In the Beginning was the Word Game

Factsheet

Developer:
In the Beginning was the Word Game
Based in Bern, Switzerland

Founding date:
February 23, 2016

Website:
ibwwg.com

Press / Business contact:
ibwwg.com, with the letters kay jay bee before the at sign

Social:
twitter.com/wastheWordGame
facebook.com/mathildagame

Releases:
Willy-and-mathildas-houseboat-adventure-the-game

Phone:
(e-mail preferred; schedule a web call with us!)

Description

We make games when we have the chance.

History

How it all started

In the Beginning was the Word Game (IBwWG) started as a response to burnout, and an attempt to return to what got me interested in programming in the first place: making my own games. Just before Christmas 2015, under the name Gimmicky Apps, I had found out first-hand that the real phone app gold rush had, in fact, ended. At this time, I thought of the basic premise for Debatcles (a word game...hence our name), and started experimenting with HaxeFlixel as I developed the idea, refined the physics, and learned a lot from wrestling with bugs and a new language, Haxe. Then, in late February 2016, with my daughter's 9th birthday on the medium-term radar, I had an idea. For a going-away present, a dear friend of ours, Michael Torreiter, had previously written and illustrated a book for her; now I asked what he thought about it being made into a video game, and he was all for it. Thus Willy and Mathilda's Houseboat Adventure: The Game was born, originally having 9 minigames for her 9th birthday.

After that

This labour of love zoomed along crazily for six weeks, all in secret. Thankfully, the game was playable enough when her birthday arrived! She immediately was drafted as a beta tester and voiceover artist. At that point there were still over 100 todo items outstanding, scattered all over the codebase, a notebook, and my dreams; she added a dozen more during her first play-through. At the end of April 2016, we launched this web site, and began being a lot more public about the game's development, because I think it's fun to celebrate what you're working on, and see it better through the eyes of others. Just over a month later, Ashton Mills and Dustin van Wyk had independently come forward to join Jennifer Pryde in composing the beautiful music that brings the game to life. The game runs on Windows, Mac (64-bit only), and Linux (32-bit, 32-bit without hardware accel, and 64-bit.) We hope you enjoy it!

Meanwhile

A few short breaks were taken in amongst development to take part in a Ludum Dare jam and a monthly mini-jam; lately we also whipped up an HTML5-based MasterMind clone with AI.

Projects

• Willy-and-mathildas-houseboat-adventure-the-game

Team & Repeating Collaborator

Kevin Bloch (né Field)
Programmer, Project Manager, CEO, etc.

Mathilda
Voice Artist, Alpha Tester

Contact

Inquiries
press-contact@ibwwg.com

Twitter
twitter.com/wastheWordGame

Facebook
facebook.com/mathildagame

Web
ibwwg.com