Game Creator American McGee Goes Portable with Crooked House

Veteran game maker discusses his first game for Apple's iPad
American McGee



Where did the idea for Crooked House come from?
We've been playing with a number of well-known fairy tales, trying to see which is most appropriate for the platform. Currently, the team has a demo of Red Riding Hood and ideas for Jack in the Beanstalk -- among other things. The story and setting of the "Crooked House" rhyme seemed to lend itself neatly to a tilt-based puzzle game. So far the positive reviews and sales data seem to support that idea.
Any device which uses digital distribution as a primary means of content publication can make a great platform for episodic content. In my view, the primary challenge isn't the platform, but the audience. Western audiences are still uncertain about multi-episode game content distributed over long periods of time. There's a lot of content out there competing for attention - and anything that requires a longer time commitment must increase its entertainment value and stickiness accordingly. The platform's there -- the content has yet to arrive.
Another step towards the inevitable "jacking in" - direct connection between computer visual output and our brains. Better than the old (2D) way, but still inferior to the real deal.
Game makers have been building in 3D for a long time -- so the content production and "set building" isn't going to be impacted greatly. In terms of pure game design -- I don't think it adds a lot of new avenues for exploration. The biggest impact would be in well-applied dramatic presentation of visuals, but even that needs to be applied in moderation.