Read about how I worked with the artists in this blog post;
How I Outsourced Two Artists On My iOS Game.

4. My friends and family don't treat me the same

They all think I'm obsessed with goats but I'm not. I'm sick of goats. But I am obsessed with Man Or Goat, if I wasn't I wouldn't have got this far. Unfortunately my friends don't understand the difference :

• Whenever a goat is on the TV I get a text; "goats on BBC2".
• I get plastic goat figurines as presents.
• When I make visits they take me to goats they found in nearby fields.
• Upon arrival I get greeted with goat impressions.
• I get puns all the time. This really gets my goat.
• I also get tagged a lot on Facebook when a new goat video goes around.

5. Game availability

Man Or Goat will be available for FREE for iPhone, iPod and iPad in May 2015. It's a universal app; the same app works on iPhone, iPod and iPad.

6. Why is Man Or Goat free?

I realised that to get Man Or Goat into the hands of as many people as possible the game needs to be free. All game modes and levels are unlockable through gameplay or as in-app purchase. Purchasing any in-app purchase will also remove the ads.

7. The noises of poo landing in the bucket

I recorded the noises of the poo landing in the bucket by dropping a wet towel into the bath at different heights. Honestly.

Man Or Goat Credits

Gareth Elms
Indie Game Developer

Mark Quire
Artist, Freelancer

Konstantin Anufriev (Banzainer)
Artist, Freelancer

John and Diane Rudkin
Goat keepers

Other noise sources
Several audio files

Contact

Inquiries
gareth@newtquestgames.com

Twitter
twitter.com/newtquestgames

Facebook
facebook.com/pages/Newtquest-Games/780360645350075

Web
newtquestgames.com