OvenBreak
OvenBreak is an old Devsisters runner game that consists of helping a gingerbread man cookie named GingerBrave escape from the oven and the Witch!
It's the game that started Devsisters' success, being the top 1 free app (free version) on the App Store for a while!¹
According to an interview made with Ryu Min Woo (the developer for creative concepts), the co-founder of Devsisters Kim Sejoong wanted to make an infinite runner game and he got inspired by the flash game 고군분투 (Gogunbuntu/Struggle).
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| 고군분투 title screen | 고군분투 hooking | 고군분투 gameplay |
This game had a hooking mechanic and Ryu Min Woo had the idea of incorporating a gingerbread man, inspired by the American fairy tale and his unique catchphrase:
"Run, run as fast as you can!
You can't catch me.
I'm the Gingerbread Man!".
The team had the idea to give the gingerbread man a candy cane to be able to hook and also since the character was in the public domain it was a good choice.²
There are many versions of the game, and some are lost media. All english iOS versions have been found, but the same can't be said for Android as there are quite a few missing at the moment.
Two main versions |
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| OvenBreak 2009 | OvenBreak 2011 |
OvenBreak 2009 is the first version of the game (as the name implies) released the 12th of June of 2009 in Korea and the 15th of June of 2009 worldwide.³
The first version of the game included only one mode (later known as Training). The main gameplay is heavily inspired by 고군분투 (Gogunbuntu/Struggle), get collectibles and reach the end while trying to get a high score. Unlike the previously mentioned game, OvenBreak also adds the ability to slide under some incoming obstacles apart from jumping and hooking.
As time passed, more updates were released with the same gameplay loop with slight variations like Challenge mode (also known as Hell mode) being a faster and slightly harder version of Training.
Later a Christmas game mode was added which was similar to Training and Challenge mode but with new backgrounds, sprites and music. This version of the game also included 2 downloadable christmas themed GingerBrave post cards:
This game mode ended up only becoming unlockable by liking a specific Facebook post (which was taken down), making it impossible to unlock currently without modifying some of the app's files.
The next update was space themed and was called OvenBreak Infinity, which follows GingerBrave going to space to escape from the Witch. "Not the wisest choice, but what do Gingerbread Men know, right?". It featured a brand new mode that had no end, an infinite run mode.
In 2011 the game would receive a visual rework to polish the game and give it a high resolution look for the new iPhone's retina display. It was essentially the same game with different graphics and a brand new tutorial mode called Prologue featuring another playable character, Dozer (also known as KK or GingerDozer currently).
C.S. Moon in an interview stated that general management wanted the tutorial to be slow and he didn't want GingerBrave to be slow (since he was modeled after Marty McFly from the Back to the Future), so they decided to make a completely new character just for it.²
1. "OvenBreak-Infinity, 미국 애플 앱스토어 무료 어플 1위 달성". AVING Korea. 2010/11/30.
2. "OvenBreak 2009/2011 Interview". Internet Archive. 2023/07/16.
3. "OvenBreak - App Store revenue & download estimates". Sensor Tower.