How it all started

Me and Henrik have known each other for almost twenty years, and while we’ve made many attempts in completing a full game, Sprinkle is the first one to actually hit the market. Our first games were for the Commodore Amiga, where we did everything from space shooters to Wolfenstein clones and adventure games. Back then publishing was a real problem for indie-developers, as you needed to be selected by a publisher to have a chance to reach out. I’m not saying that was the primary reason we didn’t finish anything, but definitely one of them.

Almost exactly one year ago, while doing contract work for a game studio in southern Sweden, we started talking about doing a game of our own again. Apple’s iPad was the platform of choice, because we both thought it was an interesting format, and a good opportunity for self-publishing. The iPad was not released in Sweden at the time, but I was planning a trip to the US just a month later, so I picked one up there and started tinkering with iOS development.

I have a background in game physics (more on that in another post) so the only thing we knew from the beginning was that we wanted it to be physics based. We also decided early on to make a non-violent game. This is something we feel strongly about, and we wanted to do something in contrast to all violent games out there. After a couple of weeks with tossing ideas back and forth, we finally settled around a game based on fluid simulation. Partly because there aren’t really any games using fluid simulation for game play out there, and partly because intearctive fluid is so fun to play with, or even just watch!

Our initial idea was to do a fluid-based labyrinth game, using the tilt sensor to push water around a maze. Around the dark christmas time, we did this real-life concept video in Henrik’s parents kitchen, using candles for obstacles and lingonberry juice as liquid:

Now, how did we get from here, all the way to where Sprinkle is today? Stay tuned!