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Adam Saltsman

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Adam Saltsman
NationalityAmerican
Other namesAdam Atomic
OccupationIndie video game developer
Years active2008- present
Known forCanabalt

Adam Saltsman, also known as Adam Atomic, is an American indie video game designer best known for creating the endless runner Canabalt. He is a founder of Semi Secret Software and Finji video game studios.

Career

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Flixel (2008-11)

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Saltsman produced an open-source game development library for Adobe Flash called Flixel. Saltsman discussed the use of Flixel as a medium for new developers, and used it to develop Canabalt. The video game development tool Stencyl makes use of the Flixel framework.[1][2]

Gravity Hook (2008)

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Main article: Gravity Hook

Saltsman developed the browser game Gravity Hook in August 2008, which is a vertically scrolling video game in which the player attempts to use a futuristic grappling hook to climb out of an underground, secret base in order to reach the surface.[3] The game was remade into Gravity Hook HD for browser and iOS in 2010.[4]

Canabalt (2009)

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almost no one in the industry ... hasn't taken serious note of its acclaim and wondered what magic formula there might be hidden in its design that can be replicated elsewhere.

Brandon Boyer on Canabalt in Boing Boing, November 11, 2009
Main article: Canabalt

Saltsman developed the endless runner Canabalt in 2009, where an anonymous runner moves in one direction and is able to jump and slide upon landing. Boing Boing described the game as a "one-button action-opus".[5] It was made in response to Experimental Gameplay's "Bare Minimum" challenge. The game's viral success was a surprise to him, and he later felt like he squandered the opportunity and audience.[5] When asked in an interview where he imagined the running man coming from, Saltsman stated "I used to have fantasies at my old office job of running down our long, long hallway just for fun. And to literally escape. I'd forgotten about that until months after Canabalt came out. There used to be an intro cinematic that I was designing, where the character receives an email, but it was all getting in the way of the main thing".[6] Saltsman presented the game design concept of "Time Until Death" at the 2011 IndieCade.[2]

Hundreds (2013)

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Main article: Hundreds (video game)

Saltsman began to collaborate with Greg Wohlwend on Hundreds.[7] The game was Wohlwend's first as game designer, and he open sourced the game after online game sites showed no interest in purchasing it.[8] Semi Secret's Eric Johnson found the code and made an iPad port in a weekend, beginning the collaboration.[9] Semi Secret did not have the funds to begin a new game from scratch, so the project fit their company roadmap. Saltsman did not expect to work on the game himself, but became the primary puzzle designer.[8] It was released on January 7, 2013 for iPhone and iPad,[10] and on June 28 for Android[11] to what video game review score aggregator Metacritic called "generally favorable" reviews.[12] It was an honorable mention in Best Mobile Game and Nuovo Award categories of the 2012 Game Developers Conference Independent Games Festival,[13] and an honorable mention in Excellence in Visual Art at the 2013 festival.[14] Hundreds was also an official selection at IndieCade 2012.[15][16] In January 2013, Saltsman was working on an Android release of the game.[7]

Alphabet (2013)

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Main article: Alphabet (video game)

Saltsman collaborated with Keita Takahashi on the title Alphabet (stylized A͈L͈P͈H͈A͈B͈E͈T͈) which was developed for the launch of LA Game Space in 2012. The experimental game was first displayed to the public by Juegos Rancheros on April 5, 2013 and was released to backers of the LA/GS Kickstarter that September.[17] Since 2018 the title has been available for free from The Internet Archive.[18]

Finji

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In March 2014, Saltsman re-announced Finji, a game studio that had existed since 2006 but was relaunched. Saltsman directs the studio, and his wife, Rebekah, produces and does game design. The company develops games internally and produces others. They announced four titles with the relaunch. The first, Portico, is in collaboration with Alec Holowka of Aquaria and was renamed from Grave. It is a 2D turn-based tactical survival game first announced in mid-2011.[19] Players use traps to stop incoming monsters from entering a sacred gate.[20] Finji distributed Night in the Woods, a Kickstarter-funded project by Scott Benson and Holowka. They also sell Saltsman's survival game Capsule (in collaboration with Robin Arnott).[19] They also announced Overland, a "turn-based tactical survival game" in development with Shay Pierce of Deep Plaid Games, which Saltsman privately displayed during the 2014 Game Developers Conference.[20] Finji has also published Tunic, developed by Andrew Shouldice and Chicory: A Colorful Tale.[21] In June 2014, Polytron announced that it would be co-publishing the "interactive musical landscape anthology" game Panoramical with Finji.[22] The company does not have plans to crowdfund future games.[19]

In 2023 Finji along with a few other indie game studios were involved in an amicus brief in support of the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft amid an appeal of a lawsuit filed by the FTC attempting to prevent the acquisition.[23]

Games published

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The following is a table of games published by Finji.

Year Title Developer Platforms Notes
2014 Capsule Adam Saltsman, Robin Arnott Mac, Windows
Longest Night Infinite Fall Linux, Macintosh, Windows Night in the Woods supplemental game #1
2015 Feist Bits & Beasts Android, iPad, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, PlayStation 4, Tomahawk F1, Windows, Xbox One
Panoramical Fernando Ramallo, David Kanaga Macintosh, Windows
Lost Constellation Infinite Fall Linux, Macintosh, Windows Night in the Woods supplemental game #2
2016 Journey of 1000 Stars Farbs Android, iPhone, iPad
Runaway Toad Shini Co. Android, iPad
2017 Night in the Woods Infinite Fall iPad, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One
2019 Overland Finji iPad, iPhone, Linux, Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, tvOS, Windows, Xbox One
Wilmot's Warehouse Hollow Ponds, Richard Hogg iPad, iPhone, Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
2021 Chicory: A Colorful Tale Greg Lobanov Macintosh, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows
2022 Tunic Andrew Shouldice Mac, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist[24] Northway Games Mac, Windows, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PS5
2025 Usual June[25] Finji Windows
Cancelled
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Title Developer Platforms Notes
Portico Adam Saltsman, Alec Holowka Previously announced under the title Grave, cancelled in 2016
Revenant Hill The Glory Society Linux, Macintosh, Windows, PS4, PS5 Cancelled in 2023

References

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  1. ^ "Stencyl: Make iPhone, iPad, Android & Flash Games without code". Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Kumar, Mathew (October 10, 2011). "IndieCade: Canabalt's Adam Saltsman's Pursuit of the Infinite". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  3. ^ "Gravity Hook for Browser (2008)". MobyGames. Atari SA. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  4. ^ "Gravity Hook HD (2010) release dates". MobyGames. Atari SA. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Boyer, Brandon (November 11, 2009). "The Running Man: behind the sketchbooks of Adam Saltsman's Canabalt". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  6. ^ Courtney, Timothy (March 11, 2016). "Game Talk: Developer of Games Like Canabalt and Overland, Adam Saltsman Interview with Timothy Courtney". timothycourtney.io. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  7. ^ a b Rose, Mike (January 4, 2013). "Betting on style with Saltsman and Wohlwend's Hundreds". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 11, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Martin, Garrett (January 22, 2013). "From Flash to Touch: How Hundreds Came to the iPad". Paste. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  9. ^ McWhertor, Michael (January 3, 2013). "Hundreds' metamorphosis from late night dream to addictive iOS puzzle game". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  10. ^ Ryckert, Dan (January 8, 2013). "Hundreds - An Experience Custom Made For Mobile". Game Informer. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  11. ^ McWhertor, Michael (June 28, 2013). "Semi Secret Software's Hundreds comes to Android". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  12. ^ "Hundreds Critic Reviews for iPhone/iPad". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 8, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  13. ^ Plante, Chris (March 7, 2012). "Here are your winners of the 2012 Independent Games Festival". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  14. ^ Staff (January 7, 2013). "2013 Independent Games Festival announces Main Competition finalists". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on May 13, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  15. ^ "IndieCade 2012 Games". IndieCade. Archived from the original on August 16, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  16. ^ McWhertor, Michael (October 7, 2012). "Hands-on with Hundreds, the addictive new iOS game from Canabalt's creators". Polygon. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  17. ^ Renovitch, James (April 1, 2013). "Keita Takahashi Games Set to Debut Locally". The Austin Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013.
  18. ^ "LA Game Space: Experimental Game Pack 01 - Windows" – via Internet Archive.
  19. ^ a b c Sarkar, Samit (March 3, 2014). "Canabalt dev announces new collaborative studio, Finji". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 9, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  20. ^ a b Polson, John (March 3, 2014). "Adam Saltsman announces new game collab Overland, new studio Finji". IndieGames.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  21. ^ "Tunic is a gorgeous Zelda-style adventure starring a fox". Polygon. June 12, 2017.
  22. ^ Hilliard, Kyle (June 14, 2014). "Fez Developer Re-Emerges With Polytron Partners". Game Informer. Archived from the original on June 16, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  23. ^ Writer, Jeffrey Rousseau Staff (September 19, 2023). "Indie game developer cohort supports Microsoft ABK acquisition". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  24. ^ Maui (April 25, 2021). "Preview - I Was a Teenage Exocolonist". LifeisXbox. WordPress. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  25. ^ Harte, Charles (December 7, 2023). "Usual June Is The Latest From Finji". Game Informer. Archived from the original on December 8, 2023. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
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Media related to Adam Saltsman at Wikimedia Commons

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