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Interview

Our interview with BK2SI the creator of Grind my Gears

Here we are, back with another developer interview! This time with BK2SI
the creator of Grind my Gears. Before we start we’d like to thank the BK2SI
Team for participating in our interview and for answering all of our geeky questions! Thanks!

…and without further ado, our interview begins…

The Interview


/// Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about Grind my Gears! Could you kick-start this interview by telling us a little about your studio, yourself, and what drew you into the gaming industry?

Thank you for interviewing me! My name is Andre Anderson CEO of BK2SI. Our company name comes from my journey being raised in Brooklyn then moving to Staten Island. Both places taught me so much and instilled a drive in me to chase my dreams.

I was always a video games enthusiast since I can remember. I always knew I wanted to create a game, something fun but also challenging. Always busy with working 2 jobs back then I never had the time to chase my passion. My mother in law came to me one day and said you are really good with video games you need to design an app, take an hour out of your a day and invest in yourself. So I did.

/// Ok, let’s start talking about Grind my Gears. What are the highlights of your latest release?

Oh, I am excited about the challenging objective boards. Not only do you have to match colors or numbers now you have up to 5 objectives to face to complete a board. It is so challenging; it’s not for the faint of heart.

And we now introduced the math bonus board. So when a player runs out of lives they now get the chance to win free lives and free in-app purchases by answering problems that range from simple math questions to difficult calculus questions. We reward our players for using their brains.

/// What was the core idea or inspiration behind Grind my Gears? And perhaps more importantly, where do you find inspiration for your games in general?

Yes, our inspiration comes from our youth, stuff we found fun and challenging. We remembered mini-games we would play on car rides, mostly memory games, matching games, and math games. My parents wanted to keep us entertained on rides while at the same time educating us.

/// How long was Grind my Gears in development for? And are there any interesting and/or exciting moments or experiences you would like to share with us from that time?

Well, Grind my Gears was actually supposed to be a puzzle game where you had 5 gears and 1 gear in the middle. All the gears had numbers on the spokes and the user had to move gears so all the numbers lined up and matched.

Our developers at the time could not get it to work, so we had to scrap the project and the Grind my Gears you see now was born. We went through different phases, the lite version was created in 2014 and later released in 2017. We knew it was a start to something great and in late 2017 we went with a new team and paid for two milestones but never got a finished project.

We were devastated but didn’t give up. In 2018 we meet a great group of developers at Hashbyte Studios and in March 2019 the full version was released and we are extremely proud of how far we have come since our start in 2014.

/// What software, developer-tools, or black-magic(?) did you use when making Grind my Gears? Is there anything you would like to share with the developers who read Edamame Reviews?

Our old developers used Cocos2DX for our first app and it was good back then but Unity 3D is mind-blowing and we really love the look and feel of our game now.

/// Is there any secret “developer-advice” you can give our lucky players who read this interview?

My only advice is to design or develop something that you are passionate and knowledgeable about. I love math and I love games that challenge me mentally. Grind my Gears is my love of both.

/// What can we expect to see in Grind my Gears or from BK2SI
in the not so distant future? What do we have to look forward to next?

Grind my Gears will be introducing more levels, different objectives, and more math puzzles. We can’t wait for the users to see what comes next.

/// Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to our awesome team of Writers, Developers, and Supporters who keep Edamame Reviews up and running?

Our team wants to say thank you so much for this interview opportunity. We love your social media pages and what you guys do for indie developers by getting their projects out there. We do look forward to working with your team in the future.

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