All is lost. Or is it? There’s only one little creature left that can save the Silicon Prairie as we know it and he’s standing at 14 inches tall with a feisty left paw … duh duh duh … Analog the Prairie Dog, it’s up to you!
Green aliens. Spider-like aliens. Cows. Silos. UFOs. Laser guns.
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You must navigate Analog through the treacherous tunnel and on top of the scary surface to destroy the ultimate … OK, that’s it, no more teaser (or embarrassment on my part) … it’s time to:
>>Click here to play the Silicon Prairie News Game by SlouchCouch!<<
Check out the prizes below for top scores! Hashtag your score on Twitter: #SPNGame.
The story behind the game
At Startup Weekend Omaha in September a team of six friends and acquaintances who called themselves SlouchCouch spent the allotted 54 hours not only building out their first product but building a bond that would continue to bring them together to develop games.
More than two months later, they’re all still involved, all still finding time outside of their full-time jobs because, as Dave Homan said, it’s a labor of love for them.
“We’re just a bunch of people who love video games, both playing them and making them,” said Homan of SlouchCouch, which describes itself as an indie game development studio.
Their first game, The Startup Weekend Game, came out of, as you may have guessed, Startup Weekend Omaha (left, SlouchCouch demos the game during its pitch). I covered that event – SlouchCouch tied for sixth out of 18 – and as I packed up my gear to leave on the final night, I spoke with some of the SlouchCouch team members.
Following up on an idea an audience member had given me, I said, “You know what would be sweet? A game themed around Silicon Prairie News.”
Right away, SlouchCouch dug it, and it wasn’t more than a few weeks later that Homan was in our office sketching a few ideas on a white board. From there, we gave him some of our ideas along with our branding files. Homan replied, “We’ll get working on it.” And they did. Quickly.
SlouchCouch sent us the first version a couple weeks ago but, and they agreed, it was too hard to beat – it was nearly impossible to stay alive in the last stage. They’ve since been tweaking it, working with beta testers, and preparing for today’s big release. We couldn’t be more pleased with and excited about the final product. It has us addicted! (Help us thank them on Twitter, @Slouch_Couch.)
On Sunday, I conducted an email interview with Homan to learn more about SlouchCouch and The Silicon Prairie News Game.
Silicon Prairie News (SPN): Who makes up the SlouchCouch team?
Dave Homan: Slouch Couch is Dave Homan, Nick Nisi, Gabe Kangas, Heath Gerlock, Dwayne Chung, and Miles Matthias. Miles however recently accepted a job in Boulder, Colo., so sadly he’s leaving us and we’ll miss him.
SPN: Why have you chosen to develop games in HTML5? Will you continue down that path?
Homan: There’s a lot of talk going on about HTML5, and we all wanted to see what all the hype was about it. We’re pleased with it so far, and we can’t wait for all browsers to support it identically… (/cough IE9).
SPN: Who was responsible for animating Analog the Prairie Dog so well?
Homan: Heath did that! He’s insane. One afternoon he hunched over his sketchbook with his eyes glued to YouTube videos of prairie dogs scurrying around. I don’t have patience like he has patience, and he did a great job on Analog and everything else he did art for in this game.
SPN: Anything else about The SPN Game we should know?
Homan: Not really, just a couple shout outs. Our 2D game engine was Impactjs, and our music is from a really talented composer who sells his songs dirt cheap at luckylionstudios.com.
SPN: Are you open to doing work for other clients?
Homan: Absolutely we are. We have our own games we’re working on but that doesn’t mean we’d turn away paid work if it was fun enough.
SPN: What’s the best way to contact you?
I can be reached at baconknight@slouchcou.ch.
Prizes! Hashtag your score on Twitter: #SPNGame
We’re awarding prizes to five individuals who hit the highest scores and fastest times.
Here’s what’s up for grabs:
Here’s the rundown:
Ending at 11:59 p.m. today
Top Score: The individual with the top score will win a $15 Amazon Gift Card and a T-shirt from the creators of the game, SlouchCouch
Fastest Time: The individual with the fastest time will win a $15 Amazon Gift Card and a T-shirt from the creators of the game, SlouchCouch
Ending at 11:59 p.m. on December 16
Top Score: “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries, $20 Amazon Gift Card, a T-shirt from the creators of the game, SlouchCouch, and T-shirts from Silicon Prairie News’ premier events, Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa
Second Highest Score: “Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky” by Sarah Lacy, a T-shirt from the creators of the game, SlouchCouch, and T-shirts from Silicon Prairie News’ premier events, Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa
Fastest Time: A T-shirt from the creators of the game, SlouchCouch, and T-shirts from Silicon Prairie News’ premier events, Big Omaha and Thinc Iowa
In order to win, please enter your full name or Twitter handle on completion of the game. We also encourage you to tweet your high score using the hashtag #SPNGame.
