162 MacDirectory
FEATURE
Welcome to the inaugural installment of
"At the Core", in which we'll take a look
behind the scenes of developing games
for the Mac – what it takes, how ideas are
formed and carried to their conclusions,
and what it means to create entertain-
ment for what is arguably a niche market.
If you're any kind of Mac enthusiast, you'll
recognize the name Freeverse
as one of the platform's
strongest and most creative supporters.
From humble beginnings, they've
managed to not only make developing
products for the Mac OS a viable business
strategy, but a sound one as well.
Featuring a lineup of toys — such as the
hugely popular "Jared, Butcher of Song"
and SimStapler; games – such as
Wingnuts 2 and the new Neon Tango,
and applications – notably the popular
Comic Life Deluxe Edition and the
BumperCar Web browser for kids, the
staff at Freeverse has consistently provided
top-notch value on all fronts. It's no
wonder that they have a solid record of
winning Apple Design Awards in
numerous categories over the years.
We were recently fortunate enough to get
an interview with Freeverse producer
Justin D'Onofrio, who gave us a little bit
of background on how the studio began,
how it develops its ideas, and the
particular challenges and joys of creating
software for the Mac.
MacDirectory >
Justin, can you give us
a brief history of how Freeverse came
to be?
Justin D'Onofrio > Freeverse began
around 14 years ago with our CEO, Ian
Smith, creating a Mac card game in his
bedroom. Shortly after he was joined by
his brother, Colin, and the two of them
grew the company from card games to
arcade and puzzle games, into creative
software, and into the Freeverse of today.
The company has always been located in
New York City, starting out in a Chelsea
town house, growing into another in the
East Village, and we've recently gotten
settled into our new home in Brooklyn's
Dumbo neighborhood.
While we're now branching out into other
areas, such as games for the Xbox 360,
the Mac card games that started the
company have always been available and
to this day they have a large player
community. The characters that we've
created have been featured in a variety of
other media, such as commercials for
Blockbuster Video featuring Jared, who
AN INTERVIEW WITH FREEVERSE
AT THE CORE
WORDS BY KEONI CHAVEZ
