You know him as Quazbotch, the NS member responsible for curing some of our summer boredom. His new game, Ski Flash Game, has taken the forums by storm and helped alleviate some of the summer time blues felt by those that are not ankle deep in Whistler camp fun. I caught up with Adam via email to get his take on his game's popularity, NS member feedback, and what's in store for the future.
-Rogge
Name: Adam
Age: 23
Occupation: Flash Developer
Where did you come up with the concept for the game?
At work. Between playing DNA Spin, Line Rider, Freerider, and Edg's
Tracks game on a quiet day at the office, I realized if I could make a
ski game exactly the way I wanted, I would probably enjoy it even
more.
I did a trip to Whistler this year and got my first good taste of
skiing powder, trees, and riding fat skis. My favourite memory is the
hour I demoed Hellbents and rode around the Peak and Red chairs. I
think I was giggling the whole time. Those feelings are what I want to
try to reproduce in the game.
Is this game a result of summer boredom?
Yup! I had a few quiet weeks in the office between projects, so I
started on this to keep me busy.
Did you expect the game to be as popular as it's become?
I hoped it would get some attention, but I really expected people to
play it for 5 minutes and never come back to it. My tracking stats are
showing about 10 minutes of play time on average with plenty of return
visitors.
How many people have played it?
As of June 22 at 12:35pm EST about 2125 people have played the game
6171 times. YAY!
How much has the member feedback helped shape the way you've altered the game?
They have re-prioritized my to do list. Just like how people ski
differently, people play the game differently, so everyone wants
different features. The ones members have suggested aren't features I
would have put in this early in development.
What sort of feedback have you gotten?
People on NS are stoked. People on TGR mostly think it is boring. I'm
not sure what the guys on alltheski.com and the other European
websites are saying. NS members were mostly suggesting park oriented
things like grabs, butters, flips, rails, and a zoomed in view to see
what the skier is doing. Now I'm starting to see requests for more
powdery stuff like slashy turns and sluff/avalanches.
What kind of changes to the game can we expect in the future?
In the short term, some simple level editing and sharing, a steezier
skier, and hopefully better performance on slower computers. I'd be
happy if I could keep doing a new feature release every week for the
summer. I have tons of ideas to keep me busy in the long term, but
we'll see how it goes.
Do you plan on selling the game?
It is the NS dream to be sponsored, so I'm thinking of selling product
placement to advertisers. Being able to unlock some real skis by
skiing a certain line or stomping a certain trick would be pretty
sweet. I could use some funding for some features I want to put in
too.
-Rogge
Name: Adam
Age: 23
Occupation: Flash Developer
Where did you come up with the concept for the game?
At work. Between playing DNA Spin, Line Rider, Freerider, and Edg's
Tracks game on a quiet day at the office, I realized if I could make a
ski game exactly the way I wanted, I would probably enjoy it even
more.
I did a trip to Whistler this year and got my first good taste of
skiing powder, trees, and riding fat skis. My favourite memory is the
hour I demoed Hellbents and rode around the Peak and Red chairs. I
think I was giggling the whole time. Those feelings are what I want to
try to reproduce in the game.
Is this game a result of summer boredom?
Yup! I had a few quiet weeks in the office between projects, so I
started on this to keep me busy.
Did you expect the game to be as popular as it's become?
I hoped it would get some attention, but I really expected people to
play it for 5 minutes and never come back to it. My tracking stats are
showing about 10 minutes of play time on average with plenty of return
visitors.
How many people have played it?
As of June 22 at 12:35pm EST about 2125 people have played the game
6171 times. YAY!
How much has the member feedback helped shape the way you've altered the game?
They have re-prioritized my to do list. Just like how people ski
differently, people play the game differently, so everyone wants
different features. The ones members have suggested aren't features I
would have put in this early in development.
What sort of feedback have you gotten?
People on NS are stoked. People on TGR mostly think it is boring. I'm
not sure what the guys on alltheski.com and the other European
websites are saying. NS members were mostly suggesting park oriented
things like grabs, butters, flips, rails, and a zoomed in view to see
what the skier is doing. Now I'm starting to see requests for more
powdery stuff like slashy turns and sluff/avalanches.
What kind of changes to the game can we expect in the future?
In the short term, some simple level editing and sharing, a steezier
skier, and hopefully better performance on slower computers. I'd be
happy if I could keep doing a new feature release every week for the
summer. I have tons of ideas to keep me busy in the long term, but
we'll see how it goes.
Do you plan on selling the game?
It is the NS dream to be sponsored, so I'm thinking of selling product
placement to advertisers. Being able to unlock some real skis by
skiing a certain line or stomping a certain trick would be pretty
sweet. I could use some funding for some features I want to put in
too.
