Yesterday, I got the immense pleasure of chatting with Rick Knudtson, part of a team developing some brand new software, with a difference. Randomnade is the first piece of software with this much originality that Previous has seen in a long time, so we thought it was time to tell you guys how you can get your hands on it, and who better to tell you why than the brains behind it?
Hey Rick! It’s great to be speaking with you today, why don’t you tell our readers a little about why you’re here?
Thanks again for your consideration, support and working with us to get an article out! It’s been a pleasure! Now to actually answer the question…
I’m part of a team that is developing Randomnade, a web application allowing competitive gamers and teams to improve their gameplay. They will do this through developing strategies their team can use in match play as well as other tools to allow their team to win more matches. We’re running a private beta of the software in early July. The beta will consist of only a portion of the application – the full version, planned to be released publicly in the fall, will offer many more features – all designed to make competitive gamers and teams better.
When did you first come up with the concept for Randomnade?
One of my co-founders, @mitchellxshaw, and I launched a video game commentary website a little over a year ago. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept – gamers record themselves playing and commentate on their actions. Our site* was targeted at gamers looking to improve their gameplay – so, our videos gave tips and best practices. One day, when talking about how to improve the site, we tossed around an idea of user submitted tips and other things. We decided to go huge and develop an entire application designed for gamers to have a leg up on their opponents. Hence, Randomnade was born.
*the aforementioned website is offline now, as we have shifted 100% of our efforts to Randomnade.
What, in Layman’s terms, does Randomnade do for gamers?
In Layman’s terms, Randomnade lets gaming teams plan for their next match and improve their gameplay much like a sporting team would scheme against their opponent by developing a playbook.
Which part of the production process would you say was the hardest to complete?
As far as production is concerned, the strategy editor (the tool used to design a strategy) presented the most challenges. We knew it had to be simple to use but full featured. We also wanted to be on the cutting-edge and use technology that will be here years from now. We were lucky enough to find some awesome open source stuff to build upon. Though challenging, we think we were pretty successful in developing the first version of the editor and can’t wait to get some reactions!
Will the software automatically work with any games that has a feature compatible with Randomnade?
The software supports any game you can dream up. Naturally strategic games like first person shooters and real time strategy would benefit most from the product. We will host maps from the top games for users to build strategies on games like Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield, League of Legends to name a few … however, if we do not host a map – we have developed a map gallery that users can upload to. So, if you play some obscure game we’ve never heard of, but have access to the map images – all good!
What features can we expect from Randomnade?
There are quite few – I’ll try to be brief. The major one is the strategy editor. Randomnade lets a user build a strategy – not unlike a coach will draw a play on a whiteboard. The user will take a top-down view of a map from a video game then, using our editor, pinpoint important locations, position teammates strategically, name locations on the map for easy callouts and a ton more! It’s really up to the user as to how creative and detailed they get with our editor. After developing a strategy, users can share the strategy with teammates to allow them to view, comment on and overall collaborate to improve and study the strategy.
That’s where the beta draws the line. However, the full product will offer a ton more in regards to what we’re calling the “clan management system”. This feature set will allow clans to form and collaborate by organizing strategies, promoting strategies to be used in match play and analyzing how well a strategy has performed in match play. I could keep going but I’ll keep the rest a surprise – needless to say, we’re super excited about some of the stuff we will be announcing in the fall.
Which feature do you think gamer geeks will be most excited about?
Definitely the strategy editor! The ability to create a strategy is just plain fun. Even if they don’t have a team to compete with currently, I see gamers building strategies just to do it. Hopefully we allow gamers to see how much fun competitive gaming is. Who knows, maybe we convert some casual gamers into more serious ones!
How has the feedback been so far for Randomnade?
We’ve seen an amazing response from gamers and have had a significant number of signups for beta access. Apparently we’re pretty popular on Twitter with the gamer tweeps! As for beta signups, I won’t get into numbers but, we get a handful of new ones every day. We’ve also seen a great deal of support from other competitive gaming sites that share the passion we have for the industry as well as sites like Previous Magazine!
How can we gain access to this unique web application?
If you head over to Randomnade.com, you can add your email out list potential beta users. We plan on getting everyone involved.
If I asked you to sum up Randomnade in three words, which words would you use?
5up3r 1337 h4x? Okay – that was lame and many of your readers probably just went “huh?”
Any advice for aspiring software developers out there?
If you have an idea – build it. If you don’t know how to program – learn. Google will tell you everything you need to know. Of course, there is school for that too.
Thanks for chatting with me today Rick! Is there anything else you would like to add?
Just want to thank Previous Magazine for the support! You’ve been great. And to all the readers – please get involved in the beta, we would love the feedback! Thanks again!
We’re thankful to have you and can’t wait for the fall! Myself and the rest of the team wish you all the success in the world with Randomnade!
So what are you guys waiting for? Head over to Randomnade.com and sign up for the beta before it goes public and get your own access to this truly unique web application and then let us know what your opinion of Randomnade is in the comments below!
You can also find Randomnade on Twitter! Follow them @randomnade
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