Your name:
Angelika and Stam (Team Versality)
Twitter Handle/ Other Social Media:
Twitter: @GamesVersality
Facebook: @VersalityGames
One interesting and random fact about you that people would not necessarily guess:
When we first met we binge-played Ricochet Robots (a really lovely boardgame which you should definitely try); one of us is a bit of a genius on it and she remains unbeatable to this day!
What country you live/work in:
United Kingdom
The video game company producing the project:
Versality (our newfound gaming studio!)
The name of the project:
Pop the Line
Estimated release date:
23/8/2019
link to website/blog/steam page/Youtube/other:
Website: www.versality.org
Pop the line play store page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Versality.PopTheLine
How did you get into making video games?
We have always been gamers, it was partly how we got together, more than 10 years ago! We always made custom rules for board games, shared cool ideas for video games and day-dreamed about one day making some.
Over the last few years, through our (very different) jobs, we both learned coding and developed custom apps for our employers.
So now that we finally had the skills we thought we would actually try to make some of the games we were always talking about!
What is your background in?
One doctor (neurologist) and one architect.
In addition to our jobs and game developing, we are both doing research into visual perception, in disease and in health. We have to be the most versatile game development team ever!
Blurb about game:
Our first project Pop the Line, is the ultimate time-killer, or so we hope! It’s a casual mobile game where you have to tap with you little popper at the right colour at the right time to Pop the Line. Switching colours fast and synchronising your taps perfectly gets you extra points.
It’s simple enough that our parents and 5 year old nephew can play it but there are many additional challenges through the game: movements, rotations, fake lines, darkness and many more!
What inspired this game?
We both “enjoy” long commutes to our day jobs and spend hours listening to audio books/podcasts and playing mobile games whilst on the train. We wanted to make a game that other people stuck in public transport like us can enjoy!
Also since we are new to game development, we wanted to start with a relatively simple project that we could learn from and grow, before moving to more ambitious games. Pop the line was the winning combination!
What makes it unique?
Hundreds of levels with many many challenges. Although the gameplay is simple, the game grows with the player and becomes more difficult to master with each level.
What will make it a success?
It’s simple gameplay. Pop the Line is easy to get into but difficult to master. Even we don’t get three stars all the time and we have played each level countless times! It’s great fun too!
Who do you think it will appeal to?
Everyone stuck on a train, tube or bus or forced to endure a boring meeting or lecture!
Number of people working on the project and skillsets:
Just the 2 of us and we have done every single thing ourselves.
How are you handling art?
Created by us in house with some icons from noun project.
What tech/stack do you use?
Unity
Also gimp, krita, inkscape, hitfilm express, ocenaudio and others depending on the specific task at hand.
Are you full-time? If so how did you make the switch to working full-time in game development?
We both have full time jobs; game development happens early in the morning, late at night and on weekends… We would like to have more time to focus on game development in the future though.
Is this your first game? If not how many and what other sorts of projects have you worked on?
The very first! But we went through many prototypes for games until we ended up with this idea.
What’s been the hardest thing about making this game?
Maintaining motivation. Finding the time and energy to develop after a difficult day at work has been a constant challenge. We try to keep each other enthusiastic though and definitely being a team (even a team of 2) and not a solo developer has been a huge help in maintaining motivation levels.
Anything else you would like people to know about you or the game?
We are always looking for feedback and a chance to improve! If you have a moment please take a look at our game or even better download it here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Versality.PopTheLine and let us know how we can improve it!
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