Joey Betz

Dashing and Daring,
Crushing and Fearing,
Faithful and smart,
As He programs along.

Joey Betz
Coding Here and there and Everywhere
His games are beyond Compare,
He is called Joey Betz.

I hope everyone enjoys this interview.

1-  Hi, Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do?

I live in Irvine Ca and I work full time as a game developer for Armor Games

2 - What is your educational background?

I got a Bachelors degree in game development, which sounds kind of cheesy, but it’s the best decision I’ve made.

3 - When did you realize that making Flash games is something you would like to do full-time?

Flash games are extremely fast to produce, and realizing that you can make something amazing within just a few weeks, I got addicted really fast.

4 -  How did you get involved with Armor Games?

Dan was interested in a flash developer that was local, and I happened to be on his radar. After the gladiator battle with the other hopeful developers and the final fight against a Rancor monster, I was lucky enough to come out victorious.

5 - You are relatively new to the Flash game world. Did you expect the immense popularity for many of your games would produce?

No, that’s what so funny about it. I just make games that I would enjoy playing, and find it pretty cool that other people like them too.

6 - What qualities or features do you think added to the success of your games?

Addictiveness. I try and put addictive properties in every game I do, and sometimes it’s really successful.

7 - What is your favorite game you have worked on so far? What do you like most about it?

I’d have to say it’s a toss up between Crush the Castle and Phage Wars. During Crush the Castle John and I got to make a real working trebuchet in the office and launched Ball Revamped balls in the parking lot. With Phage Wars I did a lot of research on cells and got to implement a lot of technical charts in Phage Wars 2.

8 - Do you have any games currently in the works or planned for the future? Is there more destruction coming?

I have a some sequels coming up and quite a few new ideas in the works. Destruction aplenty.

9 -  Where did you get the inspiration to make a game about demolition?

My dad actually came up with the idea for Demolition City. He wanted a game where you could blow up buildings with dynamite, and so DC was made specifically for him.

10 -  When you are taking a break from game development, what are some things you like to do for fun?

I watch movies all the time. I especially enjoy anime movies and I think I’ve seen almost everything Studio Ghibli has produced. I enjoy listening to music quite a bit as well.

11 -  Approximately, how often do you eat at Chipotle?

Twice a week and sometimes more. I’ve kind of brought it into the office as well, with Chipotle Mondays for lunch. It’s an addiction, and I struggle with it everyday.

12 - I hear that You and Daniel McNeely share the same birthday, both have a sister named Jennifer and that you use to live 5 doors apart in Newport Beach and never even knew it. Do you think you two are long lost brothers that were separated at birth?

I think Dan and I are one in the same person. When Dan is happy, I’m happy and when Dan gets sad, I feel upset. It’s really weird.

13 - What words of encouragement would you give to someone who is just starting off in game development?

If you aren’t having fun making a game, then you aren’t making a very fun game.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions Joey!

Our friends over at Hero Interactive have released a preview video of their upcoming game release, Bubble Tanks Tower Defense!  The project looks like it is coming together.  While you are at it, check out previous versions of Bubble Tanks to get a sense of what you are up against for Bubble Tanks TD.

Their most recent blog post says the team is expecting the game to be done within the month, so check back for release on Armor Games later this month for the full game!

This is a sort of script-heavy post, I apologize in advance. But like I have mentioned in a previous post, I have been working on a level editor for I Hate Traffic.  One of the concerns of the game is somehow storing these levels as something small and compact enough to fit easily into copy and paste bits of code.  We all love those massive million character codes, but since we are planning on making this a game with levels built into a level select system, we decided to make things smaller…er.  Prepare for some geekiness….

I first took the raw code for the level above…

So 2,187 characters… is about ~2.2 kb.  Not much right?  Sort of.  It’s just a tiny bit on this scale, but once you start putting it on a larger level (thousands and thousands of plays) that data transfer can add up.  Every three digit number (displayed back to back) represents a single tile in the system, in case you were wondering.

So in an attempt to shrink down that number a bit I formatted the tiles to write themselves down sort of like a gif file.  Gif files reference a table of data, then run a set of algorithms to eliminate the need to map every pixel independently.  So instead of 109109109109109109 to represent 6 tiles we can put in 109×6 instead, which is much less beafy.  So, after this algorithm runs….

We’re down to 1,802 characters, or 15% streamlining.  Not bad.  And given the circumstances and complexity this precentage can rise up into the high 50-99% compact rate, but since this is a rather complex level it’s not streamlined that heavily.  So let’s go one more.

With the help of Joey we have discovered that dumping the code into a ByteArray makes it even smaller.  ByteArray are containers of bits, as way of accessing and working with binary data.  In this way we can move things around in smaller chunks of data.   Transferring the data into byteArray data and compressing… well…

We’re down to 676 characters, tapping out at only 30% of the original code.

2,187 -> 1,802 -> 676, not bad.  That’s for a level with 625 tiles on it, pulling from a library of about 100+ different tile types.

So in this way we can store much smaller chunks of data.  I’m guessing there’s even smaller ways to store the data beyond these methods but we’re extremely happy with what we have come up with so far.

Programming aside, the game is going well and the tools in the editor should be plenty fun to play with.  Should be done soon!

SSB is coming out soon so here’s a catch tune to get everyone excited!
Enjoy~

We are looking to add another web developer to our team.

You can check out the details here! http://jobs.37signals.com/jobs/5771

Joey and I are working on a couple of halloween games at the moment, and until then, we’re decorating our computers for the holiday to get into the spirit.  Even our coding is getting in the groove!

Also, if you’re on the website, check out the Halloween Armatars just posted (you have to be logged in).

If you are looking for some halloween games to play right now, check out our some of Zombie games, we’ve got a lot of them!  Too many, perhaps.

Hi everyone!  I’m deep in midst of my next game, I Hate Traffic.  If you haven’t gathered, I Hate Traffic is a game based on the earlier Flash game I Love Traffic, a game about cars.  In the latest offering of traffic games, it’s time to smash things up.

Think of it as the aggressive younger brother with hormones raging.  I Love Traffic was about safely guiding traffic, but this incarnation will be all about causing damage.  The ying and yang of traffic direction, perhaps.  If you have ever played that Burnout 3 (PS2) crash mode you’ll know where I’m coming from on this one.

One new feature of this game is the ability to share your own challenges with others and make your own crash environments.  While the game is fairly early into production the editor is already underway.   Here’s a glimpse at the oh-so-early level editor.

More updates to follow, but I feel like sharing this game production because I am in the midst of trying new things and I would love to share my programming triumphs and struggles with the world.

While Armor Games staff was not in attendance, we were very surprised to find out we were featured in the Keynote of day 2 for online Flash gaming at the MAX 2009 conference put on by Adobe.  The specific moment of the feature was to talk about EA and Pogo, and their involvement in using Flash for their casual gaming division.

Cheers Adobe for the plug!

This week we bring you a very exciting interview with ‘Hero Interactive’.

1.      Hi, Could you introduce yourself and tell us a little about yourself?

Yeah sure!  I’m Jared Riley, the founder and owner of the flash game studio Hero Interactive.  We’ve developed a number of popular games out there, many of which you’ve probably heard of such as Bubble Tanks and StormWinds.  Our studio is located in Southwest Michigan, USA and currently consists of 3 programmers, an artist, a project/community manager, and two composers.

2.      What sparked your interest in Flash gaming and, more specifically, how
did you get into Flash development?

I was always interested in game development and had initially planned on entering console game development.  For that reason I picked up degrees in Computer Science and Telecommunication from Michigan State University.  However, disillusioned with the lifestyle and work conditions a console developer could be looking forward to, I decided to try something different.  So in 2006, I started exploring with Flash and seeing what was out there.  Turns out it was a good fit for me.

3.      What are some things you like about Flash as opposed to trying to develop on other platforms?

Flash is an amazing platform to work with.  Firstly, it’s one of the (if not the most) ubiquitous programs out there.  It’s installed on billions of machines, more than Microsoft Windows by far.  Our games can run on almost any computer be it Windows or Mac.  Additionally, Flash games can be developed far more quickly than console games so we’re able to experiment with games and try something new.  In a month or two we’re usually on something new!

4.      How did you come up with “That Hero guy from your logo”? Who drew him?
Was he modeled after you?

Haha, actually I didn’t have much to do with the character though I get this question often.  I did choose the name of the company and when we approached the logo design company, we gave them a lot of input: we wanted a super hero, blue, orange, and white colors, etc…  After MANY revisions this is what we got!  I’m happy with him, and he’s served as a great mascot.

5.      What inspired you to make games about Bubbles in Combat?

I knew I wanted to make a game where you could go around shooting off components of enemies and then having those parts fuel your own growth.  Once I decided I wanted to be able to also have you float around from one arena to another, bubble just kind of came to mind and stuck.  I wanted a casual shooter as well, and it was a good fit.

6.      What aspects of your Bubble Tanks games do you think attributed to
their success?

I think there are two big factors that make Bubble Tanks as popular as it is.  The first is the game centers around growth.  Watching your tank constantly evolve and grow is really fun and gives us a sense of positive progress in the game.  Secondly, the ability to just float around and choose who we fight and when we fight them allows us to control the difficulty in the game far better than most and in a way that is subtle yet makes sense.  If you find the game too easy, all you have to do is keep swimming away from the center of the map.  If you find it too hard, you can simply stick around the center killing the smaller enemies.  If you’re in a situation that’s too stressful- just run!  This kind of difficulty control allows the game to be challenging and interesting yet never so hard you get frustrated and quit.  I’m definitely trying to find new ways to port this sort of system into other games’ designs.

7.      Which of your games are you most proud of?  What do you like most about it?

You know, despite it’s limited popularity, LightSprites is just one of my favorite projects.  I LOVE that game.  It was a very original and ridiculous game that I really enjoyed playing AND making.  Once I saw all the little people dancing and having fun and then bursting into flames or getting struck by lightning, I knew the game was awesome.

8.      What new games do you have planned for the future?  Any screenshots we can check out?

Being constantly busy producing, we currently we are working on THREE new games!  Some of them are actually getting near to completion.

The first game and closest to release is a game called Paint the Fence.  The game cleverly has you painting fences as fast as you possibly can while trying to avoid obstacles, enemies, and other challenges.  Sound easy?  Try painting a chain link fence with a paintball gun with an explosive cat running around.  Paint the cat and it explodes and you DIE.  Yeah, it’s pretty intense.  There will also be a meta game on top of the standard one: beating levels unlocks stickers (such as broccoli) that are then hidden throughout the game.  Collecting all the stickers hidden in a world will unlock bonus levels.

http://www.herointeractive.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blogpost1.jpg

The second game on the way is Bubble Tanks Tower Defense.  Like most TD games, you’ll be able to place towers to destroy the oncoming waves of bubble tank “creeps”.  These enemies will be able to move anywhere and won’t be following a pre-defined path.  Although you’ll only be able to place a basic tower on the map, these towers are able to evolve into many other different types.  Additionally, you’ll be able to merge towers together to form super towers four times the size of a normal tower.  Even these super towers can be merged to form even larger mega towers.

http://www.herointeractive.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/bttd_screenshot_11.jpg

Finally, we’re working on the much anticipated Bubble Tanks Arenas.  BTA breaks away from the standard Bubble Tanks tradition by giving players something a little more intense.  Rather than just wandering around a massive world, you’ll be able to choose arenas, a series of bubblefields with pre-set enemies and challenges, to take on and score points with.  The coolest feature?  You’ll be able to design and share your very own tanks!  In addition, users of ArmorGames will be able to create Enemy tanks and Arenas to challenge their friends with as well.  Completing Arenas will earn you new items and weapons as well as increase the possible size of your tank.  This is definitely a game we’re really excited about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS95fZCUW44&feature=player_embedded

All in all, I’m really excited about all of these games and really looking forward to getting them to all of the players!  More information on the games can be found on our blog.

9.      Is developing Flash games something you do full-time?

It is!  We actually have a number of people working at our office full time on flash game development!  Aside from myself there is Eric and Jimmy on the programming and design front.  We also just picked up KC, our full time artist, so hopefully our games will get a much needed boost on the graphics front.  My wife Steph handles our community stuff such as updating the blog, sending out the newsletter, and responding to your comments on ArmorGames as well as doing some Project Management work.  We also have two composers named Brian Hall and Calvin Winbush who create completely original music for our games.  All of these people make Hero Interactive work, without them it wouldn’t be near the success it is today.

10.     What would you say to those just getting into Flash development? What are some things you learned early on?

Well, there isn’t any single lesson I could hand off.  The secret is just to be prepared to spend a LOT of time on it.  I didn’t just start developing Flash games overnight.  I went to a 4 year university, picked up bachelor’s degrees focused on game design and development, and have been hammering away at the pixel factory for the past 3 years.   I’m still learning a ton every day.

Be prepared for a lot of competition out there, but if you are serious about flash games and put in the hard work to make great games, you’ll do great!

11.      Are there any Flash developers whose work you admire?

There’s just so much talent out there. I think one of my favorites for a long time has been John (jmtb02) here at Armor Games. Seriously, the guy has put out almost 50 games now and he still is one of the most creative developers out there. He takes something simple but extremely fun and makes a game with that almost every time. I know few developers that can put out original and creative games that are hits like his, not just once, but over and over again.There are so many new people coming in to Flash games and getting a random hit here and there that I think the community has forgotten some of the real superstars in the community. Developers who have consistently been putting out amazing games since way back. I’m thinking not only of jmtb02 but NinjaKiwi, Casual Collective, etc…  Joey Betz, Krin, and Con Artists have also been putting out some really amazing work that is always inspiring us here at Hero Interactive.

12.   We heard HI has their very own office and full time staff. Can you send us a link showing off your office set up and computers?

I sure can!  But you’re going to have to wait a few day till I can get my camera, take some pics, and then send them to you!

13.) When you aren’t making or playing flash games, what’s your favorite platform to play games on?

I actually am most partial to PC games as strategy and simulation are my two favorite genres.  I seriously can’t wait for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3, both by Blizzard.  Oh, and then there’s God of War 3 coming out for the PS3 soon.  I am a diehard GoW fan and have beaten all 3 (including the PSP game) about 209309232 times.

I keep inviting the ArmorGames office to play Hero Interactive in Warcraft 3 but they haven’t yet risen up to the challenge….

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Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions Jared! Be sure to visit their website for more information on their upcoming games.