I released my mobile game on computers!
Dropert is on Mac and Windows now
Hey friends!
In 2019 I released my first solo game project to the world. Since then about 30 people bought and played it. Somebody put the idea “nobodies first game is a hit”, into my head, and that turned out to be spot on for me.
It’s the first SERIOUS, solo-game project I finished. So I wanted to share it again on more platforms to honour it. Even though I find to be a somewhat flawed game.
I don’t expect to make a profit from it at all. Tbh this game have cost me about 300 euro, because of the yearly App Store fee.
Either way..!
It’s available for free on Itch.io now, it works on both Mac and Windows. It’s pay-what-you-want, so can also see it as a way to support me (and help me feel a bit better about that App Store fee).
Oh, and it’s still available on iOS if you’re more into that.
The development of Dropert
In 2018 I studied game development in a school called Future Games. When I graduated I sent out job applications to a bunch of big studios. Like Mojang, Rovio, King and well… pretty much every studio in the Stockholm area. Mostly I was met by silence, I got to do a few work tests which led nowhere. (fuck work tests)
All I had was a tip about a game publisher through a friend. This publisher was all about Free To Play mobile games. I got in touch and I was offered an opportunity to pitch a game. They would pitch it internally if my point of contact approved it first.
I was desperate and it was the only contact I had. So I started thinking of Free To Play concepts even though I didn’t care to make that kind of game. I got quite far in the pitching process. I arrived at one of the final steps of their evaluation, but they didn’t believe in the game because the visuals were not exciting enough. I thought about changing the theme of the game from this cute, chill vibe into something more typical. Like pirates.
But I decided to back out. I felt icky about the DNA of the game being so Free To Play inspired. So I stuck to my chill watery vibe and tacked on a poem vending machine in an attempt to make it a bit more artsy.
There’s a longer blog post about it here. I go into much more detail about concepts, visual exploration and some game design mishaps.
Recent Finds
📓 Book - Steal Like An Artist
There’s a part that goes “quit picking fights and go make something”. I think that’s what I did with Dropert. I looked at mobile games and what I thought was wrong about them and instead of complaining about it, I tried to do something about it. In that small and insignificant way it was a success.
📱 Mobile Game - Automatoys
This makes me feel like I found toys inside a crashed, alien space ship. They’re a bit tricky to understand, I have no idea how they work. But I'm happy to figure it out.
📼 Youtube video - The Ultimate “Super Mario Sunshine” Recap Cartoon
I love this because Mario Sunshine was one of my favourite game growing up. This cartoon feels like an old-school-parody-flash cartoon, except it’s super well art directed with a much fresher look and feel. I’m a sucker for Cas van de Pol’s character designs as well. They’re perfectly chunky and goofy.
Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed hearing about my old game. I can’t wait to tell you about the next one I’m working on, it’s quite a leap.
(P.S I’m starting a writing course next week, so expect more articles the coming weeks!)