From the archive
Semi Secret Software, 2008 to 2014: an unofficial archive
From 2008 to about 2014 this address belonged to Semi Secret Software, the small Austin studio behind Wurdle, Canabalt and Hundreds. Its pages and blog posts are still linked from Wikipedia, Engadget, TouchArcade and hundreds of other sites, so we keep a page at each of those addresses that explains what used to be there.
Semi Secret is an independent publication, not the studio that made these games; this page is an unofficial account written from the public record.
Who they were
The studio's own 2009 page introduced its founders as a couple of rock climbers from Austin: Eric Johnson, then working toward a PhD at UT Austin, and Adam Saltsman, known online as Adam Atomic. Adam made Canabalt's Flash prototype in five days, Eric ported it to the iPhone in ten, and Adam wrote most of the blog's posts.
Their first hit was Wurdle, a word game for the iPhone in 2008. Canabalt followed in 2009 and, in the studio's own words, popularized the auto runner. Hundreds, a minimalist puzzle game led by Greg Wohlwend with sound by Loscil, passed 100,000 copies in January 2013. Their catalog also carried Aquaria for the iPad, Gravity Hook HD and Steambirds HD.
The games
- Wurdle, the 2008 word game, and its online high scores.
- Canabalt, the 2009 rooftop runner, and its global leaderboard.
- Hundreds, the puzzle game, on iOS and then Android.
- Retro Racer Revival, an arcade racing project with a page here from 2009.
What the blog wrote about
- How Canabalt was tuned: its dimensions, speeds, jumps and buildings.
- How Canabalt's sound effects were recorded at home with a laptop microphone.
- Open-sourcing Canabalt for charity in 2010, the license that followed, and what happened a year later.
- Translating Canabalt into about 15 languages with the help of fans.
- Giving Gravity Hook HD away for a weekend, with every download counted.
- Drawing readable tiles for a side-scrolling game.
- Making a game in eight hours from children's drawings at the GameCity festival.
Every page in the archive
- The Semi Secret Software FAQ, from the archive
- Wurdle
- Wurdle high scores
- Canabalt Scores
- Retro Racer Revival
- Tuning Canabalt
- Tuning Canabalt Part 2: Audio
- Over $25,000 Raised For Charity: Canabalt Goes Open Source!
- Canabalt "Open Source" Details, Licensing and Extra Information
- Open-Sourcing Your Game While It's Still Popular
- Status Update: Sales, Overhauls and Progress Reports!
- One Hundred Thousand: Thank You!!
- Available Now: Hundreds for Android!
- Semi Secret to Publish Aquaria for iPad
- Gravity Hook HD Free Weekend Update
- Sexy Tiles: Sidescrollers
- Lessons Learned from Localizing Canabalt
- GameCity Part 2: Idea Game