Feinheit made it big with a full-page feature about their game Pingwin Adventures in the Tages-Anzeiger, in which Thileeban Thanapalan talks about the challenges and plans of their game.

Not everything is visible to the naked eye, as the new game by Reto Spoerri proves. WunderKeeper has been commissioned by the city of Winterthur together with the Naturmuseum Winterthur. The iOS app will enable you to see little creatures previously unseen, hidden in and around Winterthur. Gotta catch them all!

There are even more things to catch: games2be has released Tiny Owls, a iOS game in which the player is tasked with rescuing cute tiny owls from the dangers that lurk in the forest. Bringing all owls to safety will ensure your victory.

Bitforge has been commissioned by the Federal Departement of Foreign Affairs to create a game to present in London during the Olympic Games 2012. The three different games came be played on iOS and Android devices.

Meanwhile, GameCulture has issued a new Call for Projects, this time in cooperation with the International Fantastic Film Festival Neuchâtel NIFFF. Projects can be handed in until January 2013, a maximum of CHF 50000 can be gained per project. All information can be found on the NIFFF website.

Mario von Rickenbach is a high flyer when it comes to his games – once again, Mirage got awarded the Grand Prize at the European Independent Game Days. Congratulations! [ᔥgameculture.ch]

Of course, you should have visited the bachelor projects exhibition at ZHdK already, but in case you missed it, are not able to go or just want a general teaser what awaits you there, wait no longer and head over to the iTunes App Store – where you will find Armadillo by Stefan Spieler and Ralf Mauerhofer. Armadillo is an action puzzle game for the iPhone/iPad, in which the player helps armadillos to defend themselves against the evil machines and beat humankind with their own tools of destruction. With its cute graphics and clever puzzles, it will entertain you for quite a while – can you beat the global highscore?

Moonga, the trading card game from the western part of Switzerland, will make its debut on Facebook on June 14th.

Pingwin Adventures by Feinheit GmbH, has received a major update – time to get the game, if you haven’t already!

A clever economy simulation has been developed by games2be for the Hochschule für Wirtschaft FHNW. In YamYam, players are tasked with setting the prices of goods, taking into account current conditions like storage capacity, the weather or the general consumer mood. The game is available for iOS and Android, and can be played for free on the web. [ᔥgameculture.ch]

Coming up

Don’t miss the next MobileMonday! This event, co-organised by your local IGDA chapter and being held at Microsoft in Wallisellen, aims to strengthen the mobile sector in Switzerland by connecting developers and exchanging ideas and know-how. Get going and sign up for the event on Monday, June 18th 2012 at Microsoft, Wallisellen.

As a remainder from the last instalment, where we already spoke about the three smartphone games being featured by Guido Berger on the Swiss radio, here comes his own blogpost with reviews of the games and the complete MP3 of the emission.

Nothing produced two new games for Swiss companies: One for Swissgrid, the operator of the Swiss electricity network called Keep the Balance, another for V-ZUG for a trade fair. Read all about those projects in Nothing’s blog posts. [ᔥ Nothing]

Bitforge once again helps to make the world a better place with their game ByeByeMosquito, produced for WorldVision and available for iOS, Android and on the Web. Go hunting for mosquitos to stop the spread of malaria. Part of the game’s appeal is surely due to the sound, made by Daniel Sommer, who already did the sound design of bitforge’s wildly popular Orbital. Pretty sure we will hear more of him in the future. [ᔥ bitforge, gameculture.ch]

Speaking of sound design, chapter news regular Chris Polus also has some new projects he has worked for. There is Little Black Fish, an animated picture book with 12 orchestral pieces by Chris. War Isn’t Fair is clearly less peaceful, it being a strategy game playing in World War 2. And then there is Gnomes at War, a tower defence game that additionally profits from Chris’ expertise in creating the death wails of gnomes (among other sound effects). All those games are still in development, so there are no actual links. Those will be delivered as soon as they’re available.

When it comes to new releases on the iTunes App Store, we have (like in almost every instalment of the chapter news) a few new games for you to check out.

Firstly, Sky Jam by NXComponents – nothing for people with a fear of flying, since the player is taking a passenger plane on a wild ride through the sky, trying to avoid the congested air lanes. [ᔥ gameculture.ch]

Feeling too privileged with your presumably mainly white, male, western european lifestyle? Try out Discrimination Pong by and-or.ch, in which you suddenly find yourself in the role of the not-so-white paddle, that has to battle against numerous unfair advantages of the opponent. Not only is the game a clever commentary on daily discrimination in society, it also takes a stab at today’s trend to “freemium” games. Available for iOS, Mac/Win or directly online, DiscriminationPong invites you to have not too much fun with it. [ᔥ gamelab.ch]

Congratulations to Gbanga, which is celebrating its 5th (as a company) and 2nd (as a mafia game) birthday! Happy festivities – and may you live long and prosper!

The news about crowd funding platforms don’t stop. There is now a third contestant online: ProjektStarter opened its doors! Go have a look!

Interested in testing a game, before anyone else has the chance to set eyes on it? Now’s your chance to do so – and help a master student in the process. Jeremy Spillmann currently works on his follow-up game to Hollow Grounds called The Highest Heart and he still needs testers. If you’re interested in checking out his newest creation for the iPhone beginning approximately mid-April, drop him a line! Happy bug-hunting!