In early 2009, in order to decide what iPhone project I was going to work on next, I prototyped about a dozen different game ideas. I spent one or two days on each initial prototype, and if an idea was promising, I spent another couple of days implementing variations on the theme. I ended up with five contenders, each of which I felt might be worthy of a full production.
In order to decide which one of these projects (if any) to focus on, I asked myself three questions:
- Can I finish this project by myself in a reasonable amount of time?
- Do I feel passionate about it?
- Will the resulting game have a realistic chance of becoming a top-10 paid app in the App Store?
Of my five prototypes, the one that caused me to answer “yes” to all three questions was an unassuming little sliding-block puzzle that I called Blockhouse. The puzzle-style was similar to Andrea Gilbert’s Tilt Mazes, and to the board game Ricochet Robot, except that my puzzles used Tetris-like polyominoes in addition to simple square blocks.
I’ve spent the last few months implementing a full version of Blockhouse, and I just submitted the binary to Apple for publication. Here’s how I fared regarding my above three questions.
Did I finish the project by myself in a reasonable amount of time?
Yes. End-to-end, the project took about four months, which is reasonable for a solo project of this scope. I was able to do all the programming and artwork myself, and I created the sound-effects using inexpensive royalty-free sounds. I had a strong vision of how I wanted the game to look and feel, and I knew that I was capable of implementing that vision, despite the fact that I’m not a professional artist. This was a major factor in my choice to work on this project.
Primarily, the issue here was budget—I just couldn’t afford to pay for art or any other kind of outside help. Fortunately for me, I have an awesome group of friends who were willing to help me playtest for free.
Did I feel passionate about the project?
Yes. Blockhouse turned out to be a project that I’d been wanting to do for years, without quite knowing it. When I first encountered Gilbert’s tilt mazes years ago, I idly wondered how interesting they would be if they contained polyominoes rather than square blocks. However, until now, I never seriously considered investing the time it would take to explore this idea. As it turns out, the space of polyomino tilt-puzzles is rich and filled with fascinating specimens, and I loved the process of exploring that space. I built a desktop application that displayed a visual graph of any puzzle I entered into it, and using this tool I “evolved” puzzles based on various criteria. I live for this kind of design-space exploration.
My refusal to choose any project that I’m not passionate about may peg me as a spoiled prima-donna. I can live with that. What’s the point of being indie if you don’t work on something you love? But there’s also a practical reason to hold out for passion. Single-handedly creating a product—actually sitting down and doing the work, and not stopping until it’s fit for public consumption—is damned difficult. Finishing Blockhouse was a big pain in my ass. If I didn’t love the project, I probably wouldn’t have finished it.
Does the resulting game have a realistic chance of becoming a top-10 paid app in the App Store?
I think so. On the day I started programming Blockhouse, a little app called Blocked was the #1 paid app in the App Store. Four months later, on the day I submitted Blockhouse to Apple for review, a little app called Geared was the #1 paid app in the App Store. In the meantime, I watched other apps in this genre claw their way into the top-20. It looks as though there’s a strong market for this kind of app on the iPhone. The trick now is figuring out how to make my app visible to that market. I think they call this “marketing”.
So did I make a good choice? We’ll find out soon enough! I’ll post an announcement here as soon as the app becomes available. In the meantime, feel free to check out my Blockhouse product pages for screenshots and other info.