FingerGaming

A relatively simplistic game of ring munching and minefield navigation, kode80′s EatWillGrow is made whole by its unique use of Twitter as a high score table. FingerGaming talked to developer Ben Hopkins about how the scoring idea developed, the application of metagames in iPhone apps and his future in iPhone development.

So far your kode80 website has been the hub for EatWillGrow, but hints at a long history in writing software. Can you talk about how you got into iPhone app development?

Yes I’ve been programming for most of my life, English is no longer my first language at this point! I have worked on a large variety of platforms over the years, ranging from the Gameboy Advance, to OSX, to Flash. From the moment I heard the initial iPhone specs, I knew this was a platform I wanted to develop for, and so when Apple released the official SDK I jumped right in.

It almost seems as if EatWillGrow could’ve been created as a vehicle for the feature set, particularly the Twitter-based stuff. At what point did those ideas enter the development process?

From early on I had decided that the main focus of EatWillGrow would be scores. I was inspired by some of the first arcade games. Games that had very simple gameplay mechanics, yet spawned devoted players with their own personal strategies for tackling the games’ challenges.

Initially I had planned to write a more traditional server side scores system, but development time and server resources lead me to explore other options. I had toyed with the idea of using Twitter for high scores in the past and so this ended up being the perfect time to explore that concept more. As development progressed, it became a very organic process, with the score system influencing game mechanics and visa versa.

Would you wager the tweeting of high scores since release has led to an increase in sales?

Good question. It is hard to determine what kind of direct impact on sales the score tweets have had, but of course each one helps raise awareness of the EatWillGrow name, which is no bad thing. Not to mention, that with time, and the right amount of players, it is possible that the #eatwillgrow hashtag will trend on Twitter. This would serve as a great way of introducing people to EatWillGrow.

One thing I can be sure of, is that the score tweet system has given the game longevity. If you beat a player’s score in the game, that player is mentioned in the score tweet. Since the Twitter website and most good Twitter clients enable you to see tweets that mention your username, this provides an automatic notification that your score has been beaten! The mention system really taps into peoples’ competitive side, and I am seeing players returning week in and week out to defend their scores.

With all the platform’s functionality, you’d expect more iPhone devs to experiment with similar metagame concepts. Why do you think this isn’t the case?

The thing you have to remember is, that the iPhone as a platform open to 3rd party developers, is less than a year old. If you look throughout history, it is often not until around the second year of a platform’s life that you start to really see some interesting things happen. If Apple continues to cultivate the wonderful ecosystem it has created, I think we will have some truly remarkable apps in store (excuse the pun).

For me personally, I take great enjoyment in finding alternate uses for systems, and the direct integration of Twitter into the game was a natural result of that. Twitter has been very encouraging of developers finding new ways to use their system and this philosophy has definitely been a source of inspiration.

Going forward, what do you have planned for EatWillGrow and the iPhone?

The first EatWillGrow update is currently being reviewed by Apple, and adds optional accelerometer control, which has been a much requested feature. I have also launched eatwillgrow.kode80.com, which is a web app that allows users to view the latest scores. Scores can be ordered by date, player, and score, and can be filtered by players, enabling custom scoreboards.

Since the app checks for new scores every 20 seconds, it is possible for multiple players to setup a custom scoreboard and compete against one another simultaneously. Clicking a score links to the original tweet on Twitter, providing a way for players to potentially meet and challenge other players.

Beyond EatWillGrow, I have many ideas in varying stages of development. What you see, and when, is as always up to the universe. Watch this space.

Tags: ben hopkins, eatwillgrow, interview, kode80, twitter