Aaron Moore and J. Christine Leach — the two people behind Frenzied Marmot — have been hard at work on their unique physics puzzle game, entitled Cockatilt, and are finally nearing the point where they can debut their game to the mobile owning masses. In their game you must help out a pudgy Cockatoo — whom is sadly a little too heavy to properly fly — as she desperately tries to reach the food in her cage, all before her friend does first. Players must — since she can’t fly properly — achieve this by controlling the angle and force with which she jumps off her perch, after which she’ll fall — bounce — and roll as far as she can all according to the mandates of physics.
In some of the later stages players will not only have control of their Cockatoo’s initial leap, but they will furthermore be able to both move — and also rotate — the various perches laying about the cage. It is in these stages that a rival Cockatoo will slowly begin flying towards the prize, leaving players with a limited amount of time with which to correctly line everything up and finally take their shot. Of course — for the high score inclined — there’s more involved than just reaching each stage’s goal, as players can also refine their performance to see how many bonus fruits that they can grab along the way.
However — with their game now nearly completed — the duo was faced with a dilemma that has often proved problematic for various indie developers: the fact that submission fees exist in order for a mobile game to be distributed, fees that aren’t easily swallowed. It was to this end that the developer approached Kickstarter with a request for $1,200, so that they could bring their completed product to Android and Windows Phone users everywhere (all sans any IAPs or in-game ads). Furthermore — should sufficient funds beyond this be secured — Frenzied Marmot additionally promised to bring Cockatilt to iOS users everywhere, and even create expanded level sets to be delivered at a later date.
For those interested in helping to fund Cockatilt’s release, which has already secured over $1,200, I am sorry to say that the app itself isn’t an available backer reward (due to the many strict rules governing mobile marketplaces). However — for those who do help — the included backer rewards include: cell phone wallpaper, web-based beta tester access, a PDF filled with concept artwork, and even custom bird artwork done in the game’s style. That said, anyone currently interested must be sure to chip in their donations before the arrival of October 2nd — which is now just a week away — or else their chance to help fund Cockatilt will forever fly away.