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An unexpected storm has left you shipwrecked on a mysterious and remote private island. Seek & find cleverly hidden objects and solve puzzles to find a way off the island.

Escape Rosecliff Island, by Spin-top games (now owned by Popcap) is a fine addition to the casual gaming library and definitely something to checkout. We had some questions for the team about the title and they were kind enough to answer them for us!

Can you please give us a little back story on the game if you don’t mind?

When we set out to create the first game in our new “Escape” series we wanted the setting to be intriguing and mysterious but not scary so we remained family friendly.  We felt a rugged private island estate created the right environment with the right natural obstacles.  The back story in our games is very important but we like to keep them simple and to the point so our protagonist can unfold the story in their mind.  “An unexpected storm has left you shipwrecked on a mysterious and remote private island.”  From here the adventure immediately begins and you must find your way off the island!

What type of puzzles can we expect to see in the game?  Also how many different variations of puzzles are there?

We included five unique types of mini-games: Match 3, Word Search, Puzzle Rotation, Memory Match, Jigsaw plus a very unique final puzzle game.

Which type of audience are you looking to capture with this type of game?

Our games are targeted towards 35 – 65 year olds, male and females.  In addition to this core market our games are played with parents and children all the time – hidden object games are a great social game.

Every game has music.  What makes your in game music stand out to make the player feel as though they are there?

As you would expect music and sfx are critical to creating an immersive environment.  The music and ambient tracks are filled with supportive sfx that reinforce the scenes and settings you are exploring.

During development, what was one of you’re biggest concerns and was one of the best things that happened?

Our biggest concern during development was creating an environment that was too dark and dreary for our customer.  As always it is a fine line between just right and really wrong…but based on the early reviews and customer feedback, we hit it just right.

We wanted to offer a special thanks to Duncan Magee and Craig Hamilton, co-directors of the SpinTop Games for taking a few moments to answer some of our questions. We also want to thank Toby (ATC 1982) for running the interview for us, you can checkout his site and all his past interviews at Shotgunglass.

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