SwingStar Demo for Vive avalibile now!
We wanted to give players a chance to try the SwingStar gameplay before you buy so we created demo. You can get the demo from are Steam store page or the demo is also available on our itch.io page.
We were asked to demo Mama Hawk as a “favorites of PlayNYC” evening. We took the audience through the many (MANY) versions of the controls, graphics, and modes Mama Hawk has gone through in order to become today’s game. People mentioned they liked seeing the trials and errors of the development process, rather than just the final product, and I cannot wait to see other games’ evolution in the future as well. A fun night with a great turnout! Below is a video of part of our tour:
Kati representing Mamahawk with her tights, Andrew is pretty in MamaHawk pink
Terminal 5 is the site of many wonderful concerts I’ve seen over the years, so it was a thrill to enter the venue from the back entrance, and see the venue bathed in the dappled light of the venue’s signature disco ball, and later, to roam the backstage area.
Computerlunch had a corner spot for the inaugural PlayNYC, a gaming event for our wonderful home town. We transformed our corner booth into Mama’s signature woodland forest diorama, and met many wonderful people.
Clockwise from top left: Twitch stream of Mama Hawk play-through and interview with Andrew and Kati; view of our verdant booth from the balcony at closing time on day 1; a young lady enjoying the arcade version; someone hogging ALL the passes
This was our first time to show a game at an Animé convention, in its first year in Washington, D.C. The cosplay was world-class, and though the inaugural indie gaming area was small, many new fans ended up downloading the early access version of the game from the Google Play store.
Left to right: Genaro and Andrew trying to wrestle a gold ring from Sonic; swag table as attract mode; fellow fowl enjoying catching a glimpse of the Hawk life
Kati sat down with Logan Schultz from Indie Insider podcast to talk about being an art nerd, making a living as a creative in New York, creating art for games, being married to your business partner, and, of course, Mama Hawk. Her interview starts at 1:10.
We somehow ended up as part of a VR super team that included Moshe Ben-Zacharia, Jonathan Oglevie, Rachél Bazelais, Scott Tongue, and neuroscientist Wick Perry for the 2017 Games for Change “VR Brain Jam”. As the creator of the impressive “Body VR”, Mo quickly emerged as the tech lead for the team. After a weekend of brain chemistry crash courses, too much Mexican food and candy, and lots of new friendships, the “Neuromancers” were chosen by their piers and the judges as the winners of the competition.
Left: Rachél and Wick discussing user journey; center: a brain chemistry diagram made out of starburst candies; right: the winning team (minus Mo)
Level up with Mama Hawk this summer
We’ve been working hard on Mama Hawk tweaking the game play and polishing the levels. Right now we are looking at an end of the summer release for Mama Hawk. If you want to join the BETA please email info@computerlunch.com with the title MAMA HAWK BETA TESTER.
A big thank you to everyone who came by the MAMA HAWK booth at Five Points festival. We love watching people playing, and trying to beat each other’s scores. A shoutout to Kurt, who set the bar high with a score of 99 on the new arcade version and 127 on the classic version.
ComputerLunch is launching Mama Hawk ( For Android, iOS and PC/MAC) at PAX East 2017 in Boston from March 10th-12th. If you are attending please stop by our booth.
The Mama Hawk will be at BOOTH# 22027 Location on PAX East floor. We are near the front escalators, then walking to the Right Side.
More info soon about the launch details.
Gear VR SwingStar Demo OUT NOW!
We also released a Free SwingStar Demo for the Samsung Gear VR. Get the Gear VR SwingStar Demo.
SwingStar Patch update
While we were creating the demo we also update a few things in the main game.
– Updated background themes (Sky levels, tutorial scenery
and level 4).
– Patched a major bug causing some Gear VR phones to crash on startup.
Oculus Rift Touch Controller Support
We are currently working on getting oculus rift touch controller support in SwingStar. Once we have implementing the touch controller we also plan to move SwingStar out of the Early release section on the Rift store.
Update you game on Tuesday (1/17) and get the new patch which includes 5 thrilling levels, a new power up block type the Cloud Mover. We fixed the bug where opening a secret doors would erase stars on that level. We redid the graphics in the canyon levels. The kid also got a new animated helmet hand, so fancy.
Help us by writing a review.
If you are enjoying SwingStar VR and want future updates with exciting levels and fun features, you can help support the game development by leaving a review. A review helps us promote the game a lets people know the game is worth playing.
Keep on Swinging.
We are going to be at MagFest. Stop by the indie game section at MagFest to play the Vive version of SwingStar VR.
SwingStar VR is released for Vive today on Steam for 7.99$ with a 10% launch discount. Originally release early this year for Oculus Rift and Gear VR, this new version of SwingStar is designed for the HTC Vive motion controllers. Point your Vive controller at any object in the world, then hold the trigger and gravity will swing you away.
>> Buy SwingStar VR on Steam <<
NEW Boss Battle
This new version of SwingStar has a gigantic boss battle where players swing to take down a giant robot, in a Shadow of the Colossus style struggle.
UNLOCK Secret Levels:
Scattered across the 20 levels are hidden 4 golden Keys that unlock a corresponding mysterious floating door. If a Key is brought to a door it will open and unlock a entire new level to explore. There are 4 new secret levels to discover.
What about Oculus Support?
Players on Oculus Rift and Gear VR should update to get the new boss battle and secret levels. Not to leave Rift players behind, Oculus Touch controller support is coming very soon.
Mama Hawk is nearing completion, and it is bigger and better than ever – we have added more than ten new characters, a power up, achievements, and an updated UI.
We will be presenting the beta tomorrow at Playcrafting NYC’s big Halloween expo, and will be giving out prizes for the high score.
Help us playtest Mamahawk
Join for you to become a multi-tasking super mama (hawk).
For Android download here MamaHawk Open Beta
For iOS send a email to Kati@computerlunch.com with the title “Mamahawk beta”
SwingStar VR was selected as a finalist for the 2016 Global VR Challenge, and we were invited to attend the awards ceremony at China Joy Expo in Shanghai, China. Our game beat out 144 global competitors to win honorable mention, and as a bonus we got to explore the strangely familiar streets of Shanghai in unbearably hot and humid weather, and making friends with local VR enthusiasts and the other finalists. Amazing!
New patch for SwingStar the best VR Swinging game is now available. Update to get Eight new levels, massive performance improvements, tons of new art content, and new secret levels to unlock! The patch is now live on the store. Play SwingStar for both the Gear VR and Oculus Rift.
Enjoy the images form some of the new levels. What could that key floating around do?
Levels on the way!
The SwingStar team is hard a work building levels and experimenting with multidimensional portal to distance worlds. We will have an update in a few weeks. We are also working on bring SwingStar to the Vive VR Headset, no official release data yet.
A floating Door. What is this sorcery?
We did it – SwingStar is coming out this Thursday, and all we can say is THANK YOU!!!!!
It’s been quite an experience as a small indie studio to develop a virtual reality game, and we are extremely grateful to you all for coming out and playing the game, and for helping us with your feedback and encouragement.
SwingStar will be out for for GearVR and Oculus Rift Thursday, May 5th or, as we like to call it, “Swinco de Mayo”: $2.99 (GearVR) and $4.99 (Oculus Rift)
Thank you again for your support, and please share the game with your friends!
PS We are currently putting finishing touches on the Vive version, which will be available soon. Also, if you are in the New York area, you can play the newest levels (not released yet) at the Playcrafting Summer Expo on May 4 at Microsoft Times Square.
If you live in the New York area and would like to check out SwingStarVR (and get some of the swag that survived PAX East), come out to IndieCadeEast on Saturday, and say hi. Press inquiries: hello [at] computerlunch [dot] com
At the small but very popular booth 11203 the ComputerLunchers spent three straight days demoing the game on five devices simultaneously, handing out pins, temporary tattoos and business cards from 10 to 6 straight, over 600 visitors in all. Day 1 crowds around our booth got so large that the PAX enforcers had to add guidelines to the floor for days 2 and 3, and we struggled to keep wait times short for players despite capping the game play at 8 minutes. Feedback for SwingStarVR (and the virtual reality experience in general) was overwhelmingly positive, with many players coming back (alone or with their friends), to play again and share the fun.
PAX was as epic as hoped, and a really, really well run event. The center was enormous, and filled with a deafening mix of tournaments, meet and greets, cosplay, tech demos and not entirely terrible food. The people were phenomenally friendly and interesting. Also, Genaro ran into Markiplier on the streets of Boston, and asked him for directions to the convention center.
We were extremely fortunate that we got to be a part of this wonderful event, and hope to see you there next year!
The Computerlunch team promoted Swingstar VR all over San Francisco during GDC with ad hoc demos anywhere we could find people willing to give it a go – at parties, pitching events, while waiting in line… It was fortunate timing for our VR game, as virtual reality was definitely on everyone’s mind. We got the opportunity to mingle with extremely talented colleagues, play some very cool games, and talk to hardware manufacturers. Andrew was especially impressed with Playstation’s beautiful and very fun VR games.
A swinging good time: At Pre GDC VR mixer; Tastemakers event; Yetizen party; on the Expo floor; chatting up vapers and claiming our prize at the Pocketgamer Big Indie pitch.
We are prepping for our trip to GDC ( Game Developers Conference ) in San Francisco. We will be running around with our Gear VR’s showing Swing Star VR at the expo floor.
If your at GDC and want to play Swing Star VR please reach out (andrew@computerlunch.com) Kati & Andrew will be there all week.
PlayCrafting Demo & Play Night
We had the opportunity to show Swing Star VR at the monthly Playcrafting Demo & Play night. Here is Joao the games level designer is giving a live VR play though with the Oculus Rift in front of a crowd of over 200 at the Tumblr offices in New York City. We also had a chance to tell people about the 8 Week VR & Unity Game design class we are teaching at Playcrafting in April.
Team Computer Lunch is happy to see lots of people enjoying Swing Star VR MAGFest in USA capital of Washington DC. A special thank you to our friends at @Galactose for hosting us.
Mario & Pikachu love Swing Star!
MAG fest has been a blur of the most amazing outfits, great gamer audience and lovely parties!
Thank you to all the kids and their families who “swung by” the SWINGSTAR booth at Play Fair to spend Valentine’s day weekend with Computerlunch. Who knew there were that many pint-sized VR enthusiasts in the city!
Setting up becuase we are showing Swing Star VR at Play Fair at the Javit Center Saturday and sunday. Playcrafting Booth.
We’ve been hard at work on our latest games Swing Star VR and Mama Hawk and the excitement we got from the attendees at the Playcrafting Winter Expo feels great!
There’s still plenty to do on each, but not even sleep deprivation and blisters can dampen one’s spirits when surrounded by fellow gamers and smiling faces.
On behalf of Andrew, Kati, John, Elena, and Joao: thank you to each and every person who visited our table!
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