Interview: Denki's Gary Penn on the 'sausages and ice cream combo' of iOS game Quarrel

A title that everyone got excited about a couple of years ago (before it got stuck in publisher hell and almost took down developer Denki), Risk meets anagram game Quarrel is finally going to be released.

Starting on iOS and then rolling out to other platforms later in the year, it's a territory-conquering experience that requires you to make the best words from the provided letters in order to work out who wins each battle.

We caught up with designer Gary Penn to find out more about the game.

Gary Penn: We were into mash-ups at the time, and someone had the bright idea of mashing up Dice Wars with Word Crunch. We were playing Dice Wars a lot and Word Crunch was this insanely popular word game we did for (satellite broadcaster) Sky.

The idea was to take the arcade-style strategy of Dice Wars, but instead of throwing dice to see who wins the fights, we'd use a simple word game. It took a week or so to put together a prototype. It was a manky mess, but we couldn't stop playing it, so we knew we were on to something.

The original idea was to make it like Desperate Housewives. You'd argue with your neighbours to take over plots of land and build up these big fancy houses, but that just felt stupid and fake, so we ditched that and remade it with little armies instead.

In fact, we remade it a few times in the end. We even produced a boardgame version with cut-up cereal boxes, coins, and LEGO. That was mainly so we could quickly try out design ideas, but the boardgame turned out be great fun in its own right.

It was like making a slow-cook stew. You had to be really careful what ingredients you added and how much of each one. You had to keep tasting it and making small changes - you know, like a little bit more seasoning here - until it tasted just right.

For example, we had dozens of different power-ups, but it wasn't until we tried them out that we found they didn't really go together so well after all, or they just ruined the game.

I guess the mix of anagrams and strategy does seem a bit of a sausages and ice cream combo. Quarrel's definitely more word game than anything. The strategy side comes into play when you need to beat someone who's at least as good as you. You can't rely on your word skills alone.

Risk's more about being a general, safely away from the action. Quarrel's more about getting your hands dirty. You don't just order your troops around: you make weapons out of words for them. Quarrel adds some skill to Risk's lucky combat.

The great thing is that everyone understands words and how to make them - everyone has natural skills and an armoury from the start. What's nice is you get to use words in such a stupid, fun way, and you get to see new words made and their meanings, which boosts your firepower.

It's a great way to improve your word skills, which isn't what we set out to do - we just wanted to play a word game with a bit more to it.

Good question.

I think publishers found it difficult to take a punt on Quarrel, because it's not the easiest idea to sell. It's not even slightly like anything else out there. It's a word game and a strategy game, and it looks cute and it sounds mad. The global recession probably didn't help either. Hardly anyone felt like taking - pardon the pun - risks.

We haven't needed to change Quarrel in the past 12 months or so, because we put so much into making it work the first time around. We did fiddle with a few things to improve them after watching some more people play.

Now, the opponents play better than before, even more like real people than they used to, and they'd already fooled enough players in blind testing. We also added a towel to throw in if you don't want to fight, which feels better.

Quarrel's appeal is broader than just the iOS audience.

We know that from the reactions of all the different types of players who've tested Quarrel on iOS, Xbox, and even as a boardgame. We've seen people who don't like word games end up grinning like the Joker after their first game of Quarrel. We've seen people who don't think they're strategy-minded unleash a hidden general. It's like a classic boardgame, yet in a funky modern form.

Unique to iOS is the Daily Challenge, which is my favourite way to play. Every day, the whole world gets the same level, opponents, and setup - a different mix every day. Some matches are short and sweet; others can turn into all-out war; all of them tend to leave you busting to see how everyone else did.

It's also a real backseat driver's game. Whether you're playing on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, people can't help but chip in. It's the sort of game that works well with groups, because everyone has an opinion and everyone can join in. We know how well this works from our testing with groups - especially with families.

The strengths and weaknesses of the different armies used to have an effect, but that made the game too complicated - it gave you too much more to think about. There's enough depth as it is.

We wanted an action game first and foremost, not another Risk. Dice Wars was a great example of how you could simplify, automate, or remove complexity, but keep everything focused and fun.

What does change the way the games play out are the different levels and the different players - and they change even more when you mix those up. The game also changes depending on when you play. In a four-player match, for example, you tend to need to play differently if you go first, second, third, or fourth.

Quarrel should be released for iOS in August.