GDC 11: From the Makers of Mega Jump Comes Mega Run!
by Staff Writer
March 8, 2011
At GDC, we were lucky enough to meet up with the developers of the hugely popular game, Mega Jump (Free). Get Set Games is working on extending the Mega Jump franchise with Mega Run.
The same characters, including Redford, Rosie, and Pop Pon will now be running instead of jumping. Mega Run is similar to Canabalt in the same way Mega Jump is similar to Doodle Jump. The basic mechanic is the same, but then they build on top of it in the best ways.
In Mega Run, your character runs automatically, and you tap to jump or dash. It wouldn’t be the Mega Jump style without tons of coins to collect, all of which tie into an upgrade system. There are all kinds of crazy power-ups, and there are enemies to dash through. The backgrounds change as well, and Get Set Games is looking to add checkpoints, which is the greatest feature of Mega Jump.
Mega Run is more like the classic Sonic than anything else, as you run at high speeds with coins, enemies, jumps, and layered platforms all about. We got a brief hands on, and the game absolutely flies, and requires split-second timing. Granted, what we saw was just an early build, but just imagine all the great aspects of Mega Jump, and then tilt it to the side, and combine it with Sonic the Hedgehog.
Mega Run will adopt the same freemium model as Mega Jump so that you can add money for quicker upgrades, but the payment never feels essential for complete enjoyment. Of all the games I saw at GDC, Mega Run is one of the games I’m most excited about. The game is still a few months out, but AppAdvice will keep you updated on its progress.
On one smaller note, Mega Jump will be coming to the iPad soon as part of an update to Mega Jump to make it universal. Get Set Games said the game behaves surprisingly well with the tilt controls on the bigger device. Also, Mega Jump just received TV-Out support for the iPhone, which, perhaps, is unfortunate timing, as Apple now supports screen mirroring natively with their new HDMI cable for the iPad 2.
We'll keep an eye out for Mega Run and let you know as soon as it hits the App Store.
