#angle isle

This was my first full year making indie games. I loved it!

I started 2012 with a clean slate. No projects in progress or in mind. The first few months were spent looking for interesting ideas to chase and building prototypes.

In March I attended my first GDC. Many talented, amazing people shared their insights and work. Also: crazy multiplayer parties, friendly indies, and fun times all around.

Chasing Four Players

At GDC I told Todd and Lou from Joypad that someone should make a multiplayer game using their iPhone app. Post GDC, I started prototyping four player iPad games. Trying to capture the feeling of late night Bomberman Battle Mode, I created Astro Duel: a tabletop asteroids arena game for four.

While working on Astro Duel, I became frustrated with the complexities of wireless controller setup and lag. While complaining to my friends about this, I came up with Bloop, a much simpler four player game. Bloop was finished six days later.

Blooping Fun

Tickets for WWDC sold out before I woke up, so in June I drove to SF during the conference to hang out and show off Bloop and Astro Duel. Much cheaper.

And I discovered people liked Bloop! It was a finalist at IndieCade 2012, official selection at Games for Change ANZ, official selection at IndieCade East, and one of Touch Arcade's Best Group Games of 2012.

But the coolest part from all this was attending IndieCade. This festival was out-of-control-fun. I met dozens of fellow indies and played Bloop with hundreds of people. And the night games were incredible. What a great event. Recommended!

Game Jams

Twice this year I was able to participate in Ludum Dare. For the April Combo I made the flapformer Angle Isle. Then in August I teamed up with Shaun Inman and Matt Grimm to make the evolutionary metroidvania Super Clew Land. It went well. We took second place in the Jam, expanded Super Clew Land into a full game, and launched a kickstarter to make six more games. Woohoo!

And then I read Twitter

A December retweet led to a Skype call which lead to me moving to Austin(!). Retro Game Crunch was about to start, so there was no time to waste: I packed up, said goodbye to Sacramento friends, and arrived in Austin two days before the new year.