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Local man's Mega Moves game app in Apple store
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
A new game app based on a Boardman man’s board game is now available as a free download from the Apple store.
Mega Moves is the brainchild of George Kovach, who created it as a board game with Tom Guza. The board game hit the market late last year.
Kovach adapted the board game into a game app in hopes of emulating the success of games such as Candy Crush and Words with Friends. Those games can be downloaded onto phones and other mobile computer devices.
“With games like Candy Crush leading the way, I decided the best way to promote Mega Moves was to make a game app for it,” said Kovach. “Candy Crush’s revenues are turning the mobile game-development industry into a frenzy. Mega Moves [board game] was creating so much fun and excitement, and local sales were very good. I could see that it has the potential of being the next great board game, so investing in the game app was a no-brainer.”
To adapt the game into an app, Kovach worked with Chris Volpe, CEO of Multivarious Games of Columbus. Volpe is also the head of the Ohio Game Developers Association and coordinates an annual expo that attracts game developers to that city from all over the country. He said the app development industry grossed more than $15 billion last year.
Development of a game app runs in the $150,000 range, but Volpe had a plan to do it for much less.
“He said that for a fraction of the cost you can make a game app just for Apple’s iPhone and iPad and try and get in their app store,” said Kovach. “That way, if the app doesn’t take off you only lose a smaller investment. If it starts to get a lot of downloads, you can move on to the Android products where most of the time and effort is spent to warrant the high costs.”
Kovach hired Multivarious Games and was pleased with the results. The fact that the Apple store picked up the game confirms its high quality, said Kovach.
“Once you see the app you will agree it is one of the most beautiful apps going,” said Kovach. “The guys at Multivarious Games first matched the box version exactly, which was obviously the most important thing to do. Then they added the bells and whistles that took Mega Moves to an entirely different level of fun and excitement. They put in laser beams to show movement of the game pieces, explosions when a piece is taken, pinpoints of light constantly running throughout the grid lines, cool electronic music that makes you almost dance when you play. When you touch a game piece, the board lights up to show you all the possible moves that piece could make.”
The Mega Moves app can be played solo, or two people can play each other offline or online from remote locations. Game play can be in either two-dimensions, like the board game, or 3-D, in which the board rotates to give a better view to whoever’s turn it is.
Mega Moves is a dice game with basically the same setup as chess or checkers. It is distinguished by the addition of two dice, which dictate how each player can move. Instead of combining the numbers on each dice, they are split and two game pieces are moved each turn. Each piece can move in any direction.
The object is to land on a space that an opponent is occupying, removing and replacing his piece in the process. The last player with pieces on the board wins.