Pocket God is a small god game developed by Bolt Creative in which the player controls a small tribe of primitive inhabitants known as "Pygmies" which are subject to the player's god-like powers. The game was first released for Apple's iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad January 9, 2009, but has later been realased for Verizon Wireless on September 1, 2010, Android on December 1, 2010, and Windows Phone 7 on December 4, 2010. The immense popularity of the app has led to sequels and spin-offs, such as a comic book series based on the app, Pocket God: Journey To Uranus, and a closed beta version for Facebook. Pocked God recent news and goings-ons can be viewed at the Pocket Blog.
Overview
Pocket God is a God game in which the player takes the role of a powerful being who rules over an island and controls almost everything present. The primitive islanders, known as Pygmies, are subject to the player's god powers. These range from benevolent powers, such as giving the islands a fishing rod, to destructive powers, like summoning a hurricane, or simply entertaining, such as levitating the Pygmies. Built-in features of the iPhone and iPodTouch can be used, like the accelerometer to stimulate gravity and earthquakes or guide the Shark With Lasers's laser. Most of these features can be toggled on the game's menu bar. The "March of the Fire Ants" update also added a new feature known as OpenFeint, where the players can access chat rooms, leaderboards, and announcements during gameplay. Pocket God was ranked in the top 10 paid apps on iTunes for four months.
Reception
Pocket God has gotten reviews that range generally positive reviews to universal acclaim. iTune App Reviews and AppStruck both gave the game 5 out of 5 stars, the latter referring to the game as "endlessly amusing and is an easy way to completely lose track of time". iPhone App Reviews gave the updated version of the game 4.8 out of 5 having given the original version 3.92 out of 5. Appvee gave the game 4 out of 5 after episode 11 was released, having originally given the game 1.8 out of 5.
Controversy
The game was subject to controversy when some Pacific islanders claimed the game was racist. The game's creators defended the game, saying "it depicts no specific race or nationality." However, some compromises were made: The islanders would be called Oogs instead of Pygmies, and the Moai statue would be replaced with a statue of an Octopus God. On May 27, 2009, 'Oogs' was changed back 'Pygmies' .
Episodes (Updates)
A notable feature of Pocket God is that it is updated with new content. It should be noted, however, that the number of episodes does not correspond with the number of updates, as "Something's Fishy" and "March of the Fire Ants" were released at the same time and the "Morning Gory Part II" is considered a continuation from the first episode though it has its own update. As of Ep 39: Challenge of the Gods, every episode will now have its own god, challenge, and idol.
List of Episodes
- Ep 1: Nowhere To Go, Nothin' To Do
- Ep 2: Does this Megabyte Make My App Look Fat?
- Ep 3: You Always Hurt the One You Lava
- Ep 4: Shake that App!
- Ep 5: A Storm is Coming
- Ep 6: And on the 7th Day, Rest!
- Ep 7: Just Give Us 5 Minutes!
- Ep 8: Jump the Shark
- Ep 9: Idle Hands
- Ep 10: Hi Dracula!
- Ep 11: A Mighty Wind
- Ep 12: Something's Fishy
- Ep 13: March of the Fire Ants
- Ep 14: Say My Name!
- Ep 15: A New Home
- Ep 16: The Tyrannosaurus Strikes Back
- Ep 17: Return of the Pygmy
- Ep 18: Surf's Up
- Ep 19: Fun n' Games Until A Pygmy Gets Hurt
- Ep 20: Stop! My App is On Fire!
- Ep 21: Flipping the Bird
- Ep 22: Ooga Jump
- Ep 23: Bait Master
- Ep 24: Idle Hands 2: Caught With Your Pants Down
- Ep 25: Sharks with Frickin' Laserbeams Attached to Their Heads
- Ep 26: Dead Pygmy Walking
- Ep 27: Good Will Haunting
- Ep 28: Barking Spider, Crouching Pygmy
- Ep 29: The Pyg Chill
- Ep 30: Great Job Ice Hole
- Ep 31: What's the Story Morning Gory?
- Ep 31B: What's the Story Morning Gory? Part II
- Ep 32: Crack is Wack
- Ep 33: A Pygmy A Day Keeps The Ape Away
- Ep 34: Monkey See, Monkey Chew
- Ep 35: Double Rainbow All The Way Across The Sky
- Ep 36: Konkey Dong
- Ep 37: The Moron Pests
- Ep 38: Two and a Half Pygmies
- Ep 39: Challenge of the Gods
- Ep 40: Battle of the Gods
- Ep 41: I Sting The Body Electric
- Ep 42: Bone Soup
- Ep 43: Killing Time
- Ep 44: The Perfect Swarm
- Ep 45: Dance Dance Execution
- Ep 46: Germs of Endearment
- Ep 47: Apocalypse, Ow!
- Ep 48: Call of Booty
Contests
Wallpaper Contest
Bolt Creative ran a contest to design the best Pocket God desktop wallpaper between March 19 and April 5, 2009. They received around 300 entries and picked the top 5. The main prize was a limited edition islander figure with 4 runners up receiving T-shirts. Entries were posted on Pocket God's Facebook site and on its Flickr site. Entries had to include the logo and that Pocket God is for the iPhone and iPod Touch for 99 cents on iTunes, they also had to be saved in png format. The overall winner was Victor Villanueva with a poster depicting an islander as almost human with an iPhone in its hand playing pocket god.
Idle Hands 2 Contest
Main Article: Ep 24: Idle Hands 2: Caught With Your Pants Down
Twitter Your Picture Contest
The Twitter Yer Picture with Pocket God on Yer iPod Contest (more commonly known as the Twitter Yer Picture Contest) involved contestants taking pictures of themselves playing Pocket God in creative places. The three winners were "FernyTheBomb", "Dylan_Johnson" and "MalcomJudd". They each won a third generation 64GB iPod Touch.
Open Feint
Main Article: OpenFeint
OpenFeint is a social platform and application for iPhone OS, and Pocket God has had it since Ep 13: March of the Fire Ants. It allows players to have more achievements to beat, leaderboards, challenges, forums and chat, and connect with their friends. Now, however, the Apple-made Game Center is the primarily used social platform gaming device for both Pocket God and Journey To Uranus.
Customization Packs
In the Ep 27: Good Will Haunting update, a DLC store was added with changeable skins for the T-Rex. Since then, other Customization packs have been released, each for 99 cents (except for the Fishmas Skin Pack), which include:
- Retro Gamer Skin Pack
- The Dance Pack
- Alien World Skin Pack
- Ice Monster Skin Pack
- Halloween Skin Pack
- Holiday Skin Pack
- Fishmas Skin Pack
- Dance Pack Too
- Spider Skin Pack
- Japanese Skin Pack
- Medieval Skin Pack
- Pimp Skin Pack
- Shark Skin Pack
- Mafia Skin Pack
- Dance Pack Too
- Dance Pack Three
- Mondo Skin Pack
- Monster Skin Pack
- Grimm Skin Pack
- Superbowl Skin Pack
- Underwater Skin Pack
- Candy Land Skin Pack
- Zombie Skin Pack
Comic Books
Main Article: Pocket God Comics
A series of Comic Books based on the Pygmies and their adventures was released on iTunes on August 3, 2010, published by iVerse Media and Ape Entertainment.
Journey to Uranus
Main Article: Journey To Uranus
An iPad-exclusive game called "Journey to Uranus" which involves Pygmies in space.(also came available on iPhone/iPod Touch on 7th of june 2011)
Crossovers with other Apps
Doodle Jump
In Lima Sky's Doodle Jump, if you enter your name as any of the Pygmies (Ooga, Booga, Dooby, Nooby, Klik, and Klak) the Doodler will become a Pygmy and shoot coconuts as it ascends. In return, the mini-game Ooga Jump features the Doodler as an obstacle for rising Pygmies.
The Creeps!
Pygmies can appear in 'The Creeps'!' If you wait for 30 seconds-1 minute inside the credits and touch the now-appearing Dino Egg. Then they can be toggled on and off.
Uggles
Some people report seeing a character that looks like a pygmy, with a bone in its hair and a grass skirt, in the game Uggles. [Citation Needed]
Harbour Master
If you hold down the logo on Harbor Master's main menu for three seconds, all the boats are replaced with swimming Pygmies. In return, the mini-game Bait Master, though it includes Piranhas instead of boats, is based on Harbor Master.
Trenches
Zombie Pygmies appear in the game mode 'Zombie Horde' in thunder game works' "Trenches". Note: The following paragraph is an abstract from the game Trenches do not modify it.
PYGMY ZOMBIES?!
Intel reports that a rise of pygmy zombies are approaching our forces!
TGW has teamed with Bolt Creative of Pocket God to bring pygmies into Trenches in our next update! Still haven't purchased Pocket God? Tap the link below!
The Moron Test
In fellow app "The Moron Test", a whole Pocket God-themed test involving such aspects as Pygmies and the Dodo Bird. In return, as of Ep 37: The Moron Pests, Pocket God has added the Island of Misfit Crossovers that incorporates such features as the Snake from the game "The Moron Test". The new mini-game, Moron Pests has Pygmies running from a Turtle while the player must answer Moron Test-inspired questions.
Amateur Surgeon 3
Because of the Adult Swim Games Skin Pack, the Pygmies have a cameo in Amateur Surgeon 3. In the game, a killer whale named Awoogah swallowed Oog Island and the residents are causing trouble! The Pygmies are some of the "things" that you (as Alan Probe) need to extract, along with dodo birds and sharks.
Desert Ashes
On March 19, 2015, Bolt Creative announced the coming of a crossover PlayStation game called "Pocket God vs. Desert Ashes". It will be available for PS4 and PS Vita.
Trivia
- A similar game called "Pillage the Village" is available online.
- Another app, called Pocket Devil, blatantly copied some of Pocket God's aspects for the ratings and with less creativity. It is not as popular but they are currently Pocket God's nemesis.
- Another game, not as great as Pocket God, is also in the I-touch called the Pocket Aliens.
- Pocket God is the first iPod app to have episodes, the first iPod app to have a comic made after it, and the first iPod app to have a song.
- The Pygmies were not originally going to have fingers and toes in the title cards, but were changed due to them looking like they are in more pain.
- If you look up "Pocket God" instead of looking in the update section, you are able to get the update a little while before it comes out.
- All episode icons have a Pygmy on it or a different Pygmy form.