Interview with Danger Cats! Developer, Joe Kaufmann
I recently had the pleasure of calling up the developer of Danger Cats! and Stunt Squirrels!, two Gamesalad-based iPhone games. Joe Kaufmann, founder of Fire Maple Games, being the nice guy that he is gave me the ins and outs of his process during development and his experience with the indie game dev kit.
The Nerdemic: First let me thank you for taking the time to do this interview with us. We really appreciate it!
Joe: Not at all!
The Nerdemic: To get things rolling, why don’t you tell us about yourself and a little bit about Fire Maple Games.
Joe: Fire Maple is my company that I started a couple of years ago just to make independent games; I’m kind of a lone wolf. I make all the artwork and do all the programming myself. Really, it’s a side project to my real job; a creative outlet for me.
The Nerdemic: Oh okay, so what do you do for your day job?
Joe: I’m a Flash programmer/web developer. I make all sorts of software with Flash. The App store is more of a wild west anyway; you don’t know if you’re going to make money or not so it’s a little tough to leave your day job [laughs].
The Nerdemic: Did you ever expect the kind of success you had with Danger Cats!?
Joe: Well, it wasn’t that successful. But really, I didn’t know what to expect. I just like making the games, so it’s a win whether it makes money or not.
The Nerdemic: Would you be willing to share your numbers with us for both Danger Cats! and Stunt Squirrels!?
Joe: Yeah, close to thirty-grand with those two games. Which is awesome, because Danger Cats! only took a week and a half to make.
The Nerdemic: That’s crazy! Congratulations on both the games. Mark Chuberka from Gendai Games (Gamesalad’s developing company) told me that within a few hours after downloading Gamesalad that you were well into development for Danger Cats!, is that correct?
Joe: Absolutely, the software is amazing. It allows you to get your ideas going so fast, it’s really awesome. Danger Cats! from idea to submission to the App store only took a week and a half. It actually took longer to get Apple to approve the game than it took to make it (12 days). That waiting process was brutal; you’re sitting there hoping you did everything correctly!
The Nerdemic: So what was that short creative process like for making Danger Cats!?
Joe: Well, Gamesalad has a very cool physics engine built in. So I wanted to make a little physics-based game to utilize that technology. What helped with the speed of development was that I worked on everything myself. There aren’t really any arguments with anyone else on specifics of art or design [laughs], so I would sort of just agree with myself and continue working. If I had trouble with the tweaking I would switch over to the artwork and vice versa.
Usually when you develop games there are two or three people, like a programmer, an artist, and either a music designer or a game designer or something like that. When you have to go between all those things it slows down the development process. You certainly butt heads sometimes. I’ve worked with programmers before and it can definitely get frustrating. So working alone really allowed me side-step all that and focus on just making the game.
The Nerdemic: The sounds of the cats are really, really funny. Were the sound clips of real cats?
Joe: Yeah, but they were purchased from a royalty-free sound effects site. We have a real cat though, and when I was making the game the sounds really got some attention!
The Nerdemic: You didn’t test the physics for the game with your own cat above the bathtub or something right?
Joe: [Laughs] No, no of course not.
The Nerdemic: You say you’ve worked with programmers before, was that when making some of your word-puzzle games like The Great International Word Search! or Mahjong Forests?
Joe: No I made all those in Flash. Those took about a month each, still not a terribly long development time overall.
The Nerdemic: Have you had much success with those games?
Joe: Actually, yes! Especially the Mahjong game, it’s done better than my actual salary. So making games does pay off sometimes!
The Nerdemic: How long was the time between Danger Cats! and Stunt Squirrels! release?
Joe: Let’s see… Well Danger Cats! was released in December and Stunt Squirrels! came out in January; so not very long. Gamesalad actually had a game design contest and you could win the Pro version of the Gamesalad software. I entered in the contest and won, so that was very nice.
The Nerdemic: That’s great! So how did you come across Gamesalad in the first place?
Joe: It was a Google search. I came across the website and was fascinated. I’m not an X-Code programmer, so I didn’t know how to make anything for the App store. So when I saw that I had to try it; it was really exciting. It definitely lowers the barrier of entry, or eliminates it [laughs]. It allows artists to tackle the programming aspect with no prior knowledge of programming itself.
The Nerdemic: So between Flash and Gamesalad, which do you prefer developing on?
Joe: Well, I am loving the App store right now. I’m actually developing a new game called The Secret of Grizzly Manner that is sort of like an old-school adventure game like Myst. It’s a lot of fun to make. I like that the audience for the App store is a little younger; as the audience for my work games, like Mahjong Forests, seems to be older women. It’s nice to see people playing the games and laughing and enjoying themselves.
The Nerdemic: So about this new game, what can you tell us about it?
Joe: It’s just about done! I’m about to submit it to the App store any day now; just working out the last little bugs. It’s an old-style adventure game where you hunt around a haunted house and try to solve puzzles with items from your inventory. It’s all made in Gameslad, it’s actually up on their website and your welcome to play it.
The Nerdemic: It seems like you have a close connection with the Gamesalad team.
Joe: Yeah, I guess I am one of their early success stories. They are all great people.
The Nerdemic: When did you decide you wanted to make games and how did you start out?
Joe: I’ve always grown up with video games, and I’ve always dreamed of making games but never had the technical skills until these programs like Flash and Gamesalad came around. So it was great when I realized what these programs were capable of and just decided to go for it. It’s so much fun creating software and watching people play it. The whole creative process is just fantastic.
The Nerdemic: Well, Joe we really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us! We wish you luck with your upcoming game and can’t wait to see what you do in the future.
Joe: Thank you, I really appreciate it!
Nice interview ! Joe is a very skilled artist &a wonderful person! He was a student of my husband & always had something special ! He now has a new game he created. With pat,another student of my husband ,Robert nelson,.also someone with great talent! You really should DO ANOTHER ARTICAL on there new game “lost city” amazing ! As well as grisly manor ! This story will just get bigger ,because they are very special guys ! ,thanks ,l.e.nelson
Just finished The Lost City! Loved it! Couldn’t wait for it to ome out…was thrilled that it came out early. Keep up the good work Joe and Fire Maple Games!
I am playing grisley manor and I’m stuck. Is there a hint site or way to find help?
Kathy,
I hopped over to my favorite hints and forums website for games, http://www.gamefaqs.com, and came across a walkthrough for Grisley Manor. You should be able to find out where you’re stuck and what you need to do in order to continue onward.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/iphone/610588-the-secret-of-grisly-manor/faqs/61203
Cheers!