01/9

Breaking the Seal with Puzzlejuice ¶

Wow, it has been over sixteen months since I released my last game, Solipskier. Before that, Mike and I were releasing games every few months. It was a pace that I really took for granted. Since Solipskier I’ve taken on between five and six separate projects and none of them have seen more than a few breaths in teasers or cryptic mentions on twitter. So today, I can finally announce Puzzlejuice.

For the last couple of months I’ve been working with Asher Vollmer on a really rad game called Puzzlejuice. It mixes Tetris, boggle and match-three styles into a concoction of pure fun. It’s coming out on iPad, iPhone and iPod as a universal app on the 26th the 19th. Asher just submitted to the app store last night, then proceeded to sleep for 37.2 hours. I’m so pumped to see what people think, I think the game is just crazy fun. I mean, seriously, it’s not because I worked on it. I play this game everyday and discover new strategies all the time, especially in single-screen co-op on the iPad. Damn that’s a fun way to play.

From where I’m standing, the idea behind Puzzlejuice is to give you three things to think about, which ends up being one too many. In order to make room for more blocks you need to spell words in eight directions and you get new letters with each full line you complete. You can also use contiguous patches of three or more blocks to burst them into letter blocks. And then there’s the ever-decreasing multiplier, if it runs out, kiss your high score hopes goodbye. This is the headspace you get into after playing a dozen or so games and you realize that, like in Solipskier, keeping your multiplier in tact should be your sole goal if you are going to medal.

And that’s not including the tornado, bomb, letter-nuke, freeze, drill or slammer powerups. The strategies can get really interesting at higher levels, so most of my commentary involves that stuff, which is sort of like speaking an unrecognizable language to new players. Regardless, in the beginning, there is no greater satisfaction than setting a five letter word a-jiggling, releasing your finger, and setting off a clear-the-entire-board explosion all thanks to your expert spelling and vocabulary.

But more about me me me

It’s been interesting balancing a lesser role on a greater number of projects. With Puzzlejuice I was strictly the guardian of Looks. I came into the project after the whole design had been proven super fun, so that experience was more about enhancing what was there as opposed to being part of the groundwork. I can’t say it’s how I always want to work, but in a way this time around, it was refreshing to divorce from that part of a game’s development. In fact, a number of games I’ve been working on in 2011 have been that way.

If all doesn’t go horribly wrong, I should release five full games in 2012, and hopefully in the first half of the year. I can’t wait to show you them all, this is just the beginning. Within the next couple of weeks up to release we should have a trailer showing off the game and a few other things up our sleeve. If you’re interested in getting a preview build and you’re the kind of person that can help us if you play a preview build (devs, press, influential members of congress) then please drop me a line! I want you to want it. It’s seriously that fun.