If you purchased Awaken via the Mac App Store you can get the update there now, or if you’ve been with Awaken for a while and upgraded from version 4 you can get 5.0.5 via “Check for Updates” from within Awaken.

In this new version we have updated the UI to better fit with Mac OS X Lion – in areas like the top left window button style.

We also corrected a visual glitch which was causing a blurring effect on Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

One of our biggest requests was to add ambient sounds to be used with the sleep timer (you can also use these for alarms). We’ve added sounds of the beach, forest, ocean, rainfall and white noise. All of these loop seamlessly.

Other fixes were related to song information being displayed incorrectly or missing album artwork.

We also just released a bug fix for AwakenHelper which addresses an issue where the application could hang. Please click on “Check for Updates Now…” from the AwakenHelper icon in your top menu bar to get version 5.0.2.

While you’re at the Mac App Store for this free update – check out our first game “Shuttle Scuttle” which is on sale for just $0.99!

We’re already working on Awaken 5.0.6 – let us know what you’d like to see. Right now we’re busy adding translations for German and French. Stay tuned

We’re looking for feedback from gamers (especially retro-gamers). All of the greatest ideas will be packaged as free updates to keep the game fresh and filled with more challenges and fun.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Shuttle Scuttle is now available for Mac!

Shuttle Scuttle is a fast-paced, retro-style shooter game with a mission. It’s the year 2285 and all is peaceful since the forming of the USSA (United Sol System Alliance). That is until Neptune station reports of unidentified spacecraft approaching. A hostile force is making its way through the sol system towards earth. Armed shuttles for asteroid destruction are the only defense crafts available. Seek out and intercept this hostile force before Earth becomes a target!

GAME FEATURES:

• 8-bit artwork reminiscent of the NES
• 14 tracks of original chiptune music
• 32 levels with 8 epic boss battles
• Astronauts to rescue
• Dozens of unique enemies
• Earn up to 3 stars on each level

Check out the Shuttle Scuttle page for more info, screenshots and video.

Shuttle Scuttle is a fast-paced, retro-style shooter game with a mission. It’s the year 2285 and all is peaceful since the forming of the USSA (United Sol System Alliance). That is until Neptune station reports of unidentified spacecraft approaching. A hostile force is making its way through the sol system towards earth. Armed shuttles for asteroid destruction are the only defense crafts available. Seek out and intercept this hostile force before Earth becomes a target!

GAME FEATURES:

• 8-bit artwork reminiscent of the NES
• 14 tracks of original chiptune music
• 32 levels with 8 epic boss battles
• Astronauts to rescue
• Dozens of unique enemies
• Earn up to 3 stars on each level
• Game Center leader board and achievements
• Universal for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
• Retro inspired touch controls

Check out the Shuttle Scuttle page for more info, screenshots and video.

We will also be launching a Mac version of the game in the near future.

Here’s a sample of the sprite sheet containing a bunch of the game’s graphics in progress:

We did a search a few months ago for musicians who specialize in creating music based on the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) to keep the music in tune with the 8-bit retro look. I’m glad to have found Inverse Phase - he’s been busy working on the entire soundtrack. Check out the following video to hear a sampling of the music created thus far:

We’ll have more to show as development gets closer to completion. We’d be glad to hear your comments along the way.

You can get it via the Mac App Store if you purchased Awaken there, or if you’re a long time Awakener who upgraded via Sparkle you can get this update within Awaken.

Awaken 5.0.3 contains the following:

• Fixed a crash issue related to the “Play Music via iTunes” alarm action.

• Corrected a bug which sometimes prevented music playback for alarms.

Thanks to everyone who reported these issues and also helped us during the development of the fixes.

Many of you have also been sending in some awesome feature requests – all of which we’re tracking and assigning priority. You’ll see them rolled out in future updates.

If you’re experiencing a problem or have a feature request please email support@embraceware.com. This way your request will get a proper support ticket we can work with – and Zendesk is awesome

In the meantime, the AwakenHelper application has been updated tonight to include some important updates:

• Installation bug fixed.
• Sparkle update system added.
• Hide icon option added.
• Wake and power on scheduling bug fixed.

Click here to download the new AwakenHelper now.

The installation bug fix solves the problem where the “Wake and Power on” feature would not install properly (endless loop with no action taken). Many people have reported this problem and we’re glad to have this fixed.

The Sparkle update system has been added to AwakenHelper. With this, AwakenHelper will notify you when a new version is available and provide a seamless way to update. We regret that this wasn’t included with the initial launch of AwakenHelper. By downloading the new AwakenHelper linked above you’ll be set for all future updates.

Many of you also asked for a way to hide the menu bar icon and that option is now in AwakenHelper via its menu.

The last bug fix addresses an issue where if you turned off the “Wake and Power on” option AwakenHelper would still schedule a wakeup time. This is now fixed so that AwakenHelper only schedules wake times when the option is enabled.

So that’s the latest for AwakenHelper – be sure to download this new version so that you’ll be all set for future updates.

One more note on Awaken 5 – many of you were upset that Awaken 5 doesn’t play iTunes radio stations or work via Air Tunes which worked in Awaken 4. This is because Awaken 5 plays your music directly without having to rely on iTunes. We’d like to let you know that we will be restoring both of these features in the 5.0.2 update which will be available with 32 other tweaks and features. Stay tuned and thank you for your patience.

Existing Awaken customers can “Check for Updates” within Awaken 4 to get Awaken 5 and new customers can purchase it from the convenient Mac App Store.

So what’s new and different?

• Rewritten from scratch
• All new user interface
• Support for multiple timers
• Alarm sound output device selection
• Alarm music now played by Awaken for reliability
• Volume adjustable per alarm
• Improved Apple Remote support
• All bugs reported in previous version corrected

One of the biggest problems with Awaken alarms in the past was that they relied on iTunes to be active. iTunes has turned into a much bigger application since Awaken 1.0 was launched in 2005. There were issues where iTunes would be busy syncing devices connected, slow to launch, interaction blocked due to an open dialog, etc. To solve this, Awaken 5 plays your iTunes music directly – without having to launch iTunes and rely on it to respond.

When building for the Mac App Store we ran up against a restriction which states that applications cannot request the user to enter their password to authenticate admin tasks. We rely on this for allowing Awaken to schedule wake up times so that your Mac wakes at alarm time. To get around this we separated the wake up scheduling function into a separate application “AwakenHelper” which you can download for free via the Awaken page. AwakenHelper runs in your menu bar and  takes care of waking your Mac and launching Awaken at alarm time if it isn’t already running. We also added the ability for this tool to power on your Mac. AwakenHelper will monitor your Awaken alarm database in the background and automatically schedule the correct wake up times.

We’ll be adding new features to Awaken for Mac and Awaken for iOS often. Please email us at support@embraceware.com with your feature requests! We’re also already working on localizing Awaken in more than a dozen languages – stay tuned.

So, the Mac App Store happened – woot! There have been some bumpy developer stories regarding the transition to the Mac App Store. Based on that I wanted to let you in on what our plans are for Awaken 5 and the Mac App Store.

If you’ve purchased Awaken 4 you’ve been told that Awaken 5 will be a free upgrade for you when it becomes available – don’t worry – that’s still true. If you’ve purchased Awaken already and have a serial number you’ll be able to download Awaken 5 from our site and enter your serial number to validate it. That build will remain on the Sparkle update system. We will have another build of Awaken 5 just for the Mac App Store. That way existing customers and new customers will be treated fairly.

Once Awaken 5 is available we will no longer sell new licenses through our site – new customers will be exclusive to the Mac App Store. Existing customers will get Awaken 5 via the Sparkle system in Awaken 4 or use the download link we’ll have on our site.

So to summarize – existing Awaken 4 customers get Awaken 5 for free via the Sparkle update system or download via our site. New customers get Awaken 5 via the Mac App Store.

Let us know what you think about our plans – we put a lot of thought into it but still like to hear your feedback.

Regarding the progress of Awaken 5 – we’re 100% focused on that project now that the iOS version is mature. We’ll also be porting the new features from Awaken 5 for Mac back to the iOS version later.

If you’d like to see development updates on a regular basis – follow us on Twitter (@Embraceware) where I’ll be posting UI screenshots and other information.

If you haven’t checked out Awaken for iOS – get it today for just 99 cents! It’s a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad!

Here’s a list of what’s new in this release:

• Adds iOS 4.2 features for iPad (local notification alarms and fast-app switching).
• Awaken no longer stops your iPod music when you launch it.
• Podcasts and audiobook tracks resume where you left off.
• Sleep Timer can now use currently playing music.
• Sleep Timer now pauses music during incoming phone calls.
• Sleep Timer now obeys Apple Remote for pausing, etc.
• Alarm snooze now restarts volume fade in if enabled.
• Current song information now displayed on the iPad.
• Flashlight bug fix for 4th generation iPod touch.
• LCD clock style colors more vibrant.
• Bug fixed which was causing a crash for some users.