A Matter of Passion
“I think it’s Freeverse’s liberal arts background, rather than its technical background, that most informs our work,” says Smith. “The commitment to design that everyone at Freeverse brings to the games really sets them apart.”

Freeverse also relies on many independent programmers, artists and musicians to produce games for them. Many of them have day jobs, so — like Smith and his original Hearts Deluxe game — their work is “a matter of passion, rather than just a paycheck.”

Smith elaborates: “Our Classic Cribbage game, for example, was programmed at night by a rocket scientist who loved cribbage. That kind of care comes through in a product.”

The Freeverse crew has also published a few games in other genres, such as the Risk-like Deathground, which features mobsters duking it out instead of armies; Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab, a twist on Tetris that’s fiendishly difficult (if you find it too stressful, though, try the Zen version and achieve inner peace); and Enigma, a puzzle game in which you must crack the secret code to find out what’s in the Enigma briefcase.

Ply the High Seas of the Internet
Smith and friends’ lastest endeavor is HMS Freeverse (now integrated into GameSmith), a place where players can get together and challenge each other to lively contests of 3D Hearts Deluxe, Classic Cribbage, and even Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab.

The site is laid out like a ship, with chat rooms such as the Main Deck, the Crow’s Nest, and the Plank. You can hang out and chat with fellow gamers from all over the world or join the online games and gab while you play. Like most chat rooms you find on the Internet, you choose a screen name and persona.

Smith explains why Freeverse chose to offer the online option: “Card games were designed to provide a context in which people could comfortably socialize. So, while anyone who has played cards can tell you they offer the adrenaline rush of any good competition, they’re uniquely suited to online play. That and we had a suspicion that the Internet would be big.”

The online community has come together quickly.

“There’s never any lag like you may experience on other game servers,” says frequent online player Tim Halpern, who estimates that he had to beat four or five other players in about 20 games a week for a month to get his number one ranking in Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab.

A Better Game Platform
So, with so many shareware companies out there, why develop titles for the Mac? (Freeverse does publish games for Windows, but not all of their titles are available for that OS.)

“The Mac is the most interesting platform,” Smith says matter-of-factly. “And, with the advent of OS X, you really couldn’t ask for a cooler platform to develop on. OS X, with its underlying UNIX, will allow Apple to quickly take advantage of new technologies which will make for a better Mac, and therefore a better game platform.”

He adds that Freeverse is “100 percent committed to X,” and the company is proving it by Carbonizing many of their titles, including Enigma, 3D Spades Deluxe, Classic Cribbage, and Burning Monkey Solitaire 4.

As for Cocoa — Mac OS X’s native programming language — Smith points out that The Omni Group has already helped them port the very silly JARED, Butcher of Song (one of their many toys; visit the Freeverse site to find out more) to Cocoa, and they’re already planning original development in that environment.

“Ask me again at Christmas,” Smith says slyly when asked what they have up their sleeves.

Fostering Great Games
As long as Apple keeps making Macintosh computers, Smith and his friends at Freeverse will continue to create games for them. There’s a precedent for what they do, and Smith cites such games as Myst, Myth, and Sim City, all of which were originally developed on the Mac.

“It’s very important to have native developers,” he says, “because a great platform can foster great games.”