Slapdash Bones

In 2016 I founded my independent game studio Astire Games LLC. At the time I was also working full time for a AAA game company, so my studio work took place in the evenings and on weekends.

I published my first independent game that year - Slapdash Bones, a mobile dice game where you shake your phone to roll the dice. The first version was released on the Google Play store in February 2016, but has received several updates.

My indie studio grew to include interns and contractors and we began taking on client work. I left my AAA job to manage my growing studio and team, and after releasing several other products we went back to do a major revision to Slapdash Bones, which was released in 2020 and featured a full reskin and new modes.

One of the reasons I initially created my studio was to explore unique uses for novel hardware. I believe that when developing a digital experience it is important to consider what the physical platform has to offer, and to develop in a way as to take full advantage of the platform’s capabilities.

The design exploratin with Slapdash Bones was two-fold: I wanted to find a way to leverage the tactile nature of the eccelerometer and gyroscope, and I wanted to experiment with a pass-and-play multiplayer experience.

You can download and play Slapdash Bones on the Google Play Store.

A few years ago I was fortunate to have my story told (and animated) beautifully by Extra Credits in their series Because Games Matter, and in it I talked about my inspiration and experience with developing Slapdash Bones: