Designer Knows Best

Have you ever played that game “Punch Bug” or as I call it “Slug Bug”?  The concept is simple – when you see a Volkswagon Beetle, you call out “Slug Bug” and then hit the other players (usually in the shoulder).  I learned long ago that you do not play this game with somebody who has at one time owned a Beetle.  Those individuals seem to have a second sense about them.  As I learned today, such is also the case for playing a game with the designer that built it.

While at 360Flex in Denver, Colorado earlier this year, I had lunch with Paul Trani.  Among the many topics discussed was a concept of producing a stable of well-designed applications for each person on the team.  I specifically asked Paul to focus on his take on the child’s game of “Memory.”  You know, you pick two cards, and if they do not match, you turn them over and it is the other player’s turn?  This initiative eventually turned into a game that Paul called “Monster Match”.

Fast forward to this afternoon, and I spent some time “helping” Paul test out his creation.  Honestly, I think I was there more for moral support than anything else.  Paul had the game running on just about every mainstream device – from tablet to smartphone, from iOS to PlayBook – under the sun.  It leverages peer-assisted technology to be able to allow head-to-head play on the same wireless network.  We even got it playing on the Logitech Revue (Google TV) box.

Paul Trani shows off Monster Match

It was there where I learned this humiliating lesson of not playing a game with it’s designer.  Since Paul designed the characters and their corresponding animations, every facet of the cards were burned into his memory.  It took him no effort whatsoever to remember where he last saw a particular card.  Needless to say, I was thoroughly trounced.  While we have had some interest around the game from third parties, and are not in a position to put it into the various application markets, we do hope to have a video of this game in action in the coming week or two.  Stay tuned.