Puzzle Poker Ships!
05/10/2006 (10:41 pm) by Jeff Tunnell
I'm pretty excited right now! We just pushed all of the buttons, and turned all of the switches to upload the world premier of Puzzle Poker from Kevin Ryan of Indie developer Top Meadow.
Kevin and I have been making games together since we were partners at Dynamix. While there, we worked on many games, the most famous of which is probably, The Incredible Machine. It is a little known fact, but Kevin was actually a huge contributor to Marble Blast as well. Kevin is an awesome programmer and designer all rolled into one. I love working with him. We have such a huge history of games that we can almost tell what the other person is thinking. It is fun to make games under those conditions.
After Marble Blast, Kevin started working on a mini golf game, which was farily large in scope. During that time, Kevin's son Aidan has had some medical problems (documented in Kev's blogs, but Aidan is doing much better now), so the schedule started getting depressingly long. One day last November, I suggested to Kevin that he could probably complete a Torque Game Builder game faster than he could get from Beta to Final on Minigolf.
I granted him a TGB license, and didn't think anything more of it, until about two weeks later two fully realized game prototypes were sent via email... And they both kicked ass!!
One was Puzzle Poker, and the other will be announced later. We quickly went into production mode here with Alex Swanson creating all of the art, and everybody playing the game. (looking for bugs, of course)
Some things to note about PP:
* It is written in TGB.
* OS-X version coming in the next couple of days.
* The download is 3.3M. Amazingly small. It will get a LOT of downloads on the portals.
* We are definitely shooting for the casual market. Your Mom and my sister can play this game.
* There are huge opportunities to bring this product into many different market segments, such as betting sites,etc.
* This version is a "soft launch" only here on GarageGames. All portals are now doing soft launches on major titles to make sure they didn't screw something up before going to wide distribution.
* Look for this game on all of the major portals.
Special Note: There is a nice Web back end on Puzzle Poker that supports high score uploading as well as "clubs", which are special areas that you can compete just against your friends. The website is conncected to the game, but is also accessible at www.puzzlepokerlive.com. Please note that the website will continue to evolve with added features and better art.
I think it is important to note that you can make games that can make money if that is what you want to do. The tools are there. TGB makes it very easy to get your idea from concept to completion (in addition to Puzzle Poker, we will be making another big TGB game announcement soon). Just put your head down and start coding. Don't worry about things that are not there. Just make a fun game, and things will start to happen for you and your team.
Congratulations to Kevin and the team. I know this game is going to do really well in the casual market.
-Jeff Tunnell, Game Maker
Kevin and I have been making games together since we were partners at Dynamix. While there, we worked on many games, the most famous of which is probably, The Incredible Machine. It is a little known fact, but Kevin was actually a huge contributor to Marble Blast as well. Kevin is an awesome programmer and designer all rolled into one. I love working with him. We have such a huge history of games that we can almost tell what the other person is thinking. It is fun to make games under those conditions.
After Marble Blast, Kevin started working on a mini golf game, which was farily large in scope. During that time, Kevin's son Aidan has had some medical problems (documented in Kev's blogs, but Aidan is doing much better now), so the schedule started getting depressingly long. One day last November, I suggested to Kevin that he could probably complete a Torque Game Builder game faster than he could get from Beta to Final on Minigolf.
I granted him a TGB license, and didn't think anything more of it, until about two weeks later two fully realized game prototypes were sent via email... And they both kicked ass!!
One was Puzzle Poker, and the other will be announced later. We quickly went into production mode here with Alex Swanson creating all of the art, and everybody playing the game. (looking for bugs, of course)
Some things to note about PP:
* It is written in TGB.
* OS-X version coming in the next couple of days.
* The download is 3.3M. Amazingly small. It will get a LOT of downloads on the portals.
* We are definitely shooting for the casual market. Your Mom and my sister can play this game.
* There are huge opportunities to bring this product into many different market segments, such as betting sites,etc.
* This version is a "soft launch" only here on GarageGames. All portals are now doing soft launches on major titles to make sure they didn't screw something up before going to wide distribution.
* Look for this game on all of the major portals.
Special Note: There is a nice Web back end on Puzzle Poker that supports high score uploading as well as "clubs", which are special areas that you can compete just against your friends. The website is conncected to the game, but is also accessible at www.puzzlepokerlive.com. Please note that the website will continue to evolve with added features and better art.
I think it is important to note that you can make games that can make money if that is what you want to do. The tools are there. TGB makes it very easy to get your idea from concept to completion (in addition to Puzzle Poker, we will be making another big TGB game announcement soon). Just put your head down and start coding. Don't worry about things that are not there. Just make a fun game, and things will start to happen for you and your team.
Congratulations to Kevin and the team. I know this game is going to do really well in the casual market.
-Jeff Tunnell, Game Maker
About the author
Check out [url=http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/user/Jeff%20Tunnell]Tunnell's Great Games Experiment profile.[/url] Currently at [url=http://pushbuttonlabs.com]PushButton Labs[/url] where are are creating an Open Source Flash game engine, [url=http://pushbuttonengine]PushButton Engine[/url], and Flash games such as [url=http://playgrunts.com]Grunts: Skirmish[/url]. Co-Founder of GarageGames, which is probably 'nuff said on this site. Co-Founder of Dynamix, a game development division of Sierra On-Line and Vivendi-Universal Interactive. I have either designed, produced, or directed more than 70 titles including Rise of the Dragon, The Incredible Machine, Starsiege, and TRIBES (Online Game of the Year, AIAS). He has pioneered new game genres such as Outdoor Sports with Trophy Bass and Family Entertainment with the 3-D Ultra line of products that includes such mass-market titles as Pinball, Maximum Minigolf, and Cool Pool. [gge_user=jeff tunnell] view profile »
#2
And glad to hear Aidan is doing better
Cheers !!
05/10/2006 (11:06 pm)
Congrats to Kevin, you and Alex !!And glad to hear Aidan is doing better
Cheers !!
#3
05/10/2006 (11:39 pm)
So does this mean we can expect to see some more small 2D casual games published by GG? 
#4
05/11/2006 (2:04 am)
. 
#5
05/11/2006 (3:41 am)
Nice! I can't wait for the Mac version. Purchased. I'll download it for my Tablet PC now and play on my Mini and G5 later!
#6
I loved that game.
Keep it up!
05/11/2006 (3:49 am)
I didn't know you guys made The Incredible Machine!I loved that game.
Keep it up!
#7
There should be in the tutorial a list of valid poker hands, so instead of having to do research, people not familliar with poker(such as myself) can learn fast. Seeing as you described it as being in a "Soft launch" I assume it is still somewhat in development, and maybe a feature like this can be added before complete("hard") launch? Perhaps a "How to play" or "List of poker hands" Button on main menu?
Also I want to say Great game, looks like a lot of fun once I figure out all the poker hands I can make. From the tutorial looks like a great idea. Great work as always GG :)
05/11/2006 (5:03 am)
I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but I have a suggestion.There should be in the tutorial a list of valid poker hands, so instead of having to do research, people not familliar with poker(such as myself) can learn fast. Seeing as you described it as being in a "Soft launch" I assume it is still somewhat in development, and maybe a feature like this can be added before complete("hard") launch? Perhaps a "How to play" or "List of poker hands" Button on main menu?
Also I want to say Great game, looks like a lot of fun once I figure out all the poker hands I can make. From the tutorial looks like a great idea. Great work as always GG :)
#8
So, to 'soft launch' means to release the title only from a specific/single point and not tell the portals?
john
05/11/2006 (5:51 pm)
Cool. So, to 'soft launch' means to release the title only from a specific/single point and not tell the portals?
john
#9
@Jeff, TopMeadow and team- congrats! I love seeing what TGB can do in the hands of skilled artists and coders. TGB is such a sweet platform to be working on.
BTW the elevator muzak or smooth jazz or whatever music in the game is pretty boring. Next time I play it I may turn off the music volume :-)
05/15/2006 (11:47 pm)
@Alex Huck- I have a hard time remembering poker hands too, but I found that puzzle poker, between the tutorial and the real-time scorekeeping that it does, makes it very easy to learn & quiz interactively until you know all the poker hands! @Jeff, TopMeadow and team- congrats! I love seeing what TGB can do in the hands of skilled artists and coders. TGB is such a sweet platform to be working on.
BTW the elevator muzak or smooth jazz or whatever music in the game is pretty boring. Next time I play it I may turn off the music volume :-)
Torque Owner Mark Barner