Jacob Naasz and Jainan Sankalia,  Arts & Technology (ATEC) graduate students at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), sat down with the Overture to discuss the April 27 release of their iPhone game ‘Boogie Woogie.’ 

‘Boogie Woogie’ Game Basics

Platform	iPhone
Style	1 button
Graphics	Based on Piet Mondrian’s ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie,
Concept	How high can you flick a block up 80-100 levels (each the size of an iPhone screen)before it gets knocked off?
Developer	5 Minute Games; Jacob Naasz and Jainan Sankalia, Co-founders

Cake Party

Jainan

We are having a ‘Boogie Woogie’ release party at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27, in the ATEC Kitchen Lab. There is going to be cake and drinks provided and everyone will be able to download and play the game for free.

Controlled Randomization

Jacob

We considered making the game completely random, but it took away our ability to control the experience for the gamer.

In game design terms,‘designing the experience’ means the experience of how you interact with the game.

Jainan

Bobby Frye, who wrote the game, designed blocks to slam together that ‘kill’ you if you don’t jump out of the way. That’s an ‘experience’ in the game and it’s programmed to look random.

Jacob

We didn’t want the same experience each time.

I played Mario so many times as a kid that I could draw you the first three levels – because I didn’t have the skill to progress past that.

We wanted our gamer to become familiar with the game but still have enough new experiences introduced to keep it interesting.

Discovery in Game Play

Jacob

The title of the game is referencing a Piet Mondrian painting called ‘Boogie Woogie Broadway,’ which is also what the graphics are based on.

It’s not an overt reference, but it’s something people can pick up on and feel like they know a secret.

The first time I saw someone jump into that second underground world in Mario I thought, ‘Whoa!’ You have all these pipes, most don’t go anywhere, but some are full of coins.

Jainan

Discovery adds an extra value to the game.

Designing for Mobile Platform

Jacob

It’s not terribly difficult to design ‘discovery’ into a mobile platform. Mario is not right for mobile; we have Gameboys for that.

It’s about knowing your market; who you’re designing for. What can I do with the technology available to me? A lot of people seem to skip over that just to make money.

Xbox Live on a cell phone is ridiculous. I don’t see what the benefit is.

Jainan

I have my big ass TV for that type of experience. I’m not going to play Tetris on a 42-inch screen and I’m not going to play Call of Duty on a 2-inch screen.

Jacob

Obviously there is a market for that but all people are buying is a brand name with a horrible, third-party shooter that’s not as good as the original.

Jainan

The mobile market has every other market inside it. That’s why you see ‘fart’ apps jump to the top and then disappear. It’s viral.

Jacob

People see the mobile market as a consumption-driven market where you get your 99 cents worth and then throw it away.

I also think there’s a group of people who want to get their hands on higher value games like Doodle Jump or Angry Birds – games that keep you coming back for more. We’re trying to put a system in place to do that with our games.

Jainan

People pay ten dollars for mobile games just because of the quality.

Gaming Market Crash

Jainan

There will always be a separate market for longer games.

The keynote speaker at a game developer conference we went to said there’s a divergence in the market right now between these low value games being pushed out at little or no cost and high-res games and we need to find a happy medium.

Jacob

Consoles in the 80’s had small, independent groups that could essentially produce games out of their garage in a weekend. Someone would release Pac-man and then a flood of imitators would rush games to the market.

The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) was released by Nintendo to establish a ‘quality control’ that prevented the entire market from crashing.

Jainan

Nintendo added their seal of approval to games, letting people know a game met their quality standards.

Minimum Viable Product

Jainan

We consider this game a ‘minimum viable product,’ Zynga uses this idea, which is the simplest possible game we could make and build it with the users. You develop a relationship with the community and  change your game based upon feedback.

‘Boogie Woogie’ is the minimal game that we could release and still be able to adapt it to what users want.

Competition/ Seed Money

Jacob

We founded 5 Minute Games with the money we won in the 2008-2009 CGEC (Computer Gaming Entrepreneurship Competition) for our first game, ‘Balance of Power.’

Kingdon Hughes of Hughes Ventures, who funded the competition, wanted to have a company created out of it.  After winning with our game, we created 5 Minute Games and were given the seed money that’s been funding us for almost two years now.

Download the earlier version of ‘Boogie Woogie,’ developed by Bobby Frye.

Screen shots courtesy of 5 Minute Games