Zach Gage

{{Infobox person

| name = Zach Gage

| image = Zach Gage at GDC 2018 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Gage at the 2018 Game Developers Conference

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1985}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20231107064834/https://twitter.com/helvetica/status/852969880756334592 Twitter message] {{r|Polygon: GDC 2016}}

| birth_place =

| known_for = SpellTower
Ridiculous Fishing

| occupation = Video game developer

}}

Zach Gage (born 1985) is an independent video game programmer and designer based in New York City. He is known for his iOS games, including SpellTower.

Gage learned to code throughout his youth and studied art at Skidmore College and Parsons School of Design, where he created installation and interactive works. With the 2008 opening of Apple's App Store, Gage created multiple apps and games, including the word games SpellTower (2011), TypeShift (2017), and collaborative work on Vlambeer's 2013 Ridiculous Fishing and Bennett Foddy's 2017 Getting Over It iOS port. Gage also created multiple games based on playing card and board games, including Really Bad Chess (2016).

Early life

Zach Gage was raised in Westchester, New York. His mother allowed few game purchases in their house, and coming from a family of artists, encouraged Gage to make his own games. He would retain this do it yourself mentality to learn new creative skills and escape later creative slumps.{{r|Wired: most wired}} As a child, Gage created imaginary games with Kid Pix, the drawing software, on his family computer, a Macintosh LC, adventure games in Apple's hyperlink-based HyperCard software, and video games in Apple's Cocoa visual programming language for children. In his time with Cocoa, Gage collaborated with another teen developer, created a demo for the company that purchased Cocoa from Apple, and contributed to a book on the language. He advanced to C++ and Java programming languages in high school,{{Cite web |last1=Moss |first1=Richard |title=Veteran game developers reveal their childhood creations |work=Polygon |date=2017-05-22 |url=https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/22/15655926/veteran-game-developers-reveal-their-childhood-creations |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} where he also developed an interest in photography. He attended Skidmore College and upon finding its computer science program lackluster, graduated with a degree in art in 2007. His new media thesis project was an interactive installation involving viewer tracking and video projection.{{r|Wired: most wired}}

Career

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Gage returned to New York City after college and worked with Eyebeam. He was later hired to program an installation piece similar to his thesis for an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which encouraged him to attempt new projects headlong. Back in New York, he completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Parsons School of Design, with a thesis show of multiple works on the relationship between data and the Internet. In its most infamous piece, Lose/Lose, the player shot on-screen aliens, each of which corresponded to a file on the player's hard drive. The conceptual project intended to question human propensity to follow directions and the real-life consequences of in-game decisions,{{r|Wired: most wired}} following from works including Eddo Stern's Tekken Torture Tournament.{{Cite web |last1=W. |first1=Tim |title=The Weblog Interview: Zach Gage Caught in a Lose/Lose Situation |work=IndieGames.com |date=2009-12-14 |url=http://www.indiegames.com/2009/12/interview_zach_gage_caught_in.html |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} Security company Symantec classified the game as malware.{{r|Wired: most wired}}

Outside of his art work, Gage began programming for Apple's App Store upon its 2008 opening for submissions. He created a visual music sequencer (SynthPond) and a horizontal Tetris-style game (Unify). His next app, the word game SpellTower, was commercially successful and led to multiple venture capital offers that Gage declined in favor of staying independent.{{r|Wired: most wired}} Gage had been inspired to design SpellTower by a conversation with Asher Vollmer who described his design for what would become Puzzlejuice, a word game which combined Tetris and Boggle;{{r|Gamasutra: tackles}} with Vollmer's permission, Gage developed his own version of the idea, and beat Vollmer to market by two months.{{r|TA: Skiing}} Gage later worked as the iOS developer for Vlambeer's 2013 Ridiculous Fishing, in which players use motion and touch controls to catch fish and subsequently shoot them out of the sky for cash. During the peak of development, the game's artist Greg Wohlwend moved in with Gage to work 14-hour days.{{cite web |url=http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/4/24/4257958/cloned-at-birth-the-story-of-ridiculous-fishing |title=Cloned at Birth: The Story of Ridiculous Fishing |last1=Pitts |first1=Russ |date=April 24, 2013 |work=Polygon |access-date=June 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605145451/http://www.polygon.com/features/2013/4/24/4257958/cloned-at-birth-the-story-of-ridiculous-fishing |archive-date=June 5, 2013 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }} In Gage's #Fortune, a 2015 smartphone app, the user presses a button on a minimal interface to receive a fortune cookie-style fortune based on the Twitter messages of strangers. A user can receive three daily fortunes based on the time of day, and a countdown timer displays when the user can return.{{Cite web |last1=Ellison |first1=Cara |title=Cara Ellison on: #Fortune |work=Eurogamer |date=2015-03-28 |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-03-28-cara-ellison-on-fortune |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} The app was based on a similar physical machine he had built.{{Cite web |last1=Dotson |first1=Carter |title=Prepare for Wisdom or Weirdness with Zach Gage's #Fortune, Out This Week |work=TouchArcade |date=2015-02-03 |url=http://toucharcade.com/2015/02/03/prepare-for-wisdom-or-weirdness-with-zach-gages-fortune-out-this-week/ |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} Gage also created digital games based on playing card and board games: Sage Solitaire (2015),{{Cite web |last1=Webster |first1=Andrew |title=Solitaire gets a much-needed makeover in this new mobile game |work=The Verge |date=2015-08-27 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/8/27/9211287/sage-solitaire-zach-gage-iphone-ipad |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} Really Bad Chess (2016),{{Cite web |last1=Matulef |first1=Jeffrey |title=Sage Solitaire and SpellTower dev is making a game called Really Bad Chess |work=Eurogamer |date=2016-10-03 |url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-10-03-spelltower-and-sage-solitaire-dev-is-making-a-game-called-really-bad-chess |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} and Flipflop Solitaire (2017).{{Cite web |last1=Lazarides |first1=Tasos |title=Zach Gage's 'Flipflop Solitaire' Is Available Now, It's a Sequel of Sorts to 'Sage Solitaire' |work=TouchArcade |date=2017-11-09 |url=http://toucharcade.com/2017/11/09/zach-gages-flipflop-solitaire-is-available-now-its-a-sequel-of-sorts-to-sage-solitaire/ |access-date=2018-01-22 |df=mdy-all }} Gage also assisted in the iOS port of Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.{{Cite web |last1=Nelson |first1=Jared |title='QWOP' Developer's New Game 'Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy' Arrives on iOS thanks in Part to Zach Gage |work=TouchArcade |date=2017-12-06 |url=http://toucharcade.com/2017/12/06/getting-over-it-with-bennett-foddy-released-on-ios/ |access-date=2018-01-22 |df=mdy-all }}

A collaboration with Choice Provisions (of the Bit.Trip series) manifested as the 2016 strategy game Tharsis.{{Cite web |last1=Dotson |first1=Carter |title=Gaijin Games Rebrands to Choice Provisions, Announces 'Tharsis' with Zach Gage |work=TouchArcade |date=2014-06-06 |url=http://toucharcade.com/2014/06/06/tharsis-with-zach-gage/ |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} As the systems designer, Gage worked to make the game's elements of chance exciting.{{Cite web |last1=Graham |first1=Roy |title=Roll for your life: Making randomness transparent in Tharsis |work=Gamasutra |date=2016-01-21 |url=https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/263953/Roll_for_your_life_Making_randomness_transparent_in_Tharsis.php |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} Gage also created a card game, Guts of Glory, which he crowdfunded via Kickstarter.{{r|Wired: most wired}} He participated in the 2016 Game Developers Conference game design challenge panel{{Cite web |last1=Hall |first1=Charlie |title=GDC's game design challenge gets emotional over 30-year games |work=Polygon |date=2016-03-21 |url=https://www.polygon.com/2016/3/21/11278282/gdc-game-design-challenge-30-year-game |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} and his work was previously featured in the NYU Game Center's No Quarter exhibition.{{Cite web |last1=Frank |first1=Allegra |title=No Quarter dares you to look at games as sociological artifacts |work=Polygon |date=2016-01-05 |url=https://www.polygon.com/2016/1/5/10446612/no-quarter-nyu-game-center-2015 |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }} He is based in New York, as of 2012.{{r|Wired: most wired}}

Selected works

Lose/Lose (2009)
Bit Pilot (2010){{Cite web |last=McWhertor |first=Michael |date=2011-08-04 |title=In Bit Pilot, You Actually Are Going In To an Asteroid Field |url=https://kotaku.com/in-bit-pilot-you-actually-are-going-in-to-an-asteroid-5827596 |website=Kotaku |publisher=G/O Media |access-date=2023-08-21}}
Halcyon (2010)
SpellTower (2011)
Ridiculous Fishing (2013)
Guts of Glory (2013)
#Fortune (2015)
Sage Solitaire (2015)
Tharsis (2016)
Really Bad Chess (2016)
TypeShift (2017)
Flipflop Solitaire (2017)
Pocket-Run Pool (2018)
Cozen (2018)
Card of Darkness (2019)
Good Sudoku (2020){{Cite web|title=Good Sudoku by Zach Gage|url=https://apps.apple.com/us/app/good-sudoku-by-zach-gage/id1489118195|access-date=2020-09-20|website=App Store|language=en-us}}
Knotwords (2022){{Cite web |title=Knotwords |url=https://apps.apple.com/us/app/knotwords/id1598756238 |access-date=2023-04-12 |website=App Store |language=en-US}}
Puzzmo (2023){{Cite web |author1=Alessandro Fillari |date=2023-10-19 |title=Acclaimed puzzle designer known for weird games gives Wordle some competition: "I have been working on this project, in secret, for almost 2 years" |url=https://www.gamesradar.com/acclaimed-puzzle-designer-known-for-weird-games-gives-wordle-some-competition-i-have-been-working-on-this-project-in-secret-for-almost-2-years/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=gamesradar |language=en}}

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/128208/Zach_Gage_Tackles_A_Genre_He_Hates_With_SpellTower.php |access-date=October 18, 2016 |title=Zach Gage Tackles A Genre He Hates With SpellTower Exclusive |last1=Alexander |first1=Leigh |author-link1=Leigh Alexander |date=November 17, 2011 |work=Gamasutra |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122125552/https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/128208/Zach_Gage_Tackles_A_Genre_He_Hates_With_SpellTower.php |archive-date=January 22, 2018 |url-status=live }}

{{cite web |url=http://toucharcade.com/2015/04/17/skiing-yeti-mountain-preview/ |access-date=October 18, 2016 |title='Skiing Yeti Mountain' Preview - The Alternate Universe Version of 'Dudeski' |last1=Dotson |first1=Carter |date=April 17, 2015 |work=TouchArcade |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018140248/http://toucharcade.com/2015/04/17/skiing-yeti-mountain-preview/ |archive-date=October 18, 2016 |url-status=live }}

{{Cite magazine |last1=Kohler |first1=Chris |title=Game Designer Stands at Rowdy Intersection of Entertainment and Art |magazine=Wired |date=2012-12-17 |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/worlds-most-wired-zach-gage/ |access-date=2018-01-21 |df=mdy-all }}

}}

External links

{{Official website}}

Category:American video game designers

Category:Living people

Category:1985 births

Category:Skidmore College alumni

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:People from Brooklyn

Category:Indie game developers