MARVEL Puzzle Quest - Meet the team at IP2

S0kun

It’s time to properly introduce the team over at Infinity Plus 2 (IP2) who will be stewarding the developments of MARVEL Puzzle Quest moving forward! Many of you will already know IP2’s work as the creators of the original Puzzle Quest: Challenge of Warlords in 2007 and the recent remaster “Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition”, but also as the creators of the match-3 RPG Gems of War.

We’re really excited about this new phase of MPQ’s development because it means a fresh set of eyes on the game as a whole and more importantly, on the ongoing issues that have been a challenge since the switch to the Unity engine. Their goal is to get the game back to running smoothly once again, while setting the foundation for a development environment that will allow the game to evolve faster in a positive direction.

So without further ado, here are a few of the new team members from IP2 who will be part of the core team at IP2 who will be working hard to improve the game across all its different functions. Here’s just a few of the folks from IP2 who’ll be working on MPQ!

IP2 MARVEL Puzzle Quest Team Members

Steve Fawkner - Founder, Infinity Plus 2

A.K.A “Sirran” as he is known across the deepest, darkest corners of the PQ universe, Steve is the founder of Infinity Plus 2 and arguably the biggest innovator of the match-3 RPG genre. His work has been shaped by a love of strategy games and MARVEL Puzzle Quest is just the right kind of challenge for the combined skills of the IP2 Team.

“We have spent the past couple of months putting together a great team for this project - 'Assembling some Avengers', if you will. I am so pleased with how that team has come together, and I really believe we're getting this game that we all love into some great, and very experienced, hands. Like most of the folks in our office, I am a lifelong MARVEL fan. I’ve been developing games for almost 4 decades now, and this is easily the most exciting franchise I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on.”

Production Team - Morgz & Harry

These are the folks charged with managing the chaos of live operations. They’ll be managing MPQ’s priorities, making sure all the content and live parts of the game are working as expected, and generally keeping all the many pieces of the MPQ machine moving together, and looking after the team on the ground. They’ll also be involved in some of the creative aspects of the game.

Morgz - MPQ Producer

Morgz (aka @TheMigz) is a battle-hardened veteran of live services having been with IP2 for a number of years, most recently shipping Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition.

“I love a challenge, and MPQ is definitely that! There is a lot of history to this game, and a lot of information that goes along with it. We’ve learned a lot of it in a fairly short amount of time, not only about how the game works, but about you all as a community, and the problems you’ve been having. I feel really lucky to be coming into a game with such an engaged group of players, and we’re going to do everything we can to earn and deserve your trust in us.”

Harry - MPQ Producer

Knowing that MPQ was far too big for a single Producer, IP2 needed a hero adorned with spreadsheets and Harry came a ridin’ in. He may be one of the newest members of the IP2 team, but he comes packing many, many years of experience in games and project management.

“As a pretty big Marvel fan, it’s incredibly exciting to be working on MPQ. I know this project has touched a few hands along its way and with that comes a lot of design and tech debt. From my perspective it means that there’s an opportunity to get in there and exemplify the things that do work and clean up the things that don’t quite hit the mark. I think MPQ has a heap of potential and I know that the entire team is committed to getting MPQ to a state that feels cleaner and more engaging.

Though it may take us some time, I ask that you bear with us as we learn and understand the systems before we really start bringing some more exciting updates. One of the things I recognised early into the project is just how passionate you all are about this game, and that inspires us to get through the issues and build something you will all keep enjoying. We’re ready for this new era, hopefully you’ll keep sticking around with us and what’s to come!”

Josh - Lead Engineer

Before making his way to IP2 years ago, Josh honed many of his skills in the fiery crucible of a quick-turnaround-contract-studio. He’s a solid workhorse, and a surprisingly chill force to be reckoned with. He will be leading the charge to chip away the issues plaguing MPQ, and building new things to make it better!

“A transition is rarely smooth at the best of times; there’s a lot of knowledge to transfer and what works for one may not work for another. We have been wrapping our hands firmly around the reins so that we can continue to deliver the content you have come to expect, ahead of being able to comfortably improve and iterate on the stability and performance of the game, alongside feature development. I hope you’ll bear with us, or join us again in the future as we strive to make a better MPQ.”

Finn - Game Designer

Finn is also a newer member of the IP2 family, but he has a rich depth of experience working for some of Australia’s largest studios on global titles. He has turned his big ponytail-topped brain to the inner workings of MPQ and we’re very glad to have this giant of a man with us for a giant project!

“Always excited to get on board with a project and see where I'm needed! MPQ has a rich background of content and features that we’re keen to refresh with the Unity move. I'm looking forward to introducing new Marvel Characters into the game that fit within the existing play structure, but allow for a breadth of new play styles to emerge. As a team, we’re excited to introduce some much-requested player features as well as look at new ways to expand the existing systems.”

Upcoming Priorities

Since the team began onboarding at the end of last year, they have been assessing the unique situation that MPQ is currently facing. Unity added opportunities for increased flexibility, but the issues that have come along with the switch have created a lot of challenges that need to be overcome, in addition to the weight of the 12 year legacy of MPQ. Releasing their first build (R337) this month, they are aware that there’s still some polishing to do in their process while they begin to move forward on the project. Part of that is to look forward to our interim goals in the not too distant future.

Short Term - Finding Our Feet
In this phase, we will be focusing on getting content out as smoothly as possible and making sure we’re very well across that process. We will also be looking at some smaller items we can deliver to improve the game. For example, minor performance optimisations, bugs, and QOLs we think we can deliver without causing unintended ripples in this fragile ecosystem.

Mid Term
After so many years, there are quite a few things in MPQ that just need optimising and/or spring cleaning in order to properly fix ongoing issues and pave the way for smoother development. Our mid-term goal (we’re talking months for this one), is to make some of those much needed changes in the backend of the game so we have some solid ground to stand on for bigger features.

While this happens, we intend to continue to work on any smaller items we can that won’t be too tied up in that behind-the-scenes work.

Long Term
We know the last stretch has felt a bit like rebuilding a Quinjet mid-flight: the Unity transition brought real long-term potential, but it also came with some very real turbulence. The good news is that we’re through the door now of dev transitioning and IP2 is fully hands-on, learning the systems, untangling the gnarlier problems, and steadily working on getting MPQ back into a place where updates can be delivered with confidence.

What excites us most is what comes after the initial stabilization work so we can actually put together a long term roadmap for you all. Once we’re past that, we can spend less time chasing fires and more time doing what this game deserves: polishing the experience, adding meaningful improvements, and delivering the kind of new content and features that make you boot up MPQ and think, okay… this rules.

Thanks for sticking with us through the transition and we look to have some more blogs introducing a few other members of the team and talk about more details on things that we’re currently tinkering on!