PRESS MATERIALS
RELEASE
Worldwide Release date: Thursday 30th March 2017
DESCRIPTION
KAMI 2
Puzzles, perfected: BAFTA winning State of Play announce their latest puzzle game KAMI 2, coming to the iOS App Store on 30th March 2017.
The calming yet addictive puzzle game is back!
With over 100 hand-crafted puzzles, Kami 2 takes you on a mind-twisting journey that combines logic and problem-solving.
Can you achieve perfection?
Flood each puzzle with a single colour in as few moves as possible to claim a 'Perfect' sticker. But watch out for subtle new tricks and fendish surprises.
Want even more?
Beat the global Daily Challenge, earn a winning streak and compare your scores to other players. Test yourself on thousands of user-generated puzzles, uploaded daily.
Get creative and take on the world
Craft your own KAMI designs using the Puzzle Builder. Design and share your creations, send them to your friends and challenge the world to beat your score.
HISTORY
How Kami 2 was born
The original KAMI was released in 2014 and became a surprise hit for State of Play, its blend of calming paperfolding, beautiful aesthetic and clever puzzles proving highly successful combination. "I think we knew we were on to something when we saw people playing it on their daily commute", says Creative Director Luke Whittaker, "We had somehow hit the sweet spot."
KAMI was the result of an experiment by State of Play developer Dan Fountain during 'twenty-percent time' - one day a week where the pair would take time of to experiment with new ideas. Gradually they spent more time on it as the idea looked more and more promising. "It was amazing to give this idea the time it deserved and see it blossom into something successful," says Dan, "but even when it was done we knew there was so much more we could do with it."
KAMI 2
Platforms:
iOS
Website:
stateofplaygames.com/kami2
STATE OF PLAY
Developer:
State of Play Games
Based in Camden, London
Founding date:
March 1, 2008
Company Website:
stateofplaygames.com
Press / Business Contact:
luke@stateofplaygames.com
Phone:
+44 207 277 1818
Twitter
@state_of_play
Facebook
State of Play
DOWNLOAD
Promo Images:
http://bit.ly/2o2cISX
Puzzles:
http://bit.ly/2ocODWN
Header image:
http://bit.ly/2o7nkk6
App Store images
http://bit.ly/2nrlCH3
SCREENSHOTS
HOW KAMI 2 PUZZLES WERE MADE
After State of Play released their ink-painting pinball game INKS in 2016, there was fnally time to push all the ideas they had for KAMI further. The first thing they did was a simple twist: changing it from the squares of KAMI to triangles in KAMI 2. It suddenly opened up thousands more possibilities. "Triangles join to each other very diferently to squares. It gives you so much more freedom within a small area to create interesting joins and patterns. We can now have puzzles which do many things on just one sheet of paper."
Using this new design Dan and game designer Stefan Glynn developed over a hundred new puzzles, each of which designed with the same thought for the player as the original. Puzzles concepts are introduced carefully, and then spun on their head in a constant game of one-upmanship between player and designer. "We had some wonderful comments about KAMI. People would say 'I felt like I was having a conversation with the makers, I never get that in other games.' That's exactly what we've aimed to do again with KAMI 2, on an even bigger scale.'
BUILD YOUR OWN KAMI PUZZLES
The greatest upgrade in KAMI 2 comes with the introduction of 'Build' mode, a puzzle builder which lets players create their own and share them with the world. It not only adds creativity to the experience, but gives everyone access to potentially endless number of new levels created by puzzle designers everywhere.
"You can share a level you make with just your friends via iMessage if you like," explains Steffan, "and it'll popup up as a beautiful graphic in their message feed. Or you can publish it to the community and see how many people like your game around the world. Maybe you'll even become a star puzzle designer. Even during testing we've already seen people make levels more amazing than we imagined."
The new triangular aesthetic only adds to the creative possibilities, as Dan explains: "We're seeing people create pictures with it, build little houses which turn into puzzles, draw faces and landscapes, we can't wait to watch the online community thrive like this." In addition to a raft of colour packs people can unlock to use by playing the main game, they can also buy special packs of patterned paper, and fold out patterned trees, mountains and rivers, architectural features, or pop-art like designs.
DAILY CHALLENGE
State of Play will be curating the best of the puzzles created around the world into a Daily Challenge, so you can come back each day for your next fix, a bit like you might play a crossword or sudoku. "We'll be showcasing the best creativity from players around the world," says Luke, "hopefully it'll delight players if their level is selected to be one of the of best and shared with players everywhere."
FREE TO PLAY
State of Play craft beautiful, highly crafted games like Lumino City and INKS which are usually paid games. But KAMI 2 will be free to play on the App Store. "The original KAMI was a paid game," says Luke, "but with KAMI 2 we really want to get this game as far and wide as we think it deserves to be, and going free is the best way to do this. You can buy hints if you need them, but we don't want to spoil anyone's experience with popup ads or paywalls, and want to be as generous as possible. I'd love it if this became the game everyone played over their morning coffee. We want this to be the best of both - the quality and feel of a Premium game, but for free."
THE CRAFT OF KAMI 2
State of Play continue to craft their puzzles by hand, and the paper folding in KAMI 2 was created from real paper, cut in their studio using scalpels then photographed. "We took photos from multiple lighting setups," explains Dan, "allowing us to build a 3D lighting model of the paper, including all the fine texture of it, in Unity. All the puzzles are now lit dynamically, and the folds cast realistic shadows across the paper as you play the puzzle. It's a whole step up in terms of visual quality with the KAMI 2."
"All our concept art was created by hand too," says Steffan, "I was building miniature versions of the game levels from coloured card to give us a target image which we could match with dynamic lighting when we moved into our 3D software."
AUGMENTED REALITY
"We can do exhibitions of puzzles now, where you walk around the gallery solving puzzles on the walls as you go" says Luke, "We can project puzzles on walls, or leave tiny puzzles hidden in the secret places."
State of Play will be doing a KAMI 2 Treasure Hunt in London to celebrate the launch, at Somerset House from 7th - 9th April, as part of Now Play This and the London Games Festival (http://nowplaythis.net). "As well as some large framed art prints, we'll be hiding exclusive levels around this amazing building," says Luke, "challening people to find and solve them all."
"There really isn't anything else like it," says Dan, "we've all seen AR before, but it's never been used to bring the surface itself to life like this, and make it the game itself. I think this will blow people's mind."
State of Play will be showcasing this AR feature for the first time at the Apple Regent Street Store London on March 30th 2017, 6.30pm. Everyone will leave with exclusive AR puzzle art to take home and play. The State of Play team will also help everyone craft their own levels and share them with friends or the online community.