“Probably the most valuable thing of all from an open beta on a new platform is just the huge amount of user feedback we got,” Henry Hoffman said at Casual Connect Europe. “It was insane.”
Henry Hoffman is Co-Founder and Creative Director of Mudvark, a company that develops multi-platform games and offers game marketing services for other developers. Hoffman’s role in the company is art, design, and HTML5/JS for casual cross-platform games. He focuses on the art, development, design, and sound for their game, Mortar Melon, as well as overseeing any additional projects.
When not working, Hoffman uses his creativity in an entirely different direction: in the kitchen. He hopes to start a blog soon and share some of his more creative recipes. He also enjoys music, theater, and dance. Someday, he would like to merge some of these interests with games, perhaps with a cooking game or working with performance practitioners to offer new perspectives into game space and movement.
Yin and Yang
Hoffman and Dan Da Rocha founded Mudvark using the dividends from the hit game Q.U.B.E., which they had both worked on at university. Before that, he was Director at Angry Mango, but felt his creativity was beginning to be stifled by the management and organizational aspects of the job. Fortunately, his present job is a perfect fit, with Da Rocha responsible for business, accounts and paperwork, while Hoffman retains creative control and is able to use his abilities in art, design, and development. He says, “The yin and yang of creativity and logical thinking is really key to keeping focused on projects over a long period of time.”
One of the elements in Mudvark’s success is Hoffman’s attention to detail, which he admits can border on the obsessive. An example is when he subtly redesigned the icon for Mortar Melon twice during the week of its launch. But the redesign helped it move twenty places higher in the Top Fifty. Overall, he feels it is a positive quality that helps them achieve the level of polish needed to succeed in various marketplaces.
Connecting is the Best Part
The most enjoyable part of being in the game industry, Hoffman claims, is connecting with other people in the industry, “The conferences, events, and parties that take place are home to some of the nicest, most talented people I have ever met.” He also finds it exciting to present at the conferences, although, since he offers different insights, it can be a bit risky. But he says, “All the crazy things that can come out of these events, from the funny press coverage to even huge publishing deals, are really what makes it great fun to work in the game industry.”
A key moment in Hoffman’s career came when he won a BAFTA award for a game he led while in university. However, it was actually the nomination, not the win, that was his proudest moment. Hoffman was incredibly proud of the team, who had had disagreements, but managed to work through them.
Be Diverse and Discoverable
Hoffman considers that the greatest challenge facing the game industry is discoverability. He believes this has less to do with the marketplace UX, and more a result of saturation. He suggests some sort of web marketplace could offer a viable solution for developers and huge benefits for consumers, such as sharing purchases and progress across mobile and web. As long as platform holders insist on platform exclusivity, it will remain a challenge.
He points out that building and launching a game is very much an investment, so the way to mitigate the risk of the investment is to diversify the portfolio. He emphasizes, “There needs to be very conscious development decisions and pipelines in place to either target multiple platforms at once or to have the capability of doing so easily after launch.” Mudvark has ensured that they have a cross-platform strategy that very effectively sustains the business through any managing contingency. Although it is possible for platform exclusivity to work for some developers, Hoffman believes it is wise to keep potential platforms in mind in case the primary release doesn’t go according to plan.
The next few years will see wearable technology playing a part in the future of games and technology in general, according to Hoffman. However, he doesn’t yet see a market for games beyond simple toys. He tells us The Rift and Glyph both look good for immersive experiences, but are not suitable for casual play. So he still sees screens playing a large part in casual gaming, but supportive experiences will begin to take place using wearable peripherals. Mudvark is following these developments closely and when there is a good business case for it, they will implement supportive experiences into their existing and future titles.