Swipe This!: The Guide to Great Touchscreen Game Design

Developer Interview 5: Sam Rosenthal

Developer profile: I first met Sam as a student at USC’s interactive media program. His first job was at Disney Mobile as a game design associate on Where’s My Water?, which dethroned Angry Birds as the top-selling game on the App Store. Not a bad start to a career!

Last completed/published project: Where’s My Water? (iOS)

Company website: disney.go.com/wheresmywater/

Sam, thanks for taking time to talk with Swipe This! What was your inspiration for Where’s My Water?

We found a bit of inspiration for Where’s My Water? in Cut the Rope, and I think that’s somewhat apparent in the final design (except Swampy’s way cuter than Om Nom; just sayin’). Cut the Rope is a physics puzzler that does a great job taking advantage of the touchscreen with its incredibly creative mechanics. It is a bit shallow on the story side, which is not necessarily a fault, but an aspect we tried to spend more time developing in our game.

I play tons of mobile games. In fact, I think I’ve bought every single iOS Game of the Week since I bought my iPhone. My favorites always tend to be those that take advantage of the device’s capabilities in a creative manner, such as Fruit Ninja, Mirror’s Edge, Infinity Blade, and Sword and Sworcery EP. Once in a while, I like to play rereleases on iOS, like Another World, as long as the touch controls are handled well.

What gameplay ...