Category: Developers

Today I am speaking with Andrew Trese from the Trese Brothers. They are definitely well known in the digital gaming world as well as here at AppReviewCentral. I am very excited to announce their new Kickstarter Project: Star Traders 2 RPG.

Star Trader RPG is a great turn-based strategy role playing game that is currently available for both Android and iOS. I reviewed this game earlier in the year. The current game has an incredible amount of material in it and only looks to get better in this new Kickstarter project.

Q. Tell us quickly about your company

I am Andrew Trese, the younger brother, and my brother Cory and I are the founders of Trese Brothers games. Together, the two of us, and a small but growing number of contractors and moonlighters make up Trese Brothers Games. Our motto is “do unto gamers as you would have game devs do unto you.” We have tried to be everything we ever wanted in a game dev – no ads, no permissions, tireless customer service, and talking to our fans and communities. It’s paid off because our activity community has shared so much of their feedback, excitement and energy with us, and they keep us going every day.

Q. Can you give us a brief overview of Star Traders (the version that exists today)

You are a Captain of a vessel capable of traveling the stars – you’re born into the caste of Star Trader. Your services are in high demand – transporting and trading goods on the open Exchanges, or smuggling illicit cargo under the radar of the local Faction forces. Or, you’ll choose to take a riskier route, joining into the machinations of politics and conflicts, joining a Faction military as an officer, or joining the deadly dance of the duel of assassins. The stars spread before you, and your choices are endless. How will you navigate the complex politics and viscous conflicts of the Factions, survive the dangers of space and scrape together enough credits to repair your ship, keep Water-Fuel in the tanks, and pay your crew?

Star Traders is an open-universe sandbox. You’re life and career are meticulously captured in your Captain’s log and when you die or retire, you’ve told an amazing story, whatever your end. Our community has always responded to and loved the freedom of choice, the hundreds of ways to play, and the depth of the simulation of Star Traders. We’re are hoping to take all of that to the next level in Star Traders 2.

Q. Will users be able to play/continue the same game on all platforms? 

Astute question! One of the benefits we gained from the Heroes of Steel KickStarter was a truly cross-platform saved format. Today, if you have the right tools, know what you’re doing and rooted devices, you can move your saves around between any platform (Android, iOS, PC). We don’t currently provide a Trese Brothers cloud save feature that would let you sync easily between any platform. The idea is, of course, gold. I could see us adding this as a stretch goal somewhere in the middle of our stretch goal ladder, if we fund!

Q. Sounds like Star Traders 2 be more complex, do you think it will have a steeper learning curve?

The original Star Traders RPG was our first game. Honestly, we had no idea about the journey it was about to take us on. While we planned some ability to expand the saved game format, a lot of the decisions we made in the original game have limited our ability to change major systems – so we’ve never been able to add a really effective tutorial or introduction to the game. We don’t plan to make the same mistake with ST 2, and we’ve learned a lot from the intervening 5 games. If you check out a game like Heroes of Steel, you’ll see we’ve come a long way in introducing the world, system, and user interface effectively through a series of challenges.

No doubt – Star Traders 2 will be deep game with a mean difficulty curve, but we are looking for an “easy to play, hard to master” experience as our target.

Q. What is the one thing you are most excited about this Kickstarter project?

Our story started 4 years ago, when we sunk a whooping $25 into the Developer License for Google Play and about a hundred man-hours to create the first iteration of Star Traders RPG, a text and button sandbox space trader, with a smattering of graphics, but a strong core of political and economic simulation. We had nothing – nothing invested, no company, no idea that this would be more than a funny hobby and a game that two brothers who lived on opposite coasts could share. Back then, in 2010, the spacers, traders and Captains arrived in droves. Their emails and feedback crowded our inboxes like ships crowding the an orbital station. The community came out for us and gave us faith that we could make this happen.

Coming back to our community for Star Traders 2 through KickStarter feels very special. We have come full circle. We’re back at the beginning, Vizzini. When the original Star Traders launched, we could not have done it alone. Without the thousands of fans, we would never have taken up this torch, taken this four year journey. Now, to carry the torch into the next chapter, we need your help again!

Q. If funded, when do you think folks will have the game in hand?

We are looking toward the end of 2015 to have the full game released. That timeline includes a multi-month alpha period where the KickStarter Alpha team will have exclusive access to the game in its later half of the development cycle. This is one of the most exciting reward tiers, and we love our alphas. We’ve done them for the last three games, and they have all had massive impacts on the game, content, and user interface. We have the best community, and they have really had a hand in shaping our games through the alphas, and post-release through the forums and other channels as well. But, for me, the alpha phase has a really sweet spot in my heart.

Q. Anything else you want to add?

I hope gamers who aren’t already playing Star Traders RPG will find us and find our KickStarter. We’ve created an ambitious project and we’ll need everyone to share the project ten times over if we are going to be successful.

Personally, for me, Star Traders RPG has always been Firefly. When I play, I scrap and fight and scrimp and save just to keep flying. I’m one step ahead of death or the law. For me, Star Traders 2 RPG is all about building on those feelings, on the triggers to my imagination, to that experience. I hope you’ll share in that experience with us!

–Thanks Andrew, appreciate the time and letting us get a better glimence into your company and your current Kickstarter project. Personally I have enjoyed Star Traders and definitely think this Kickstarter is a project we should back.   Here is there official video on the project:

Today we are speaking with Stephen Buonocore from Stronghold Games. Stronghold Games is the publisher of the deck building game Core Worlds and some other great board games. Yesterday we posted about their current Kickstarter project with BrokenMyth Studios to bring Core Worlds to the digital realm. If you have not done so, please go support them.

In today’s interview, I plan to cover a number of different topics with the goal of getting to know Stronghold Games better and the world of board games, and of course digital board games.

Q. Thanks for the time Stephen, can you tell us a little about your company and the games you make.

A. “It’s simple. We produce only the highest-quality board games in the industry. No corners will ever be cut in the production of our games. No game will ever be produced that we do not believe is great in its mechanics, category, or theme. And while Stronghold Games is a business, games are our love and our life. We are game publishers, game developers, game designers, but first and foremost, we are GAMERS… just like you. Stronghold Games… The Fortress of Great Games!”

Ok, well, the above comes directly from our website on the About Us page. We are, however, as we say gamers, so we think of gamers first when we publish our games.  We have  have “something for everyone” in our catalog 

• Light/family/party games: Survive: Escape From Atlantis! (and its 3 mini-expansions) Going,Going,GONE!, Lost Temple, Little Devils, Crazy Creatures of Dr. Gloom, Article 27
• Euro/strategy games: CO2, Kanban, Panamax, Medina, Voluspa (and its expansion), Crude, Outpost, Time ‘N’ Space, Code 777
• Cooperative games: Space Cadets (and its expansion), Space Cadets Dice Duel (and its expansion), Space Cadets: Away Missions, Space Sheep!
• 2-player games: Revolver (and its 5 expansions), Revolver 2, Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War, Vampire Empire
• Card games: Core Worlds (and its 2 expansions), Among The Stars (and it’s 2 expansions), Diamonds
• Hidden trailer/thematic/experience games: Rogue Agent, Panic Station

Q. How would you describe the current board game market? I remember playing board games all the time as a kid but with video games these days…..

A. We are in the Golden Age of Boardgaming… and 5 years from now we’ll still be there, or maybe that will be the Platinum Age! It is a very expanding market, and better and better games are coming out each year. It is a great time for table top games.

Video games obviously dominate the game market. But board, card, and table top gaming is the best gaming. Why? Because we come together, we get social in one place, and we experience the games together. Table top gaming is a wonderful experience that more and more people are finding out about and enjoying every day!

[Ok time for a small Editor’s note: I have to admit I am a new to the board game industry and how it all works. I asked Stephen a couple of question about developers, when I really meant publishers.  Well my bad,  apparently I was the wrong terminology. So I going to give a quick run down (with the help of Stephen) for other newbies like me and then get back to the interview.]

Stronghold Games is a publisher. Most publishers in this industry do not design the game, and when the design is done “in-house”, there is still a designer noted on the game, as well as the publisher. This industry is sometimes called “Hobby Games” and sometimes called “Designer Games”

Andrew Parks is the designer of Core Worlds and works at Quixotic Games . He approached Stronghold Games and pitched to me (Stephen) the concept of a game that uses deck-building as a part of the game, not the entire game (which is what Dominion does). Stronghold Games’ license for Core Worlds includes the digital rights as well.

Ok, I got it now. 🙂  Back to the questions.

Q. Do you see or think more board game publishers will try and move their games to digital format?

A . Publishers, such as Stronghold Games, would love to have their physical games put onto a digital format. However, there is a substantial cost to do so, which is why you only see either (a) the simplest games in digital format [think of Words With Friends or Angry Birds] or (b) the most popular games in digital format [like the big names of Ticket to Ride, Agricola, etc.]

Q. Right now Stronghold Games has  Survive: Escape From Atlantis! out on iOS, will there be an Android port?

A. It’s delivery on Android is not certain at this time.

Q. How did you decide which games to make digital?

A. Sometimes the games just make sense. Survive is our biggest selling game, so that was a no-brainer to choose. Survive has done OK, but not as well as we would have liked. The game is very good and playable after several iterations from the developer, but unlike what we are shooting for from Core Worlds, Survive on iOS doesn’t have a “WOW” factor.

Core Worlds is a fairly deep and longer game, and getting people around a table for a while to play can be more difficult. Therefore, playing either against an AI or playing over the internet with others just makes sense.

Q. Are there any advantages for making games for iOS over Android or vise versa?

A. You hope you can do both, but you have to start with one. We choose iOS first, as more digital gamers seems to gravitate towards iOS over Android, though the installed base of Andriod is greater. It’s hard to make that call, but you have to choose one.

Q. So how hard is it to converti a physical board game into a digital one?

A. Very. You need the right digital partner to do this, as no board game company has the time, resources, or expertise to do this.

Now on to Core Worlds…

Q. So how did Core Worlds get chosen to go digitial?

A. I have thought for a long time that Core Worlds was not only popular enough to be on a digital platform, but that it was perfect for digital, as you could immerse yourself more deeply into the great thematics of Core Worlds. Unfortunately, the right developer could not be found.

Then came BrokenMyth Studios. They just GOT IT. They are professionals, who work in the Pharma industry for Fortune 100 firms, and they are GEEKS like us. They had a vision, which you can see from the Kickstarter page, on how the game would look in a 3-D, cinematic nature. They pitched it to me and to Andrew, and we loved the idea.

Q. You currently have a Kickstarter project out to make Core Worlds for Android and iOS devices, can you tell us about that project?

A. “Core Worlds DIGITAL” is what we are calling it, and we believe it will be ground-breaking in its implementation. Using 3D modeling to it’s fullest, gamers will be able to experience what some have called the “most thematic deck-building game of all”, Core Worlds, in truly brilliant way. You will now really experience moving through the galaxy, through the Barbarian, Frontier, Industrial, and Luxury Worlds… until you get to the Core Worlds of the galaxy, vying to become the new Galactic Emperor.

For this project, we have engaged BrokenMyth Studios. They have most of their cred in the Pharmaceuticals industry, doing 3-D modeling and such for these Fortune 100 firms. However, they are gamers themselves, and wanted to do a great digital implementation. They picked their favorite game, Core Worlds, and reached out to Stronghold Games to engage us in this project.

Q. Regarding Core Worlds- there is a base game and two expansions? Will the expansions be included in the Kickstarter?

A. The base game will be delivered if the funding goal is met. There are stretch goals for the Galactic Orders expansion and the Revolution expansion. This is not to say that we will never see those expansions if the stretch goals are not hit, but they will be later than the base game’s release, if at all. We need to get the base game out the door first if we hit the base funding goal.

Thanks Stephen for taking the time to chat with me. I love board games and definitely want to  see more come to the digital areana. I have learned a lot today and definitely cannot wait to see Core Worlds on my iPad. I have supported them on Kickstarter, have you?  Right now they are about 65% of the way with about 20 days to go! Good luck Stronghold Games.

The other day I reviewed  Dungeon Heroes the Board Game by Michael Coe. The game is fun and another example of how a physical board game can be successfully ported to the mobile environment. While working on that review, I reached out to Michael to chat with him about the game, his company, and more. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Today I am joined by Michael Coe, the founder and publisher of Gamelyn Games. This is the first of a few interviews I have set up with board game publishers. Why boardgame publishers? Well as you know I love playing the digital version of board games so I wanted to learn more about what it takes and what the future holds for digital realm.

Q.  Thanks Michael for the time, can you tell us a little about your company and the games you produce?

A. Gamelyn Games is all about producing high impact board games, by that I mean, games that will impact your collection. There are a lot of games coming out these days and we want ours to stand out. We are dedicated to rich and innovative gameplay and extremely high production quality. Check out one of our games and you’ll see what I mean.

Q. What do you have going on Kickstarter now?

A. The smallest cooperative game I’ve ever seen, Tiny Epic Defenders! This is a brilliant design by Scott Almes of Tiny Epic Kingdoms. It introduces a very unique mechanic called an evolving turn deck, this has players shuffling their actions with the enemies’ actions and the deck grows each round. This deck evolution keeps the players on the edge of their seats but gives them just enough to start building their strategy. Players have to be tactical as well because each game’s turn deck is different!

(Editor note: Looks like a cool game, plan on backing this myself- Head over to Kickstarter to get it. Only a couple of days left)

Q.  A new term I have recently heard was “micro” board games. Can you give a brief definition of  it?

A. Small foot-print game. I imagine you ask this because I have been producing micro-games lately. Here’s the thing, my concern with current micro-games is that there is not enough “game” there. They seem to universally lack depth and solid game play. That doesn’t have to be the case.

Tiny Epic Kingdoms and Tiny Epic Defenders are both micro-games that deliver a large box experience. That fact that they have done so well on Kickstarter shows that there was a need for small “thinky” games in the market.

Q.  Cool, now lets move to mobile. When you created Dungeon Heroes did you know you were going to port it to mobile?

A. Before I began publishing games, I had an interest in the mobile gaming space. When I designed Dungeon Heroes I kept it a small form factor intentionally. I wasn’t sure when I would begin working in the mobile market but I made sure that Dungeon Heroes was translatable.

Q. Any particular reason why you choose this game and not one of your others? Any plans to port any of your other board games?

A. As I said above, Dungeon Heroes was designed with portability in mind. When I was ready to begin exploring mobile space, Dungeon Heroes was a natural choice because it had been on the market for a year and was selling well. As for other games?

Absolutely! Tiny Epic Kingdoms is already in development and is scheduled for a Q4 release on iOS. Tiny Epic Defenders has begun its preliminary stages for development.

Q. Right now I have not played the physical board game yet…how do the two compare? Is the mobile very true to the physical game?

A. Classic Mode on mobile is exactly like the 2 player board game. Arcade Mode however, takes the solo version of the board game and adds to it a dungeon delving marathon of highest score tracking.

Q. What was the hardest thing you had to face when porting this game to iOS?

A. As the publisher and project manager, my challenges were to find the right team that could put a quality game together within my limited budget. I’m very pleased with the results.  🙂

Q. Where do you see mobile board gaming going in the next few years?

A. I see the market for mobile board gaming continuing to grow. It is a fun and convenient way to experience the great games you love when it is not board game night!

Q. Thanks for your time Mike, one final question.  What mobile games do you  like to play?

A. I play Carcassonne, Summoner War and Alien Frontiers on my iPad. All really great games.

Awesome interview. Definitely looking forward to seeing more games from Gamelyn Games in the near future. Guess I need to clean off some space on my iPad.

Today we are spending some time with Leigh Harris (LH) the Lead Designer, and Rohan Harris (RH) the Lead Programmer of Flat Earth Games, the company behind TownCraft.  I want to thank Leigh and Rohan for their time; always enjoy spending some time with developers.  TownCraft is a neat game that we recently reviewed.

Q. Tell us a little about your company

RH: Well, we started two years ago when we had just come up with the idea for TownCraft and were beginning to co-develop it with Epiphany Games. Now that we’ve released it, the two of us work full-time here in a little corner beside some other indie devs, with other contractors coming in as needed depending on what we’re doing at the time.

LH: We had a set of fairly firm beliefs we used to guide us, and ended up writing a pledge we called ‘We the Developers…’ (http://www.flatearthgames.com.au/?p=73) shortly after we launched which detailed some of those beliefs. They included that we would only ever release a game which was based on a good idea first and all other considerations second, that we wanted to recapture a lot of the spirit of games from the 90s which we missed, and that I wouldn’t post videos of Rohan dancing after too much gin any more.

Q. How did you come up with the idea for TownCraft?

RH: That was me. I was writing an article about the concept of Minecraft spawning a whole new genre, and in the process I was brainstorming about the myriad of different games you could make that’d borrow some concepts from it. It was during this time that I began to think of how much I’d like an iPad-based isometric city-builder, but with the personal feeling of a game like Minecraft.

I gave it some thought, decided it was good enough idea to excise it from the article, and rang up a mate of mine who ran an indie game studio to pitch to him – not to seriously *make* it, mind you… I just wanted someone to sanity check my idea.

LH: From there we started drafting a design document and it became a much more collaborative work. The directions we took during development were at times quite far removed from the original document, or at least it felt that way, so we were actually pleasantly surprised when we came to the end of the development cycle, took a look back over the original document and realised that a lot of what we’d originally envisaged have actually come to fruition.

It’s a weird thing. You get so close to a project like this and when it finally comes out, all you can see are the things you wanted to include but didn’t get the time. I mean, we’re still constantly updating the game (and will continue to do so for as long as people keep buying it), so it’s got way more in there now than it did at launch, but still it can be tricky to step back and look at something objectively after years of working on it.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the challenges section in the game?

LH: These are a selection of maps I’ve been creating which change up the gameplay in one way or another. One covers the map in heaps of water, one places you on a desert island, one has no iron, no crops etc. Each one is designed to take the core mechanics of the game and force the player to think about them and execute them in a new way, usually with a time limit of 12 in-game days so they don’t have long to figure out how it all works.

RH: They partly came out of other game ideas I had (such as the Desert Island crafting game idea) which we felt weren’t quite enough to warrant a full game to themselves, but might make for a really interesting departure from the norm within TownCraft. It’s lots of fun thinking up new ones – often they have new terrain types, biomes, objects, resources and recipes for each map. In the newest one, there’s even a whole new employee type.

Q. Any updates in the works for TownCraft?

RH: Always! We promised ourselves we’d complete the six planned challenge maps no matter how our sales went. Then there are always updates coming out every month or so tweaking things, adding new features (some recommendations from fans) and fixing the inevitable bugs that get reported to us. With a game this size, there’s always some minor obscure balancing issue or big left to be found. (Pro-tip: sandbox games are TOUGH to debug when your Quality Assurance team is, uh… just yourself!)

LH : Our newest update will feature a map which is an almost barren desert, for example, taking players far away from the usual dense and lush medieval forest. There’s an oasis here or there, but it’s a pretty bleak landscape. The only silver lining is that the stream in the middle of the map can be panned for gold (a new feature, gold has traditionally been mined up until now).

Q. Ok, so we know about TownCraft, any neat new games coming out soon?

LH: We’re very close to announcing our second game. I can’t say too much just yet other than that it is nothing at all like TownCraft.

RH: And it’s become a personal challenge for me. Every time the systems designers get too good at the game, I have to go beef up the AI. It’s a competition, I say, and my electronic minions will not be defeated!

LH: …until I defeat them, that is. …again.

Q. So when you are not working on games, what mobile games do you guys like to play?

LH: I certainly play a bunch of games similar to TownCraft, classics like Transport Tycoon and SimCity mostly, but other than that I use mobile gaming to wake myself up with stuff like The Impossible Game, Unpossible, Piano Tiles and that sort of thing. Our inspiration for new games comes partly from contemporary stuff, but mostly from the games we grew up playing. 90s titles like Knight and Merchants and Stronghold were TownCraft’s genesis, and for our upcoming game the inspiration was things like the original Grand Theft Auto game. But I’d say I pay a lot of attention to business models in new games. Even though we haven’t embraced in-app purchasing and free-to-play at all, it’s still fascinating to me.

RH: I tend to prefer larger games. I played an awful lot of XCOM on iPad, for instance, and I’ve been working through Vice City and San Andreas on iOS now that I have a funky controller for it. I guess I tend to play more conventionally desktop/console-centric games, even when I’m playing on a platform that is often dominated by freemium or smaller puzzle/twitch games.

Q. Where do you see mobile gaming going in the next 2 years or so?

RH: Hopefully, coming more in line with consoles & desktop download services in terms of providing a wider variety of interesting premium games. Judging by the reaction we’ve had from people, who are almost universally pleased to see a game like TownCraft with no in-app purchases or micro-transactions, it does seem like it’s what people are wanting. (But then, maybe I’m just being hopeful)

LH: Well, I tend to not be very sensational when it comes to the future of games. I mean radio didn’t kill the newspaper. Television didn’t kill radio. The Internet didn’t kill television. Along similar lines, I don’t think mobile gaming will kill the home console market, and I don’t think freemium will kill the premium model. All that’s happening is a fragmentation of the market – gamers with distinct and unique tastes (and preferences for certain business models) are being catered to by different developers. Many niches covering many aspects of gaming are popping up and thriving. So I guess my ultimate prediction is that gaming will continue getting more diverse as it caters to more people at once. It’s a great thing, overall.

-thanks again guys and look forward to seeing what comes down the road from Flat Earth Games.

Today I have Bruce Morrison from Man Up Time Studios. They are the developers behind Merchant to the Stars and Merchant Beyond the Stars. I always enjoy spending time with game developers. Hope you do too.

Q. Tell us a little about yourself , you company, how you go involved in mobile gaming.

A.  I’m a game maker.  I got my start with Freeverse in the early 2000s.  I designed and produced a few games for the Mac and Xbox 360.  When the iPhone came out, I was in the right position to head up a team to make games for it.  I had 4 titles ready on Day 1 of the app store, and I’ve been making iPhone games ever since.  After leaving Freeverse, I worked for DeNA and Nexon before heading out on my own.  I founded Man Up Time officially in 2011.

Q. Tell us about your games: specifically the Merchant series.

A. Before Man Up Time, I did Wingnuts 2 for Mac, Marathon: Durandal for Xbox 360, MotoChaser for iPhone, Flick Fishing for iPhone, Top Gun for iPhone and Warpage for iPhone (to name a few).  At Nexon I did Apoc Wars for iPhone and Android.  My first solo indie gamea Free to Play endless runner/shooter with a Contra design.  After that I helped bring Pathways into Darkness back to the Mac (it wasn’t playable on modern hardware).  Then I did Merchant to the Stars with a friend of mine, Mark Levin.

While working on that game, I got the itch to do a spinoff that was set in outer space, and Merchant Beyond the Stars was born as a sequel.  The Merchant games have been a design that Mark had wanted to do for years at Freeverse.  After ngmoco closed the studio down, Mark took some time off, and developed the systems that would make Merchant work. There’s a lot of procedurally generated content that might not be obvious to players.  All the Weapons, Heroes, Stories and Missions are procedurally built.

Q. The game is free but do players need to make purchases to get deep into the game?

A.  Absolutely not.  I started with the base of Merchant to the Stars, which never had any IAP, and built from there.  Instead we tried to figure what a premium currency could do.  So we outfitted it to complement the existing systems.  It’s basically an impatience purchase.  Don’t want to wait, this will do it now.  I know that can seem obvious in Free to Play games, but we made sure the game work without IAP.  The entire IAP system was one of the last things to go into the game, so it was all built and tested without any IAP.

Q. As a developer, what is the best way to do games: free with in-app purchase, paid, or freenium?

A.  I’m not sure.  If I had my way, I would only do premium games.  I don’t like Free to Play, but it’s what the industry has settled upon.  It’s foolish to not do Free to Play (unless you have a hell of a brand, or something that just hasn’t been seen before).  4 times the number of people have played Merchant Beyond the Stars than Merchant to the Stars and the game isn’t a week old.  There’s no audience in Premium for a niche title.  You have to go Free and Cast a wide net to find the players.  And even then, it’s touch and go.

Q. As a developer what frustrates you the most about mobile gaming?

A.  That a $5 game is a Premium experience.  When I was doing Mac games, a $5 game would be seen as Budget, and not worth your time.  Now suddenly, it’s a luxury.  If players would of accepted spending $5 for a game, we’d be in a much much different world.  Most of what is free to play, wouldn’t be free to play, but would be a robust experience without ads or trying to nickel and dime the player to death.  So if your reading this, consider buying a good game at $5.  There’s very little software in this world that isn’t worth $5.

Q. Where do you see mobile gaming going in the next few years?

A. Mobile is maturing, and the tech specs are rapidly closing in on the PC. We will see it become another platform, the market will get saturated, and people will continue to struggle to gain adoption.  I’d like to see a return to premium titles, but it’ll take some major enhancements to discovery, the largest challenge.  For me, I’m just going to keep making the games I want to make, and if the players are good to me, I’m going to be amazing to them.

Thanks again Bruce for the time and look forward to see what Man Up Time Studios brings us in the future.

Yesterday I reviewed Todoist, a cool new task management app. Well, today I have a q&a post with Amir Salihefendic, founder of Doist.

From the July 23rd Press Release, announcing the addition of Android to the list of apps:

This update is a complete and total rewrite of Todoist’s mobile applications. One of the top priorities was to create an entirely new user interface; this can be both seen and felt in the app’s improved UX, new left panel, and updated flat skin design. Naturally, the performance and speed of Todoist for iOS and Android has drastically improved.

Another element of Todoist’s improved UI design is the newly added Inbox feature that allows the user to add items and tasks much easier than before. The inbox provides a centralized place where all new tasks will be added by default– from now on, selecting a specific project to assign to each task will not be necessary. This new feature is especially useful for new users. When running the app for the first time, you can immediately start adding tasks to the default inbox before creating a higher level of task­ organization: projects.

Q. Tell us a little about your company

A. Todoist forms part of Doist, we are a virtual company of 15 people working around the globe dedicated to providing the most powerful software to increase people’s productivity. We see ourselves as a productive and passionate team comprised of designers, engineers, and communicators united by a common goal, not a common location. We understand the tools our customers need to succeed in today’s workplace, because we need them too! We build them, share them, and use them to power new ideas, new improvements, and new ways of working. It’s how we’ve accomplished amazing things, and it’s how we help our customers do the same.

Q. What make Todoist unique?

A. Although Todoist provides many features (please see the next question) that similar services don’t, what really singles Todoist out is our minimalist design and outstanding UX and UI. We strive to be the most simple yet most powerful task-manager on the market and this vision has allowed us to achieve this standard that our competitors just don’t have.

Q. Why should someone use your program vs say Wunderlist, etc?

A. Since 2007, we’ve continuously evolved to offer the most cutting-edge tools while never losing sight of our mission and minimalistic vision. Todoist offers many features that Wunderlist does not such as labels and tags, setting task priorities, sending tasks to your calendar, color coded tasks, and productivity tracking.

Q. What are future plans for the service?

A. We have a big launch prepared for September called Todoist Next. It will feature some of the most requested features from our users and something that has not been implemented in a todo list yet. We are really excited about this! 🙂

Q. What is the role of Karma in the service?

A. This feature allow you to track your productivity by day and by month showing you one which days you’ve completed most task and the total karma points you’ve earned by either completing tasks (positive karma) or postponing tasks (negative karma). The more tasks you complete on time, the more karma you receive, and thus the more difficult it becomes to earn more karma. It’s a gamification method that we introduced in order to encourage our users to increase their productivity further and get more things done!

Q. How does one save URLs?

A. We have created a Google Chrome plug-in and Firefox extension for Todoist that allows the user to save websites and emails as tasks with one single click. This is the perfect tool to quickly save URLS. The best way to save URLs from an iOS device is to copy the URL, go back to the Todoist app, and paste in into the task field.

Well that was all I had for today. We will need to stay tuned to see what the big launch in September will be. Thanks again to Amir  for taking some time with us today.