Factsheet

Developer:
ClutchPlay Games
Based in Portland, OR

Release date:
iOS – October 9, 2014
Android – April 9, 2015

Pricing:
iOS – $2.99
Android – Free ad-supported (optional $2.99 IAP to remove ads)

Genre:
Action-based Platformer

Website: departmentofskullduggery.com

Press / Business Contact:
press@clutchplaygames.com

Platforms:
Apple App Store
Google Play Store
Amazon Appstore for Android

Description

“Skullduggery!” is an atmospheric, fling-based physics platformer, in which you’ll play a Semi-Organic Autonomous Skull employed by the Infernal Revenue Service. Your job is to collect unpaid taxes from the ‘deadbeats’ of the afterlife by any means necessary. Using the elasticity of your own brain, slingshot yourself around the fortresses of the afterlife’s biggest tax dodgers. Slow time to avoid deadly obstacles and pull off crazy trick shots to collect riches. Discover hidden caches and slip past surly guards. Play ‘head to head’ against your friends to become the afterlife’s most successful agent.

“Skullduggery!” features a finely-tuned and deeply-satisfying one-touch control scheme specifically tailored to mobile. Its endearingly grotesque art style was inspired by the Max Fleischer animations of the 1930’s. It also includes a quirky doom-jazzy, bureau-noir soundtrack from Portland industrial musician, Michael Arthur Holloway.

Features

• BRAIN POWER: Pull back ANYWHERE on the screen to stretch out your brain! Let go to snap your skull forward like a brainy rubber band.
• BULLET TIME: Touch and hold in mid-air to slow down time and change directions.
• GRAVITATIONAL TRUANCY: Defy gravity by launching your skull into the air and then aiming again while your skull is in mid-flight.
• HEADSHOTS: Take out enemies with a single well-placed fling to the cranium.
• SINGLE PLAYER: Single Player mode with 24 surreal and pleasantly spooky levels.
• MULTIPLAYER: Play ‘HEAD to HEAD’ against your friends in local multiplayer mode featuring 6 brain-pounding arenas.
• POWER-UPS:  Hit a lantern and magical things happen.  Power-up Lanterns turn you into a coin magnet, a fireball, a giant invincible skull, or a speed demon.
• MULTIPLE WORLDS: Three distinctly unique and atmospheric worlds, each culminating in a brain bashing boss battle.
• DISCOVERY: Hidden rooms and secret chests containing containing treasure and other delights.
• REPLAYABILITY: Dozens of collectables and secondary objectives to maximize play time.
• UNIQUE SKULLS: Over 20 unique skulls to unlock including several guest celebrity skulls from other indie games.  (Guest skulls include BEAN from Kumobius’ ‘Bean’s Quest,’ MARV from Pagoda West’s ‘Major Magnet’ and of course, ClutchPlay’s own CHOMP, from ‘Little Chomp.’)

History

After releasing the Android version of Little Chomp in early 2013, the ClutchPlay Team was hired by KIXEYE Inc, to bring their highly successful Facebook game ‘Backyard Monsters’ to mobile. Upon completion of that project in October 2013, ClutchPlay began prototyping new concepts for their next mobile game. Originally given the working title of “Skull Game,” the concept went through several iterations before it gelled in its current form. The first prototype began as a traditional platformer, in which a skeleton navigates through the underworld by taking off its head and flinging or rolling it through the a series of puzzle-based scenarios but after a few different iterations, it became clear to the team that the act of flinging a busted skull was the most fun part of the game. And thus, “Skullduggery!” was born.