While researching Dundee’s annual gaming event, Dare to be Digital, I stumbled upon DOS Studios, a team of five who at at the time went by the name of Team DOS. They had just won the Channel 4 award at the eight-week event, which partnered them with Channel 4 who provided marketing and publishing support and a £25,000 prize. The win also netted them a shortlisting for the One’s to Watch at the 2014 BAFTA awards, which they went on to win in March. I scrambled to find anymore information about their game, at the time called Size DOS Matter, but struggling to find a shred of information in English (the team are mostly Norwegian and had some local coverage) I contacted Team DOS directly. I was excited for a chance to shed some light on the game, and CEO Mattis Delerud was kind enough to chat to me on two occasions.
Since the first time I had spoken to the team they have gone through a few name changes and have solidified what they produced and presented in Dundee. Their rhythmic, side scrolling action game is fun, bright, fast and loud. Size DOES Matter is an iOS essential.
Since the first time I had spoken to the team they have gone through a few name changes and have solidified what they produced and presented in Dundee. Their rhythmic, side scrolling action game is fun, bright, fast and loud. Size DOES Matter is an iOS essential.
In Size DOES Matter the player controls a square, neon block travelling from left to right along the screen. As the player moves along, lines of blocks travel from the right, each line separated by a gap that is either one, three or five blocks wide. The player is then able to choose the width of their block to coincide with the space between the approaching line, which also changes heights. The players goal is to change widths and height depending on the size of the gap, netting points and aiming for the highest score possible, allowing you to keep the “strikes” necessary to run through repeat, faster, more challenging sequences of the level. All of this is set to the rhythm of great music, with artists like Chipzel (Super Hexagon), Savant (Savant: Ascent) and Eirik Suhrke (Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box, Spelunky, Hotline Miami).
Rhythmic games are normally built around speed and the players skill, earning points and bonuses for combinations and successful runs. Size DOES Matter isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but has managed to provide one of the best experiences of this mechanic available with a touchscreen. There are two inputs on either side of the display to change the height and width of your block, which are always responsive, leaving me to blame noone but myself and my lack of skill when a successful streak comes to an end. Controls are important for any game, but mobile games that rely on touchscreens need to get these right to stand any chance in Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store. Plenty of games get this so wrong that I end up putting them down; Size DOES Matter is not one of them.
Rhythmic games are normally built around speed and the players skill, earning points and bonuses for combinations and successful runs. Size DOES Matter isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, but has managed to provide one of the best experiences of this mechanic available with a touchscreen. There are two inputs on either side of the display to change the height and width of your block, which are always responsive, leaving me to blame noone but myself and my lack of skill when a successful streak comes to an end. Controls are important for any game, but mobile games that rely on touchscreens need to get these right to stand any chance in Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store. Plenty of games get this so wrong that I end up putting them down; Size DOES Matter is not one of them.
As you complete each level you are given a high score, which unlocks harder levels with new music. The learning curve is steep without feeling extreme, and I felt like I had managed to become better at the game as I progressed. You’ll find yourself going back to some of the earlier levels and flying through sections that were difficult the first time around. A successful run through a level can end in two ways. On the first run you are given three “strikes”, which can be lost by mistiming or missing your block and hitting other blocks. If you manage to finish the level with these lives still intact, the track starts again with a faster, harder version of the level to complete. Mastery of these levels will give you super-high scores and can put you at top of the games leaderboard.
The game is smooth, loud and it looks amazing. The neon pops on the darker backgrounds, with the game moving smoothly across the screen. Timing your moves is crucial, but the game is smooth enough to make this process entirely reliant on the players fast reflexes and timing. There’s no bad hit-detection or muddied graphics obscuring your view, and while the screenshots make the game look busy, all the onscreen elements come into focus at just the right time.
No game is perfect and if there was one thing I could ask for it would be time. Whenever I mistimed a move or hit the gates heading towards me I lost a “strike” as well as my combination. On a long string of lines I wasn’t given the time to readjust and recover before being bombarded by blocks. I think that a mechanic that slowed down and allowed for a split second to recover would make my mistakes feel less like I needed to restart the level to succeed.
Currently on the UK App Store for £0.99, the game doesn’t support in-app purchasing at the moment, something I had asked about when interviewing Mattis which I’m glad has made it’s way into the full release. Size DOES Matter is full of content for the pound that you are spending, with fourteen unique songs by the contributing artists. It’s got great touchscreen controls, music that makes you smile and is perfect in bite sized gaming sessions or longer slogs on the sofa. There are some games that every iOS gamer should have, and I think this is one of them.
The game is smooth, loud and it looks amazing. The neon pops on the darker backgrounds, with the game moving smoothly across the screen. Timing your moves is crucial, but the game is smooth enough to make this process entirely reliant on the players fast reflexes and timing. There’s no bad hit-detection or muddied graphics obscuring your view, and while the screenshots make the game look busy, all the onscreen elements come into focus at just the right time.
No game is perfect and if there was one thing I could ask for it would be time. Whenever I mistimed a move or hit the gates heading towards me I lost a “strike” as well as my combination. On a long string of lines I wasn’t given the time to readjust and recover before being bombarded by blocks. I think that a mechanic that slowed down and allowed for a split second to recover would make my mistakes feel less like I needed to restart the level to succeed.
Currently on the UK App Store for £0.99, the game doesn’t support in-app purchasing at the moment, something I had asked about when interviewing Mattis which I’m glad has made it’s way into the full release. Size DOES Matter is full of content for the pound that you are spending, with fourteen unique songs by the contributing artists. It’s got great touchscreen controls, music that makes you smile and is perfect in bite sized gaming sessions or longer slogs on the sofa. There are some games that every iOS gamer should have, and I think this is one of them.
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