Finalist Interview: Joe Kauffman, creator of Stunt Squirrels

February 11 2010, 1:57am

Stunt Squirrels, one of five Finalist games in the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge. Stunt Squirrels was selected by our panel of judges as one of five Finalist games in the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge. In the third in a series of interviews with the Finalists and Featured International Exhibitors, the game’s creator Joe Kauffman (firemaplegames) talks about his development process. Haven’t played Stunt Squirrels yet? Try it now! What’s your background, Joe? I was born in San Antonio, TX and raised in Philadelphia, PA. I went to college at Millersville University in Lancaster County, PA (Amish country!). In college I studied Fine Art, specifically figure drawing and printmaking. I went to grad school at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, GA, where I majored in Illustration. I’ve always loved both computers and video games, and have pretty much every console system that came out. I even have a bunch of full-size arcade games and pinball machines! After grad school, I moved out to Berkeley, CA with some friends and got a job as an animator at Berkeley Systems. I worked on their screensaver software, After Dark. Does anybody still remember the flying toasters? For the past 10 years, I’ve been an artist/Flash programmer for a great company just outside of Philadelphia called Sealworks, Inc. We make software and websites for various types of clients. I currently live in New York City with my fiancée, and make video games on the side. I make casual games for Mac/PC (and now iPhone!). How did you come up with the explosion/propulsion mechanic for Stunt Squirrels? I was working on a few ideas for a sequel to my first GameSalad game, Danger Cats!. One of the ideas was to have exploding boxes that the player would have to deal with. When I was working on the explosion logic, I thought that it would make a fun little game just by itself. What was your development process like? How long did it take from start to finish? Stunt Squirrels! took a little over two weeks from concept to submission to the App Store. I have GameSalad to thank for such a rapid development cycle! I do all the art and programming myself, and I purchase royalty-free music for the background music and sound effects. All of the “yahoos!” in the game are just my own voice sped up. When I begin, I focus on making just one level. For test art, I just use the default boxes that GameSalad provides. I do not make any artwork at this point. Once that first level is feature complete, then I will start in on the art for the game. I have created a menu system that I use for all my games. I simply have to swap out the artwork. Once I have the artwork for the menu and the first level, pretty much 90% of the game is complete. I just have to lay out the rest of the levels. It very quickly lets me see the light at the end of the tunnel! Launch your squirrel by blowing up bombs under him. One thing that really stands out about your games is their high level of polish. How much of their success do you think is due to that attention to detail? I hope it helps! I don’t like releasing unfinished products, and all of the games that I have ever purchased are extremely polished. I always appreciate the attention to detail and the care that goes into making games. What was the most fun part about making Stunt Squirrels? What was the most challenging part? Seeing your creations come to life is always the best part for me. The challenging stuff generally flip-flops betwen the coding and the artwork. What’s nice about GameSalad is that if you get burnt out on one, you can just switch to the other! What projects are you working on now? I have some little prototypes that I’m working on, but I never know if they’ll pan out of not. Besides the GameSalad stuff, I am also working on two rather large casual games. These will be done in Flash and will take me a few months to complete. (Longer if I keep getting sidetracked with GameSalad!) How long have you been using GameSalad? What advantages does it give you over other tools? I have been using GameSalad for a little over two months now. Like Flash, GameSalad takes care of the low-level stuff and allows people to simply focus on the gameplay. The ability to work with the art at the same time as the game logic is just fantastic. Being able to instantly and wirelessly test the game on the device is amazing. As one of the more experienced GameSalad developers, can you offer any advice to new game creators? Keep learning and practicing! There is such a tremendous wealth of information on the internet, I wish I had access to that when I was younger! Creating games is such a great thing – such a rich, deep subject that you can never master. Unlike the majority of jobs, you can keep getting better, keep learning. It’s such an awesome field to be in! Anyone you’d like to thank? First of all, everyone at GameSalad and all the people on the forums – such a nice, vibrant community! And especially my fiancée for all her support, even though at times she feels like a GameSalad widow! Thanks, Joe! Play Stunt Squirrels online. Like Stunt Squirrels? Vote for this game to win the Macworld 2010 GameSalad Challenge by tweeting #gamesalad #stunt along with why you think it’s awesome! Stunt Squirrels is also available on the iPhone App Store in both paid and lite versions.