Having covered Apple Arcade games, updates, and news since the beginning, a few developers have stood out over the years with their releases and support for the service. One such company is Red Games Co., which over the years has published indie games, made games for other publishers, made existing games for Apple Arcade, and more. Red Games Co. even makes console games that port Apple Arcade games lego brawl.Before launch tomorrow Crayola Adventures () At Apple Arcade, I had the chance to chat with Mark Beechy (Executive Creative Director of Red Games Co.) about the team’s game, mobile, working with Apple, Apple Arcade, potential standalone releases, and more.
TouchArcade (TA): Tell us a little about yourself and what you do at Red Games Co.
Mark Beach (MB): My name is Mark Beach and I’m an executive. As the studio’s creative director, I oversee the development of children’s games, and I love it. Working on children’s work has been the most fun I’ve had in my career. Quite a lot.
face: I’ve been covering Apple Arcade games since the beginning, including new releases and updates every week. Red Games Co. is one of the service’s biggest backers, with titles including self-published games like Solitaire Stories and the upcoming Crayola Adventures, as well as co-published games like LEGO Brawls. What are your thoughts on the pre-launch of the service?
MB: We are excited about this platform. No ads, no user tracking, a safe place for families to play together. When every member of the family has their own device, Apple Arcade suddenly becomes the multiplayer console you already have in your pocket. No one knows exactly how Arcade will be received by players, but Apple is proactive and we’re excited to be a part of the launch. We love mobile experiences that people can share together, and Apple Arcade makes it easy.
face: Now that Apple Arcade has been around for a while, what do you think of the service for your games?
MB: Yeah, it’s great and I feel like every year we learn more about Arcade’s audience and what different segments of the audience are looking for in it. One of the lessons learned over the past few years is that all members of a subscriber’s family participate in arcades, so there’s a need for games like Crayola Create and Play+ that will appeal to younger players, and from there it gradually grows to Crayola Adventures, all the way to teenagers, all the way up to grandparents. Apple has also recognized this and launched more games on the platform targeting a wider range of players. For families, the value of an arcade subscription is unmatched.
face: Red Games Co. has some games that are exclusive to Apple Arcade, some games sold independently and through the service, and some games that are not sold on Apple Arcade. How does the team maintain the game on both the standalone version and the Apple Arcade version?
MB: Sometimes this can be tricky. The biggest hurdle is whether different versions have different economies, or different paths to unlocking content, privacy and COPPA restrictions, and release times. It’s a completely different way of thinking about game promotion for our marketing team. From a high level, things are going well and we strive to maintain parity across all platforms.
face: Please tell us a little bit about how you came to work with Crayola on not one, but two Apple Arcade games with the upcoming Crayola Adventures and Crayola Create and Play+.
MB: We have a long-standing relationship with Crayola and worked with them on Create and Play. We think this game would be a good one for Apple Arcade, as the platform is designed to serve the whole family and is well-suited to a younger audience. We’re working with the team there to provide the ability to create and play games on Arcade. At the time, Apple Arcade didn’t have any games specifically aimed at younger players, so it was just an experiment, but it all worked out well.
After more than two years, we couldn’t be happier that Crayola Create and Play+ remain firmly in the top three iPad Arcade games (and held the No. 1 spot in recent months).
In the meantime, we had been discussing the idea of venturing internally for about a year. We were interested in a game that focused on reading and storytelling for young players. Crayola is dedicated to igniting children’s imaginations. Create and Play is primarily focused on visual output and we wanted to explore a game that allows children’s imaginations to shape other media such as stories. We presented the vision to the Arcade team, and off we went.
Crayola has truly been a great partner throughout this entire process. Our partners are responsible for all digital efforts at Crayola, and they’ve been very supportive, very passionate about what we’re doing, and have helped us develop the games that we have.
face: We see LEGO Brawls being a game released from Apple Arcade to consoles and PC platforms. You can now maintain the same game on all platforms. I’d be interested to see how it works across Apple platforms and then brings the same game to so many console platforms and PCs. How have other platforms responded to the recent update?
MB: We had a head start on some of the design work because Brawl Stars was always playable on Apple TV with a controller. But launching on major consoles won’t be easy. The team works hard to ensure a consistent experience, with cross-platform multiplayer being a top priority. The advantage for console players is that they get years of content that we’ve released on Arcade all at once, which is fun. We’re probably most excited about the increased competitiveness since the expansion and the positive response from players.
face: In Solitaire Stories, Red Games Co. works with celebrities to breathe life into classic games, introducing events and new stories over time. Solitaire Stories feels like the latest updated game from Red Games Co. ever. Are there any plans to bring it to other platforms?
MB: Solitaire is one of the most popular card games in the world, so yes, we definitely see a huge opportunity in this category. Although the competition is very fierce. Cards Tale shows that there’s still room for innovation and further development in the genre – a deeper meta, progressive challenges, unique game modes like multiplayer, and robust real-time action. We may or may not see Solitaire Stories presented exactly as it is on other platforms, but one thing is for sure, we can expect Red Games Co to continue to innovate in the card game space.
face: What’s next for Red Games Co.?
MB: Well, without getting myself into trouble, I’d like to say that we’re looking at some interesting new partnerships for existing and new games. Continue to develop and improve our live game. If the stars align, start creating original IP works. We prefer to grow slowly and cautiously – there will be a lot of layoffs in the gaming industry in 2023 (and early 2024), so we will take our time looking for suitable opportunities. We’ll continue to focus on family games for all ages, that’s what we do.
face: Going back to the creation of the studio, Red Games Co. has held the same leadership since 1999. How has the team evolved since then?
MB: Yeah, it’s very cool, and a lot of people at the studio have been working directly with Brian Lovell, our CEO and owner, for almost years. I just passed the 13 year old mark with Brian and everyone else here is almost 20 years old, wild.
Our original executive. Creative directors Jared Kroff and Adam DeVincent, as well as creative director Matt Mangus (who is still here to lead the game) and the small team around them really set the standard for the studio’s early games. Each game continues to improve, growing in scope and complexity.
A fun fact about the studio is that we do almost everything in-house. So as we start developing more games, we need to ramp up our data and analytics capabilities, marketing and user acquisition efforts, quality assurance, customer support, and more. As the scope and complexity of the game has grown exponentially, our approach and processes have matured and we’ve added some very talented and passionate people. We started with seven people and now we have 70 people.
Our ambitions are way beyond where we are currently, but it’s been an interesting journey so far.
face: Are there plans to move beyond boutique mobile publishers and developers?
MB: We’re eager to continue growing our game (and our studio), and we want to be thoughtful about how we do that and the time and effort we invest in it. We are currently working on several initiatives that will help us continue to upgrade!
face: Tell us a little about working with Apple on Apple Arcade Originals and the App Store Greats you bring to the service.
MB: Yeah, they’ve been great partners. We are aligned on many of our core values of family-friendly gaming. They’re as ambitious as we are, so we’re always looking for ways to grow Arcade and our games together. BTW – their service requirements are no joke! They take privacy very seriously and creating a safe environment for all players. It’s been a great partnership and we’re excited to continue working with them.
face: Will we see quality self-published games from Red Games Co. on iOS in the future?
MB: I’d say that’s almost certainly the case. I just can’t tell you what it is.
face: Of every game Red Games Co. has released so far, what has been your favorite project to work on?
MB: Hehe, this is really difficult. Crayola Create and Play and Crayola Adventures are two of my babies and you love them, even if one day you want to yell at one of them to behave themselves and stop throwing bugs at you. I’m no longer involved in the development of Solitaire, but I continued to oversee the development of the game up until its release, and I still played a lot of Solitaire on it.
I would say that Create and Play brings me joy every day because of how much the team cares about the game, how much fun we have making it, and seeing kids enjoy it. I hope it lasts forever.
Crayola Adventures is a very ambitious game in terms of scope, technology and player experience – it’s a lot of fun trying to figure out what a reading and storytelling game should look like. This is a unique gameplay. Is it a book? Is this an adventure game? Is this a creative platform? All three? Many members of the Adventures team are also dedicated to creating and gaming, so all that passion for making fun children’s games goes into Adventures. We’ve only just started this project and see a big roadmap in front of us, but it’s been really fun watching it come together.
face: Overall, last year was a huge year for gaming. What is your favorite game of 2023?
MB: What do I like about golf in the arcade? And what kind of cars do you like to play with? in the past year. I find myself giggling while playing and that’s the vibe I’m going for right now.
face: What are you playing now?
MB: Retro Bowl+, Transformers Tactics Arena, and many release candidates for Crayola Adventures.
face: Is there anything you would like to say to fans of your game?
MB: To our fellow Crayola players, our team will read all your comments and take them to heart. It means a lot to us to read about how you enjoy our games. This definitely made our day. As our producer Kali always mentions with a smile – we all remember the games we loved and missed as kids, and maybe someday 20 years from now, kids will remember the fun they had in our games. We will do our best to continue creating fun moments for you. Thank you for coming to play.
I want to thank Apple’s Mark Beechy, Red Games Co., and Jennifer Tam for being here.
You can follow all of our interviews here, including our recent interviews with Warframe Mobile, Team NINJA, and Digital Extremes, sonic dream team, hi-fi sprint, repentanceand more.