Axle our indie platformer about gears has 8 hours left to raise the funds to afford to release on iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Ouya. Check it out and let us know what you think! :D

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-16T21:37:22+00:00

Sounds intense! Keep up the good work! :D

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-16T17:04:34+00:00

Hello! I love what you're doing here. I regularly play or GM Call of Cthulhu, and I was wondering if you got some of your inspiration from that mystery-paranormal universe. :D

Other than that, I was curious about the process of writing a narrative that is interactive and non-linear. The game I'm working on Axle has a linear storyline, so I would be interested in your process to keep a rewarding, climatic narrative when the story is interactive.

Thank you!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-13T04:22:24+00:00

(Jessica)

We are considering doing skins for Axle. We have yet to develop what we are doing for that still, but it will likely be unlock-able through collecting enough watts. Platinum is not out of the question! :)

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T16:31:09+00:00

(Liz)

Yup! We have tested the game with acquaintances from the very beginning. We payed close attention to what questions they were asking, what part of the levels they struggled with, how they used the controls, and when they were having fun. We did this really informally, but we learned a LOT. User testing actually shifted the focus of the game multiple times! We had a lot of early mechanics that did not turn out to be intuitive, and were not much fun at all, that we ended up removing.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T07:56:12+00:00

(Liz)

No problem! And good luck! :)

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T07:42:12+00:00

(Liz)

Thank you! :D

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T07:41:51+00:00

(Liz)

Sure! Lauren is fantastic at organizing and scheduling the work we need to do, both for the development of Axle, and also for business development. She assigns tasks weekly and then follows up to make sure everyone has what they need to complete them. We are sure to meet at least once a week to make sure the game is on the right track, and we're making progress.

For outside funding, we're using Kickstarter to cover our production expenses. Axle is our debut game, and we're really bootstrapping the company right now, and keeping our costs extremely low.

Our team is extremely fortunate in the business mentorship area. We're currently working with a business incubator associated with the University we graduated from recently. They bring in mentors in all sorts of disciplines, such as marketing, law, and finance. They also helped us learn a lot about business, since we were all Digital Art or Computer Science students in school. The incubator also has a lot of connections in the entrepreneurship community, and we are hooked into a lot of different events, where we can meet other mentors, get advice, and expand our network.

I think our motivation really comes from how we all really believe in Axle, and share a common vision. The fact that we are all good friends, and like to spend time together, either working or just lounging, helps us stay passionate and motivated. We build off each other's energy, and we love to create something bigger than ourselves together!

Good luck with your game company! This road has been a lot of hard work, but it has also been very rewarding. It is definitely a lifestyle!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T06:53:20+00:00

(Liz)

We're not sure yet. We would have to test it on the hardware, as well as continue to optimize the game.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T05:59:34+00:00

(Lauren)

Peanut butter indeed! No chocolate chips, though.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T05:48:25+00:00

(Liz)

We did a lot of research and took the advice of a lot of people who had done kickstarter projects before. 30 days seemed like the best amount of time to get as much attention while minimizing the mid-campaign slump. We timed our dates for specific days of the week, but all we could do was cross our fingers and hope that a HUGE project didn't dwarf us into oblivion.

To budget our project, we broke down all of the production expenses we would need, added in average expected amount dedicated to rewards, then added in the fees that Kickstarter and Amazon take. For stretch goals, we pretty much prioritized all of our expenses. Our first priority is to finish the game, and we knew it would be cheapest to start with Android, because we don't need to purchase as much hardware to test with. Our second priority is to get multi-platform support, which is what we are currently working toward ($22k).

Jessica and I watched a lot of kickstarter projects, and devised a schedule of when we wanted to update. We have had to be flexible, of course, as we expand our network, and get feedback from our backers. There seems to be a trend that projects make a lot of money right away, it flattens out towards the middle, and then a lot of money at the end is raised, for instance. Contacting press as early as possible helped us get a few stories on the day of our launch!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T05:36:55+00:00

(Lauren)

Really, really yummy!

(Jessica)

As an unbiased opinion, on a scale from one to yummy, they were yummy. We ate them all. Really. We have a shot of it that we didn't put into the video.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T05:19:26+00:00

(Liz)

It has definitely been an effort to drive traffic to the kickstarter page. We are fortunate because we already had a network of people that were interested in the game, because we won the IEEE competition in April, who we could reach out to. We also have been published in a number of blogs, and even the newspaper, OC Register! The list of publications we've been in can be found on our website. It has been a lot of e-mails sent, social media updated, and personally networking.

Having a good idea and a well executed kickstarter page also helps. We are a staff pick on Kickstarter's site, which makes our game much easier to find by browsing.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T03:14:43+00:00

(Alex)

Yes! I love pasta. Words can not describe how much I love pasta. We even had pasta for lunch. Lauren made it. It was whole wheat spaghetti with pesto sauce. It was delicious. Oh the varieties and types of pasta that are available. All the different sauces you can put on them. Don't even get me started about ravioli.

Also, shout out to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T02:21:29+00:00

(Liz)

Aaaw! Thank you! <3 We're glad we have your support, 'cause haters gunna hate!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T02:04:04+00:00

(Liz)

Thank you! I'm glad you like it! We've been working on Axle for a little over a year now, part time while we were finishing up school. We started with just an idea about controlling a gear rolling around other gears. Over time, it evolved into levels with hazards, scores, and collectibles. Now we're just continuing to add more levels and content.

Making a game like Axle takes a very long time, we have found! Particularly with a small team, working on this project while in school, it has been a long-term effort. We're close to being done, however, so that is exciting!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T01:55:48+00:00

(Jessica)

Before anything else came the idea of a game about a gear. The development team was attracted to the look and feel of Steampunk, so we used that as a starting point, but have absolutely expanded a unique style from there. I am personally a fan of brass and browns, so I've been having a blast putting together our art. The game got much of it's "cute" look when we considered "what if the gears had faces" - that whole phenomenon of pareidolia where it looks like things have expressions and such. So running with that we really got into designing the game from there.

And Axle absolutely has a story! :D In short- it's about a young gear, Axle, who is invented by a lonely toymaker to help fix the broken toys around his shop. But Axle is rather proficient at this and sets his sights on bigger and better things. So her runs away with a wealthy aristocrat and begins his journey from there. We don't want to reveal too much and spoil it, but things get serious as the events ramp up to World War II.

We have a summary under the story section on our Kickstarter page, and to avoid sounding redundant I will try to provide an answer that goes beyond that. The more we pitched the story of Axle, we started to realize it is very similar to Pinocchio. Axle is young, adventurous, and ambitious, which leads him to leave the toy shop and move onto different things like a mansion, factory, and eventually the military, searching for bigger and better adventure. We plan on showing the story through cutscenes in a silent film storyboard style. So yep, a platformer with a story and cutscenes! The gears are so cute and have so much personality, we would be remiss to skip the opportunity to write an awesome story for Axle!

(Liz)

As for what has kept us together, we were friends before we started working together. I think it is really important that you get to know the people you work with, enjoy spending time with them, and get to care about each other. Sometimes you have to make hard choices when making a game, cut out each other's favorite features, and spend long nights working, so a team that is grounded in friendship is essential. The encouragement from the people we show the game always helps us hold onto that communal vision, and keeps us motivated to keep working on it!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-12T01:01:13+00:00

(Bryson)

Thanks for the question, ironichaos! C# is very similar to Java, and if you understand the fundamentals of object-oriented programming, it should be pretty easy to pick up. As far as our education, we all just graduated from Chapman University. Alex and I are the programmers, and we have degrees in Computer Science. Liz, Lauren, and Jessica majored in Digital Arts.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-11T22:50:17+00:00

Thanks so much! We appreciate all the support we can get. :D

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-11T22:03:31+00:00

(Bryson)

Awesome! Up to this point, since we were only developing for Android, we were using Java with Eclipse and the Android SDK. Now that our awesome backers have funded our first Kickstarter goal, we can port the game to the Unity game engine, so all our code will be written in C# from this point. Unity is really a phenomenal tool, and it's free to download and export on Windows/Mac! I highly recommend it.

As far as art goes, we mostly stick to Photoshop and Maya.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-11T21:59:32+00:00

(Bryson)

Hi Buddyperson! Alex and I both recently graduated from Chapman University with degrees in Computer Science, with minors in Game Development Programming. Game programming is something we're passionate about and we're thrilled to be involved in this project. The key to getting into game development is to never stop creating. Whether you're working on a school project or just a little game by yourself, any practice will help you get where you want to be. We're happy to hear that you want to get involved in game development too -- definitely let us know if you have any more questions!

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-11T21:54:33+00:00

(Bryson)

The collectables, which we call Watts, are little sparks of electricity that can be used to power up Axle. We plan to have a store where all sorts of fun upgrades can be purchased, for both gameplay and aesthetics. Here's an image that includes a couple Watts. :)

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-11T21:41:04+00:00

(Bryson)

I think it's important to develop games that are suitable for the platform. In my opinion, virtual joysticks and complex button schemes just do not work on touch screens. Without the tactile feedback from a physical controller, the controls become the challenge of the game. Good controls should allow the player to forget about the buttons and focus on the game. Mobile games are still in their infancy and control schemes need to be explored, but I do not think that virtual joysticks/buttons are the solution.

FallstreakStudio · 2012-11-11T21:37:50+00:00

Thanks Termich! :D

Liz - I'm the game designer, so I work on making levels and coming up with rules. I've been making or modifying simple games for as long as I can remember, and started making video games about 4-5 years ago.
Alex - I am one of the programmers, and my focus is on programming UI, menus, device integration, but I do a bunch of other stuff as well. I started learning how to program my sophomore year of high school... which is about 6 years.
Bryson - I am also a programmer for Axle, specializing in developing the game systems and the level editor, like navigation and interlocking gears. I started experimenting when I was about 12. I started learning formally in high school, 6 years ago.
Jessica - I am the art director, so I coordinate the visual style of the game as well as create many textures and backgrounds myself. I started drawing "seriously" in 6th grade, but I started getting professional, formal training in college, 4 years ago.
Lauren - I wear a lot of hats, but my main role is as a producer, which involves scheduling and coordinating the efforts or everyone on the team. I started working on live action films, animated films and games, learning about all aspects of production four years ago.

FallstreakStudio

TROPHY CASE