Red Marble Games
Encyclopedia
Red Marble Games was started in 2002 by Mark Batten with the intent of porting the best indie games from Windows
to the Macintosh
. The Macintosh platform is infamous for its dearth of commercial video games (see Mac gaming
), and the indie realm is no different. Red Marble is primarily concerned with only porting indie titles, although it has started to develop its own titles as well. This approach has given Red Marble an unusually wide variety of quality games considering its size. Red Marble is small enough that it accepts open invitations from developers and the internet community at large about quality games that should be on the Mac. Also, unlike other companies who sell Mac digital downloads, Red Marble Games also offers their games on CD for an additional $4.95.
games that do not require any more hardware power than a simple eMac
could provide. As of this writing, Red Marble offers 32 Mac and web games for sale across all 2D genres.
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
to the Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
. The Macintosh platform is infamous for its dearth of commercial video games (see Mac gaming
Mac gaming
Mac gaming refers to use of video games on Macintosh personal computers. In the 1990s, Apple computers did not attract the same level of video game development as Windows computers due to the high popularity of Windows and, for 3D gaming, Microsoft's DirectX technology...
), and the indie realm is no different. Red Marble is primarily concerned with only porting indie titles, although it has started to develop its own titles as well. This approach has given Red Marble an unusually wide variety of quality games considering its size. Red Marble is small enough that it accepts open invitations from developers and the internet community at large about quality games that should be on the Mac. Also, unlike other companies who sell Mac digital downloads, Red Marble Games also offers their games on CD for an additional $4.95.
Games
Red Marble Games seeks out pick-up-and-play games suitable for all ages, especially award-winning games that "deserve" to be made available to a larger audience. These are keyboard- or mouse-controlled 2D2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
games that do not require any more hardware power than a simple eMac
EMac
The eMac, short for education Mac, was a Macintosh desktop computer made by Apple Inc. It was originally aimed at the education market, but was later made available as a cheaper mass market alternative to Apple's second-generation LCD display iMac....
could provide. As of this writing, Red Marble offers 32 Mac and web games for sale across all 2D genres.
Notable Games
- BreakQuestBreakQuestBreakQuest is a multi-platform Breakout-style game created by Nurium Games, later ported to Mac OS by Red Marble Games. It was released on November 16, 2004, and was published by Stardock as part of TotalGaming.net....
- A Breakout clone that uses a highly sophisticated physics engine featuring springs, spinning objects, curved surfaces, ball spin, etc.- "I just have to say this from the get-go: BreakQuest, from Red Marble Games, is quite possibly the best, most addicting Arkanoid-style ball and paddle game I have ever played. Ever.." -- Inside Mac Games
- "BreakQuest may be the best Arkanoid game in existence." -- Game Tunnel (rated BreakQuest one of the top 5 games of the year)
- "BreakQuest is what a shareware game should be: Simple, fast, and fun while bringing something surprising to its genre." -- MacGamer
- DemocracyDemocracy (computer game)Democracy is a government simulation game that was first developed by Positech Games in 2005, with a sequel released in December 2007. The player plays as if they are the president or prime minister of a democratic government. The player must introduce and alter policies in seven areas - tax,...
- A simulation of government and politiking- "Games such as Democracy are an important step forward in the evolution of education" - Kristofer Poland, Instructor of Political Science, Ohio University
- Simulation Game of The Year; Top Ten Games of the Year - Game Tunnel
- Kudos - A life-sim game
- "This game stands out in depth and design. There is so much to discover in the game, and much more even I haven't done yet" - gamevortex.com
- Most Innovative Casual Game 2006 award, Yahoo! Games
- The Witch's Yarn - If indie games are about Something Different, then this interactive story certainly qualifies.
- Nominated for the Innovation In Game Design award at the 2006 Independent Games FestivalIndependent Games FestivalThe Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
- Original developer interviewed by GamasutraGamasutraGamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
here.
- Nominated for the Innovation In Game Design award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival
- FizzBallFizzBallFizzBall is a cross-platform computer game in which the player bounces an object called a "FizzBall" around the screen.FizzBall was nominated for an award at the 2007 Independent Games Festival in San Francisco, and was named Arkanoid Game of the Year and Kid's Game of the Year by .-What the Game...
- Breakout meets Katamari DamacyKatamari DamacyKatamari Damacy is a third-person puzzle-action video game that is published and developed by Namco for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was first released in Japan, and then later in South Korea and North America...
, with farm animals- Independent Games FestivalIndependent Games FestivalThe Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
Finalist 2007 (out of a field of 141 games) - Arkanoid Game of the Year (2006) -- Game Tunnel
- Independent Games Festival
- Professor Fizzwizzle - A platformer-puzzle game featuring a scientist and his insane robots
- Independent Games FestivalIndependent Games FestivalThe Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
Grand Prize Finalist 2006 (out of a field of 118 games) - Casual Game of the Year (2005) -- Game Tunnel
- Independent Games Festival
- AargonAargonAargon is a puzzle computer game from Twilight Games in which the player must solve puzzles by reflecting, refracting, splitting, and joining laser beams. The Macintosh version is by Red Marble Games. The Pocket PC and Palm version is Pocket Aargon by Doublebit Software...
- Colored lasers bend, split, refract, and recombine in an eye-pleasingly sparse puzzle game.- "...it's a perfect game for those of us who have always been more into the "thinking" side of the gaming world. I'm hooked on Aargon Deluxe; I can't stop playing it." -- Lockergnome
- "Designing a Rube Goldberg machine was a compelling concept for a game when Dynamix introduced The Incredible Machine in 1993. These were mostly physical puzzles. Other recent games like Fallout Tactics are puzzle-oriented but rely mostly on line of sight and probability. Or take Hitman which relies on violence and stealth to solve its puzzles. Aargon is a nice, peaceful, mathematically elegant game. It has the potential to root you to your computer for hours at a time, and is enjoyable to play by oneself or with others." -- X-Treme Gaming Radio