Solipskier

Last updated

Solipskier
Solipskier icon.png
App icon
Developer(s) Mikengreg
Publisher(s) Kongregate
Platform(s) Adobe Flash, iOS, Android
Release
  • Flash, iOS
    August 29, 2010 (2010-08-29)
  • Android
    November 2010 (2010-11)
Genre(s) Sports
Mode(s) Single-player

Solipskier is a sports video game for Adobe Flash, iOS, and Android developed and published by Mikengreg, the two-person team of Michael Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. In Solipskier, the player draws the snowy slope for an on-screen skier to pass through slalom gates and tunnels. The character accelerates with downhill sections and can launch into the air to perform tricks and earn a higher score. The idea came from a brainstorming session about parallax scrolling with speedy action in the foreground and the ability for the player to "paint" the terrain. It was Boxleiter and Wohlwend's first game to receive public appreciation. It was released August 29, 2010 to generally favorable reviews and was a runner-up in the 2011 Game Developers Conference Independent Games Festival's Best Mobile Game category.

Contents

Gameplay

Solipskier screenshot 1.png
Screenshots of gameplay and video of Wohlwend's high score

In the sports game Solipskier, the player draws the ground for the on-screen skier to pass through a level filled with gates, tunnels, and walls. [1] Drawing an incline, for example, will launch the skier into the air [2] to perform tricks, [3] and a downhill section will accelerate the skier. [4] Upcoming obstacles are indicated at the right of the screen along with the necessary altitude and distance. A streak of successful passes through gates will accrue a bonus score. The skier's speed also increases with time. As an endless runner (compared to Canabalt ), the characters advance until they die, [1] as there is no end. [4] If the skier travels fast enough, he loses his headphones, which cuts out the background music to the sound of the wind passing by. [2] The player receives "All Star Dunk Contest-like scorecards" after landing big jumps. [4] Solipskier also has an online leaderboard, and offers tips for new players to improve their scores. [3] It focuses on style and emotion from the player-character's terminal speed rather than on jumps and tricks. [5] It also has a hard rock guitar soundtrack. [4]

Development

Solipskier was designed for the Adobe Flash platform. Michael Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend had worked on Flash games earlier as Intuition Games. The idea for the game came from a brainstorming session about parallax scrolling, and was revised in fits of creativity. They paired the parallax scrolling with speed, [5] and eventually Boxleiter "blurted out with wide-eyes" that the player could "paint the terrain to determine the speed of the character". [6] They chose a snow or snowmobile theme and began to prototype that same night. [6] Boxleiter used skills he had acquired from previous games (heightmaps from Dinowaurs and bitmap drawing from EON) to make a mockup within hours: a red ball that moved along with a slope (made with the mouse) and floated down slowly when suspended in air. He added three gates to create a slalom skiing course and a sense of distance and speed, which was not apparent otherwise. Boxleiter then set up indicators to show the incoming gates, though he thought it was odd to have the indicators move to the right as the gate moved to towards the player (to the left). There was no parallax scrolling implemented in this phase. [6]

Michael Boxleiter headshot cropped.jpg
Greg Wohlwend headshot full frame.jpg
Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend

Meanwhile, Wohlwend mocked up a 2D course in grayscale, [lower-alpha 1] with humps of mountains. He originally designed the visuals such that there would be nothing on the screen where the player had not painted, which was later cut. After seeing Boxleiter's draft, he used crisp colors to make distinct gate markers and made the foreground highly contrast with the background. Their early drafts had a nighttime theme and included an aurora that was later cut due to difficulty of implementation in Flash. Wohlwend left the character design for last as his "weak point". [6] Boxleiter was particularly inspired by the idea of a skier replacing the snowmobile, and set up the parallax scrolling and motion blur, which made the skier appear to go faster. He also added the "tunnel" idea as a series of gates. [6] They animated the skier, who they gave an "ego-tastic" large head on a stick figure body, and decided to not use tutorials, opting for a game that began with the player's first click. [lower-alpha 2] Wohlwend's rainbow trail effect was added as a scarf or cape (which later became a rainbow burst behind the player), and the scoring mechanics were refined to reward players who took risks by letting the skier fly through the air without touching the screen. This was partly inspired by the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. [6] The title refers to a combination of solipsism and skiing. [7]

The game was their first to receive public appreciation. Boxleiter first understood its potential when publishers fought for the bid to the game. At the time, it was solely designed for Flash and not iOS, though they were interested in making bigger games outside the Flash market. [5] They announced the game in mid August 2010, where they revealed that the game would release on Flash (through Kongregate [8] ) and iOS simultaneously, [5] [lower-alpha 3] which happened on August 29, 2010. [1] Joe Bergeron, a programmer who had previously worked on Dinowaurs with Mikengreg, helped with the iOS version of the game. [9] Solipskier made around $70,000 in its first two months (as compared to $15,000 from the Flash release), which let them work in other non-Flash mediums in the future. [5] They released an Android version three months later. [10]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic. [11] It was a runner-up in the 2011 Game Developers Conference Independent Games Festival's Best Mobile Game category. [12] IGN's Levi Buchanan praised the art direction, especially the rainbow scarf against the gray, monotone background. [1] Chris Hall of 148Apps called it "the most original since Fastar". [4] Hall praised the touch of having the headphones fall off, with the contrast between the hard rock guitar and the rushing natural wind, but criticized the complex scoring system. [4] Edge 's Chris Donlan, on the other hand, appreciated the trade-offs between the different opportunities to score higher. [13] Hall of 148Apps added that Solipskier did not look as great on a Retina Display. [4] Tim Rattray of Slide to Play called the graphics "pure eye candy". [3] He felt that the game was "unique, but a 'one-trick pony' combination of fast Canabalt and platform-drawing Line Racer". [3] Likewise, IndieGames.com felt Solipskier's novelty was ephemeral. [14] Pocket Gamer's Mark Brown called its difficulty "steeper than the Alps". [15] Pocket Gamer listed the game as one of the toughest [15] and best indie games in 2011, [2] one of the best endless runners in 2012, [16] and a "hidden gem" in 2013. [17]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Wohlwend has said that he prefers to add color where necessary following a grayscale mockup. [6]
  2. Both developers did not like hand-holding in tutorials, which influenced their decision. They found that the player usually fell to their death immediately on their first run, but they felt it served its purpose. [6]
  3. As an iOS universal app, the game plays on both iPhone and iPad. [1]
References
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Buchanan, Levi (September 24, 2010). "Solipskier Review". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Rose, Mike (July 4, 2011). "Independents' Day: Top 10 best indie games on iPhone". Pocket Gamer . Steel Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Rattray, Tim (August 13, 2010). "Solipskier Review". Slide To Play. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hall, Chris (August 20, 2010). "Solipskier Review". 148Apps. Steel Media. Archived from the original on July 20, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Nicholson, Brad (March 23, 2012). "On Success, Expectations, And Brilliance: How 'Solipskier' Is Informing The Direction Of Mikengreg's Next Game". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on June 28, 2014. Retrieved May 25, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mikengreg (February 11, 2011). "Solipskier through the Ages". Mikengreg. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Reed, Kristan (August 27, 2010). "Download Games Roundup". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  8. Mikengreg (October 26, 2010). "2 Months of Solipskier App Store Sales". Mikengreg. Archived from the original on June 19, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  9. Mikengreg (August 10, 2010). "Hibernation Complete. Now for a Big Stretch and an Update". Mikengreg. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  10. Mikengreg (November 23, 2010). "Solipskier Available for Android Right Now". Mikengreg. Archived from the original on September 22, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  11. 1 2 "Solipskier Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  12. Thorsen, Tor (March 2, 2011). "Minecraft strikes gold at Indie Game Fest". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on April 16, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  13. Donlan, Chris (October 1, 2010). "The Friday Game: Solipskier". Edge . Future. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  14. W., Tim (August 12, 2010). "Browser Game Pick: Solipskier (Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend)". IndieGames.com . UBM Tech. Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  15. 1 2 Brown, Mark (June 8, 2011). "Top 10 toughest iPhone games". Pocket Gamer . Steel Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  16. Usher, Anthony (January 18, 2012). "Top 10 endless-running games for your iPhone and iPad". Pocket Gamer . Steel Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2014.
  17. Hearn, Rob (May 2013). "Hidden Gems: 154 great iOS games that you forgot existed [91-120]". Pocket Gamer . Steel Media. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2014.


Related Research Articles

<i>Jetpack Joyride</i> 2011 endless runner video game

Jetpack Joyride is a 2011 side-scrolling endless runner action video game created by Halfbrick Studios. It was released for iOS devices on the App Store on September 1, 2011 and has been ported to other systems. It was released online as a Flash version on May 11, 2012; on Android on September 28; on PlayStation Portable on November 20 in North America and November 21 in Europe; on BlackBerry PlayBook on December 13, 2012; on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on December 21 in Europe and December 31 in North America; on BlackBerry 10 on March 6, 2013; and on Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 on June 5. It was also released on PlayStation 4 on April 26, 2016. A mobile version using the keypad was released in 2021 for KaiOS devices.

<i>Canabalt</i> 2009 video game

Canabalt is a one-button endless runner designed by Adam Saltsman for the Experimental Gameplay Project in 2009. The 2D side-scrolling video game was originally written as a Flash game, then ported to iOS, Android, PlayStation Portable, Ouya, and HTML5. An authorized version for the Commodore 64 was released on cartridge. Canabalt has been credited with popularizing the endless runner subgenre.

<i>Gravity Guy</i> 2010 endless runner video game

Gravity Guy is a 2010 side-scrolling endless runner action arcade video game developed and published by Miniclip.

<i>Ridiculous Fishing</i> 2013 video game

Ridiculous Fishing is a fishing video game developed and published by Vlambeer. In the game, players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash. The game was released for iOS on March 13, 2013, then later that year for Android.

<i>Threes</i> 2014 video game

Threes is a puzzle video game by Sirvo, an independent development team consisting of game designer Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson. The game was released on February 6, 2014, for iOS devices and later ported to Android, Xbox One, Windows Phone, and Windows. In Threes, the player slides numbered tiles on a grid to combine addends and multiples of three. The game ends when there are no moves left on the grid and the tiles are counted for a final score.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Saltsman</span> American video game designer

Adam Saltsman, also known as Adam Atomic, is an American indie video game designer best known for creating the endless runner Canabalt. He is a founder of Semi Secret Software and Finji video game studios.

<i>Ziggurat</i> (video game) 2012 video game

Ziggurat, stylized as ZiGGURAT, is a retro-style arcade shooter video game developed by Action Button Entertainment for iOS platforms. As the world's last human fighting off incoming alien freaks from atop a ziggurat, the player uses touch controls to charge and shoot the enemies away, and dies if hit by an enemy. The game has 16-bit graphics style and an 8-bit chiptune soundtrack. Action Button designer Tim Rogers developed the game idea based on his experience with Angry Birds, which later led to his forming Action Button as a company with Ziggurat as its first release on February 17, 2012.

<i>Gasketball</i> 2012 video game

Gasketball is a basketball-themed puzzle video game for the iPad by Mikengreg, an independent development team of Michael Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. Players flick basketballs through 2D physics puzzles into the hoop in single-player, local multiplayer, and asynchronous HORSE-style online multiplayer modes. The game is free-to-play with in-app purchases. Development began in mid 2011 following Mikengreg's successful Solipskier. They were able to live from the earnings for Gasketball's two year development at their previous salary, which afforded them the stability to try new avenues and reject prototypes, though they worked 100-hour weeks. Towards the end of their development, they ran out of money and lived on the couches of friends. It was released on August 9, 2012, and the game did not reach their desired conversion rate at the time of launch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Wohlwend</span> American video game developer

Greg Wohlwend is an American independent video game developer and artist whose games include Threes! and Ridiculous Fishing. He originally formed Intuition Games with Iowa State University classmate Mike Boxleiter in 2007 where they worked on Dinowaurs and other small Adobe Flash games. Trained as an artist, Wohlwend worked mainly on the visual assets. As Mikengreg, they released Solipskier, whose success let the two take a more experimental approach with Gasketball, which did not fare as well. At the same time, Wohlwend collaborated with Asher Vollmer to make Puzzlejuice, and with Adam Saltsman to make Hundreds based on Wohlwend's first game design. He later released Threes! with Vollmer in 2014 to critical acclaim. His later games TouchTone and TumbleSeed were also the products of collaborations. Wohlwend was named among Forbes' 2014 "30 under 30" in the games industry.

<i>Hundreds</i> (video game) 2013 video game

Hundreds is a puzzle video game where players touch circles to make them grow without overlapping. In the game's 100 levels, the player interacts with different types of circles to bring a counter to the number 100. The game was developed and published by Semi Secret Software in collaboration with Greg Wohlwend and was released for iOS on January 7, 2013, and on Android later that year.

<i>Puzzlejuice</i> 2012 video game

Puzzlejuice is a 2012 indie puzzle video game for iOS produced and developed by video game company Sirvo. The game is a combination of Tetris, tile-matching, and Boggle: players rearrange falling tetromino blocks into rows of similar colors, which turn into letters that are cleared from the board by forming words. The fast-paced game also includes challenges and power-ups. The development team consisted of three people; programmer Asher Vollmer initially developed the game alone, before reaching out to artist Greg Wohlwend for advice on the aesthetics. Composer Jimmy Hinson produced the game's music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asher Vollmer</span> American indie video game developer (born 1989)

Asher Vollmer is an American indie video game developer. He created Puzzlejuice and Threes. Vollmer also worked on Guildlings and Beast Breaker.

<i>Lost Echo</i> Mobile video game

Lost Echo is a point-and-click adventure developed and published by KickBack Studios for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. It was released on September 27, 2013, for iOS. Later it was also released for Windows Phone and Android on June 18, 2014, and November 11, 2015, respectively. The game has gained a cult following. On February 9, 2019, and February 19, 2019, the developers updated the game with a complete remaster of the game for iOS and Android respectively. As of 2024, KickBack Studios is developing a sequel, entitled Lost Echo: Resonance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikengreg</span> American independent video game company

Mikengreg is an independent video game development team of Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. Their games include Solipskier, Gasketball, and TouchTone. The two met in a game development class at Iowa State University and later began to collaborate on the Adobe Flash game Dinowaurs. When the project was funded, they founded Intuition Games with other college friends in Ames, Iowa, where they worked on small Flash games such as Gray, Liferaft, and Fig. 8 for Flash game sites such as Kongregate. Dinowaurs was one of the first games signed for the Kongregate platform. Their other games involved controlling the weather, influencing individuals in a riot, and riding a bicycle. Boxleiter and Wohlwend worked on several additional games that were put on hiatus.

Warhammer 40,000: Carnage is a mobile action role-playing video game developed and published by Canadian indie studio Roadhouse Games Ltd. It is based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame franchise Warhammer 40,000. It released for the iOS and Android platforms in May and June 2014, respectively.

<i>Cordy</i> (video game) 2011 video game

Cordy is an iOS and Android game developed by SilverTree Media/SilverTree Holdings LP and released on July 27, 2011. Cordy is a platform game with 27 levels.

<i>Fragger</i> 2010 video game

Fragger is a popular trajectory-based puzzle game created and developed by Harold Brenes and released in 2009 for the Internet. After achieving popularity on the Internet, being played more than 100 million times, it was licensed and ported by Miniclip to iPhone in 2010, and to Android and PlayJam in 2012. By August 2014 it had become the second-placed paid app for iPhone and third overall top-grossing app in Apple's App Store. The gameplay is similar to Angry Birds. The game has had "generally favourable reviews", garnering a Metacritic score of 86% based on 5 critic reviews.

<i>Windosill</i> 2009 video game

Windosill is a 2009 puzzle video game by Vectorpark for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, web browsers, and iOS. The player advances through eleven different rooms by interacting with each level's environmental objects. It was developed by Patrick Smith, an artist who taught himself to animate and program the game in Adobe Flash. He was inspired by a variety of painters and artists. The game was first released for Windows, OS X, and web browsers in 2009, and was later ported to the iPad in 2011, with several added features.

<i>TouchTone</i> 2015 video game

TouchTone is a 2015 puzzle video game developed and published by Mikengreg, a two-person indie game development team made up of Mike Boxleiter and Greg Wohlwend. The player monitors phone calls as part of a government surveillance program to find public threats. They unlock chains of emails by completing a series of puzzles in which a beam is reflected around a room to a set destination. TouchTone's core concept grew from a two-day game jam immediately following their 2012 release of Gasketball but only found its hacker theme following the mid-2013 global surveillance disclosures of Edward Snowden. The tone of TouchTone's story grew from satirical to serious over the course of the game's development.

<i>Growtopia</i> 2012 video game

Growtopia, commonly abbreviated as GT, is a massively multiplayer online sandbox video game developed by Ubisoft Abu Dhabi and formerly by indie developers Robinson Technologies and Hamumu Software where players can farm, build worlds, converse with others, and engage in player versus player combat. The game was initially released for Android in November 2012, and later for iOS, Microsoft Windows, and OS X in 2013. It was also released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2019, but support for each console would later be discontinued on July 30, 2020.