SENSATIONAL

INNOVATE • Cover storyas a recent hit on the iPhone and iPad, Office Jerk can claim arelatively small but significant share of those numbers. One ofseveral titles produced by Fluik Entertainment Inc., located ina pink stucco walkup just off downtown Edmonton, the casualgame represents the success Bitshift has set its sights on. As ofthis summer, the free app (which makes its money on advertising,in-game purchases and, recently, branded merchandise, includingmugs and iPhone covers) reached 9.5 million downloads and hadhit No. 1 in 50 countries. That made room for the full-time additionsof programmer Justin James and junior game artist Matt LaRose,both freshly minted DMIT grads (class of ’11).Office Jerk is another simple game. The “jerk” sits at his deskand you throw stuff at him: muffins, staplers, even the fan thatcreates the wind current – the physics, as gamers call it – thataffects your toss. LaRose worked on animating things including thejerk’s facial expressions, the supplies on his desk and the objectsthrown at him, while James reconfigured the game for Android,Google’s fast-rising operating system. They work with a team ofless than 10, coding and designing together in a space the size of amaster bedroom. At lunch they can play console video games ona big screen TV in front of a pink leather sectional, approximatingSilicon Valley casualness. “It’s still kind of like school,” says James ofthe atmosphere and the learn-on-the-job guidance he receives.Apart from James’s experience developing a PC-based gamecalled Goobers that paid his way through school, and LaRose’sfreelance work, this is the pair’s first view of an industry they didn’texpect to crack so soon. That said, the veteran gamers aren’tsurprised by the market shift that opened the door. “There has beena huge explosion of casual gamers,” says LaRose. He attributesthat to the iPhone and, surprisingly, a console. “Wii has madegaming accessible to all sorts of people. Before, gaming was justfor a hardcore audience – 30-, 40-hour-long campaigns that you’dplay through.” James agrees, suggesting a stigma around video gamesin general may have lifted. “Now your mom can pick up a Wii controllerand bowl.”Though they’re both nostalgic enough for those immersive, consolebasedgames to want to one day make them, they’re not interested –not yet, at least – in taking that leap of faith into entrepreneurism andsetting up a shop like Bitshift. This is a risky market (none of Fluik’sseveral other titles have performed as well as Office Jerk). In fact, theirwork cycle is based, essentially, on trying to outpace user-fickleness.After downloads of a new version of a game plateau, a slight dip signalsthe need for yet another. You repeat this “until you get that freefall,” saysJames. “Then you abandon ship and go to the next game.”Though Office Jerk is far from those twilight metrics, Fluik is busyplanning for another hit, the nature of which remains a trade secret untilrelease.“I’ve been sitting at my desk working on another game,” says James.“I’ll just say that.”if all goes well, Super Punch would likely work according to a similarmodel. “The way I want to see Bitshift is definitely as the indie gamedeveloper,” says Ste. Marie. “Just a small team . . . . We’re not reallymaking a company to sell it to Google. I want to have a say in what’shappening.”Parker feels the same. “I don’t want to be managing somethingthat’s so huge it takes up all my life. The main thing that drives Tyler andmyself and a lot of game developers is passion. It’s something we enjoy.We just want to create a scenario where we’re doing it full time.”And he’s convinced now is the time to try.The future Cadieux describes for this industry is, for new developers,both good and bad. A low barrier to entry, for instance, in terms ofstartup costs, means the potential of a rising flood of competition –giving gamers plenty of options. “The customer’s going to give you twoRight to left, programmer Justin James andjunior game artist Matt LaRose take a breakwith co-workers Lisa Lindsay and Pat Sluthat Edmonton’s Fluik Entertainment Inc., thecompany responsible for the hit game appOffice Jerk.36 techlifemag.ca