Seasoned developer MunkyFun launches Bounty Bots on iOS (exclusive)

Developer MunkyFun has scored big hits on iOS with titles such as My Horse, Archetype, and Ivory Tiles. Now, it is launching a “frantic multiplayer” action game called Bounty Bots for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

The game combines Wild West themes with robot desperados in a fast-paced title that supports the full resolution of Apple’s new iPad.

Sure, it’s just one more game among hundreds of thousands in the Apple App Store. But San Francisco, Calif.-based MunkyFun’s My Horse was a spectacular steed simulation that was a big hit last year.

MunkyFun is just one of the companies that is stepping up mobile games to be more console-like, which remind us that it is still possible to be disruptive in mobile with superior technology. MunkyFun’s titles have reached more than 12 million players to date. My Horse, which was published by Natural Motion, has been downloaded more than 8 million times.

In Bounty Bots, players customize their avatar and chase down opponents using cartoon-like cowpoke weapons, including Six Shooters and Cactapults that spew needles. You ambush players with Googuns and collect their bounties in the old west town of Deadbolt.

Up to eight players can fight in three-minute online battles. The matches start with spaghetti western-style music that sets the stage. Players can collect coins as they go, but the big money is in defeating other players.

“Bounty Bots is pure multiplayer fun built with the solid tech and ear to the community that are our hallmarks,” said MunkyFun Chief Executive and Co-founder Nick Pavis.

Pavis started MunkyFun in 2008 with a team of console veterans. The original focus was on games for such systems, but the publishers kept backing out of titles.

The game uses the company’s proprietary Kong Engine and its own analytics server. The company has 25 employees and competes with rivals such as Backflip Studios, Halfbrick, Gameloft, and Chair Entertainment. MunkyFun is self-funded.

The team includes veterans from LucasArts who worked on titles such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. The founders include Tim Ramsay, chief technology officer, and Oren Weizman, lead engineer. To date, they have developed 15 titles.