IPhones, iPads, Androids and other handheld devices that use apps seem to be popping up everywhere, with companies constantly pumping out newer versions with innovative capabilities. Rexford neighbors Ken Malsan and Bryan O’Malley were eager to get in on the smart phone craze, and now they’re smack dab in the middle of it with their game application that officially released on Nov. 1 and is available for use with iPhone, iTouch and iPad.
Cohabit is a game similar to Sudoku, but with a twist, challenging players to fill in a single board with numbers and colors without repeating any of them in the same column or row.
`I had about six game ideas this was one we both liked because it’s sort of unique. It was something that Sudoku players would like and had an addictive nature to it,` said Malsan.
Malsan said O’Malley mentioned to him that he was looking to get into the apps business and could use his web development company Avexa to make that happen. Malsan told his neighbor that he’d brainstorm some ideas.
`I was trying to see if I could layer two Sudokus on top of each other and that’s sort of where the idea came up. Is it possible to do something like that? I started with a three-by-three grid, and once I got that to work, I kept going up until I reached seven-by-seven, which is where we stopped,` said Malsan. `I love puzzles. I grew up in a game family playing a lot of games and puzzles, so this was a natural extension of that for me.`
Once they had a concept, Malsan said the next step was to actually generate games with the proper quality controls and a scoring system.
`We needed it to be solveable without guessing. You can solve it without taking a hint because it’s a puzzle, not a guessing game,` said Malsan, who said he and O’Malley split up the labor, with him focusing on the game-aspect and O’Malley taking the reins on the design and development process. `It was hundreds of hours. We did a lot of nights of getting together while the kids were playing on the swing sets.`
Malsan needed a tester, so he enlisted his nephew’s help, who is a senior at Bethlehem High School.
`My nephew did a lot of the quality control. We gave him test versions of the application before it went into iTunes and he would sit and play it and stress test it for us. He’d play dozens of times, use the hint button over and over again and provided us with a couple pages worth of feedback about what he liked and didn’t like,` said Malsan.
One aspect of the game that differentiates it from other similar applications out there is the built in scoring system, said Malsan.
`It’s not only solving the problem or solving the puzle, but solving it in the best way if you’re challenging a friend to Sudoku it’s who can do it the fastsest, but if you’re challenging a friend in our game, it’s not only who can do it the fastest but who can solve it the smartest way,` said Malsan.
The last obstacle in Cohabit’s creation was finding a name.
`We tried to find a unique name. We didn’t want to leverage the Sudoku brand because it’s the same concept but different and better,` said Malsan. `Cohabit means to coexist in the same space and what our game does it try to get people to put a number and color in the same space at the same time.`
Cohabit is available for purchase in the iTunes store for $1.99. It features various size grides that can be solved in as little as 30 seconds or take several minutes to complete, making it perfect, Malsan said, for a time filler while waiting in line at the grocery store or doctor’s office, or for a leisurely night on the couch. Specific information about Cohabit and Avexa is available at avexa.com/cohabit.
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