Alien Hominid’s 20th Anniversary

Hold on tight, humans, today marks twenty years since the original release of Alien Hominid! We’ve come a long way (in both time and space) since Tom and Dan first released the very first Flash version on Newgrounds, and we want to take the time not only to acknowledge the crazy journey it’s been, but also to thank you, our fans, for coming along for the ride. (Crazy Journey!! Thank you!!!) Since 2002, over 21 billion million people have played the 2D run and gun that started it all – from the bottom of our hearts, thank you. We truly couldn’t have done it without you. <3

Throughout the process of releasing Alien Hominid on Newgrounds and later as a console game from the Behemoth, we learned a ton and collected loads of important intel data about your planet, the tragically primitive technology of earthlings, sensitive government information, and how much you all love decimating agents and blowing up rotor propelled sky crafts. You could say it’s been an absolute blast… Twenty years later, Alien Hominid is still free to play in its natural habitat (in all of its original glory on Newgrounds,) so if you’re ever craving a traditional side scroller (or are hoping to experience the ancient computer wizardry that was, according to reconstructed manuscripts and restored scrolls, called “Macromedia Flash”) you know right where to go! Like always, we’re totally excited to see what the future holds, but it’s always fun to treat yourself to a blast from the past. Now, if anyone’s going to be making a pit stop at Steakery Cakery on their way out of the atmosphere, (Musk? Bezos? Branson?) we’d appreciate it if you could pick up a cake for us… (the more tiers the better – twenty is an appropriate number, right? A tier for every year?) 

XOXOXOX

Agent Notes on Hominids: 14 Years of Alien Evolution

February 28, 2007 2021
CONFIDENTIAL
FROM THE DESK OF AGENT A

14 YEARS OF ALIEN EVOLUTION

Today marks 14 years since the Alien Hominids first made their way to planet Earth… and what a long 14 years that has been.

While we were able to quell the beasts for some time, but now they seem to be resurging more than ever. Only this time, they’ve evolved into something that’s much more… extreme.
Shape – These Aliens have grown more lithe, more funky, more deadly, and their physical form reflects it. Their bodies are smaller and their heads are rounder, meaning that they’re now the ideal shape to dodge our attacks and also probably store massive amounts of important information in their noggins.

Movement – Movement is by far the most significant change that we’ve seen them take on. 14 years ago they would jump and run and dig, and now they’ll double-jump and run and dig all while moving… and then flip and dive and head-ride and dodge and throw us around like ragdolls.

Weapons – When they advanced, so did their arsenal of weapons. The blaster was easy enough to defend against back in the day, even with its occasional upgrades. But now, we have to be prepared for any number of projectiles — lasers, energy bullets, even ice and sword swipes. Oh, and their upgrades are much more technical now, plus they can mix and match them so every Alien hits differently.

Fashion – Co-opted hats used to make it easy for us to tell our Alien enemies apart from one another, sure. But with all their time on Earth, they’ve somehow managed to imbue stats onto their fashionable headpieces. Each hat has a different effect even if it looks the same as another, so if an Alien is flying at you and lookin’ fresh, watch out.

Mutations – When we say the Aliens have evolved, we really mean it. They can now shift and mutate, stealing life from our Agents, breaking the sound barrier with super speed, or even taking to the skies to fly. These mutated Aliens provide a whole new level of threat to us.

Chaos – The Hominid’s attack patterns are like nothing we’ve ever seen before. They used to move in a straight and uniform line, moving from point A to B with one goal in mind. Now they tear through city blocks every this way and that, causing absolute destruction in any chosen path. Once they select an area to attack, there’s no saying which way they’ll go — the only sure thing is that they’ll go anywhere.  They can even go LEFT at will!

Squads – In years prior, our teams would only have to face one or two Aliens at a time. Now, they arrive in packs of up to 4 Aliens. They work together like a well oiled space machine, riding on each other’s backs in intimidating stacks, and teaming up to get extra height, speed, and dodging capabilities. The Alien stacks also provide new vantage points for them which work to counter our jetpacking Agents.

14 years has granted a lot of change to these little guys… if we want to keep up, we’ll have to fight back with the firepower to match. I bet they can’t wait to find out what changes 14 years brought to us.

BattleBlock Theater 5th Anniversary Celebrations

Five years ago, we launched our 3rd game, BattleBlock Theater, on XBLA! We took the platformer genre and inserted our humor & art style into this game; This game where players run around an abandoned theater being forced to do stage plays by evil and technologically advanced felines.

 
Since then, we’ve also brought it to Windows, Linux, and Mac OS in the STEAM version!

With the 5th Anniversary coming up on April 3rd, we thought it’d be fun to have a couple giveaways and an event on the day of:

Instagram Giveaway


We’re giving away 5 Buckle Your Pants tees on Instagram! Follow us on Instagram & tag a friend in the comments of this post, be sure to tag someone who you think would like BattleBlock Theater. Each person you tag is an entry into our giveaway.

Enter by 12PM PDT on April 3, 2018 and we’ll choose 5 qualified entrants on April 4th. Winners will be notified over Instagram direct message.


BattleBlock Theater Speed Runs


April 3rd from 9AM-5PM PDT

We’ve invited 4 BattleBlock Theater speedrunners to show off their skills in our event on April 3rd. See who can complete all 8 chapters in BattleBlock Theater with the fastest time! The runner with the fastest time will get an autographed BBT item from our team and bragging rights.


9AM-11AM PDT Storm_AT
11AM-1PM PDT bhayward2000
1PM-3PM PDT themibulous
3PM-5PM PDT GameguySd

Catch their live streams on their Twitch channels and cheer them on! They’ll also be giving away codes for BattleBlock Theater, so don’t miss the chance to get a copy of the game.

(We’ll also be auto-hosting each stream on our channel but we encourage you to follow their channels to support them and for the chance to win a copy of BBT. Each channel will have their own rules on how to potentially win a code.)