Taiwan and Egypt devs collaborate to create Number Game

If you enjoyed Taiwan’s Hyper Square, which won Critic’s Choice at Casual Connect Asia 2014’s Indie Prize Awards, then you likely will be a fan of Number Game too.

Co-developed in Taiwan and Egypt by Keitai Co., Ltd and Amidos Games respectively, Number Game is a rhythmic puzzler where you have to tap the right tiles in order to keep up the music. How do you know it’s the right tile? You’ve got to do some swift mental calculations.

There are three different modes in Number Game, each with a different method of playing. Compare mode has you pick a number bigger or smaller than the given median depending on the color of the screen; search mode needs you to pick the biggest or smaller number also depending on the screen’s color, and clean mode has you tapping numbers in ascending or descending order, again depending on the screen’s color. Suffice to say, Number Game is not for people who can’t handle math.

While you don’t fail for taking too long to tap on tiles, you do lose out on listening to some upbeat electronic music. Players can choose to play for 60 seconds at a time, or on infinite mode.

But just how did a collaboration between Taiwanese and Egyptian devs come about? Keitai CEO Neil Lai says he met Amidos Games at Casual Connect Europe last year, and development started in October 2014 when Lai asked if Amidos’ Ahmed Abdel Samea would like to collaborate on something for Taipei Game Show. Ahmed prototyped Number Game, while Keitai polished it up with rhythm elements and more modes of play.

Lai calls Ahmed a mathematical genius, saying he provided the perfect combination of mathematics and games. While working across cultures can be difficult sometimes, Lai says it wasn’t so in this case. “We wanted to make a game that is easy to play for everyone, and so did Amidos.” Ahmed echoes the experience, saying developing a game is best when doing so with friends.

Unlike the premium Hyper Square, Number Game is monetized only via ads. Lai says this is because the game’s development is just getting started. Keitai plans to include more game modes and more music, and adds that it may consider adding in-app purchases in the future.

Lai added an interesting factoid: having tested Number Game on children (hopefully with a simpler build, because these numbers are painful), the team found that it helped kids identify colors and improve on number recognition, concentration, and reaction times. He says his team might work on a special mode for preschoolers in the future.

Number Game is available on iOS and Android.

See: Introducing Hyper Square, a puzzle game that shows what Asia’s indie devs can do