Archive for That Game Studio

Summer break

31 July, 2011 Marklund Games, Solve It, Spartans in Candyland, That Game Studio, Twang! No comments

I’ve had kind of a summer break these past couple of months, trying to figure out what to do with the game development and all. In general, the game production time will slow down, due to my new job as a game programming teacher on a secondary upper school. Job will begin shortly and I still have to move. I’ve also left Gothia Science Park, my business incubator. From now on Marklund Games will be more of a hobby rather than a way to earn the gold.

An update on Solve It
I’ve made a level editor, currently only available to selected few. The plan is to make the second pack of Solve It to XBLIG, and with the SunBurn engine implemented, the game will hopefully run smoother and will be using some of the neat features that SunBurn offers, such as shadows and other fancy stuff. New cubes will be implemented shortly.

An update on Spartans in Candyland
The game, developed during 10 weeks together with talented students has come to an end, but the game is still not released. This due to some trouble with our development pipeline (mostly because of their summer break, but also half of our programmers going AWOL =P). We are currently close to release, and since the 10 weeks we’ve only made minor adjustments and bug fixing. Game will hopefully be in AppHub for review shortly.

I also added the rest of the weekly videos we made on the Spartans in Candyland-page.

An update on Twang!
We (the That Game Studio team) are finally owners of the IP (after almost one year of waiting). The Twang!-page is also updated with a download link for anyone interested in trying our prototype.

A great start

18 March, 2011 Solve It, That Game Studio, Twang! 2 comments

This Wednesday must have been the best day of my life.


Solve It – Pack 1 got released

When I woke up very early in the morning, the first thing I did was to check AppHub for the review status. A few seconds later I started the Xbox and bought a version of my first released game. What a feeling! The game is available on XBLIG and can be bought here. Next up is Solve It – Pack 2, with some new features and of course some new exciting cubes to experience. I will also look into Windows Phone 7, making a sweet port of Solve It. I think it would be a great game for the mobile phone as well.

Winning a BAFTA award

Getting to the award ceremony was the reason I got up early in the first place. We got to London and into the BAFTA award, dressed up and all fancy. Together with four of my friends, we formed That Game Studio (a team name chosen as a tribute to That Game Company), one of the winning teams of Dare to be Digital 2010. Together with the teams Angry Mango and Team Tickle we were nominated for the BAFTA Ones to watch 2011 award. Just getting there, and getting interviewed and photographed and being able to breath the same air as “real” game developers was amazing. Just amazing. Add some good food, free drinks and some lovely company at our table (Wacom, Blitz, Sony and Dare to be Digital).

Also add that we won the BAFTA Ones to watch 2011 award. The most awesome thing that has ever happened.

To me, personally, this is a great milestone. Just finishing my education in games design me and my team competed in Dare to be Digital and were one of the winning teams. Now I’ve won a BAFTA award. Amazing. As I see it, this proves that I (and the team) have what it takes to some day become one of those “real” game developers.

What happens now?

Right now we need to get Twang! out there (and celebrate). We will be looking for ways to publish the game, preferrably with the help of a publisher. After that – who knows?