Get Set Games: From Game Jam to App Store in five months

In this period of massive flux in the game industry, new studios are setting up on a seemingly weekly basis.

One such is Canadian outfit Get Set Games, which demonstrating the speed of change, has just released its debut iPhone game five months after making the decision to go pro.

A fast fingered number-based experience called Addicus, it's demonstrative of the type of bite-sized games that dominate the low cost segment on the App Store.

We caught up Get Set co-founder Matt Coombe to find out more about the formation of the studio and what plans it had to thrive in this competitive environment.

Matt Coombe: Get Set Games is a team of four guys in Toronto, Canada, who have all worked in the games and real time 3D industries for the last few years. We have two coders and two artists on the team and we've all done professional work for large companies either in full time or freelance roles.

We've been getting into the indie Game Jam scene here at the Toronto TOJam as well as the international Global Game Jam and had a blast making fast and furious games in a short time frame. Every time we finished a jam (making an entire game from the ground up in 48 hours), we had so much fun and were so stoked with the results there was always talk of getting our games out on Xbox Live or some other distribution network. After the last jam we did in May, we made a decision to actually do it and launched Get Set Games Inc in July.

We had originally discussed the Xbox Live marketplace as a possible direction for Get Set, especially as we'd been developing on the XNA platform, but after looking more in depth at the iPhone/iPod touch, we got really excited about Apple's platform. It's a new kind of experience for both the user and the developer.

From the user's point of view, having a device that's aware of its location and orientation, and with a touchscreen that allows any type of interface we could imagine, it opens up a world of new and, more importantly fun, game mechanics.

From a developer's point of view, the iPhone presents us with a platform that is quick to develop for, easy to deploy on, and easy to later provide updates. That means we get to spend most of our time doing what we love: developing fun games. Also, the terms of the contract you sign with Apple is great. You can work on whatever you want, set your own deadlines, and you get 70 percent of each sale.

Although it's not typical of the type of games we've made in the past, we're all fans of puzzle games. Number games like Drop7 on the iPhone and dice games like Shut the Box are awesome.

We tried to take a number puzzle game and turn it into a fast paced arcade title with a lot of intensity. Addicus was the result.

It's been exceptionally positive. We're just pleased people are enjoying it. It's accessible across gender and age groups and I think that's what's lead to the quick uptake we've witnessed on the App Store.

The action puzzler space is definitely crowded but we've put a lot of effort into making Addicus not only highly addictive but also really pretty. There's a massive focus at Get Set on making our games as beautiful as possible, no matter what the genre. Artwork, the user interface, music, sound effects, presentation, and overall polish are things we take seriously and I think that will help us to shine out from the crowd.

We've also planned for a series of regular updates and new features for Addicus and we intend to engage closely with players and the Get Set community to make our games even better. As for the 99c price point - that's was just the special launch sale price for the first three days.

We are all Xbox 360 gamers so we know from Xbox Live what a community can do for games. People want to know what games their friends are playing and how much better their scores are than their friends and other people across the globe. When we took a look at OpenFeint and how easy they've made it to integrate into our app it was a no brainer.

The guys at OpenFeint have been great to work with and they listen to their community too, which really helps. Not only that but OpenFeint has a large and growing community based on games we play and enjoy - we wanted to be a part of that.

Most definitely. We're looking forward to exploring all sorts of revenue models with future titles.

We're watching the development of the other mobile platforms with a lot of interest. This is a really exciting time to be a game developer as there are so many options opening for indie developers to get their games out to the public.

We won't necessarily change our view on the iPhone market but it would be nice to grow into other markets as they arise. We'd like to develop on any platform that is a good fit for our games.

We currently have two titles in development so you can expect more fast paced action and stimulating graphics from us in the near future. In a word: Goodtimes.

You can keep in touch with whatever Get Set Games gets up to via web and Twitter.