From right to left: Alex Weiswasser, Max Totten, Harry Tomasco and Ben Adams showcased their new game at the Mage Tournament.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
LONGMEADOW — A college student hailing from Longmeadow and his roommates have started to make a name for themselves in the gaming community after developing a new indie game and creating their own studio.
Alex Weiswasser is a rising junior at Vermont’s Champlain College. Weiswasser and his three roommates, Harry Tomasco, Ben Adams and Max Totten decided to develop a game as soon as their college careers began.
This led to the June 23 release of “MAGE: Mega Awesome Gregarious Encounters” and the creation of FunRug Studio LLC. Weiswasser head-programmed the game.
The game’s description states it is a “magical, action-packed 2D projectile fighter inspired by controller couch party classics,” where players can pick from 21 unique mages to battle across over 200 maps. The game is playable online or locally with up to four players.
Weiswasser said wanted to make something fun for people to play together, which is video games for him and his friends.
“As a kid, I would play on the [Nintendo Wii] with friends, or on the [Nintendo DS] on the bus ride to school and as I grew older, on the computer online,” Weiswasser said. “I had grown up at the same time the video game indie industry was growing up too, and seeing games made by small groups of people be so influential and impressive was a big motivator. Watching videos about game jams, about game making processes, seeing that it was not an out of reach thing, that was big too.”
Weiswasser and his roommates all went to Champlain in hopes to develop a game, and they all decided to make the jump together.
“Champlain College did some amazing roommate matching,” Weiswasser said. “Around a week in, we decided to stop waiting, to not do it after anything, to just start, so we did.”
He said balancing time to develop the game and focus on studies wasn’t “bad at all,” considering many of his classes oriented around game development.
“Working on MAGE would help me in those classes, and learning in those classes would help me with MAGE,” Weiswasser said. “The practical and the mental learning were able to intermingle that way, and it was massively helpful for my learning process overall. College also allowed for peers, professors and friends who we could look to for advice and help, game testing and even having the game included in two on-campus game tournaments.”
FunRug came to life from Tomasco’s “drive for it,” according to Weiswasser. He said the group called themselves FunRug based off of the rug in their dorm room, but wasn’t an actual company yet.
“Harry certainly took initiative there, really taking the whole thing seriously, doing the brunt of the research and formation process to make us an actual company,” Weiswasser said. “We have lots of plans to build on the company. Soon, we’re joining a gamedev co-op of other small indie teams to help prop each other up, made up of current and former Champlain students. Most importantly, with the knowledge we’ve gained from making MAGE, we at FunRug are already working on a new game, planned for release in late October.”
Weiswasser said he loves how communal the game ended up being, and that it’s at its best when you have all four people playing at once.
“Having four people going crazy next to each other playing is fantastic, to both do myself and see others enjoy,” Weiswasser said. “The Champlain College game testing lab was the perfect place to have our game be seen, discussed, and enjoyed by many. We’ve had MAGE in both the Siegel Games, a game tournament held on campus, and eventually our own tournament. Overall, MAGE spread through campus more than we were expecting, with fellow students we’d never met recognizing the game during testing or showcases, and with even the college president knowing about it.”
He added that he loves how fun it was to make and play, along with how much he learned and gained from the experience.
“I designed the original systems of the game, and so I was able to make it super fun for me, and luckily that meant it was great fun for others too,” Weiswasser said. “Playtesting it was always a blast. Recording sound effects and voice lines into a [PlayStation 5] controller was always hilarious. Overall, MAGE is a fantastic starting stepping stone. I learned more making MAGE than I have doing really anything else, and have managed to get some fantastic co-creators and friends too.”
More information on both the studio and the game can be found at funrugstudio.com.
