Too Long; Do Read

February 10, 2012 8:22 AM

The complete story of the collaboration between Asher Vollmer and Greg Wohlwend on Puzzlejuice.

"Any tips on how to go about making an entirely abstract game about squares on a grid attractive? (cc: @aeiowu )"

With that tweet, student and indie developer Asher Vollmer reached out to game developer and artist Greg Wohlwend, setting off a chain of e-mails that turned his game Puzzlejuice from summer project into smash hit. Greg took all their e-mails, which were their only form of communication, and compiled them into one epic post. It's long, very long, but it gives a unique insight into the game's evolution from programmer art phase to final polished product.

posted by howling fantods (4 comments total)

gregwohlwend.com used to have a really awesome and hilarious DOS-inspired interface, now it just redirects to aeiowu. Sadface.
posted by oulipian at 8:36 AM on February 10, 2012

I got a quarter of the way through last night. Epic!
posted by ignignokt at 8:54 AM on February 10, 2012

I love this game! It's neat to see the look and feel develop in their email thread.
posted by sleeping bear at 8:58 AM on February 10, 2012

I've only skimmed through and looked at most of the screen grabs but this is a great record not only of a successful design collaboration but also of the interesting nature of successful note-giving and receiving, which is the essential component of any creative collaboration. Also, the game is great.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 3:25 PM on February 10, 2012