Matt Thorson

Matt Thorson (born 18 March 1988) is a Canadian video game developer, known as one of the lead creators for the video games TowerFall and Celeste, developed under their studio Matt Makes Games. Since September 2019, Thorson has effectively shut down Matt Makes Games to relaunch their[lower-alpha 1] team under Extremely OK Games.

Matt Thorson
Thorson in 2018
Born (1988-03-18) 18 March 1988
NationalityCanadian
OccupationVideo game developer
Notable work
TowerFall, Celeste

Early life

Matt Thorson was born on 18 March 1988.[3] Thorson went to college at Grande Prairie Regional College in Alberta, Canada, studying computer science,[4] during which one summer they worked at HermitWorks Entertainment, a local video game development studio.[5]

Career

Helix Games / Matt Makes Games
Matt Makes Games' logo

Around fourteen, Thorson's mother helped them acquire a copy of Game Maker, a software tool to help develop video games. Through working in Game Maker, they were connected to others in online forums who were also interested in making games, including Chevy Ray Johnston.[6] They developed a number of small pay-what-you-want games through Game Maker in high school and through college,[6] including Jumper and several sequels, FLaiL, and An Untitled Story.[7] Several of their games were described as "masocore", masochistic games that were extremely difficult for the player to complete; Thorson felt their goal was not to make their games near-impossible but instead to make games that helped direct the player to improve themselves so that the player could beat the challenges they made for them.[7] Early games were published under the name "Helix Games", but in April 2008, they rebranded it as "Matt Makes Games", considering the name a more important brand for their work.[5][8]

Thorson's goal in college was to get a computer programming degree and join up with a large game development studio, but as they progressed, they realized they could still make video games without having to be attached to a studio.[6] Following their graduation, Thorson moved into a Vancouver apartment with Johnson where they shared game ideas. Most of these were browser games, and successfully had a few of theirs published by Adult Swim Games on its site.[7]

Thorson and Johnson were frequented by friends they had made online.[6] During a visit by Alec Holowka, he and Thorson participated in a local game jam and came up with an idea of a single-player platformer game based on an out-of-shape archer trying to ascend a tower, collecting treasure and money to help with each attempt to climb it.[6] They had considered pitching the idea to Adult Swim Games, but decided to expand the idea on their own, bringing in Johnson to help. The game morphed into a multiplayer battle game, where each player would try to defeat the others by shooting them with a bow-and-arrow while avoiding falling off the tower. Because of the frequent visitors to their apartment, they were able to gain feedback and improve the game to be a party-style title.[6] This would ultimately become TowerFall, Thorson's first major commercial game.[6]

Recognizing the potential success of the title, Johnson suggested that they get a house in Vancouver to bring in others to help, which they acquired around October 2012, calling it the "Indie House" and inviting other collaborators to join them. Thorson incorporated Matt Makes Games as Matt Makes Games Inc. shortly afterwards in November 2012.[9] Later, Holowka recognized Thorson as TowerFall's main creator and relinquished his stake as a co-creator. Holowka remained on the game's development team as its composer. TowerFall was ultimately developed as an exclusive for the Ouya console.[10] Following its initial release in 2013, the team reissued the game in 2014 as TowerFall: Ascension for most other gaming platforms with additional features.[6] TowerFall: Ascension was critically praised, and within a month had brought in over US$500,000.[6]

In August 2015, Thorson and Noel Berry, another member of Matt Makes Games, had a four-day game jam to create a PICO-8 game about climbing a mountain with difficult jumping steps. When they completed this, they recognized the opportunity to flesh out the game into a full release, forming the basis of Celeste. Full work on the game started around January 2016.[11] The game was released across multiple platforms in January 2018. By the end of 2018, it had sold more than 500,000 copies,[12] and received numerous industry awards.

Extremely OK Games
Extremely OK Games' logo

On 5 September 2019, Thorson announced that they were effectively shutting down Matt Makes Games, while re-establishing the same team under the new name "Extremely OK Games" (abbreviated EXOK). The purpose of the change was twofold. First, the new name recognized that Thorson was not the sole creative force behind the games and ensured that the whole team was fully recognized and shared in the collective output from the company. Second, the change coincided with a move to a new set of offices in Vancouver to house the entire team, which had been previously spread across the world, including some in São Paulo.[13] EXOK was technically founded in March 2019, but the first six months had been spent working to move these international developers into Canada and dealing with immigration requirements.[14] The "Extremely OK" name itself came from a humorous tweet that operations manager Heidy Motta had seen that wished its readers an "extremely OK afternoon".[14]

Thorson stated that TowerFall and Celeste would remain published under Matt Makes Games, and that the team had already started the early exploratory work for their next title, codenamed "EXOK-1".[13] With everyone in EXOK working in the same office, it had made development time faster, allowing them to test through multiple prototype games to come onto their next project within six months.[14]

Personal life

Thorson is non-binary, which they announced in July 2019.[1]

Legacy

Thorson was named by Forbes as one of their "30 Under 30" for gaming in 2014, recognizing them for the development of TowerFall.[15][16]

Notes
  1. Thorson is non-binary[1] and uses they/them pronouns.[2]

References
  1. Thorson, Matt [@mattthorson] (14 July 2019). "It's #InternationalNonBinaryDay! I'm going to use this opportunity to say... Hi, I'm non-binary :)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. Thorson, Matt [@MattThorson] (14 July 2019). "They/them :)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. Thorson, Matt (18 March 2009). "Birthday Randomness". Matt Makes Games. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009.
  4. Thorson, Matt (16 April 2008). "Who is this Matt character, anyway?". Matt Makes Games. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009.
  5. "Interview: Matt Thorson". IndieGames.com. 12 June 2008. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015.
  6. Plante, Chris (2 July 2014). "What It Feels Like To Launch An Indie Hit". Polygon. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  7. Polanski, Lana (20 November 2011). "Profile: Matt Thorson". Kill Screen. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  8. Thorson, Matt (17 April 2008). "New Name, New Site". Matt Makes Games. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008.
  9. "Matt Makes Games Inc". Canada's Business Registries. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  10. Campbell, Colin (16 November 2013). "Is TowerFall's move to PS4 and PC, a big blow for Ouya?". Polygon. Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  11. Cousins, Jon (22 January 2018). "Feature: Conquering The Indie Mountain With Celeste Creator Matt Makes Games". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  12. Kerr, Chris (27 December 2018). "Celeste has sold over 500,000 copies since January". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  13. Kerr, Chris (6 September 2019). "Celeste developers form new studio Extremely OK Games". Gamasutra. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  14. Marks, Tom (5 March 2020). "Inside EXOK Games: The Brand New Studio That's Already Sold a Million Copies". IGN. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  15. Ewalt, David M. (2014). "30 Under 30 – Games". Forbes. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  16. Cook, Dave (7 January 2014). "Oculus VR founder, Stanley Parable writer & more make Forbes '30 Under 30' list". VG247. Archived from the original on 2 October 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
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