Bethel grad releases iOS game

When Brent Boehner, a 2012 Bethel graduate, isn’t making music under the name “Bad Batteries,” he’s often working on computers. He works for Cinopt Studios in St. Paul, Minn. Mostly working on developing editing software. But a few months ago, Cinopt Studios turned towards making iOS games, available as an app on the iTunes store. It paid off. “Arlo’s Adventures” was released on Feb. 17, and has made quite a splash already. It was featured on several iOS game review sites, and sold well at just 99 cents. “[It] broke the daily top 100 paid apps in the adventure game category, so we were pretty excited about that,” Boehner said. Boehner added that the game is their best-selling yet, and they’ve made some good connections through the game development process. The game features Arlo, a bearded man who wakes up to find his powers have been drained by unknown evil forces. He sets out to get his powers back and seek revenge. The game has a total of 36 levels, and gameplay resembles classic 2D platform games. Several reviewers on the App Store have likened the game to Mario, saying it has a retro feel. Boehner got his job with Cinopt Studios after interning with the company during his senior year at Bethel. His friend is the owner of the company, and the two have been friends since childhood. Cinopt Studios plans to make more games after they take a break for a while, according to Boehner. “But we’re definitely going to keep developing games for iOS,” Boehner said. “We have plenty of ideas, so we just have to start narrowing them down to the best ones.”