Seattle-area independent studio 5th Cell has quickly established itself as one of gaming's premiere handheld developers. In the roughly three years since it moved away from its original mobile focus, it has released Nintendo DS titles Drawn to Life; its sequel, Lock's Quest, and Scribblenauts, all of which have received considerable attention.
Colin Northway is the Flash developer responsible for Fantastic Contraption, a clever physics-driven puzzle game with a substantial free web-based trial version.
In this unique Gamasutra interview, Northway took the opportunity to sit down with Jeremiah Slaczka, one of 5th Cell's co-founders and the company's creative director. Slaczka also served as the lead designer of the dictionary-powered puzzle platformer Scribblenauts. He and Northway discussed the design and iteration process behind that game, 5th Cell's Japanese-style top-down development structure, and the coexistence of commercialism and creativity.
