Renown for its attention to detail and 'not done until it's done' attitude, the one thing PopCap could be criticised for is lacking a playful attitude to game development.
Well, not any more.
It's just announced 4th & Battery, an experimental label where its designers and developers have free reign to create smaller, simpler, and (sometimes) edgier games.
Don't tell mum
"4th & Battery is a pressure valve intended to keep our heads from exploding," explained Ed Allard, PopCap's executive vice president of studios
"The PopCap brand has become closely associated with ultra-high quality, polish and attention to detail - which is a great thing. But our standard game development process is therefore long and involved, and doesn't really accommodate all of the creativity pumping through our collective veins.
"4th & Battery gives us a way to quickly try really strange or marginal ideas, and to give our designers a safe area to hone their chops."
The first label release will be Unpleasant Horse.
In this free iPhone title, players will take on the role of a 'strikingly unpleasant flying horse' who advances through the game by destroying small birds and landing on more pleasant horses from above, forcing them into a perpetual meat grinder for extra points and special bonuses.
4th & Battery - the name comes from a Seattle intersection - is expected to produce several smallscale arcade-style games annually, for platforms ranging from PC to Facebook and iPhone.
[source: PopCap]
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A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
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