When Xbox Live Arcade game The Splatters launched in April of 2012, my first look at the game was a launch trailer, the trailer persuaded me to download the demo, and the demo convinced me to buy the game. I played it with my 11 year old son and we loved trying to beat our best scores and we marveled at the top scores on each of the levels. The Splatters features some really cool “jelly physics” and some brilliant use of slow motion effects. It also features a replay theater similar to the Trials games and allows you to see how the insane scores at the top of the leaderboard were achieved.
The Splatters also has a cute and humorous charm to it. It’s got a wide variety of levels and several modes of play. It also reviewed well. Many of the larger video game review sites scored it 80/100 or above, and the Metacritic user reviews put it at a respectable 8.7 out of 10. So then why is The Splatters developer and indie game studio SpikySnail more than a little concerned about their financial state? Despite The Splatters being a generally well received game, it didn’t sell well enough to make all of their money problems go away. So they labor on. Doing that which they love most, making fun games.
Being a small team is a big job (just ask anyone at fizmarble). SpikySnail co-founder Sagi Koren shed some light on how an indie developer gets it done.