Good Game Get! Interview

… in which we ask a game developer three specific questions based off our site name!

GGG! Interview #004 Adam Saltsman

Adam Atomic’s Canabalt is the best iOS game. I want to gift it to everyone I know with an iPhone or iPod touch. Brandon Boyer said, “It’s going to be quite some time before you find something so simple so thrilling again.” Tim Rogers calls it “Super Mario Tetris.”

Either way, Adam’s made in five days masterpiece is one of the best games ever created.

Adam was kind enough to answer our GGG! series of questions, and his answers are fantastic.

- Kyle



Photo via mrnorush



My favorite things in right now are MYSTERY and CONSEQUENCE. To me, mystery means there are unexplored places, unsolved problems, or subtle little flourishes to uncover. Video games have a bit of a knack for discovery and exploration, in both the external and internal sense, and when I find that I love it to death. The only way to make that better is to have consequences for your actions in this new, unexplored world (be it real, virtual, or just an interesting problem space). I want to face the unknown and experiment on it, and get meaningful results.



I’m going to quote Baiyon here, who once said “making games is the best game you can play” (or something to that effect). Making games is a process that is so wrought with MYSTERY and CONSEQUENCE it can be really overwhelming, but always compelling. It is playful and expressive and frustrating (in a good way) and sometimes you can even discover new things, or re-discover wonderful old things. It’s pretty much the best.



Oh, hmm. I haven’t given this a whole lot of thought, really. I think what I hope for is that I might engage their imagination on some level above or next to but intertwined with the gameplay or mechanics. Most of the games that I’ve made and released don’t spell out much of the story or setting, in the hopes that players will imagine what’s going on back there for themselves, and that that will enrich what they’re actually doing in the game. MYSTERY and CONSEQUENCE.