FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dicework Games To Release Their First Game On iPhone

Tampere, Finland, August 18th 2009 – Newly founded Dicework Games will release their first game, the self-titled Diceworks, in 28th of August. The company founders Arto Koistinen and Peter Finnberg, both of whom have former experience in the game industry, believe that strong vision and solid design are the key elements in a highly competitive marketplace such as Apple’s App Store.

“While I find it a bit naive to say that all you need for high sales is a good game, I strongly believe that a strong portfolio is something that will ensure the longevity of a development studio”, says company CEO Koistinen. “We are aiming to make Dicework Games a brand in which our customers can trust. As a small studio, we have the possibility to take risks and try new things, or go for less popular genres.”

Diceworks, while being in the popular genre of puzzle games, brings this thinking to practice in its visual design. The steampunk inspired art direction dodges the usual candy-like visual style of the genre and maintains a coherent tactile feel for the game. “We wanted the game to feel like a physical object”, the artist Finnberg explains. “The user interface is designed so that everything feels like a part of a clockwork puzzle box, I think it really brings a unique atmosphere for the game.”

Everyone who is not yet convinced of the game’s puzzle-y goodness can also try it on the company’s website, where a web-browser version of the game will be available.

The developers also see their choice of engine, the Unity 3D, as a definite strength. For a small startup company, a tool that enables the developers to concentrate on game-specific development instead of having to build a software framework from scratch, at the same time giving the possibility for multi-platform release, is a valuable opportunity.

As is usual for the game industry, only few things in the horizon look clear. For now, the games will continue to be published on the iPhone and they will be self-funded as with Diceworks. “Concentrating on our own portfolio is currently the most viable option. Of course, we are open to publishing deals and sub-contracting, should a viable opportunity present itself. To be honest, I’d still love to work on some great license”, Koistinen, who has previously worked with mobile license games, confesses.

Dicework Games
http://www.dicework.com/
company@dicework.com

Probably the first question on any newcomer’s mind is something along the lines of “what is this company”. This post is the answer to that question. The short answer can be found here, this is the long answer.

To be honest, the company was born out of necessity. In the late winter we found ourselves laid off due to company negotiations in our previous workplace and, not wanting to move out of Tampere,  decided this would be a good opportunity to form something new. Putting up a game development studio had crossed my mind several times before, but earlier I had lacked both the right people and the industry experience. Now, the time was right.

It would be fair to say that the current economic climate is not very hospitable to new ventures, but I heartily disagree. The economic climate is actually quite good for a small agile company, free from the whims of the venture capital. We don’t have to sell hundreds of thousand of games to be successful, we don’t even need to sell many hundred to survive. We can start out slow, and concentrate on making games that are good, and of value.

To me, games of value are ones that respect the player. They are bug-free, smooth experiences that bring something valuable to the player. Be that a nifty game mechanic, alluring visuals or a captivating story. Something to be remembered by.

But so many games these days seem to lack that graceful elegance; they’re bulky collections of tried and true mechanics, often ill-fitting with each other. Sudden death action sequences in a puzzle game? That’s not smooth, that’s plain stupid.

I don’t have anything against tried and true mechanics per se, many of the most successful games rely all but exclusively on tried and true. They’re mechanics that work, but to use a mechanic “because it worked in that game” is short sighted. For a game to work and to be enjoyable, the elements must be in perfect balance. You can’t take a cuckoo clock and a digital watch and build a pocket watch. The cogs have to fit.

A good game is a game that has all right and fitting cogs, oiled and ready. No matter where the parts originate.

So, to recap, our vision is to make games that tick. More than that, games that tick because they are neat little things that one enjoys to spend time with, not because we have “250 mind-boggling spells” or the latest in HDR technology. Our games are limited in scope due to our small size, but I like to believe it makes them better rather than worse.