The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Ring Theory

Being a giant, beloved video game site has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Glen DeBiasa and Matt Laverty of 4 Score Games about their unconventional match 3 game, Ring Theory.

How did you or your company get started in development?

Glen: I've been making computer games since I learned to program. In the beginning, it was just copying code out of a book on to a TRS-80. In college, my freshman computer professor held a contest for us to create any kind of program we wanted: I made a game. (Won $500 with it too.)

Fast forward several years, and I'm working for a consulting company during the Internet boom, and they decide to make an online gaming site. I wound up creating over 40 games for that site. A couple of changes of ownership later and it became the Big Fish Games online gaming community.

There I met artist extraordinaire Matt Laverty. Matt had been working in television animation for several years creating animated content for MTV, Comedy Central, Disney and many others. Together, we formed 4 Score Games.

Why did you want to make games?

Matt: An unstoppable urge to create something that exists in my head that I would like to bring to life.

Why be independent rather than try to work for someone else?

Matt: I think the question is "Why work for someone else if you can do the same things they are doing without having to conform to their schedule and location?" For me, it's about being able to see my kids when I want to, and not when some corporation has decided that I deserve to have my 10 days of vacation time.

Creativity doesn't happen on command between 9 and 5 Monday through Friday. Sometimes you just don't have the idea that you are looking for during business hours, often an idea comes in one flash of creativity late at night. It is unpredictable and impossible to force. We work extremely hard to make our games, often putting in hours far beyond the 9 to 5 job. The key factor though for me is having that freedom to say, "I don't have any ideas today and I'm just going to recharge the battery." On the other hand it might be midnight on a Friday night when I get a spark of something really interesting and I run with it, sometimes at the expense of sleep or even the entire weekend.

What's your game called, and what's it about?

Glen: Ring Theory is a match-3 game, played with concentric circles. Grab a circle and rotate it to match 3 or more colors.

In the classic mode, there's one minute on the clock, but you can earn more time by matching the Add Time power ups. You can also remove lots of bricks from the board with the Explosion and Color Blaster power ups. The more bricks you remove, the higher your score.

Ring Theory also has some untimed modes like Marathon and Avalanche. If you don't want the stress of a clock, you can take your time and plan out your every move to maximize your score.

Glen: Usually, in the course of developing a game, there comes a point where you just can't get any enjoyment out of playing it. That hasn't been the case with Ring Theory.

With the random boards and power up combinations, I can still pick it up and play through a game or two, without feeling like I have any advantage because I wrote the game.

In fact, it shows me how bad I am at playing my own game, given the number of players on the leaderboard with scores far superior to mine.

How long did it take you to create?

Glen: It took about two months to make the initial version. We've since added several modes, so there are five modes in Ring Theory itself, and another five available via Expansion Pack 1.

It took about a month to adapt it for proper use on the iPad. Ring Theory HD contains all 10 of the game modes.

What one thing would you tell someone to convince them to get your game?

Matt and Glen (in unison): You've never seen a match 3 game like this!

What's next?

Glen: Our latest game is called That Game Show where you can be the star of your own game show! Your task is to guess how the words in the puzzle are related. To uncover more letters in the puzzle, you need to solve quirky clues.

It's game play is completely different from Ring Theory, but there are free Lite versions of both games available, so you can try them out and see if you like them.

If you'd like to have your own shot at converting our readers into fans, email justin aat joystiq dawt com, subject line "The Joystiq Indie Pitch." Still haven't had enough? Check out the Pitch archives.