Paco and the Tumbling Seed Box

If you haven't been following Paco on Twitter, you may have missed out on some progress I've made with his tumbling seed box. Why does an imaginary bird have his own Twitter account? I have no idea, and he's not telling me why. He can't. He's imaginary.

In any case, the tumbling seed box tumbles! Check it out and try the preview. If you run into any issues, let me know! (Comment below or email Gopherwood). Currently it is only available as a progressive web app on our admittedly bare-bones game-hosting site. More plans are in the works to target additional platforms and prettifying the site, but right now it's a mystery (aka unfinished).

This is a self-funded, passion project of mine to create fun games that are reminiscent of what you might find in a child's storybook. Thematically, I also thought it would be fun to highlight endangered animals and use them as characters in these games, since, you know, our business is named "Gopherwood" and our logo (if you cross your eyes just right) is an ark. It seems fitting. (Related, I found inspiration from Joel Sartore's work with The Photo Ark - highly recommend checking it out.)

Paco is the first character and game to come to life from this idea. He's a Puerto Rican Parrot with three chicks that he's trying to feed. Yes, I know Puerto Rican Parrot chicks aren't yellow or red... ...I took a few game-design liberties: it'll all make sense when you play.

A big thank you to ARBIMON for recordings of actual Puerto Rican Parrots chattering. Adding their vocal ambiance to the game really brings it to life.

Also, thanks Todd. Your advice was critical.

One final note: this title captures a lot of the game-play from one of our very first games, Sand Trap. I go into a bit of the evolution here if you want to see a few early designs (with awesome prototype art).

Hope you enjoy the game!

Entanglement on Steam!

Over the past two months I've been experimenting with NW.js, a tool that encapsulates web-based apps as executable applications. Using nw-builder, I had a working "native" app relatively quickly, but I did have to spend a bit more time making sure app icons and application menus behaved correctly across platforms. (I intend to post one or two of my technical solutions to these issues over the next few weeks.) The end result is that the code-base for the native app is essentially the same as the online version, so any updates appearing in one should eventually appear in the other.

Once I had viable builds for Windows, OSX, and Linux, the next logical step was to explore distribution. Steam seemed like a great marketplace to explore. I've been on the consumer side of the system, but trying to get something put out there on the seller side of things seemed like a fun learning opportunity.

After paying the initial $100 game submission fee and downloading the SDK, I wandered around the Steamworks site for about two days (with no water or shade!) trying to figure things out. There are plenty of knobs and buttons and features available, but thankfully Valve provides a convenient checklist to go through that made my initial experience much more purposeful. Had it not been for the checklist, I may have been wandering for weeks.

In any case, Entanglement is now available on Steam! Well, not immediately, but it releases on October 17th! Unlike the web version, all maps will be immediately available for play: Classic, Sakura Grove, Hana Blossom, et al. Visit the community page and let other folks know what you think about Entanglement! Unless you think really terrible things about Entanglement... ...in that case, let other folks know what you don't think about Entanglement...

Changes at Gopherwood...

With great sadness, I must announce a big change here at Gopherwood Studios.

Todd Lewis - the designer, the coder, the legend - is leaving. He's had a huge impact Gopherwood Studios, bringing an eye to detail, a quest for quality, a lunch everyday except those days when he forgot, a passion for panache, a gift for good games, and a talent for telling me when my game ideas stink. That last one is really helpful for a game company: otherwise we'd be stinking up the Internet with bad-smelling games.

Why is he leaving? His body told him to stop sitting at a desk all day. He's pursuing a more active career to keep his body happy. I think that's just great.

So what's next? I'm not sure. I asked him, but he's being evasive. I think he's afraid I'm going to throw more stinky game ideas at him. He's right. He'd better just run.

So now Gopherwood Studios is just me. It's a little lonely, especially trying to live up to a plural company name. But here I am, still making games for you. Hopefully I've learned a thing or two from Todd and they won't be too stinky.

Keep following this blog if you want to find out what happens next here at Gopherwood (aka me furiously tapping on an assortment of plastic buttons).

2013.5 in Review

Today's yesterday began the second half of 2013, so with that in mind I thought I would share a bit of what Todd and I have been doing the past 6 months as well as some related news.

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We put together an awesome parallax character biography toy for Geoff Keighley's The Final Hours of Tomb Raider iOS app. The biography segment is pure HTML5 in a webview, relying heavily on CSS transitions and transforms.

Sorry, this is a screenshot, so that inviting white arrow does nothing.

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We've also been making Entanglement more mobile-friendly: you can now find Entanglement in the Firefox Marketplace and a beta version in the Google Play Store for Android. Sand Trap also made it into the Firefox Marketplace.

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Entanglement also made it into Peppermint Four, a nice web-centric OS that tastes fantastic!

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Todd and I are excited to have Scott Lewis join our team. He has over 10 years of experience in the game industry, designing and developing for several titles, including Civ 5 and Rise of Nations. He also shares Todd's birthday and Todd's last name. They're also brothers, but not twins. Not that you really cared, but it's true.

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Lastly, we've been working on an exciting project with PBS Kids that we're eager to announce as soon as it's ready. But it's not ready, so I'll share no more.

Indies: Why Make Contract Games?

On the road from a traditional job in the game industry to full-time independent game development, we have found ourselves in the position of doing contract game development for a period of time. My initial response to the idea of contract development was less than excited. I feared that it was ultimately no more than a change of bosses rather than the life-changing adventure I was looking for. To my surprise contract game development has proven to be closer to independent development than I had expected. Working with the right companies, contract work can offer many of the benefits of independent game development and act as a stepping stone toward full-time work on your own games, while providing some of the benefits of a traditional game development job.

When you order cheese puffs in bulk, you get a developer as a prize.

Why do contract games at all, you might ask. Well, it's simple. Dependable money. The independent game scene is filled with heroic stories of cash-strapped developers mortgaging their houses, maxing out credit cards, subsisting off of cheese puffs and will-power to create their dream game. While these stories make for a great read and sometimes result in an incredible windfall for the developer, they also sound like a terrible way to live and are one-shot solutions to lack of funding. Miss the mark on your first game and all you've got is debt and regret. Our aversion to taking on debt and desire for a 'normal' lifestyle have led us to take a slow and steady approach to making games. Contract games, though they lack the potential windfall of an independent game, offer a source of dependable income like a regular job. Using this we pay ourselves and by keeping our costs down we have been socking away money until we have enough to make a game of our own. With the revenue from each independent game we release we hope to slowly work ourselves off of our dependence on contract work. In this way, contract game development provides us a (relatively) steady income, similar to a traditional game development job, while providing a path toward greater independence.

Sorry Johnny, it wasn't my call.

At the same time that contract development provides revenue it also provides much of the sense of control that I found lacking in a regular game development job. As a mid-level employee at two different game development studios, I often felt like a horse wearing blinders. The extent of my knowledge of the company's direction and my role in it was limited to the task in front of me. With such limited perspective, I've frequently been confused and surprised by company decisions. I've had projects that dragged on far longer than they should have, while others were cancelled before they were given chance. I worked on a game that had its genre changed on a near monthly basis. Reasonable ideas I suggested were rejected for unknown reasons while company heads made bizarre decisions without my input, such as shoving a poorly drawn Jack Sparrow and mini-games into an otherwise coherent mini-golf game. Working in a small studio has greatly clarified the decision process that goes into making a game. With a better understanding of the decision process has come a sense of control and in-turn fulfillment that I never had when working for a large studio. While contract work still has the limitation that parts of the project are dictated by an outside force, having an active voice in the discussion makes it easier to accept even the bizarrest decision. Additionally we've found that different companies and projects offer varying amounts of freedom, and ultimately we always have a choice of whether or not to take a project. 

Entanglement iOS, does no one love you?

Since contract work provides much of the freedom and control that comes with independent development and also provides a secure supply of revenue, it offers an excellent sandbox in which to learn how to build a company. Derek and I started Gopherwood Studios without any previous business experience. This means we've made a LOT of mistakes over the last two years. Mistakes such as promising an expansion to the iOS version of Entanglement that we ultimately couldn't provide, or giving it an art style without reflecting on the target audience for the game (we still get complaints about that). And while we still make mistakes with regularity, we're much better businessmen than we were. At the same time we've had two years to build up a base of technology and knowledge that make each new project easier. While there is something to be said for diving directly into a passion project from the get-go, there is value in taking some time to work the kinks out of a business before taking a significant risk. 

That doesn't mean that you can't take any risks if you take our route, instead contract games provide us with regular chances to take risks within the confines of a project.  Each project provides new challenges and opportunities. We take advantage of each project to try out new ideas and techniques. With each project these experiments helps us to grow as developers and prepare us for future projects.

While my initial concept of being an independent developer didn't include contract game development, I've been pleased to find that it offers many of the benefits and pleasures of independent development while still offering a path toward full independence. If you've got the ability to a more direct route to independent game development, you may find yourself there sooner than us, but for more risk adverse developers contract game development offers a viable route.

I like whitespace.

Google In-App Payments: Convenient for buyers and developers

Todd and I are always looking for good ways to monetize our web games so we can continue doing what we love: making more games! With Entanglement, we created extended content that players can purchase if they really enjoy the game, and with our latest creation, Thwack!!, we created a reward system using tokens that can be won by playing the game or purchased for a few cents.

Back in January when we first released our Sakura Grove Expansion for Entanglement, we implemented an email and key system for purchasing: to access the expansion set for the first time, a player would make the purchase, wait for the confirmation email to arrive, and follow the instructions to get back into Entanglement with the key to unlock their purchase. Not only was the process indirect and inconvenient for purchasing a digital good, but it also took us quite a bit of time to develop and debug.

In developing our latest game, Thwack!!, we decided to implement Google In-App Payments. In-app payments are ideal for selling digital goods and the small 5% transaction fee is wonderful for the small transactions common to games.

Once our game's store interface was set up, I was pleasantly surprised to find integrating in-app payments very quick and straight-forward. In fact, I first began reading the documentation early one morning, and by following the very concise step-by-step instructions I had in-app payments implemented in Thwack!! by lunch time!

We were quite pleased with both the appearance and implementation for Thwack!! so converting Entanglement’s purchase process to Google In-App Payments was a natural next step. However, setting up in-app payments for two separate games on one seller account highlighted something I would need to change with my initially simplistic Thwack!! integration, where I had implemented the entire process, including the postback URL, through the web game itself.

Since I was adding a second game on the same seller account, I had to separate the postback process from Thwack!!. After a bit of restructuring, and less than a day’s work, I had In-App Payments running in both Thwack!! and Entanglement with a separate service that tracks orders apart from the games as shown below.

We now have Google In-App Payments running in both games in less than two days’ worth of programming with the additional benefit of a separate central location to track orders.

We found that Google In-App Payments is not only convenient for our game players by allowing them to remain in the game experience while making their purchase, it is also convenient for us as game developers by making the integration process quick and easy to implement.

Edison Project Win!

A few weeks ago I mentioned we were one of 9 contenders in a local business competition called the Edison Project. We achieved second place! It was a tough competition, but we lauded the virtues of HTML5 and threw in a bunch of games to give us an edge.

Thanks to: Danny Hearn and the Catawba Chamber for putting this competition together; the sponsors: Alex Lee, CenturyLink, CVCC, Catawba County Government, and the Committee of 100 for making it a reality; and Bill Parrish of the SBTDC who worked with us and gave us invaluable feedback as we put together our business plan and presentations!

Todd's response to seeing a check this large for the first time.

We also want to congratulate the first place winner, David Washco, with Price Drive. He doesn't have his product out yet, but he has a very compelling idea that we hope to see come to life soon. The third place winner, Peter Lohr, with Advanced Hydrogen Technologies Corporation, also has a brilliant idea that could fundamentally change car fuel systems.

Until the official news release gets out, hopefully this picture of Todd will suffice to show our excitement in the recognized feasibility of our business plan... ...and winning a check that's taller than my sons.

Update: Hickory Daily Record article

The Edison Project

Last month we were selected as a finalist in an entrepreneurial competition held by our local chamber of commerce: it's titled "The Edison Project" and is designed to help folks turn their creative business ideas into reality. This has been a great opportunity for Todd and I to take a look at the business side of things and think strategically about how we can make a livable income doing what we love: making games for you! Regardless of who wins, having a chance to create and work through a business plan has been a great learning experience.

Here are the other eight businesses that were selected as finalists:

• Christopher Niver with Pansocial Media
• Billy Stephen Bradshaw with An Independent Step
• Dana and Steve DeCanio with Puppy Paws
• David Washco with Price Drive
• Angela Green with DNA Winery
• Brad Rhoney with Brax-Apps, Inc.
• Valerie Huffman with Craft Brew Shop
• Peter Lohr with Advanced Hydrogen Technologies Corporation

The competition consists of three parts: our business plan, a presentation to a few local business leaders this week, and finally a presentation to a public audience. If you live in Hickory, NC, or the surrounding area, come and check it out! It's at the SALT Block Auditorium from 4-6pm on September 19th, 2011. There is no charge and you can vote on your favorite presentation. We can chat afterward about HTML5, game design, or why Todd no longer participates in motorized crowd surfing.

Update: We achieved second place!