St. Catharines Developer 'Rocketship Park' Is Born

Friend of the site Jim Squires, and indie developer (and Toronto Blue Jay fan) Shane McCafferty announced this morning the creation of their new studio: Rocketship Parkl  According to the press release (which you can see below), Rocketship Park will focus on creating emotional experiences "that best reflect the team's unique design philosophy."

The studio's first title, Block Droppin', will be a puzzle game about "discovery, assembly, and organization" and be released on iPhone and iPad. For more, make sure to follow them on Twitter, FaceBook, and Instagram!

Press Release follows:

St. Catharines, Canada – 29 March 2017 – After several years of successful collaborations in different mediums, games industry veterans Shane McCafferty and Jim Squires today revealed the launch of Rocketship Park, a new games development studio based in the heart of Niagara. Shane and Jim bring with them a combined 20 years of experience in the industry. Shane has previously led development on a variety of hit games including Starseed: Origin, Crobble, and Word Forward, accruing more than six million downloads across a number of projects. Jim brings a wealth of experience from his work as a consultant, journalist, public relations specialist and entrepreneur.

Rocketship Park is just one of a growing number of game development studios in the Niagara Region, joining the ranks of Phantom Compass, PixelNAUTS, Creative Bytes and Falling Squirrel as a games company that calls St. Catharines home. “Being so close to Toronto, it’s all too easy to feel like we’re in the shadow of greater things,” says co-founder Jim Squires. “But that’s nonsense. While we’re proud to be a part of Toronto’s extended gaming family, the St. Catharines / Niagara area is booming with great talent and we’re honored to stand alongside them.”

Prior to the formation of Rocketship Park, Jim and Shane have collaborated on a number of projects including the Apple-featured 2016 word game AlphaPit and the weekly mobile gaming podcast The Elephant & The Irishman. The pair first met in 2015 at Cowork Niagara, a local coworking space that served as an accidental incubator for the company, taking Shane and Jim from freelancers to founders.

Rocketship Park will be focused on the creation of emotive experiences that best reflect the team’s unique design philosophy. “When you’re creating a game, you’re also creating an emotion within the player,” says Shane. “All too often, that emotion is either an afterthought or abandoned completely in the design process. At Rocketship Park our process starts with the feeling we want to create, and that feeling informs every decision we make.”

The studio will be revealing details about their first release, Block Droppin’, in the coming weeks, and has a number of other projects in development. Block Droppin’ will be a frenzied puzzle game about discovery, assembly, and organization for the iPhone and iPad. To learn more about Rocketship Park and to stay apprised of their activities, follow them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and sign up for their newsletter at rocketshippark.com.

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About Rocketship Park:

Rocketship Park is a digital design studio focused on creating unique, emotive games that eschew derivative design. Founded in early 2017 by industry veterans Shane McCafferty and Jim Squires, Rocketship Park has several projects currently in development and are actively seeking the right partners to help bring these experiences to market.