Former DJ Looks to Reinvent eBooks with GameSalad

May 6 2011, 4:40pm

GameSalad has always been, first and foremost, a tool for game creation, and was really designed as such from the ground up. Of course, GameSalad can always be used to make apps that go well beyond gaming, and UK developer Charles Kriel is perfect proof of that. A former superstar DJ/VJ and BBC Radio 1 Artist-in-Residence, Charles has turned his uber-creative eye on the digital publishing industry and is looking to reinvent children’s books using GameSalad Creator. His most recent publication, Handmade Mother Goose HD with EveryPage has certainly got the attention of ebook publisher, reaching #22 in iPad books in the United States, as well as #18 in Ireland and Canada, and #40 in the UK. Charles, a GameSalad user since 2009, took some time to answer some of our questions about the world of e-publishing, and about his awesome past in the DJ business: GameSalad: Could you tell us a little about your history as a developer? How long have you been building interactive content? Charles Kriel: Since 1991. I was doing a lot of art installation and performance work, and was immediately attracted to the idea of distributable independent work. I was on the net at that time – before the web – and making interactive performance pieces to upload, using Authorware. After that, I started building more complex work. When I moved to London, one of the first pieces I made was “CC Kriel’s All-Squirrel Band”, an installation of stuffed squirrels at the ICA. I made the first CD-ROM funded by Arts Council England, and moved seriously into web art. In the early noughties, I was asked to be Artist-in-Residence with BBC Radio 1, working alongside Pete Tong. Pete and I did a regular Friday night show with the Essential Selection online. He’d DJ and I’d VJ with an interactive video system I put together. From there I went on to produce an alternative reality game starring Pete and Paul van Dyk, along with a dozen superstar DJs. It took place in Ibiza, and was eventually commissioned as a TV series. I spent most of that summer in Ibiza – it took about a year to recover. GS: Is this your first eBook? CK: My first eBook was “Tales of The Lobster Boy”, the first full-length thriller serialised on Facebook. I’ll develop that into an enhanced iPad book later this summer, hopefully with GameSalad, and I’m working on a sequel, “Tales of The Fat Lady’s Daughter”. GS: What led you to choose GameSalad for your eBook creation? CK: I’m on the creative end of a creative technology practice, so I tend to reach for the tools that make sense. GameSalad mediates the less intuitive parts of making digital off onto the software. I used Authorware before it died, Flash before ActionScript became a headache, I sequenced the squirrels with a DAW – these are all tools with a human interface. Not user-abusive. GameSalad is the same kind of natural choice for indies. The DJ/VJ-ing world seems like an entirely separate universe from the publishing industry, how did you become so involved in both? They’re two parts of a whole. My approach to creativity has almost always involved technology. In Ibiza, the DJs used to dog me for using laptops. Now they all use Ableton Live. When I approached publishing, I wasn’t thinking about books. I was thinking about interactive storytelling, and suddenly, publishing is accessible. As for getting deeply involved with places like the BBC, I’m more concerned with making good work than “making it”. I’ve caught some lucky breaks, but I also think people appreciate an approach as much about process as it is about product. GS: Tell us about the Challenge that led to the creation of Handmade Mother Goose HD with Everypage. CK: Six months ago, everyone in publishing was saying “Apps are awesome! What’s my app strategy?” And after spending tens of thousands of pounds on unprofitable apps, they’re now asking if it was worth it. There’s a backlash, but it won’t last long. I wanted to show publishers that a passionate maker with an understanding of music, imagery, video, interactivity – an understanding of our language, today – could make a quality indie app quickly, and on a small budget. If Handmade Mother Goose does well, I think they’ll notice. GS: What exactly is Everypage? CK: EveyPage is a UX / UI thing. I imagine Handmade Mother Goose HD being used by parents and children – a parent reading to a child. In that scenario you don’t want to say to your kid, “What story do you want to hear, Little Billy?”, and then negotiate through menus to get to Humpty Dumpty. Bang, you want Humpty now. So, no matter where you are in Handmade Mother Goose, you can get to the story you want with one tap. Something a toddler can do. GS: Has the final product lived up to your expectations? Is there anything else you would have liked to do with this publication? CK: No piece of work is ever what you started out wanting it to be, but if you listen to the piece as it develops, it becomes something else – it becomes what it wants to be. And in this case, I think Handmade Mother Goose became better than the idea I started with. 1.1 is coming shortly, and I have a few tweaks and features to add. Also, as GameSalad develops, I think there will be more possibilities for what can be done with it. This is the first of a series of Handmade books. Watch this space. GS: Do you think this book will affect how European publishers view the mobile marketplace? CK: Hmmm. It depends what you mean by Europeans. The Brits have openly embraced digital publishing, and have produced some of the best book apps on the market. On the continent, where the publishing markets are fragmented by language, the uptake is slower. Last I looked, there was no App Store for the Netherlands, for example. But digital books are as inevitable as digital music. And once you’re making digital books, the possibilities for what can be done with an interactive book will really open up. You know, the next great publishing innovations won’t come from a giant publishing house. They’ll come from indies hacking away at GameSalad on laptops. It’s all pretty exciting. Handmade Mother Goose HD with EveryPage is available on the App Store Now!