Lab Escape is finally out on Google Play and you can get it here. So now I'm going to take you behind the scenes, to the actual making of this puzzle game.
Matte has been working hard on Lab Escape and I've given up hope on ever getting back my dining room table.
But it hasn't all been about Red Bull drinking and drawing on post-its. For those who don't know about app development, one of the most important things to get is user testers. And not just one tester, you need loads. The Beta Testers in the Beta Tester Group have been awesome with giving step-by-step game-play data and feedback about bugs and features. But Matte is greedy and has wanted more. This means that in every social gathering I've been to with him for the past two months, sooner or later he will have handed over his phone to someone.
People react differently at this point. Some will greedily take the phone and start playing. Others will look sceptically and take it out of politeness not sure what they should expect. Now comes the interesting part. Whether polite or excited, each person gets a more and more focused as they start trying to solve each level of the game. The little sound of a completed level makes them lift the corner of their mouths and after they've played as long as they want, they hand back the phone with a smile.
These moments are what spurs Matte onwards. Being able to see that what he's created intrigues people makes him add that extra effort. It's why he carefully watches each person's play and listen to their thoughts and feedback. He's got a notebook filled with scribbles like "switch places between a and b" and "make sure to teach the player ...". He spends his time watching tutorials. He doesn't want to just make a game. He wants to learn how to make a good game!
Matte has been working hard on Lab Escape and I've given up hope on ever getting back my dining room table.
But it hasn't all been about Red Bull drinking and drawing on post-its. For those who don't know about app development, one of the most important things to get is user testers. And not just one tester, you need loads. The Beta Testers in the Beta Tester Group have been awesome with giving step-by-step game-play data and feedback about bugs and features. But Matte is greedy and has wanted more. This means that in every social gathering I've been to with him for the past two months, sooner or later he will have handed over his phone to someone.
People react differently at this point. Some will greedily take the phone and start playing. Others will look sceptically and take it out of politeness not sure what they should expect. Now comes the interesting part. Whether polite or excited, each person gets a more and more focused as they start trying to solve each level of the game. The little sound of a completed level makes them lift the corner of their mouths and after they've played as long as they want, they hand back the phone with a smile.
These moments are what spurs Matte onwards. Being able to see that what he's created intrigues people makes him add that extra effort. It's why he carefully watches each person's play and listen to their thoughts and feedback. He's got a notebook filled with scribbles like "switch places between a and b" and "make sure to teach the player ...". He spends his time watching tutorials. He doesn't want to just make a game. He wants to learn how to make a good game!
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| Lab Escape is available on Google Play |
It's really great to see Matte's gaming development develop over the time I've known him and the improvement in the games and graphics are tremendous. I can't wait to try this new one. I honestly want someone to give me a free android phone just so I can download it :D
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