The StarPop StoryThe history, design, and ideas behind StarPop! Part 1 : How an idea comes about!Are you sitting comfortably?
This story doesn't begin so long ago, maybe back in around 2002. At that time Astraware was a small computer game development company (and by that, I mean both that Astraware was a small company, and also that we developed games for small computers!) Let me introduce myself... I'm Howard Tomlinson, and I run Astraware. My background is a bit varied, having been at various times a florist, a scientist, a physics teacher, a musician, a computing lecturer, a writer, a game programmer... but without doubt most importantly of all, a father of two small children. We like games, games are fun!Astraware is in the business of making games. This is a really fun business in some ways, because when you're successful, you're not just making a living, you're making a difference to people's lives. You're helping them to have fun, whether that be in helping them to relax and unwind, stimulate minds, fill time... anyway, its all under the umbrella of fun (and that's definitely one of those rainbow-coloured umbrellas, by the way! By 2002 we'd made lots of games, some of which were our own original ideas, some were licenses of really fun web games (now often called "casual games"). Some of these were really, really, popular... and I've always been thinking about what is it that makes the games the most fun. It turns out that there are lots of markers to fun - features that a game may have in common with some others that is an element that is fun. Some games have lots of these, some games not so many. Not all games share the same markers - and every game player in the world has a different mix of what they think is most important. This essence, however, is probably this - Fun is something that makes some part of your soul happy. For some people, fun is about organising. Jigsaws and tile matching games fit this. For some others, fun is about playing families and nurturing them, computer games like The Sims and Insaniquarium both fit this, as of course does playing families! There's the desire to explore and discover new things, the desire to solve clues, the desire to exercise and practise various skills (driving and sports games), use your language (word games)... all of these things have examples within great games. For some, fun is about exercising power over others - and probably this has been the subject of a majority of games - even though it is just one aspect, and possibly even only fun for a minority of people. We're built to have lots of drives, and lots of things that please us (and arguably help us to survive in the world). Our work, school, home lives don't always fill all of these, and so there are leftovers... elements of our soul that need to be made happy... and games help to fill these! How StarPop was born
I have a mind that won't switch off. Sometimes it drives me nuts, but more often it drives my wife nuts. Whilst on holiday, trying to relax and not think too much about work, what am I doing? I'm watching Maria - our small daughter, playing and trying to figure out what is fun to her. I'm watching my wife play Bejeweled on her Palm. I'm watching Maria watch my wife and try to get involved in her game, and I'm seeing her enjoyment at all of the nice effects. And I'm thinking... What kind of a game would Maria like? There are lots of fragments of ideas bubbling around there - something that could keep a small child occupied and happy. Something that could appeal to anyone. Something irresistible... Irresistible... Well, for my wife there's definitely two things that are irresistible - that's the urge to pop bubblewrap (Squeeze... Pop! Squeeeeze... Pop! Until there's none left), and the urge to peel. Whether it be labels from bottles, dried children's glue from her fingers, or the peeling skin from poor sunburnt husbands... (ouch!) she can't resist. It's a compulsion. The temptation to make a skin-peeling game is quite strong, but we didn't go down that route ;) Instead, the simplest idea for a game that could please this kind of compulsion... is that to pop. Tap on the screen (or click with a mouse) and pop away from an endless supply of little poppable things. And when you pop on them, you get a nice visual and audio effect. Could it be made simple enough to be enjoyed by a 3 year old? Compulsive enough to satisfy an adult's bubblewrap needs? Fun enough for people who don't really like games? Part 2 : Designing the game! --> |