In 1997, Art Currim and Scott Barrett met and began working together. They collaborated for over a decade on a variety of videogame projects, including an adaptation of *The Matrix. *But in 2008, the pair had a "woah" moment, realizing the industry was going mobile — so they quit their jobs, unplugged from software, and focused on bringing products into the real world.

Four years after that moment, their first product is about to launch. Called the "iMpulse Game Controller and Pocket Accessory," it's a Bluetooth game controller that is small enough to fit on a key chain. Measuring a diminutive 2.7 x 1.3 x 0.6 inches, it contains a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that provides 10 hours of playtime, and can control Android and iOS devices up to a hundred feet away (for the truly eagle-eyed gamer). The product features a lot of straight lines, but took a circuitous path to market.

It starts with Barrett, a serious gamer who turned a spare bedroom in his home into an arcade featuring seven videogame cabinets he restored. Frustrated by the first generation of games made for the iPhone, he says, "Anyone who was playing games before 2007 realizes you need buttons."

Version 1.0 of the iMpulse had a decidedly retro flair. Version 1.0 of the iMpulse had a decidedly retro flair, and some decidedly insurmountable competition.

Barrett saw opportunity and used an old Coleco mini arcade game, spare iPhone dock, Dremel tool, and soldering iron to craft a game-playing, iPhone-charging, franken-device. He finished the first version in February of 2010 and was working on a manufacturing plan when web retailer ThinkGeek released a nearly identical product called the "iCade."

Faced with competition from a well-capitalized, company with better PR and marketing, the team changed course. Currim asked a new question: "What if we stripped down all the externals — what if we make this thing tiny?" They recruited Rand Paulin, an engineer who was Nolan Bushnell's chief technician during the early days of Atari, and David Goetz, an industrial designer, to work on version two.

Functionality beyond gaming was a key requirement for the iMpulse controller. Functionality beyond gaming was a key requirement for the iMpulse controller.

The team honed in on a couple key design requirements. Currim says, "It had to be small enough to fit in your pocket and not feel like another device and it had to have functionality beyond games." After showing it to potential customers, new ideas started popping up. One customer wanted it to be a media remote, another asked to use it to control presentations, and a third wanted it to activate his camera. Faced with dozens of different ideas, Barrett says they applied a clear editorial filter. "We didn't load it up with features — we made it versatile. Design is about making decisions."

Once the design was locked in, the team learned about the realities of retail pricing. Currim says, "A lot of the distributors we talked to were hard-core — they said they needed the iMpulse to cost under seven dollars so they could resell it for $30." It's a standard retail markup, but one that makes balancing functionality and cost imperative. Features were jettisoned, boards got redesigned, and the design became more efficient overall.

What might have been - An Angry Birds themed iMpulse controller never made it off the ground. What might have been: An Angry Birds-themed iMpulse controller never made it off the ground.

Much to their chagrin, engineers need to eat and the team had been paying their bill by taking on service work that distracted from iMpulse development. They hit the road to fund-raise, but met with difficulty. Currim says, "Most finance people didn't get us or wanted to change our path dramatically." The team looked into less conventional routes, like a potential partnership with Angry Birds creator Rovio that never took flight, but have raised $89,000, and counting, going direct to consumer with Kickstarter.

While that sum would fund a pretty epic arcade run, it's not a lot of money when trying to produce a complex, electromechanical device. Barrett says, "The process is stressful and scary — we wake up and think about every little thing, we can't really afford to make mistakes." Still, despite the fear and slim margin of error, the team is product-obsessed and working feverishly to improve the product in small ways, like thinning the device down by a couple millimeters.

New fans are one side effect of the success, and Currim says, "We've had so many people reach out to us who didn't want to work with us to start who are now saying we knew you'd succeed all along." While investors might not have believed in them, Kickstarter's community has. And with a few days remaining they are still trying to rack up a high score.

Photos courtesy of Black Powder Media