At long last we’ve sent Eggs in Space to the folks at Apple and now we’re waiting to find out if our baby gets approved. That would be quite a Christmas present for us so we’ve written to Santa to say we’ve been good Bees.

As you can probably tell we are aiming to get Eggs in Space on sale in time for Christmas, we’ve even included a special Christmas mini-game (the highly originally named ‘Christmas Eggs in Space’) in this first version of our debut game. There has been a whole lot of tweaking of the gameplay these last few weeks and we’ve tried our damndest to get it playing smoothly on the 3G. Other more well-endowed iPhones have never been an issue, but John has worked wonders on tidying up the code and we’ve even included a simple version of the game for those, like myself, who still carry our trusty older machines in our pocket.

It’s a bit of a mystery what the procedure is for getting your app approved, so we’ve read a few bits and pieces on the topic, but really we need to do it for ourselves. The game runs as well as most of the apps we’ve come across and our testing seems to have ironed out all bugs, so fingers, toes and all other wiggly bits will be crossed that it all goes smoothly. It will be quite a thrill to see Eggs in Space in amongst all the other releases, but we’re proud we’ve even got this far. It’s been less than six months before we decided to develop games and here we are on the verge of releasing something into the wild.

Grand Turismo 5 (PS3) – The best is better than ever, but will any of us ever be able to afford a Ferrari P4?

Game Dev Story (iPhone) – If only we were as good at this in real life!

Minecraft (Mac) – We’re still addicted, as are many more gamers. True indie game hero, one of 2010’s best.

Trainyard (iPhone) – One man’s mad paint and train thinkings brought to life is now rightly a big seller. His tales on making it in the App Store is certainly food for thought.

Joe Danger (PS3) – Never has one man’s pain been so funny. It appeals to the same dark part of you that giggles when somebody falls over on all this ice.

Eggs in Space (iPhone) – Yes, this old chestnut. Testing is work don’t you know?

Aside from a sprinkling of space-snow and a few Santa hats, this mini-game comes with an all new evil egg – Ed Nog! He’s a floating snow-egg that flings snow balls at unsuspecting Spoons in a bid to spoil their festive fun. Think of him as the anti-Santa.

Chris has come up with a better Christmas tune than the X Factor could manage, I think he should call it ‘We Wish You a Wobbly Christmas’ as it’s a right naughty little ditty.

Now the race is on to get Eggs in Space out there in time for Christmas otherwise you won’t be seeing our little festive edition for another year!

Reckless Racing (iPhone) - Not a big game, but a good one. Just needs a few more tracks to keep us playing.

Sonic 4 (iPhone) - New side-scrolling Sonic makes us happy Bees.

Minecraft (Mac) - I thought Chris was recommending Mein Kampf, turns out he said Minecraft which is as brilliant as it is blocky.

Fifa 11 (PS3) - Better than Pro Evil? We think so. Best enjoyed with good mates, rubbish teams and four controllers.

Halo Reach (Xbox) - Personally I'd rather go to Laser Quest, but the rest of the chaps are fraggin' and braggin' non-stop. Big worlds, big guns, big fun.

Cut the Rope (iPhone) - Top of the iPhone pops, a time waster extraordinaire.

Eggs in Space (iPhone) - Plenty of testing as we polish things off with our baby means spending plenty of time zapping our oval children.

Sketch new characters or Halo Reach? Bit of both...

The sounds were spot on from day one, but once we got into the iPhone 4 we realised that the looks could be improved to make the most of Apple’s latest pocket rocket. Andy has redrawn everything to make the most of one of the best displays we’ve ever got our peepers round. It seems a shame not to make the most the fourth coming on the iPhone, non?

These high-res improvements should also look good on the more humble handsets too, so it’s win-win. We’ve added a new character too, who is currently making the transition from sketchpad to screen as I type.

All these delays have given us a chance to examine the gameplay in more detail. Eggs in Space is simple to play; just hit the eggs to crack them while avoiding hitting the red eggs. Previously the eggs just inched their way forwards towards your ship, but now John has added a signature movement for each character. Some are easier to hit, while others are much tougher than before as they whizz all around the screen. It makes things feel a lot less linear and more interesting as you watch the little ovals dance their way closer to the Spoonship you are piloting.

We’ve also played around with backgrounds, cameras and other little tweaks to improve the perspective, adding just a touch of depth. Next we are moving onto creating the tutorial, but there will probably be a fair bit of testing the changes we’ve already made before we can wrap things up totally. Meanwhile we’ll continue to get dosed up on caffeine and noodles as colds strike us down and the winter creeps up on us.

However, we’re still not apologising to him or anybody else. Why? Because Eggs in Space is going to be a better game when it appears in a week or two, looking all high-res and fantastic. Then if it’s a success George can have laptops for breakfast anytime he wants.

We’ve also taken the time to hook up Apple’s Game Center, which has helped to push back the release of Eggs in Space by around a week, but it will be well worth it.

Last week Andy got his crayons out and added extra levels of detail to the characters and their surroundings. Looking at Eggs in Space on my trusty old 3G it all looks good to me, but then John parks his iPhone 4 next to mine and this latest version looks good enough to eat.

John hasn’t been sat idle while Andy re-creates these now very familiar oval faces – instead John has been playing around with the gameplay. Now the eggs take all sorts of paths around the screen and things have been tightened up so more sprites can appear on screen without things slowing down. This has given the gameplay an injection of action and may even give the impression of AI being present, which of course it isn’t.

We’ve also been toying with the iPad version and it’s magic with these new hi-res graphics. We won’t be releasing the full iPad-optimised version for at least a month but we’re now hooked on seeing the little eggs loom large on the bigger machine. Bring it on!

As Sonic the Hedgehog passes n-n-n-nineteen years of age and even Lara Croft has been with us for nearly 15 years, I’m starting to wonder if we should have more game characters that age along with us, the players? Ms Croft may only inhabit memory chips, but maybe she would need a spot of silicon to keep her fabulous figure after a decade or two of jumping around? Or maybe Sonic could slow down his manic pace and go for a blue rinse as he gets into his dotage while Mario’s belly could continue to grow as he ditches the Mediterranean diet and eats a few more pizzas (with extra mushrooms of course) than he should? After all, he deserves it.

After 50 years service we could give these characters a gold clock and they could go off to enjoy their retirement where there will be no more evil doctors, ghouls, ghosts or hideous fiery traps tormenting them. I can see it now – “Not-so-super Mario” will certainly make us feel a whole lot better about our creaking old bodies. James Bond or Sherlock Holmes have reversed the aging process on the silver screen, but it would make a pleasant change to see a protagonist in a video game get older, wiser and more wrinkled as time passes.

Perhaps there are some characters that have aged, either within one game or across multiple titles, but I struggle to think of them. Maybe you know better?

Head to www.eggsinspacegame.com to see our thrilling new teaser video to see what could happen to you if you let those pesky Eggs in Space take over!

There are also a few tasty new screenshots and you can meet the eggs themselves as we put them in the spotlight.

Enjoy!

www.eggsinspacegame.com