Puzzle Lab about the history of the development of the first ASCII platformer - Proto Raider

Recently, the Krasnoyarsk studio Puzzle Lab released a unique platformer Proto Raider, the graphics of which are completely based on the use of symbols. Yesterday, the game received a feature from Apple in the “Best New Games” category in more than 110 countries, including the UK, Sweden and Russia. We talked to the founder of the companyAndrey Fomin about the project.

Hi! Before we move on to Proto Raider, please tell us a little about yourself and your company.

Andrey Fomin

Hi! My name is Andrey Fomin, I work as a director of Puzzle Lab, which I founded in 2000. In 2002, we released our first commercial game Puzzle Inlay. Since then, we have developed and launched more than 30 games.

The genres of our games were constantly changing depending on what we were interested in ourselves.

First there were puzzles (Puzzle Inlay, Magic Inaly, Fiber Twig, Charm Tale, etc.). Then it became interesting to try yourself in time management (Posh Shop, Posh Boutique, Leeloo’s Talent Agency). Then we switched to projects in the genre of “I’m looking for”. The latter were interested in the fact that it was possible to tell the players their story. The games of the Phenomenon series are our development. Now their collector’s editions can be purchased on the Big Fish Games portal.

Recently, you wrote the following on Facebook: “Six months ago I had a game studio – we did hidden objects. Now it’s indie.” What happened?

Yes, I have curtailed the production of hiddens. The development began to resemble the conveyor production of content, which is necessary when creating games in this genre now. Therefore, despite the good income, this work has ceased to bring satisfaction.

The decision to refuse was not easy, because it was connected with the need to reduce staff at times, and the guys are all good. But I have been feeling like a free man for several months now. It took a lot of work, which was burdensome.

A little running into the front. Again, you wrote on Facebook that “you bet with your wife on cleaning the entire apartment that Proto Raider would not sell more than 5 copies in the first month.” As I understand it, you had to wash it?

I had to wash it!

Sometimes games are made clearly for the market, sometimes they make the game of their dreams. In the case of Proto Raider, there was neither the first nor the second. I did it as a vacation… for the soul. I have previously agreed with Oksana, my wife, that I will deal with the fact that the family budget will not replenish and will take a month of time (it turned out to be more). She said she supports me and believes that the game will blow up Apple. Ha ha! So we argued. Thank you, Oksana, for your patience and support! I made Level 48 on the night of February 13th to 14th as a gift.

Can you share any results on downloads?

What kind of sales can you expect from an independent ASCII game in the App Store without a publisher, traffic injection and marketing? That’s right, stable zero.

When I made the first episode with 18 levels, I sent the game to my brother Pasha Moskvin (Playful Age) and friend Denis Shishkin (Dekovir Entertainment). After a while, Denis replied that he had become a fan of the game, which was strange. He is usually uncompromisingly critical. Then Pasha answered with a request to urgently send more levels, which is even more strange because, as a rule, he blows my games to smithereens.

As a result, it turned out that there is a niche (among men over 30) in which the game causes a radically positive response. However, it also became clear that this game is absolutely not suitable for women. For example, one girl said that she was stuck at the 4th level and in general her heart aches from my game.

After that, I decided to show the game (PC version) to my friends on Facebook. The feedback was also surprisingly positive, which was very nice — thank you, friends!

Then it was decided to release the game to the market. I am currently negotiating with several indie portals. Launched the game on Greenlight. And just launched on the App Store. Below are the copies sold for the first five days. The game costs $1.99.

(Note: Please note that these are the numbers before the start of the Apple feature)

To be honest, I initially had a slightly biased attitude towards the game. Everything changed after first – hand acquaintance with the project . The live game looks very cool. In this regard, the question is: how did the idea come to make a game with symbols in general?

It is unlikely that someone in a sober mind and solid memory will start making a commercial project in the ASCII visual style. I’ve had this idea in my head for more than a year.

I clearly felt nostalgic responses in myself when looking at ASCII art. I also wanted to make a platformer, but so that the control was very simple, because I don’t like to deal with complicated myself. Radically simple controls, nostalgic graphics, just one screen per level, which at the same time should be quite complex and diverse) — this is how Proto Raider turned out.

What did you develop on?

There was a desire to make a game without dealing with new engines and technologies. So I just took our engine, on which we made hiddens. I haven’t really programmed myself for several years, so it was a special buzz. The engine has all the logic of the game in Lua. 35 thousand lines of Lua code were released.

How long and with what composition was the development carried out (and who wrote the magic soundtrack)?

At first I gave myself two weeks, then a month. It turned out — two. Most of the time was spent on the levels. There had to be something new in each new level. With seeming simplicity, the levels can be very difficult. For example, level 23.

It looks very simple. The catch is that you can’t just run under stalactites — you’ll break your head. To bend over, you need to take gravity (F = mg). But then, instead of jumping, there will be ducking and you will not jump through the pits.

Levels are 90% of the time. After all the levels are ready, Egor (our programmer) prepares builds for different platforms. Now we are preparing a version for Android.

The music for the game was written by Sergey Eibog. For probably 10 years he has been writing music for our games. I’m a fan of his works. For example, right now I’m listening to his album too. By the way, you can listen to the full soundtrack of the game online: http://silentowl.bandcamp.com/album/essential-chiptunes

What is the main thing in developing such a game? Testing! The team of testers was headed by Misha, my 5—year-old son. In the evening, the first thing he asked – “Dad, what level did you do today?“. Sometimes we’d stay up late fixing levels with him when everyone else was already asleep. He could not pass difficult levels himself, but he could die for a long time in various ways. There are a dozen of them in the game, and there are funny ones — when the head and hands fall off, for example.

What difficulties did I encounter during development, what points would I like to note in terms of development, including for myself (which rake should I not step on anymore)?

There were no difficulties during the development. There was enthusiasm and inspiration. I hope these positive feelings will be passed on to the players!

Today, when it comes to promoting the project in the Western media, one of the most significant resources is called TouchArcade, on which Proto Raider was named the game of the week. Can you tell me how the project got to TouchArcade?

There is a very simple move on TouchArcade — through the forum. Anyone can write to the forum. Just writing — look, what a cool game. I probably wrote there five times before — without results. And this time there were responses from other forum participants. There were people from the niche of the game on the forum. One of these people, apparently, was the editor of Touch Aracde.

The value of Touch Arcade is that, as they say, the guys from Apple are watching it, and they may come up with the idea of a feature on the App Store. We hope, we are waiting…

(Note: we received answers to the questions from Andrey just a few hours before the appearance of the feature)

Now the game is being prepared for release on Steam. When to wait? And, in general, what to expect from Puzzle Lab Games after Proto Raider?

The story of Proto Raider is not over yet. I’m thinking of adding levels, modes and platforms. And then — a lot of ideas and plans.

In conclusion, I would like to ask readers for advice. For the cancelled project, a cool artist drew us more than 100 types of weapons in good quality. These are various swords, axes, spears, hammers, halberds, maces, daggers, etc. There are even 10 different shurikens. What kind of game would you make with this graphics?

Thanks for the interview!

You can download Proto Raider here.