We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of "Playing the Edge." Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!


Tiny bubbles just might turn into big cash for Stuart Denman and his indie game studio Pine Street Codeworks. The company won $2,500 on Thursday night at the Intel Buzz Workshop game event in Bellevue, Washington.

I was one of the judges of the competition, which the Power of Play 2017 game conference co-sponsored, and I thought the soap-bubble matching game was wonderfully creative.

Tiny Bubbles focuses on the physics of soap bubbles, which are mathematically hard to create because they are squishy and organic, said Denman, a 25-year Seattle area game veteran, in an interview with GamesBeat. You try to match four same-color bubbles in a row, like other games in the match-3 genre. But it is different because the gameplay takes the nature of bubbles into account.

It has 160 levels. The Unity-based, free-to-play game is coming this year to iOS, Google Play, the Windows PC, and Mac.

Event

GamesBeat Next 2023

Join the GamesBeat community in San Francisco this October 24-25. You’ll hear from the brightest minds within the gaming industry on latest developments and their take on the future of gaming.


Learn More

“You remember when you played Tetris for the first time,” Denman said. “It was really important to come up with a game that gave me the same sense.”

You can, for instance, snip the edge of a bubble, pop it, and connect other bubbles together as a result. The gameplay is dynamic and real time, and it starts with a tutorial that takes you through more than a dozen different types of moves you can make. You can fill in a bubble and mix colors so they can match.

Later, you run into a fish that creates bubbles, and you have to deflate them quickly before they expand outside of a boundary. The puzzles weren’t easy, and I had to try a few of them more than once in the first dozen levels. Denman hopes it will have universal appeal.

“Players have the most fun when they are being challenged, and new mechanics are important to that,” Denman said. “It was really important that I came up with a game that gave you that same sense.

“There are so many bubble games on the market. They are reskinned bubbles. I noticed that so many games are being cloned on the app stores with weeks. But if you went out on the web and tried to learn how to simulate bubbles, you would quickly run into a pretty intimidating math wall. I have so many ideas where I can take this and keep players engaged for a long time.”

Denman, who cofounded Surreal Software and has made numerous games for big game studios like Midway Games, said he was inspired by his grandfather, Cyril Sterling Smith, who was a physicist and wrote research papers on the nature of soap bubbles. Denman recalls reading those papers about 25 years ago, and he buried them in the back of his mind.

Pine Street Codeworks’ team also includes Paulette Denman, who is married to Stuart; James Hutt, and Kristopher Larson.

Disclosure: Power of Play paid my way to Bellevue. Our coverage remains objective.

GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings.