I’m always looking for new games to play, especially those that offer to be the most challenging. While browsing through my usual forums I saw a a post that read, “My cousin and I created a game company,” on Women Gamers. Curiosity led me to New Lineage Games, a new independent game company based in Tampa, FL, who recently released its first game Catalyst.
Catalyst is a variation on a traditional solitaire card game using a high score method. It’s nothing like the solitaire games most of us are used to. Instead of matching like colored suits or separating them into like suits this is played by selecting 3 cards from one column whose face value totals 10, 20 or 30. All face cards are worth 10 points, Aces are worth 1, and Jokers are wild (but you don’t gain any points for matching with jokers). The goal of the game is to remove all of the columns from play.
I talked to programmers Paul and Jamie Belanger from NLG to find out how they came up with and created Catalyst.
“It was, is, and will be a great tool for learning quick math skills,” Belanger said. “I still enjoy playing it even when the columns would always grow out of proportion. This game is one that I’ve always wanted to play on a computer, and now I can! So that, by itself, gives me a lot of satisfaction. For me, gaming was always something that was either fun or forget it. I don’t play a lot of games but the really great ones still have my attention and I continue to play them.”
Jamie agreed and added he still plays the original game every now and then.
“I’ve been playing the card game that Catalyst is based off of for as long as I can remember. It was my favorite solitaire card game while growing up,” Jamie said. “And even as an adult I still found myself grabbing a deck of cards every now and then to play. I had a good idea with the Catalyst project, and Paul did a great job on the programming. We managed to create a fun, addictive game that even we have trouble putting down. And that is the biggest criteria for me when designing a game: it has to be fun. I cannot and will not design a game that I don’t want to play, because I know deep down inside that the end product will reflect that I didn’t want to play it. There’s no place in any entertainment medium for products that don’t entertain.”
Accommodating the cool graphics the game uses new age music by Bill Bois.
“When it came time for the music, we contacted someone we’ve known from the films we’ve made in the past, Bill Bois,” said Robert Fleischmann, NLG’s graphics, sound and music coordination. “Bill took our example music, and our description of what we wanted, and came up with an amazing, original soundtrack. My personal favorite is the track called Slow Percolator. I cannot say how many times I played that song over and over and over.”
Catalyst is just the beginning according to the team and added that we can expect more addicting titles in the future.
“I started New Lineage Games because I was tired of the run of the mill games out there that went for beautiful graphics and terrible story/gameplay,” said Jack La Corte, NLG manager and marketing. “It is a game that I had never heard of until Jamie and Paul explained it to me, and after playing the game during it’s Alpha phase I fell in love with it. The ultimate time killer and fun. I believe that is what our clients can expect from this game, and from our future games. Fun, entertainment, excitement, laughs.”
La Corte said he believes independent game companies are going to be the next biggest producers on the market.
“The market needs fresh air, and originality. Unfortunately with the big companies out there like E.A. Games, Microsoft, etcetera, you will find a very conservative attitude,” he said. “Independent game development is the next big thing I believe. Just like Independent film making, you will begin to see independent games putting up some competition to the big gun game companies out there. And that is a good thing. Our core group is composed of old time gamers whose experiences range from the very first console to our present day systems. We have ideas for all genres from puzzle games to adventure games to massively multiplayer online games.”
It does take a few tries to get used to the rules as you habitually try to match the suits of the cards and not the face value of the cards. This game will definitely build up mathematic skills of children and adults alike. It’s a very addictive game, I’m on my fourth cup of coffee and now having mathematic dreams trying to complete the game in my head right now as I type this review. The game only costs $5 and if your unsure of buying another card game the site offers a free demo for download.
Site [New Lineage Games]
Great review, and mostly a very complete one. And at least I could tell you enjoyed the game yourself.
Excellent review Yuffie!
And yes the game is very addicting, it reminds me of the old arcade games where you keep racking up the points, I am still trying to beat it!
Great review and interview. The game is definitely a time absorber. Have played this game for hours, and still am trying to beat it. It has consumed me. :-p