Interviews

Playdek's Joel Goodman on the challenges of bringing physical card and board games to mobile

Cutting the pack

Playdek's Joel Goodman on the challenges of bringing physical card and board games to mobile
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There's been a lot of talk recently about addressing the demands of core gamers within the mobile space.

That's the reason stalwarts of the scene such as Glu Mobile, Storm8 and Epic/Chair are now being joined by the likes of Kabam with Industrial Toys, Supercell and Aeria also looking to get in on the action.

Trumping the rest

US publisher Playdek could be shoehorned into that band of brothers, but its business focus is even more core; converting physical card-based and tabletop games into digital form.

"We have a history in console games, working with the likes of THQ, Disney and Pixar, but in 2011, we transitioned to mobile and tabletop games," explains CEO Joel Goodman, himself a 17-year veteran of the games industry.

Based in Carlsbad, California, the company hit the ground running, teaming up with local outfit Gary Games, bringing its Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer deck-building title to iOS.

It's since signed up deals with companies such as Lookout Games (Agricola), AEG (Nightfall!) and GMT (Commands and Colors), ensuring it's going to be busy throughout 2012.

Building on good foundations

What's interesting about the space is working on existing games means that - in most cases - the rules and gameplay mechanics are well honed. Instead, it's aspects such as user interface and graphics that are key to ensuring a good experience.

"It's all about quality. You have to execute well and ensure you don't dilute the brand and the gameplay. That's our differentiation," Goodman says.

"Especially in terms of the UI. It needs to be pristine. You can't clutter things up."

Another tricky aspect is the need to add artificial intelligence.

"Of course, this audience wants to play multiplayer, but we also want to enable solo play," Goodman says.

"Board gamers will set aside an evening to play around a physical game with their friends, but they also want to build up their experience on their own."

Walk then run

Still, he expects that the more games Playdek works on, the more it can build up its expertise in terms of bringing existing properties to mobile, quickly, while keeping the quality level high.

"There are processes we can standardise, and we have our own core engine and our own server infrastructure, which is designed for asynchronous play," Goodman states.

The technology is platform agnostic, so although initially the company is just working on iOS, it plans to release on Android.

It's a similar situation in terms of hooking up with the free-to-play business model; Ascension is a $4.99 game.

"The download numbers make it hard to ignore, but some games can't be reversed engineered in that way," Goodman ponders.

"We think the price point of our games is fair given the experience we provide, though, going forward, we will look to explore freemium versions of our games where it's appropriate."

Doing core well

For the present, however - together with its partners - the company's focus is building up a strong community .

"Working very closely with Gary Games [for Ascension] translated across physical and virtual very well," Goodman points out.

"We got good data, especially in terms of multiplayer activity, and combined with the other things we learned, that will feed into our future games.

"Our success will come from honing our products, providing the highest quality for our audience, and I think that will also result in a broader social appeal."

You can find out what Playdek gets up to via its website.
Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.