Happy New Year everyone! We’re so excited to be kicking off 2012 all guns blazing, heads down on a project we care for very dearly and many more opportunities on the horizon.

The start of a project is always an energetic and fun filled time, but it also plays an incredibly important role in setting the expectations, direction, and ultimate vision for a product. Given how much potential we think this game has, we’re taking that very seriously and making sure we incorporate all our learnings from prior projects to ensure this is our absolute best.

In other news, the office has been completely taken over by Hero Academy fever. If you have an iPhone you should get it immediately!

Oh and by the way, has everyone picked up a copy of Howling Mouse? If not you really should go ahead and do so. We have a cool update coming out in a few weeks too.

It is with a heavy heart today that we announce Flutter for Facebook will be going offline on the 23rd December. But wait! This is not the end, but instead the beginning of a transformation that will take Flutter to whole new heights. We’ve had a fantastic time producing and maintaining Flutter, it’s a product we’re proud of and care for deeply, but for us to take it further we need to look at the game from the ground-up and address some of its key issues to ensure that it can become a mainstream success. We are a lot more experienced now than we were when we first designed the game, and have been working very very hard to design an approach for the next version of Flutter which is a far better core experience. So from 23rd December we will be going into our chrysalis, putting our heads down, and emerging with a much more spectacular creature

But we had to give this version of the game a proper farewell! So here’s what we’ve done for you guys to play with over the last couple of weeks:

• All premium items except potions, powerups, and WWF items, are now purchasable with HD!
• We’ve made an epic finale quest for our loyal fans involving a little magical mishap with the Owl.
• The main forest is in sunset now, and in the last week will turn to nighttime before going to sleep
• We have two new flower packs that will be going live for FREE over the next two weeks

Today another awe inspiring animated background has been added to the world of Flutter. Check out the WWF store to see the raw power of nature unleashed in the new “Thunder Storm” background. As always you can add it to your own grove for just 40 Facebook Credits. This is also a WWF item so remember this helps meet our target to build sustainable farming facilities in the Amazon.

Speaking of which: 90% of the way there! That’s so close guys, cant wait for us to hit it

Higher level players will find an incredibly cute new story quest awaiting them as the fruit bat looks to welcome a new addition to the family.

We also have an exciting new announcement coming in the next week as we’ll be launching Flutter with a big player in the casual / social gaming space. Stay tuned.

You asked for it, you got it!

More quests have arrived in Flutter, and not just one or two, but more than 50! We’ve built out a new system which gives you a new quest every day. That means more daily XP, and a new way to help the rainforest every day. Can’t wait till tomorrow? For just 10 Facebook Credits you can get yourself another quest straight away. This new system has taken a ton of work but now that its in there we’ll regularly be adding more and more quests to keep everyone busy in the rainforest. Got some ideas of quests for the system? Let us know!

Get hunting for the red forest spirit to pick up your daily quest, and if you want more you can pick them up in the Power Ups tab.

Also very importantly: we’re 78% of the way toward reaching our fund raising target to help our the Amazon! Let’s band together and help these guys out team, we’re so close to making a huge impact on this community’s life.

A Pygmy Marmoset monkey, a rich Heliconia (which your Hummingbird will love!) and some cheerful glow flowers have today been added to the WWF store.

Every time you purchase one of these cute little critters – all real-life flora and fauna of the Amazon – you contribute directly to sustainable nut farming communities in Bolivia.

Flutter is inspired by the Amazon, so we want to give back to the very environment that was our muse.

The indigenous people of Versalles and Mategua are fighting for a sustainable Amazon by growing Brazil nuts instead of logging. But these guys are under-resourced, so they need your help to upgrade their operations and lead the way to a sustainable future.

We’ve set a target to build 8 Payols (Brazil Nut storage barns) that will dramatically increase the productivity of these harvests by protecting nuts from spoilage.

Every item purchased from the WWF counts and we’re over halfway there already with your contributions to date. So let’s do this together and increase the quality of life for these amazing people.

Next week we take the adventure deeper into the rainforest. We’ll open a new environment, introduce you to a new creature, add a new daily action, and tease the look and feel of the second main forest area. We also have some great new items coming to the WWF store and a really exciting announcement about the work we’re helping with in Bolivia.

Stay tuned, will be an exciting week

Skills Required

• Exemplary object-oriented programming ability
• Proven ability to ship a polished product, preferably a game
• Excellent written English and teamwork skills
• Passion for great games and drive to iterate a highly refined, fun gameplay experience

Desired

• Objective C experience
• iPhone SDK experience
• Specialty in 2D graphics animation and “bling effects”

Engagement

• 8 week on-site fixed term contract in Dunedin, New Zealand
• 18^th July – 9^th September
• Competitive weekly rate (advised on application)

Apply with CV and sample code / project to: tim@runawayplay.com by 4^th July 2011

Good news team, there’s now a very good reason to visit Flutter more than once a day!

Recently we revised the way the flower beds worked. We did this to bring them in line with all other resources in the rainforest in “recharging overnight”. This gives our game a unique differentiator in that you can pop in once a day (at any time that suits you) and really feel like you’ve been productive, not pressured to come back every five minutes. This is in line with the more relaxing nature of the game, and also makes the flowerbeds functionality a whole lot easier to understand.

However! We recognize that some fans are very keen to return more than once a day, so we wanted to make sure there was something for them to do and get a little bonus. New to the rainforest are “Honeydew Flowers” that you’ll find popping up around the place, with one appearing every hour (up to a max of six). These become worth more as you progress, so they’re still meaningful for higher level players. All flower beds orange? One of these will be worth one orange flower.

Also, the Honey Dust will now regenerate every 6 hours, giving you even more to pick up!

We’re happy this update gives the best of both worlds in that the main Honeydew collection source supports our casual, once a day players, while those keen to return more can get a little advantage for their dedication.

Look forward to your feedback as always

P.S. Thanks again for all your feedback on the new interface items, we’ve been listening and making refinements through the week, so as a little thank you we’ve sent you all a free pack containing: “Instant Grow Formula” “Blue Seed” “Instant Brew Formula” and a “Luck Potion!”. Have fun

Today we’re really excited to release some updates to the core interactions in Flutter that move us closer to a more intuitive, lightweight experience for our daily players. These updates are informed by months of quantitative analysis on player data, and qualitative feedback from both experts and everyday players. Here’s a rundown on what we’ve changed and why:

Contextual Interactions: For new players and seasoned veterans (developers included!) we found it could be laborious and confusing to know what you should be dragging-and-dropping to keep your rainforest alive and at full productivity. To combat this we developed a system that would clearly show for each object in your world, what its state was, and what actions you could perform on it. With one click you can now expand and upgrade flower beds, feed animals and apply potions. This significantly smooths out the difficulty curve for new players, and makes the daily cycle for experienced players that much more straight forward.

Reminder Bubbles: We needed to make it clearer where there was something in the world that needed your attention, so alongside these new menus we’ve integrated a neat little bubble that alerts you when an item or creature needs your help. No more will you aimlessly flutter about the forest wondering what to do next, the inhabitants of the Amazon will just pop up a friendly reminder.

Daily Honeydew: One of the things that makes Flutter great is the fact you can just pop in once a day. A while ago we updated the harvesting system to take into account your local timezone and have the rainforest “recharge” overnight. This meant that no matter what time of day you found a few minutes to check in, you’d still get a full benefit of a daily harvest. We’ve now brought the pollination flowers in line with the idea, so you just have to pop them once a day to get your full 24 hours worth of Honeydew!

These changes don’t come lightly, and for our existing player base we appreciate that change in the world that you have come to know and love can be tough. We as players love the newfound fluidity that these updates have introduced to the game, and we’re confident they will lead to a better experience for all.

As always we are close knit with our community and appreciate all of the constructive feedback and generous support we receive from our passionate player base. As such we will continue to refine these new interactions and the game as a whole in partnership with our devoted fans.

Thanks again for all your support as we strive to make Flutter one of the best games on the Facebook platform

Hey Flutter fans, just a quick update to let you know we’ve had our heads down working on some really cool updates to the game which will make it easier to learn, smoother to play, and lay the foundation for all our future extensions of the rainforest.

A lot of new players have found it hard to deal with the game’s complexity, especially when having to drop special items on special objects in the world. That frustration is going to come to an end very soon as we introduce a one-click system for interacting with objects that magically knows what everything in the rainforest wants! You’ll get to see it in action very soon, and hope you enjoy the new fluidity it’ll add to your trips through the forest.

I’d also like to take this chance to welcome our new Community Manager, Donnelle, to the team. She’ll be round to help you guys out if you have technical problems, game suggestions, etc. We’re really excited to have her on board to ensure we stay right up to speed with our community, and that we’re doing the best we can to make the game better for our players. Join us in welcoming Donnelle here, or pop her an email with a question or suggestion atsupport@runawayplay.com

Hang tight for a very cool update end of this week