By J.W. Oliver
Alna game designer Aaron Weissblum demonstrates the Noodle Doodle iPhone app in his Alna workshop Dec. 3, 2014. Apple selected Noodle Doodle as a “best new game” for the iPad and featured it on the front page of the Apple App Store upon the game’s release in June 2014. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
Aaron Weissblum plays Noodle Doodle in his Alna workshop Dec. 3, 2014. Players have to select from the letters at the bottom of the screen to spell a phrase that relates to the doodle above. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
Aaron Weissblum demonstrates the iPhone word game app Tuklu in his Alna workshop Dec. 3, 2014. “It’s a little bit like ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ but you don’t have to buy your vowels,” Weissblum said. (J.W. Oliver photo) |
Alna game designer Aaron Weissblum has two new word games available as apps for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch.
Noodle Doodle and Tuklu are word games that combine elements of crossword puzzles, hangman, and “Wheel of Fortune.”
Noodle Doodle gives players a clue in the form of a doodle, along with a series of blank spaces representing a common word or phrase. Players choose from several letters to fill in the blanks and solve the puzzle.
For example, a doodle of a nose appears above a nine-letter word and a six-letter word. The answer? Horserace margin – as in, “he wins by a nose!”
Players can earn an extra life for every puzzle they solve, two lives for a “perfect” solve, and other bonuses. Players lose a life for every incorrect letter.
Tuklu replaces the doodles with two crossword-like word clues. For example, one puzzle offers the clues “computer key” and “type of show.” The answer is “control freak.” Instead of lives, Tuklu players earn – and lose – units of energy.
The games are free to download and come with a certain number of lives or units of energy.
Noodle Doodle allows players to purchase more lives – 28 for 99 cents, 96 for $2.99, or 456 for $9.99. The latter two options also remove all advertisements. Tuklu offers similar packages.
For the majority of his approximately 20-year career as a game designer, Weissblum, 50, has focused on board games, card games, and interactive puzzles. He has about 40 games to his credit, according to boardgamegeek.com.
His most popular games are those in the 10 Days series – 10 Days in Africa, 10 Days in the Americas, 10 Days in Asia, 10 Days in Europe, and 10 Days in the USA, with sales in the vicinity of “a couple hundred thousand,” he said.
Board games “are doing great right now,” Weissblum said during a Dec. 3, 2014 interview in his Alna workshop. “It’s not so much that they’re on the wane, but the thing I’m most excited about now is actually games for (iPhones).”
A couple of years ago, a chance meeting with programmer Eric Snider at a game convention in Dallas, Texas opened the world of electronic games to Weissblum.
“The trick with working in the electronic medium is, unless you’re a programmer, it’s really hard to find the right people to work with,” Weissblum said. “There are tons of great programmers, but there aren’t that many who understand games.”
So Weissblum stuck with board games.
“I can actually make a (board) game right here, without leaving my shop, that we can play, as opposed to an electronic game, where I can come up with the greatest idea in the world, but until I convince someone to make it just how I want it, it’s nothing,” he said.
“I got really lucky a couple years ago,” Weissblum said. He was at the Dallas convention to lead one of his interactive puzzles.
While there, he met Snider, a game programmer perhaps most well-known for “Eric’s Ultimate Solitaire,” a game that came with Apple computers in the 1990s.
“He’s really good and he loves games and he specifically knew my (puzzle) work and liked it,” Weissblum said. “We have already done a couple things together and he’s just amazing – just totally gets it.”
Noodle Doodle was released June 18, 2014, according to Apple’s App Store.
Apple selected Noodle Doodle as a “best new game” for the iPad and featured it on the front page of the app store.
The promotion “was great, because you get this huge number of users from it instantly,” Weissblum said. About 3,000 users were downloading the game every day.
Their second effort, Tuklu, was released Nov. 11, 2014. The app has not been featured, “but it’s chugging along,” Weissblum said.
Weissblum likes the independence the electronic medium affords to designers. Board game designers generally rely on companies to publish and manufacture their work, and designers often lose control of the process after a company buys a game.
Electronic games are different.
“A couple people in an apartment could build an empire making these games if they were clever enough, and not really need anyone’s help,” Weissblum said. “It’s pretty cool.”
Weissblum continues to design analog games. His card game Spellcaster is so new he didn’t have a copy yet at the time of the interview. The game retails for $19.95 and is available online at www.amazon.com or www.rnrgames.com.
He has a tile game in development with the working title Great Wall of Poker, and he thinks it could become a mainstream hit or even a household name like Jenga or Uno.
“I could be kidding myself, but I think it might end up in that category,” Weissblum said.
Weissblum also designs large-scale outdoor games and puzzles like the Trail Guys treasure hunt at Hidden Valley Nature Center, across the town line in Jefferson.
The Trail Guys are wood creations of elf-like men with skis who appear on trees along the trails at the nature center. The Trail Guys look the same except for a symbol on their body, which corresponds to a letter on the same tree.
A piece of paper available at the gatehouse spells out a phrase in symbols. Hikers have to find the Trail Guys to learn what letter corresponds to each symbol and solve the code, which leads hikers to a “treasure” of sorts.
Weissblum wants to expand Trail Guys to more fully utilize the 1,000-acre nature center and its approximately 30 miles of trails.
The majority of his creative efforts are directed toward electronic games, though.
“We’re working on probably three or four more,” Weissblum said. “That’s my focus now, as far as my aspirations. Obviously I want to keep doing the other games – they’re great – but I really would like to get a strong foothold on the phone games.”