Fallman
The exciting thing about the Finnish gaming ecosystem is that titles can come out of nowhere. This is especially true with Fallman, a one-man production that just released on iOS by newcomer Glad Game Studio and looks poised to take off with its unique game concept and nice visuals. In the game you control an 80’s trampoline hero to do crazy tricks between bounces by sliding, tapping, and throwing in multiple finger combinations.
The learning curve is something like Mortal Kombat. At first you’re just tapping and sliding away like a madman, but after a while you can get better at performing tricks like The Humpty Dumpty, The Randolf, or the Goosestep. (The trick, you’ll find, is to have one hand take care of timing your jumps, while your dominant hand goes to town on tricks.)
The character and levels are beautifully designed to my eye. Creator Juho Glad tells us he was inspired by 50’s travel posters for the visuals, and each of the six levels has their own soundtrack and challenges. Getting more advanced in levels you’ll find everything from obstacles and enemies to avoid (by doing tricky double jumps and side dashes) as well as hats.
I wanted to make a game I’d love to find on the App Store, a game with tons of personality. I’m really humbled by the reception so far – even though I haven’t sold a single copy yet, I feel I’ve already accomplished more than I ever could’ve hoped for my first game
Not a bad first app
What’s most remarkable about Fallman is that it’s call come out of a husband and wife team with no experience in gaming. Founder Juho Glad took some time off from work to basically create the whole app – with the visuals and coding and all, relying on his rusty coding experience from studying Computer Science 15 years ago. His wife, Jutta Glad, helps take care of the other things that come from running a small company.
Despite just plugging in with the gaming scene, the game has recieved attention at a number of events this year including PAX East’s indie Megabooth, Games First Helsinki hosted by Supercell, and placed 2nd at Pocket Gamer’s Big Indie Pitch, where we first got hooked on the game.
“As a total it’s been a really awesome experience for me, because I started as a total nobody in the scene, but thanks to gaming I’ve made good connections to fellow developers in the industry, and I’m really surprised how the scene is full of people is honestly interested in what you do.
I feel that many people honestly want to help you succeed. Even if I ended up selling nothing, I think that in terms of experience and connections I think it’s really worth it,” says Glad.
The game can be found on the app store for $1.99.
