Three(ish) years agos we began working on Atomic Brawl. Two years ago we thought “maybe we can launch this Christmas”. One(ish) year ago, we thought we would launch in the summer.

Making software is difficult. Making software whose objective is as abstract as fun compounds that.

Last Sunday, we launched Atomic Brawl. Atomic Brawl is an in-browser strategy game where you can take turns in bite-sized chunks, allowing it to fit into any schedule. You collect brawlers, formulate strategies, and compete online against other players.

This is the third in a series of articles which outline the development of Atomic Brawl. Check out the previous post here.

Choosing Our Tech

We knew roughly what we were building by through the prototyping we had done prior. Coders at heart we moved onto the always fun task of choosing what technology to use on the front-end.

This is the second in a series of articles which outline the development of Atomic Brawl. Check out the previous post here.

Digital Paper

Our goal for the game was simple – create something fun. Too often games, especially those played in the browser, are just thinly veiled compulsion loops that prey on human psychology to keep you clicking over and over, but aren’t really all that enjoyable to play. We decided to focus on creating a fun core game experience first, and then build on that solid foundation. So we started developing playable paper prototypes of, what we were calling at the time, ‘Villainy’.

A Tale Of Two Nerds

Like most development stories, it started off with two nerds wanting to build something cool. After four years of service together at Electronic Arts, and a brief intermission, we decided to get the band back together and create what is now known as Atomic Brawl.