That gives me the opportunity to really shine with a few tracks that are close to CD quality. Nowadays, successful casual games can weigh in at 20 Megabytes or more. A few years ago no one would think about shipping a casual game that was larger than 6-7 Megabytes. I have seen music production values increase very quickly with the penetration of broadband. I remember building soundtracks that had to compress to 50 Kilobytes. I started writing music for online games at Kesmai, back in 1994 when broadband really did not exist, so I am no stranger to file compression. What are the challenges of creating music for games with the production budgets and file sizes much smaller that of traditional video games? In fact, you write all the music for Sandlot Games. You are also unique in that you are a musician by training who started your own game company. Now we have 40 people working around the world to innovate on the best casual game content. By having development teams around the world we acted much more like a big developer even before we actually were one.
We grew Sandlot Games with an ability to scale. Even then we had artists working in Poland. We had to be quiet while listening to off key Tuba scales. We found a room sandwiched between a psychiatrist’s office and some music practice rooms. When it became 5 guys in our spare bedroom, my wife finally kicked us out. Afterwards, when we got to 4 people, I ran the company out of our spare bedroom. We bootstrapped the company from the beginning – we met in a Starbucks twice a week and paid ourselves very little. How did you start Sandlot Games and what accounts for your success? You truly are an example of the “American Dream” as it relates to casual games.
Sandlot has grown from a small operation into one of the most successful independent casual game companies around. Andy, our Director of Development, just finished Tropix, and loves lots of things about it. In fact, “chuzzling” is a word we use in the production of our titles that means that extra bit of personality and polish. Obviously, the production values of PopCap titles, including Chuzzle, are first rate. I’ve always loved the gameLab games – they are very original. What about other developers’ games? Anything new and interesting that has caught your attention recently? Granny, of course, kicks some serious butt. We are a somewhat unique game developer because we have a number of hit games in different genres on different platforms. I am very pleased with the standards we set for visual quality with Glyph, and Slyder is a great mobile game. I love shopping for and customizing your own bakery in Cake Mania. I love all of our games, but especially the Tradewinds series. What games have you developed that you’re especially fond of? Something not too kiddy but conveys green lawns, fun memories, and positive values. We wanted to have a name that really connotes community and a fun, safe environment. Frankly I think Sandlot Games rolls off the tongue a bit better. This is why our name is Sandlot Games but the kids are actually playing in a sandbox. Well, Sandbox Games was taken (trademark issue), so we came up with the next best name, Sandlot Games. How did you come up with the name Sandlot Games?
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