Press release:
Student Team's Microsoft Debut
Angry Mango was a group of five enthusiastic second year students when they met in Newport, Wales, with a week to go before the Dare to be Digital entry deadline. They couldn't have imagined that two years later, they would have a BAFTA under their belt, a game being showcased at E3 and a date for international release by Microsoft.
"Some of us had worked together on a Windows Phone prototype at X48, but we hadn't done anything like Dare to be Digital before, let alone built a full game. We certainly had no idea what a rollercoaster it would turn out to be! It's been a huge learning curve, but the experience has been incredible."
- Henry Hoffman, Project Lead
Mush isn't your average mobile game, either. It makes full use of the Windows Phone's technology by allowing the player to change their character's mood through intuitive touch and tilt inputs. Each new emotion unlocks a quirky ability that can be used to progress: drawing a smile makes Mush float with happiness, while a frown causes him to sink in sorrow. Shaking the phone will provoke a destructive rage and turning it upside down will cause confusion and turn physics on its head.
As well as original gameplay,
Mush has already received wide praise for its unique vector art style, which uses a mixture of subtle textures and soft gradients, inspired by contemporary illustrators.
Above all, it's the distinctly relaxed atmosphere that really sets
Mush apart from other casual games, and was a key aim throughout development.
"The course at the University of Wales Newport teaches something of an alternative approach to game design - it's much more suited to people who want to get into indie development than AAA. It gave us the focussed goal of creating something a bit different, something with an innovative game mechanic at its core that was immediate and accessible to everyone. Working on mobile really allowed us to do that.”
- Kate Killick, Lead Artist
Despite the challenges of being a young, new company, Angry Mango are super excited about continuing development as an independent team.
"Working with Microsoft has been fantastic, and we are really keen to build on the relationship we've developed as well as the lessons we've learned. We do have some ideas in the pipeline, but for now we are just ecstatic to be releasing Mush
!"
- Ahmed Zaman, Lead Programmer
Play With Your Emotions!
Discover the emotions in this BAFTA-winning exclusive, a quirky puzzle adventure that lets you change how your character feels! Touch, tilt, rotate and shake up Mush to alter his mood. Gain new abilities, evade beasties and solve puzzles as you tumble through unique and beautiful worlds!
Features:
- Touch, tilt and shake the phone to change your character's emotions!
- Each emotion unlocks a brand new ability!
- 12 emotion inspired worlds to explore for hours of carefully crafted gameplay!
- Stunningly textured artwork, cute characters and physics based puzzles!
- 20 Xbox LIVE Achievements!
- Trophies to earn!
- Leaderboards!
- Multi-award winning!
