Starting a Game Design Studio - passion and pizza with Island Officials

Ryan Harbinson and Ryan Morrison of Island Officials LLC, located in Sicklerville, New Jersey, spoke yesterday about how to get started with game development and the pre-product stage. The Ryans, who are professors at Camden County College, started working on games three years ago on a part-time basis (while also holding down their ‘regular’ jobs). After piecing together old computers and setting up used office equipment in each other’s homes, they began by designing games for Xbox Live Arcade with help from their former students. Their first project “Vicious Cycles” – described as Twisted Metal on motorcycles with gangs reminiscent of those in West Side Story – folded after just three weeks, but they remained determined and pushed forward.

The next project, “We Love Cake”, was an ambitious Gauntlet-style shooter adventure. After about seven months however, the team realized that they were not quite at the professional level needed to make the game into what they initially envisioned. The project was put to the side, and they began working on “Hands On! Tangrams” – a more basic and simple game inspired by Morrison’s son.

Soon the time came to pitch Hands On! Tangrams to a publisher, and Morrison was able to convince the folks at Destination Software that this game was something special. While the demo was buggy, the concept was solid, and Destination Software gave the Ryans et al three months to get Hands On! Tangrams ready to go. Just when all seemed to come together, Destination Software was bought by Zoo Games. The new owners, in the subsequent settling of the dust, took the Hands On! Tangrams contract off the table.

Shaken but not finished, the Ryans stuck with Hands On! Tangrams, and in January of 2009 began working the game through a Nintendo DS development kit. Soon after, they attended the Game Developers Conference, where they touched base with old and new industry contacts. They received positive feedback from the folks at the GDC, and the Ryans then set out to E3 with a Tangram demos for the Nintendo DS and their pride intact. While at E3, they made an estimated 47 three-minute pitches on escalators, in elevators, and anywhere else they could find someone willing to listen. The game hit well with publishers at E3, and soon they received a great offer from Storm City Games – which consisted of some former Destination Software people.

What came next was a fitting reward for the five years of hard knocks - a 1000 square-foot office in Sicklerville, where the Island Officials team now works as the in-house developer for Storm City Games. It was a long journey for the Island Officials team, one filled with many proverbial brick walls and lessons learned from mistakes, but all the hard work, pizza and passion paid off in the end.

Hands On! Tangrams will be available (online only) on November 17, 2009 – so be sure to pre-order your copy today from Amazon.com. Also, be sure to visit the Island Officials website islandofficials.com to find out more about future releases, including the long-awaited “We Love Cake”. The upcoming off-the-wall puzzle adventure game “Hands On! Pattern Blocks” is slated to be released by the 3rd quarter of 2010.

Below Image: The Island Officials booth at VGXPO