Alphaqueue

Queue in space!


What do you think makes Independent games distinctive?
Ideally, independently developed games take more risks, doing things that wouldn't fly if they had to be vetted by dozens of people at a big publisher. Typically fewer people are involved with an independent game project, so the end product tends to have more personality then a bigger production.

How did your studio get your start in working with independent games?
We formed our company in order to develop games, knowing full well that in order to do so independently, we would also need to produce games for clients (i.e. work-for-hire). So a good portion of our time is spent developing web-based promotional and marketing games for clients like LEGO, Mattel, Discovery Kids, and the New York Philharmonic.

What is the most innovative feature of AlphaQUEUE and how is it innovative in your mind?
It's hard for me to describe any single feature as 'innovative'; AlphaQUEUE consists of a bunch of simple, perhaps even obvious, ideas. Any innovation the game has grows out of the way in which those ideas are combined. In fact, that was sort of the point for us...come up with a pretty limited vocabulary of game objects and then fully explore the ways those objects could be combined to create interesting situations for the player.

What do gamers appreciate most about AlphaQUEUE?
That's a tough one. Unfortunately the emails I get from satisfied players don't go into too much detail! I'd like to think that they appreciate the game's subtle sense of humor and the challenge of the puzzles. It's really a puzzle-solver's game and is all about planning your moves in advance. However, the game is also pretty forgiving of mistakes, so hopefully players appreciate that.

What was the most difficult part of AlphaQUEUE to program?
I'd have to turn that one over to my partner Josh Welber, who did all of the programming. Josh?

Josh says, "If I had to mention a single feature, it would be programming the new, kinetic pieces which followed paths (i.e. the Sweeper and the Chomper). This created new types of game situations and required new features for the level designer part of the app. In general, though, AlphaQUEUE did not have too many difficult features to program. The real programming challenge was, as always, building a flexible system so that we could experiment with the game play as much as we needed to."

Other than your own game did any one of the IGF finalists or Student Showcase games stand out to you? Why?
Well unfortunately I was only able to play 2 of the student showcase games (Kube Kombat and Scrapped...both nice games), but the others sounded interesting from their descriptions! I was particularly hoping to play Growbot and Hexvex, since they were the only finalists in the student category that didn't have a combat theme. (Not that I have anything against combat games; it just seems like the go-to thematic context for most games and its nice to play some of the alternatives.)

In the web/downloadable category, YoHoHo Puzzle Pirates from Three Rings Design is awesome. The guys from Shizmoo also turned in another stellar entry with Billiard Boxing.

What is your definition of an Independent Game?
Any game whose development is paid for by the people developing it, and not a publisher. Unfortunately, this definition encompasses a very wide range of game projects and budgets. On the low end you have one-man shops creating games in their spare time and on the high end you have well-funded studios with multi-million dollar budgets. It seems a bit unfair to compare the two scenarios, considering the vastly different products they can yield, but ultimately its a good thing that both exist.

How do you think Independent Games will evolve in the future?
Well I think that the growth of the downloadable games market over the past 3 years has enabled a lot more indie developers to actually make a living making games. Hopefully this trend will continue, and the market will not only grow, but also evolve to accept and encourage more novel types of game play.

What is the biggest challenge facing Independent games?
Finding players who will support your development efforts by paying for your games.

As one of the leaders of Independent Games, what is next for you?
We are nearing completion of our first 3d game, entitled Freebowl. It uses the GarageGames Torque engine and we're pretty excited about it. Visit us at the IGF booth at GDC for a demo!