6 Idiots talks game jam philosophy behind Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater-inspired mobile game

Game jams are special occasions in the gaming community, whereby creators of varying talents and experience levels challenge themselves to develop a fully-functioning game within an allotted time frame — usually 24 hours. Creative powerhouses have been known to release their creations beyond the guise of the event, one example being the Canadian-made Starwhal: Just the Tip.

A studio in Copenhagen has adopted this time-crunched approach to game development as a business model, their latest creation being a skill-testing mobile game called Balance Benny. The game, made in approximately 72 hours, will be available for iOS platforms on July 2, but prior to its release, GameZone had the opportunity to speak to Tim Shepherd of 6 Idiots to learn more about the decisions behind this challenging undertaking.

Originally, 6 Idiots existed as Chroma Studios and released multiple mobile titles, including a match-three puzzle game with an interesting 3D premise. Sadly, the team realized they could no longer support the company in its then-current form with the return they were receiving from their games.

"We spent a lot of time and money making our first titles," Shepherd said. "We’re proud of them, but we never mastered marketing. Even if an indie rocked up with the best game in the world and half a million dollars in advertising, they probably still wouldn’t be able to maintain a competitive, traditional marketing campaign against the big guys which dominate mobile now."

Their answer to the competitive landscape is an experimental business model. "The 6 Idiots business plan is this: concept must feature new gameplay; concept must be able to be marketed through non-traditional channels; game must be finished within 72 hours!" Shepherd continued: "We think this approach allows us to focus on creating small and silly ideas."

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: 6 Idiots is not the most flattering name. But it is reflective of what they hope to inject into their creations — call it charm or pure tomfoolery. Shepherd refers to it as a "particular style of weird," which is on display in Balance Benny.

In it, players must maintain composure on one of nine balance boards, the premise being inspired by Shepherd's own experience with Indo Boards. The actual mechanics, though, were inspired by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. "We are all skaters and big THPS fans," Shepherd shared, "so we drew inspiration from the THPS manual/grind mechanics to add to the gameplay/HUD."

Because of the self-imposed 72-hour restriction on the game's development, there were aspects to the game that didn't make it into the final product. In some cases, this was for the best in the interest of a gameplay-first approach. "Adding those layers and features you expect in a F2P would have either taken us more than 72 hours to implement, or we would have had to cut content to squeeze in a coins system or something." In other cases, there were elements that would've heightened the experience. "I wish we could have added more tricks," Shepherd said, realizing that time was against it. "We have tons of ideas we didn’t get to put into those 72 hours and we’d love to develop those."

Still, the team is satisfied with the process that went into the game's creation. "Giving us this game-jam-esque limitations really helped us focus and be ruthless with the initial feature set," Shepherd acknowledged. "But we pooled our collective experience to make the right (we hope!) decisions – it actually went pretty smoothly."

Even after Balance Benny releases next week, it's this brand of silliness that the team can bring into their next 72-hour project and beyond as they continue their experimental business model.