Starting a Game Company…Take 1!

I haven’t really kept this blog up as much as I should have, but I have an excuse….I’ve been finishing up my first title for my game company.

That’s right, I’ve finally done what I’ve been wanting to do for years (long before the days of a more open market that allows smaller developers to enter the scene) and that’s make a game.

The Company:

So my game company is Fine & Dandy. Fine & Dandy is a two person team myself and Co-Founder Ashli Norton. The Fine & Dandy name is what it is just because I’m silly and wanted something simple and clever. I’ve had admittedly more boring ‘company/official’ names in the past and wanted them to stay in the past, so Fine and Dandy games is what I wanted to make and that is the name of the company. Nothing deep really.

My purpose of the game company is to challenge myself and really provide games that I know I would like to play as well as games that would entertain others. I want to make addictive, entertaining, great looking games with interesting and unique twists. I want these games to be games you will actually remember ten years from now like those from my generation remember the Mario and Sonic game series.

The FIRST Title:

It’s funny, but the title that is being released…Goop (the best future game release ever IMO) was not the first I started working on. I spent months working on a game title with an interesting theme, but all the elements just didn’t seem right. So I literally stopped everything and that game is sitting somewhere deep in some folders on my Mac just waiting for completion.

The game didn’t feel right. I needed something that had all the elements I was looking for in a release. Something simple, quick to release (yea right – more on that later), entertaining, addictive, and something Apple would like to feature (come on, we were all thinking it). Fortunately, Goop to me is that title.

So what the hell is Goop, get to the damn point!?

OK OK…Well like I said, Goop is the best damn game ever It’s my baby (and the game designer’s as well, I love her) and YOU WILL LIKE IT (in my most threatening tone LOL)!

(This is a bad screenshot, there is nothing going on and doesn't show the game action...but the game is not complete and I wanted to show you guys something. Sue me for being "the proud papa".)

Goop is a simple game really. It features four characters called Eeeps, that you must help save from the awful, disastrous goopy mess that drips in each stage. Your goal is to save as many Eeeps from the goop as possible, beating your own score each time you play the game.

It sounds a bit too easy until you realize that each Eeep has it's own personality, with each adding unique challenges to the game. You will also realize as you progress that slowly, for some reason more and more Eeeps are appearing on the screen making it a bit more difficult to control just how many Eeeps you can really save from this horrible goop (those poor little Eeeps).

Now, I've got your attention (at least I hope I do)! Do you see the addictive part? You lose when any character gets gooped, but the game goes on, getting harder and harder as you save more Eeeps in each stage.

So how soon after the game hits #1 in the AppStore will you be getting that Porshe 911 Targa 4S you want Patrick?

(Please refrain from drooling on your computers. You've been warned!)

Oh goodness! I guess as soon as I finish thanking all the little people I had to step on to get here. Well, ok...not my sentiments exactly, but surely that resembles something an idiot that whipped up something 'semi-successful' would say.

Honestly...all jokes aside, I've mentally prepared for the best (Angry Birds success X 2) and for the worst (Mom...you were the best download I've had all month!) and I still don't think my 'preparation' will be close to what will really happen. The good news is my motives aren't entirely (as cheesy as this is going to sound) financial, although I will very happily accept that fate...if I must. SIGH ;)

I am IN LOVE with this game. I enjoyed creating it on the nights I finally got a basic red box to move across the screen and even more when I just couldn't figure out why my sound wouldn't return when Game Center opened. Heck, even as I'm tying up these loose ends preparing for beta testing (biting fingernails) I find myself sometimes wasting literally 10 minutes each time I add something, mostly the final graphics, just sitting in astonishment staring at Goop on my iPhone screen. I just can't believe that I actually created this. It's unbelievable. I mean the damn Eeeps move and make sounds and tumble...OH MY! This must be the exact feeling Ms. Mother Nature herself gets when gazing upon the huge Arctic glaciers and vast oceans.

I love the menu, the help screen, and everything in between. It's just soooo exciting and I could go on...but I will end this now.

It's amazing how much this journey has taught me so far. I will sum them up in a few bullets below, because hey everyone loves bullets:

1. Enough with the timelines.

Goop is 5 months late. It's had more 'release dates' that I can count and Ashli insists on another and I will happily keep giving them to her. I like making neat release dates! At the end of the day, I think I've found a pretty decent balance between perfection and Goop becoming vaporware and we are finally at the finishing gates. Well worth being almost half a year late, LOL! I told Ashli repeatedly it will be done when it's done and she repeatedly replied 'You're killing the marketing team' (she is the only one in the "marketing team"...I've partnered with a nut).

2. Assemble the right team.

The game designer is experienced, talented, picky, opinionated, quick, and did I say talented!? Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou (look her up) was a treat to have on the team and was a major contributor to getting Goop out of my head and off the whiteboard onto this wonderful device. Ashli has some great marketing ideas that could easily fail or be sheer genius. We will see when the game is out, I mean isn't that how all marketing works? And I'm just the developer.

3. If it doesn't feel right, don't release.

The first title wouldn't have excited me the way Goop has. Goop has been challenging (especially for my first game programming ever) and happens to be one of the most refined products I've put out in my life SO FAR. I really think the sheer enthusiasm and passion I had while programming this game were responsible for the polish of this game, it was something I enjoyed instead of looking at the game's completion as work I had to do to 'finish' the project.

4. Only stop at complete and utter REFINEMENT.

Ashli pushed for it, Christina, the game designer definitely pushed for it, and I of course would accept no less than utter refinement in this game. I spent two days fixing a very tiny bug that made the most unnoticeable 1/9 sec. glitch on the home screen. Most users wouldn't have noticed it and the others wouldn't have cared, but it was just something that I told myself had to be done to make this game enjoyable.

So what now Patrick? Your team's great, your game is great, we get it! Now what's the takeaway here?

I guess the takeaway is simply that I HEART GOOP! I love the Eeeps, I love the sounds they make (which I made..which is an entirely different post), I love the team...and I want to share my excitement with you. I mentioned above that I was just around the corner from beta testing.

Well, I would like to invite you to beta test!!!! (the crowd cheers)

Please, if you are interested, sign up to beta test this damn game. I really would like your feedback and the challenge to fix all the bugs you can find. Of course, as a beta tester you will get the game for free. Those that sign up should expect to receive some detailed info in the upcoming weeks.

Null Agenda