Category: Interviews »

Nexercise, the app for tracking exercise among friends, has always been about gamifying the workout tracking experience. But for the recent 2.0 revamp, Nexercise has undergone major changes in order to make it more game-like, and to hopefully make its users more effective in getting out and exercising. With multiple rewards systems like Kiip and Pocket Change, President and COO Gregory Coleman hopes that his app can be a smashing success. I spoke with him recently about what his company is trying to do with Nexercise.

148Apps: With the major revamp to the app, what were your goals in changing and improving the experience?

Gregory Coleman (GC): We wanted to make the entire experience easier, more intuitive, and more elegant. We want new users to quickly figure out what to do and how to do it. We felt like some aspects of the old version created some confusion and friction points.

148Apps: Many of the new features resemble the kinds of rewards and tactics that a lot of free-to-play social games use. Was this intentional? And if not, did you do any further research into how they could help you out?

GC: This is intentional. The key to casual games is that they are quick to use, easy to learn, and fun to play. Our goal is to accomplish the same thing with Nexercise and we deliberately tried to tie into the same psychological components.

148Apps: Have you seen actual users taking advantage of the rewards and social features?

GC: Absolutely! According to surveys of our users and our own internal data, those are two of the most popular aspects of the app.

148Apps: How do you ensure that users don't try to cheat the system?

GC: If a user allows us to use the smartphone sensors to actually track the exercise session, we give them bonus points. This also allows us to do some pattern matching on the backend to validate the activity and reject cheating. As far as self-reporting, it is an honor system. However, our community tends to police itself and is pretty quick to call out cheaters.

148Apps: Do you encourage certain behavior patterns for users?

GC: Yes. Our mechanics are based heavily on the psychology of exercise. We reward behaviors that are scientifically proven to make people more successful in living an active life (exercising first thing in the morning or on Monday for example).

148Apps: What are your plans in the near future for the app?

GC: We're looking very heavily at integrations with the other tools that our users use. We currently integrate with the RunKeeper app and are evaluating what, if any, other tools we want to connect with.

Thanks to Gregory for his time.

The Rich Dad Company, which promotes books, seminars, and now interactive media based off of the financial teachings from the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" which has sold 30 million copies (but not without its criticism from financial writers), is taking its message to mobile with the launch of Rich Dad Interactive. Their first app is a learning app called Clutch, and with it and future apps, they're returning to the idea that sparked "Rich Dad Poor Dad:" teaching through gaming elements, or gamification.

Clutch is a learning app that will "take the physical [aspects] of Rich Dad, turn it into a mobile app, and gamify it a little bit, and teach people [in] the way that we're all really learning today, through videos like YouTube, through activities, using social media and being able to share…'bragging rights,' or what class you took or what investments you made," according to Director of Technology Shane Caniglia. He says that gaming elements are there and play a key part of what Clutch will be, with social media functionality, "there's unlock features in there that you have to make it through certain phases in order to unlock the next, and the last thing, I think the most importantly, the ability to simulate the experiences of investing in real life through Clutch as a tool."

Gamification is nothing new to the Rich Dad Company - author Richard Kiyosaki and his wife Kim (an author of financial books herself) created a board game in the mid-90's called Cashflow 101 that tried to teach the income philosophies he espouses: namely, having assets that generate more income than one's expenses in order to be independently wealthy. Ironically, Caniglia says that when Kiyosaki "created the board game, the lessons didn't necessarily translate from the game to the players. So he actually wrote the book as, this is kind of a funny story, as a marketing brochure to support the lessons in the game." And then it wound up succeeding as a New York Times bestseller and kind of supplanted the gamification that was attempted with the Cashflow 101 game.

But with Rich Dad Interactive, it's a return to that kind of gamification strategy. Times have changed, and gamification is a more robust concept, and that's what Clutch will try to do. It's adaptable, too: Caniglia says "we created it as a framework, so we can plug any type of content that we want in it, so it's completely flexible and agile in that world, and that was a mission of ours from a tech standpoint."

Caniglia sees this move to apps like Clutch and the upcoming mobile version of Cashflow 101 as key for the future of Rich Dad. "The general population just does not have an interest in attending seminars. The transition for us to digital is actually a fairly easy one - it's the only way the brand can survive, number one. Number two, because we started out really as a board game... it's a very easy transition for us to take our IP and turn it into these fun, interactive tools that we can now deploy on the mobile platforms. So the time is right for Rich Dad in order to reinvent itself as a brand but also to get to a younger demographic that, their lives are built around their mobile devices."

With the recent release of Sci-Fi themed Endless Runner, RunBot, we took the time to get to know more about its studio, Bravo Games, and what makes the team tick, by asking a few questions of producer, César Ríos Oruña.

148apps: You've previously worked on some licensed titles such as Kung Fu Panda 2 and Power Puff Girls Snowboarding, how different is it working on those compared to original titles?
César Ríos Oruña (CRO): Working on original IPs definitely has some additional challenges that you don't face when working on licensed titles.

Let’s use RunBot as an example. When starting development of RunBot, we started with a "white paper", having to define everything from the bare basics. How does the game look? What’s the game's theme? How does it feel? You have so many options that you can get lost and spend a lot of time trying to figure where to go next. But don't get me wrong, despite being a big handicap this is one of the best parts of making video games – we have the freedom to create whatever we want. In a licensed game, the story and background are already there, you just have to adapt it to the game.

For RunBot, from the very beginning, we had a slick futuristic city in mind for the setting and a powerful agile robot for the main character. And this is where another risk pops up: you don't know 100% if that is going to work. If you are making an example; a Kung Fu Panda game from the movie, you already know that the characters are cool, people like them and everything is perfectly matching, because somebody has already done that job for you.

And then you have the validation process. This is a good news/bad news situation, as with a licensee, you get their help to make the game reflect their existing successful brand. But this can often lead to an iterative process that can delay the development team badly. As an independent, you can stop iterating whenever you want preventing the team from bleeding out, but you don't have this great help that a third party can give to the team.

With RunBot, we decided for a mixed approach – we provided our IP and game development, and Marvelous Games provided the publishing support and game advice to help make the finished game we have today.

148apps: As you've made many different kinds of games, do you guys have a particular favorite genre?
CRO: One of the great things of working on mobile platforms is that you can easily jump from genre to genre. Doing this keeps the team motivated and learning something new each day, absolutely indispensable to not getting stagnant creatively.

There are two genres that we are specially comfortable with: Cars/bikes (anything with an engine and wheels) mixed in with whatever game mechanic, and runners. Runners are especially good for mobile devices due to their simple controls and short play sessions. Some say that when you finish a game you just want to rush to another, the further the genre the better, but we are so comfortable with runners that after finishing RunBot we are still working on adding even more cool stuff based on feedback from our users. Adding cool things to a game always feels great!

148apps: Are you able to reveal any information on your future Marvelous Games's published titles?
CRO: The first game created within the Bravo - Marvelous alliance is RunBot, that just hit stores. Right now we are focused on improving it and we plan it to do it for a while. But I can tell you that we are also working on a number of other titles with them and we are extremely happy. Sorry I can't be any more specific about games or dates, but this alliance is going to bring great titles to stores, I'm pretty sure about that.

148apps: How is GemWars' (promised to be a 'mixture between Warcraft and Clash of Clans') progress coming along? It looks a really intriguing mix of genres!
CRO: GemWars is one of those titles that has become a bit "all-in". We’ve been thinking about this for awhile, and the concept has been evolving since 2010. Don't get me wrong, we haven't been working on it full-time since that date, but it has been growing slowly since then until it’s the HUGE game that is right now.

As you can imagine a lot of effort has been put into GemWars. The idea is to take the concepts of city management, exploration, and real-time battles and mix it in a fantasy medieval theme. The amount of content (3 sides, 64 controllable units, 36 buildings, spells, equipment, heroes...) is big and getting bigger; we’re continually adding things. We are still in production, but I can't provide any estimated release date, but when we do, we’d love to share more info with you.

While I'm busy keeping my fingers crossed for more info about GemWars, RunBot is out now and it's free to download. Thank you to César Ríos Oruña for taking the time to answer our questions. To learn more about the studio and its past work, check out their website.

Behold Studios, creators of the IGF-nominated Knights of Pen & Paper are in the process of making their second game, Chroma Squad; a turn-based manager game that is heavily-inspired by the "sentai" shows of the 80's and 90's - such as Power Rangers. And of course, it will feature plenty of the pixel art that helped to define Knights of Pen & Paper as well.

Behold has launched a Kickstarter project for the game, and as it enters its final stretch I reached out to Saulo Camarotti to discuss the genesis of the idea, and why they'd Kickstart the game.

148Apps: How did the idea of Chroma Squad come about?
Saulo Camarotti (SC): After making a project like Knights of Pen & Paper, with a lot of references from our childhood, we thought that we could make a game with a theme that inspired us very much when we were ten. So, after thinking about the sentai team, we realized that we could go meta-language with it, and that came to the idea of managing a sentai TV studio.

148Apps: What are you attempting to do with the gameplay of Chroma Squad that you didn't do with Knights of Pen & Paper?
SC: We want more depth. We know that Knights is a great game, but it's limited when you try to customize your experience. In Chroma Squad, we want that the player could customize everything in his studio, and make a sentai team of his dreams. So we're planning in skill trees, items, color and jumpsuits options.

148Apps: Why go with Kickstarter for Chroma Squad? Did the popularity of Knights of Pen & Paper push you in one way or the other with this decision?
SC: Yeah sure! We wanted to make a game with the help of the community. With a Kickstarter project we would listen to all feedback and promote a game where the community felt that they belong to it. We want to create a nostalgic experience, and for that, we need all the help. With the previous experience with Knights, we managed to get a lot of posts and reviews in major websites, and this was one the biggest reasons for our project success on Kickstarter.

148Apps: Now that the Kickstarter is a success, do you feel any different pressure in developing this game versus Knights of Pen & Paper?
SC: Sure thing. When we did Knights, no one knew that the game was being developed, and no one had great expectations from our team. But now, we need to deliver what they expect us to. We really hope that we don't frustrate any one =) For us, the game is already awesome!

Why target PC platforms before mobile this time around?
SC: We wanted to make a deeper experience, and for that we wanted to use a bigger screen for the game. That's why we're just releasing it for PC, Consoles, and Tablets.

Thanks to Saulo for his time. If you're interested in helping Behold Studios to get Chroma Squad (hopefully out in December of this year) funded, head on over to their Kickstarter page!

When ZigZaGame's Dragon Island Bluewas released on the App Store, many iOS gamers heaved a sigh of relief. It was (and arguably still is) the closest thing we've got to Nintendo's exclusive monster-collection RPG series, while providing more than enough of its own unique gameplay elements to stand on its own. Now, just under a year later, we've got Hunter Island to look forward to. We recently had a talk with Ryan Kelley, COO of ZigZaGame, about Dragon Island Blue's reception, and what he and the rest of the team hope to accomplish with this spiritual successor of sorts. And I have to say, things are looking good so far.

148Apps: Would you consider Hunter Island to be a sequel to Dragon Island Blue, or something like a spiritual successor?
Ryan Kelley (RK): Dragon Island Blue should get a separate sequel sometime in the future. We’ve been building a collection RPG engine for the past 3 years. We released Dragon Island Blue approximately a year ago, then spent the last year improving the engine based on user feedback, which led to Hunter Island.

148Apps: Were there any lessons/techniques/etc you were able to apply to Hunter Island after working on Dragon Island Blue?
RK: Dragon Island Blue had 3 major sources of critical feedback: lack of a gripping storyline, lack of visual appeal (especially the interface), and the lack of updates (new content). Just in case some of the readers are considering picking up Dragon Island, I would like to note that it has an average overall rating of 5/5 Stars in the U.S., and we gave it our absolute best at the time. For Hunter Island, we wrote an engaging main story separate from side quests, added NPC interaction, and more importantly added a grand goal for each section of the game which directly ties in with the overall story. As a result, the game feels less of a chore although the actual story is 10 times longer.

We also overhauled the entire UI, changed the monster art direction, and implemented a tile-based map system. The new map is also a solution for updates. In Dragon Island, each section of the map was a large image, so the more maps we added, bigger the file size. This is a serious issue for iOS Apps because of the 50MB over-the-air download limit. However, in Hunter Island, whatever new world we decide to add in an update would be generated from tiles already existing in the game.

148Apps: Aside from the story and visuals, what is it you think will really set Hunter Island apart from its predecessor?
RK: The tile based map system enabled us to make the map a whole lot bigger and exciting. In terms of size, this game is at least 10 times larger. Aside from that, we added what’s called a Bonus Attack system. Monsters are able to act twice in a row if they trigger this bonus action (similar to critical hit in most games). Each unique monster in Hunter Island has a random "grade" assigned to it ranging from S to E, with S monsters having the highest probability to perform a Bonus Attack.

We also introduced many new skills designed to make battles more strategic, such as chain attacks that splash damage to enemies of the same element, ally attacks that get stronger when you have monsters of the same element in your party, and playful ones like Roulette which kills a random monster in battle, friend or foe. Since the game eventually allows you to add 30+ monsters in your party, the combat feels like a mix of traditional RPGs and Collectible Card Games. A lot of the monster skills were inspired by games such as Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. Another huge addition is the online component. While you can complete the full single player story offline (no pay wall), we are introducing online missions and online multiplayer via game center which was one of the most common requests. In online missions, players compete to beat dungeons and maps added regularly to get a special prize monster.

148Apps: Do you think fans of Dragon Island Blue might be less interested in the more "cutesy" style of Hunter Island? And if so, is there anything they can look forward to that you think will change their minds?
RK: The “cutesy” style was actually another common request made by players. Also, there are plenty of cool-looking monsters at higher levels and rarities. Even if you are not a big fan of the style, we believe that the depth and scale of the game will satisfy fans of Dragon Island Blue looking for a similar but greatly improved game experience.

148Apps: I don't suppose there are any Easter Eggs hidden in Hunter Island for fans of the first game to stumble upon, are there? Any returning characters, monsters, or the like?
RK: There are a couple of monsters that came from Dragon Island Blue, like the Unhappy Bird. Also, the game offers something special for Dragon Island players. In the first town, there is a little tombstone that you can tap on. It will ask the player a question related to Dragon Island. If you answer correctly, a special exclusive monster will crawl out to join your team. We have a few more throwback monsters planned for online mission rewards as well.

Major thanks all-around to both Ryan and the rest of the team over at ZigZaGame! If you'd like to keep an eye out for Hunter Island - and really, why wouldn't you? - it should be hitting the App Store sometime in September of this year for $0.99 (Universal).

An insect's life is harsh and dangerous. However it can also be quite beautiful, as is evidenced by the upcoming bug-riddled hidden object adventure, Morphopolis. This gorgeous looking story of an aphid grub trying to rescue its friend has been in development since July of last year, and it's still in early alpha, but things looking really nice already. We were able to talk with Dan Walters and Ceri Williams, the game's authors, about what to expect when we visit this lovely/brutal world.

148Apps: Morphopolis is certainly gorgeous. Where did you get your visual inspiration from?
Dan Walters (DW): The art style emerged over a five week workshop during which we experimented with different techniques alongside developing the game narrative. We aimed for a hand-drawn aesthetic using rich, saturated scenery that suits the genre of game. Intricate line drawings and ink wash techniques had been used previously by Ceri while producing architectural drawings and we wanted to see how they would suit a more organic subject.
Ceri Williams (CW): We used macro photographs that we took to build up a catalog of source images and investigate the depth of field effects seen at that scale. The content was drawn from these photographs and was heavily inspired by watching old David Attenborough documentaries on plants and insects.

148Apps: Aside from the "painting come to life" quality of the graphics, what do you think will set Morphopolis apart from other hidden object games?
DW: The game is all about metamorphosis. Between each chapter you change through metamorphosis or inhabiting the bodies of larger insects. In each chapter, as you grow in size, the scale of the world you are in shrinks so that more becomes visible.
Taking narrative from the environment, creating places through the division space, and evolving this world as your awareness of scale, mechanics, and inhabitants change. These are concepts we discovered in architecture school, but they can be handled so much more playfully in an illustrated world.
CW: The tone of the game aims to strike a balance between the beauty of the close-up natural world with the captivating visceral qualities of the insect kingdom. Familiar, but increasingly alien as you peer closer; we want Morphopolis to appeal to the inquisitive. We are trying to tap into the almost universal experience of being toddler/child and peering closely in the grass or plant pots and seeing a tiny world of insects and plants. This experience is both fascinating and beautiful and also slightly scary and gross which is the balance we are trying to strike with the game.

148Apps: I'm a little afraid to ask, but what do you mean by "a parasitic crusade?"
DW: You're right to be slightly afraid! In Morphopolis you will take the role of an aphid grub and as part of the gameplay you parasitically inhabit larger insects. This metamorphosis allows the narrative and complexity of the world to develop as the game progresses. In each Chapter the new body that you occupy allows you to interact with the world in a new way and gets you closer to achieving your goal of rescuing your companion.
CW: There is nothing gratuitous about this metamorphosis as the game is designed to be accessible to all ages but we want to capture that sense of fascination and discovery found in nature documentaries that show the realities of the world.

148Apps: About how many different kinds of bugs do you think will be in the final build? Do you have a particular favorite as far as artistic rendition or just general species goes?
CW: There will be about 20 types of creature in the game with the players’ character also changing between each of the chapters. I'm personally a fan of the stag beetle but this is possibly because this piece of artwork has remained almost unchanged from the very first test illustrations.
DW: Without revealing too much, some of the bugs in the later chapters are quite amazing. By this point in the game it becomes apparent that perhaps this organic world is not quite as natural as it seems and the bugs begin to reflect this sense that there is a greater intelligence to the Morphopolis world.
CW: I'd love it if players chose to keep the game on their screens as a kind of insect vivarium screen-saver. I'm a fan of bugs and insects but I'd like to categorically say that no spiders will feature in Morphopolis!

148Apps: How long do you think it may take the average player to complete Morphopolis? Will there be any incentives for players to jump back in once they're finished?
DW: The time to complete the full game will vary greatly but we expect an average of 5-6 hours with players able to easily dip in and out if they choose.
CW: We hope that players will enjoy the experience and not feel that they have to rush through the game. Hidden object sets and puzzles overlap one another in a way that allows the player to progress at their own pace and in the order that their exploration leads them. Because of this we expect that replaying the game will not result in repeating an identical process.
DW: There are some features that we are exploring at the moment such as a system of randomizing the positions of certain hidden objects. We don't feel that this will be necessary given the type of experience we are aiming to get across with the game however.

Thank you very much, Dan and Ceri, for taking the time to talk with us. If Morphopolis sounds like the kind of thing you'd like to play, you can sign up for early Mac/PC access or preorder all versions at once right here on the official website. Otherwise you can wait until later this summer when Micro Macro Games brings the iPad version to the App Store.

As a huge fan of interactive fiction thanks to a childhood full of Fighting Fantasy and Choose Your Own Adventure books, it's been a pretty exciting time on the App Store of late. Besides Tin Man Games's steady conquering of all things Fighting Fantasy, the release of Sorcery!, and Visual Baker's Underground Kingdom, things have been kicked up a further notch.

That's thanks to the latest Kickstarter campaign, focused on Choose Your Own Adventure books aimed at younger readers and now known as Choose 'Toons. With the Kickstarter just launched, we took some time to chat to Shannon Gilligan, publisher at Chooseco.

"Choose 'Toons are interactive cartoons, plain and simple. There are very abbreviated amounts of text at the choice points, but that's it. Otherwise, you are watching an animated story, with choices!" explained Shannon.

The first app is based on Your Very Own Robot in which the reader uses their parents' robot lab to put together a robot named Gus, leading to some entertaining mishaps. While Shannon told us that there are some "slight amendments and additions", the app is set to follow the book "pretty faithfully".

"It was interesting to adapt because I actually found that typical cable or Saturday morning cartoons are much more physically violent than what's in our books," Shannon noted. "It has something to do with watching vs. reading I think. And it's nothing new. I watched Roadrunner as a kid and it's quite violent, sometimes to the point of sadism. Our eyes are trained to be entertained which might demand certain kinds of less cerebral plot points."

So, young readers and their parents should have nothing to worry about when it comes to the content of this forthcoming adaptation!

The Kickstarter comes with some fairly typical pledge awards, as well as some rather exciting high-end ones such as being able to pay to have one's voice featured in the app. Most thrilling of all, though, has to be the one-off $10,000 pledge. Unlike anything else I've seen before, it gives the buyer their very own Choose Your Own Adventure for real. Throughout the campaign, backers and followers will be asked two questions each week, which will eventually lead to the adventure of a lifetime. While Shannon explained that Antarctica is out because of costs, pretty much everything else is up for grabs. Adventurous spirit and $10,000 to spare? You know what to do.

On a serious final note, anything that encourages kids and their families to read together has to be a hugely positive step. Even better, for this series, it looks set to combine nostalgia for the parents with new discoveries for the kids. We'll be sure to keep an eye on this Kickstarter's progress. For now, check out the campaign page if you're interested in participating or you fancy a $10,000 adventure of a lifetime. The campaign ends on September 12.

Ever had the idea for an app, but felt like the lack of programming and design ability was a bit of a non-starter? Well, 13-year-old Daniel Singer has made an app. He's the designer of Backdoor, a chat app that lets users chat with their friends anonymously, trying to get clues to guess who they are. It's available now on the App Store.

This isn't even Daniel's first thing that he's helped to design: he helped create YouTell.com, an anonymous feedback site. He says that helped lead to the creation of Backdoor. "One day during a meeting, I was kind of thinking about how you reply to feedback, and if you reply a lot, that turns into a conversation. And from a conversation, the best platform to do that would be a messenger, and [on] iOS. And that's kind of how it all started."

While he has a limited iOS programming background at the moment, he's more a design person, and he just started mocking up Backdoor after having the idea. "I'm primarily a UI designer, so I immediately kind of hopped into Photoshop and just started messing with that."

How'd he get started with design in the first place? He says "a few years back" (keep in mind that he's thirteen, almost fourteen years old) that he "wanted to create a gaming youtube channel, because I was in to it at the time, so you had to like make a website and a channel design and all that, and so I had to learn the skills to do that, and from there I wound up liking the skills more than the actual YouTube page, and I kind of pursued those further, primarily with design."

In speaking over the phone with Daniel, his youth is apparent, both from the way he speaks like a typical teenager, and in how he describes how he uses Backdoor: "One of my friends played a prank on me, which was quite funny, which was, I was sitting down at a table and they said "look behind you, it's me" - and it was complete strangers and I looked behind them, and it was funny. I ended up using clues and I kind of guessed that it was someone I knew and not some random stranger. That was fun."

But also, he has a maturity to his voice - his voice was deep enough that I was a bit skeptical if he was still thirteen, which he technically is - he turns fourteen soon - and of course, what he's doing is something that people twice his age are trying to do with startups. He also has a youthful optimism toward what is available with technology that he an do with it: "The skills and the resources are pretty widely available and free as well to the most part. To learn programming and design, in 30 days of your Photoshop free trial, you can learn quite a bit, and then if you're into it and go ahead and get a student plan, which is not that much. It's really openly available to learn."

"I tried looking for a teacher, and there really aren't for design as far as I was able to find, unless you went to art school, but that's a college, a conventional course. I ended up teaching myself a lot about design."

And by going out and learning how to do all of this himself, he's way ahead of even many adults who have the inkling in their head "Maybe I could create an app..." because he just did it.

Recently announced, Trouserheart looks like quite the quirky, DeathSpank-style fantasy action game. Notably, it's a game that is being published by established Finnish games studio, 10tons and developed by similarly established and Finnish firm, Dicework Games. With our curiosity piqued, I was able to talk to 10tons's Jaakko Maaniemi about how the union came to be, and just what players should expect when the game is released next month.

148apps: Why is it called Trouserheart?
Jaakko Maaniemi (JM): It's awesome you ask about the name, as we put some serious effort into coming up with it. We wanted to achieve all kinds of things with the name, and we're very happy with Trouserheart. We wanted the name to be short, preferably one word – Trouserheart is ok in that regard.

We obviously wanted the name to be catchy, memorable and distinct, as there are hundreds of games released every day. As the name was your first question, I believe we succeeded here as well. The name also had to communicate the lighthearted, humorous tone of of the game. Check! Trouserheart is also the name of the game’s hero, King Trouserheart.

Finally, we wanted to [be] associated [with] the fantasy genre. The something-heart is a pretty well known fantasy convention, all the way from King Lionheart and Braveheart to hit games like Battleheart and Kingdom Hearts. Trousers also feature in the game’s storyline, but we’ll talk about that in detail later.

148apps: Will Trouserheart be a story-led game?
JM: Trouserheart is not very story driven, apart from the clear setup and rewarding conclusion. The reason is that Trouserheart's gameplay is very short form. In other words, a single session of Trouserheart is just a couple of intensive minutes. There's not a whole lot of time, nor point, in cramming a lot of storytelling in there. And we’re concentrating 100% on making the gameplay as great as possible.

148apps: What inspiration led to the game?
JM: We wanted to make a game that’s simple, easy to pick up and fun to play. It takes literally about five seconds from the start of each session to be in a fight with monsters, knee deep in your next quest. Seasoned gamers can probably name titles Trouserheart reminds them of, but there’s no single source of inspiration in that regard.

Visually, we wanted to make Trouserheart look instantly familiar, but with a recognizable quirky tone. The kind of blocky look works well with the gameplay. The bright colors and clear shapes also help the game look clear on the smaller screens of mobiles.

148apps: Are you able to discuss any of the features within the game? It looks quite hack n slash style in the screenshots, is that the case?
JM: Trouserheart is definitely hack'n slash. In fact, hacking and slashing is basically the only interaction there is in the game, although you do a few kinds of different things with the whackage. We're especially proud of how well we've nailed the virtual controllers. They're really good. We've always been annoyed by how many bad implementations of virtual controllers are out there, and one of the driving factors in creating Trouserheart is that we wanted to do virtual controllers right.

We should also mention that Trouserheart is as relaxed and easy-going as a good hack’n slash game can be. We hope that if Trouserheart is the first hack’n slash game someone plays, they’ll enjoy it.

148apps: What motivated 10tons to go into publishing rather than development?
JM: 10tons has been around for ten years now, and so far we've published around two dozen titles we’ve developed ourselves - and we’ll definitely keep developing games in the future as well. We’ve released games on most mobile platforms and know our way around different markets so we already had a nice toolset for publishing games. Both Dicework Games and 10tons are located in Tampere, Finland, so we had a chance to see the game very early in development. We immediately liked Trouserheart’s concept, instant accessibility, and style. A bit later it we found ourselves in a position where we could help each other: Dicework needed resources to finish and launch the game to realize its full potential and 10tons was dreaming of an easy-going fun mobile game that would also work with gamepads.

Thanks to Jaakko for taking the time to answer our questions. It's great to see indie developers working together towards a common goal. We'll be sure to cover Trouserheart in more depth when it's released in September.

It can be tough to please a demanding parent. Sometimes it feels like the only way you can truly make them proud is to give them the world - or at least a world. And that’s exactly the kind of problem Captain Bubblenaut is facing. The only way to earn his father’s (Admiral Pop’s) respect is to take over the planet ERF and destroy all the ERFLINGS inhabiting it. Thankfully, Captain Bubblenaut designer and AAA game industry veteran, Dean Tate, has taken time out from his busy ERF-destroying schedule to try and explain all of this craziness to us.

148apps: Where'd the idea for Captain Bubblenaut's gameplay come from? Was it a product of the inspiration provided by games like Tiny Wings and Jetpack Joyride, or was it more of an instantaneous "Eureka!" moment?
Dean Tate (DT): Originally Owen [ Owen Macindoe, doctor of computer science] and I started by asking the question "What sort of skill-based actions are really fun to human beings?" and I think at the time I'd read something about how, evolutionarily, humans have succeeded as a species by being really good at judging parabolic arcs. ie. if you're a caveman and you're good at throwing a rock or a spear at a mammoth, you're gonna go far, baby. For that reason, humans really enjoy judging parabolas, and if you look around, there are many, many games based on that concept that are very successful (eg. the Worms series, Scorched Earth, Angry Birds, Tiny Wings, and so on) as well as pretty much every type of sport ever conceived (football, basketball, golf, and on and on and on). So, weird way to come at the design of a game, right? We basically started with that blank slate, asking ourselves the question "what sort of game can we make about parabolic arcs?" Strangely enough the only game we really looked at closely in the beginning was Wave Race 64, which is all about looking at ocean waves (parabolas, kinda) and being really good at riding them on your jetski. A lot of our early prototypes were about water and waves.

148apps: It looks like you had a lot of fun coming up with all the different ERFLING designs. Was there a limit on how many you could add to the game or did you just run with it and see how far you could go?
DT: The only limit was my time and energy. It took around a year of experimentation to land on a set of rules and guidelines that allowed me to quickly create new ERFLINGS. Once I had those down pat, and a huge list of types that I wanted to create, I just aimed to crank out 3 or 4 new ones every week or so, and did so through to now. I probably redesigned each one around 2 or 3 times. We're shipping with around 90 designs, and I'd love to do another 90 and release them in an update some time.

148apps: Aside from experience, are there any particular insights from working in AAA development that you think might benefit your work as an indie developer?
DT: For me it's just design process. I learned a lot in AAA about design iteration fundamentals, philosophy, etc. How to fail fast and "find the fun". How to tackle new design challenges. In some ways I think that allows me to work fast, but then I also think a lot of the more talented indies out there who don't have AAA experience have an advantage in just being scrappier and more focused in their work than I am.

148apps: Between the music by Chris Remo (Thirty Flights of Loving, Gone Home), sound by Danny Baranowsky ( Super Meat Boy, Binding of Isaac, Canabalt), your own design experience (Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Rock Band), and Owen’s programming skills, it sounds like you've assembled an amazing team! What's it like having so many well known (and super-talented) people working together on Captain Bubblenaut?
DT: It's great! It's part of why I wanted to become indie. I love everyone I've met in this community and am thrilled to get to work with some of them, and hope to work with more!

148apps: Do you have any reservations about this being your very first iOS release?
DT: Only that the market is very crowded and it's hard to stand out. From my perspective as a creator and a designer, I feel like my best chance of success is in building something that is high in quality, original, built to take advantage of the unique aspects of the iPhone, and most of all, FUN. For me I think that's the best way to succeed.

Our thanks to Dean Tate and the rest of the team for all their hard work (past, present, and inevitably future)! Captain Bubblenaut will start exterminating ERFLINGS at the end of this month. If you’d like to help the little guy out, the full game (no IAPs) will only set you back $1.99.

Two things are a constant with dwarves, regardless of the fictions they appear in: they're incredibly sturdy, and they have a thing for digging. TinkerHouse Games has taken these two concepts and run with them to create Dwarven Delve. Billed as an "action puzzle crawl," it's a combination of elements that tasks players with rotating entire sections of dungeon as they attempt to guide a small band of dwarves to the treasures within. It's a unique and interesting concept we wanted to learn more about. Fortunately, Mark Jessup (Creative Director and Lead Designer for TinkerHouse Games) was on-hand to answer our questions.

148Apps: So what led to the creation of the world's first action puzzle crawl?
Mark Jessup (MJ): I really like pipe puzzle games like Pipe Dream and old-school top-down dungeon crawls. One morning when I was half-awake, the two merged and did a merry jig. When I was finally ambulatory I wrote it down immediately. Lane built the physical prototype in two days and had the first digital prototype a week later. He was a ninja. We were both really fired up about it and hit the ground running.

148Apps: I noticed some of the abilities seem like they'd work really well together (i.e. the Tinkersmith's Hovermine and the Wayfinder's Echo Lure). Was it tough to balance?
MJ: Thanks for noticing that combo so quickly! It’s one of our favorites and the ideal we’re shooting for with regards to other ability combos down the line. So far, the biggest trick hasn’t been with individual or combo effects, as much as cooldown durations and the frequency of enemy spawning. None of the abilities or their power progressions threaten game balance in themselves, but they should be meaningful moments in the level, not just something you spam. And of course, we have to have a steady but not overwhelming number of enemies to keep you on your toes and make those abilities count.

148Apps: Are there any later skills you think are particularly cool that you wouldn't mind sharing?
MJ: Well, it’s still early in development, so I really shouldn—okay, you talked me into it. Our dwarves’ abilities are augmented over time by rediscovering their history; ancestral relics and lineage. So our Tinkersmith will eventually find a relic from the Age of Automata called the Gloam Mag. It upgrades her hovermines so that they shoot towards enemies in any adjacent hex, threatening a much larger area.

One of the Spellforger’s more powerful relics is called The Oculus of Maddening. It changes his ranged attack into a domination effect, so he can turn a group of enemies into monster-eaters. It’s quite fun.

148Apps: Was it always the plan to have a team of six, or were there originally more/fewer dwarves? And if there were initially more, were there any classes that you regret having to cut out?
MJ: Actually, the biggest decision we had to make early on was whether the game would be centered around a small cast of characters or a large group of units that you essentially built into warbands. It was a fundamental design decision, obviously. We decided to go with the small group because the story is a very important part of the game for us, and we thought we could tell a better one with a small cast that you got to know and helped evolve over time. And for the record, we also realized the dwarven unit model would likely be much easier to monetize and more lucrative in the long run. But we didn’t do it because we really thought it wouldn’t let us design the best game experience. There’s nothing wrong with free-to-play in itself, but it wasn’t right for this game.

Fools? Possibly. But fools who love dwarves.

148Apps: I really like the concept behind character "leveling." Was this Lineage system always the plan or was it something the game grew into over the course of its development?
MJ: The lineage leveling system definitely grew out of conversations over time around the office. When we were thinking about the warband approach, finding your ancestors actually unlocked new units, which was cool, and gave the player something more satisfying than just getting a better score. And the idea of a lineage tree showing progress was a visual concept we really wanted to keep. So when we went towards the character approach we realized we could still keep that concept. Each dwarf is a member of a clan that extends back into the dark of history. Discovering the forebears and accomplishments of their clan makes their own abilities increase.

Our thanks to Mark Jessup for his time, and to the entire team at TinkerHouse Games for working on the first ever action puzzle crawler. Assuming everything goes according to plan with Dwarven Delve's Kickstarter funding it should be breaking ground on your iPad (sorry, iPhone owners) in December for $4.99. It's apparently going to be a big month for dwarves.

Ever wanted to start up a tech firm? Got an idea that seems stupidly awesome and original? Or just fancy running a business, warts and all? There's a fairly safe and inexpensive way of experiencing that life coming to iOS later this year. That title is Hipster CEO, a game which challenges players to "take an idea from their dorm room to Wall Street, Zuckerberg-style". We had a word with Dublin-based developer, Ger Kelly, on his vision for the game and just how it came to be.

148apps: Where did the idea for Hipster CEO come from?
Ger Kelly (GK): Well firstly I have a huge passion for tech startups - I love reading about the causes behind startups' success and failure, exciting new technologies, marketing techniques, stuff like that. Whenever I tell someone I work in a startup they always say that they'd love the opportunity to do just that. I wanted to give people a taste of what running a startup company is like - fun but difficult. It isn't all air hockey tables and free beer but when it works, it's the best feeling in the world.

Secondly, I was a video game addict as a kid - particularly sports/business simulations like Championship Manager and Theme Park. I always felt games like that were different in the sense that you were especially proud of what you did - like bringing some low-tier football team all the way to the Cup Final - you always wanted to tell your friends. Even now one of my fondest teenage memories is winning a league title with my favorite football team - which probably says a lot about my adolescence! I felt that there was room for a tech startup simulator in the same vein.

The name came about when a friend called me a total hipster because I guess I can be a little snobby about my musical taste at times. I had a few other ideas for a title but people really reacted really well to Hipster CEO so I went with it.

148apps: The idea of the game seems pretty lighthearted, will that continue throughout the game?
GK: The Hipster element of the game is simply a veneer, the game will create the experience of building a tech startup as closely as possible. I think the Hipster shtick appeals to a lot of people in a fun way and I want people to have fun playing this game. However, the gameplay will be firmly rooted in reality so there won't be any "wacky" investment offers tabled or disgruntled developers setting fire to their desks. On second thoughts I might include that last one!

Stuff like the Social Network movie and TV shows like Dragon's Den and Shark Tank makes every man and his dog feel like they could grow a startup company into a huge success but, as anyone who has ever built a startup will know, it's a lot of hard work. There are so many things you need to get right to build a winning product: quality development, creative marketing, and of course sales. It might sound crazy but so many tech startups out there have no sales strategy starting off - Hipster CEO will encourage players to start making revenue from day one.

Players will need to get the right balance of these three in order to succeed, all the while keeping their staff happy, handling investors, and dealing with the media. That sure seems like a lot but trust me that's what a startup CEO has to deal with on a day-to-day basis!

I hope my app puts a smile of the face of those who play it because they feel rewarded not just because of some jibe at hipsters.

148apps: Will the game solely be quite text focused, or will there be more game-style graphics too?
GK: I really wanted to have a basic graphics pane which displayed your character, your employees, your office and stuff like that but it's just not feasible for the first version. Like being able to see your little team graduate from your parent's basement to some swanky, playground-esque office would be awesome. I have some design skills but nothing on the level that would be required for proper animation so I've had to shelve that idea for now. It will probably be one of the first things addressed if the game takes off.

I think Championship Manager showed that you can just have words and numbers on the screen and still create a totally immersive experience.

148apps: Will it be a one-off payment game, or will there be in-app purchases involved?
There will be a one-off payment and the option to get additional investment via in-app purchases. I want to stress, however, that you don't need to make any in-app purchases after getting the app in order to build a great startup - it's merely there as an option. I'd actually prefer if players declined the option to take investment completely and slowly but surely built a solid company but I know there's people out there who will just want to get to a certain level as fast as possible.

148apps: Is there a way of completing Hipster CEO? Or is it more open ended than that?
GK: It's open ended. Each character in the game (including you as CEO) has certain stats that will grow and shrink based on their performance. If your company goes broke you'll have the option to build another startup with the skill set you've developed. Most entrepreneurs fail with their first few startups so it may take players a few different cracks of the whip before they really hit the big time. It's totally possible of course that they have a huge success of things and start getting acquisition offers to decide upon.

There will be an online leaderboard of all the players worldwide so you can see how you measure up as a CEO in the game. I've a lot of long term ideas for the game too - like inviting the top players around the world to become virtual venture capitalists in later versions of the game which other people can pitch to.

Sounding a pretty intriguing idea, we'll be keeping a close eye on Hipster CEO's progress. Further information is also available at the game's site. It's hopefully set for release in October. Thanks to Ger for taking the time to answer our questions!

The semi-futuristic story of Greg's search for his missing girlfriend Chloe has been a long time coming, but after two years in the making Lost Echo is finally on its way to the App Store. Soon players will be able to lead Greg through a number of different 3D environments as he tries to figure out where Chloe disappeared to, and why no one else seems to think she ever existed. We asked Nick Konstantoglou and Vagelis Antonopoulos of KickBack Studios to tell us a little bit more about their long-running (and intriguing) project.

148Apps: Lost Echo looks quite striking. What were some of your inspirations for its visual style?
Nick Konstantoglou and Vagelis Antonopoulos (NK/VA): Thank you! We have a background in Architectural Visualization, so we knew we would put emphasis on lighting. That's central to the style. We might have broken some kind of record for the amount of time we spent baking and tweaking lightmaps for an iOS game. We also researched a lot of modern architecture. For example the park (which is featured a lot in the trailer) is partly inspired by the HighLine park in New York. We went through quite a few iterations until we recognized the elements that fit the world we imagined. We wanted a world that looked slightly futuristic but realistic enough that it's believable. There are also some shapes that are repeated throughout the game for story reasons (although it's quite subtle).

148Apps: I also noticed that Lost Echo is supposed to work with older iOS devices, going all the way back to the iPhone 3GS. How in the heck did you manage that?
NK/VA: We started making the game 2 years ago. Supporting 3GS back then was normal and expected. But since this is our first game, we failed where all new developers fail. Planning! This was supposed to be a smaller project, but we started adding features and then it became something more ambitious. All rookie mistakes, we know how to plan things better now. Although since we didn't give up and actually finished the game it was probably a good thing! So we kept the 3gs support in. We added a bit more to the graphics later on as time went by and we considered dropping the support for older devices at some point, but then we found that keeping it wasn't that hard. After we had written the shaders to perform within our expectation and with some self control with the polycounts, getting it to run nicely on older devices was not that hard. Unity being a great engine helps as well.

148Apps: Were there any particular point-and-click games or series that you were keeping in mind while you were developing Lost Echo?
NK/VA: Well, not really. We love all the classics, for example Monkey Island. They are parts of our childhood and they are great games. They also have some elements that are very outdated now. But there is some of that old-school adventure spirit in our game. More recently we played a lot of Phoenix Wright. We can't say we kept it in mind during development, but we did note how the dialogue presentation was great for smaller screens, very readable, and the variable text speeds gave it a lot of character.

148Apps: Should players expect traditional, item-centric puzzles (i.e. Monkey Island) or more self-contained head scratchers (i.e. Myst)? Possibly some sort of combination of the two?
NK/VA: A combination. There are item puzzles, dialogue based puzzles, and self contained puzzles/minigames. We wanted variation in our game and there are slight shifts in style throughout the game, to keep things interesting.

148Apps: Is Lost Echo going to be a self-contained adventure or were you thinking of adding episodes/chapters later on?
NK/VA: We are... not sure. There is definitely room for more stories, but the story arc that starts with this game, ends with this game. You have to understand, this is our first game and we didn't (well, still don't) know what kind of reception we would get, so we didn't want to plan to make, say, 3 episodes/games and then be unable to make more than one. It's also a pretty big game, much larger than the average episodic game and it took us a long time to develop. We'll say this though, we would love to add a bit more to this game. We do have a small story that serves as a prequel to the game that we would love to add it to the game. But to be able to do that it will mean that the game will sell "well enough".

We really appreciate Nick and Vagelis taking the time to answer our questions, and we're looking forward to figuring out what happened to Chloe ourselves. Adventure game fans and lovers of psychological thrillers can check out Lost Echo when it's released later this month for $2.99

Dive For Treasures was quite the delight when we reviewed it earlier this month, so we decided to find out more about its developer, Eccentricity Games, and the team's plans for the future.

Who is Eccentricity Games?
Founded in 2010, the team is made up of a handful of industry veterans who came from a number of Poland's major game development companies. With the help of a producer, Hubert Bibrowski, based in Canada, the team has steadily grown ever since.

What is Eccentricity Games most famous for?
Besides Dive for Treasures (pictured below), the team has also worked on the Android and Windows Phone 8 versions of Puzzle Craft, along with cutesy title, Roll in the Hole. The team has also dabbled in children's apps such as Yawnie and 4 Kids Colors

What's next on the horizon?
Over to Hubert Bibrowski to explain more here: "Right now we're just coming out of launch mode. Dive for Treasures made the AppStore's New and Noteworthy list in the U.S. marketplace so we are very excited. The feedback was great, we're so happy to hear the game is well received as it was a bit of a gamble. There aren't many games like this out there. Right now we are busy working on an update to the game. The main feedback we received was that people wish the game were longer so I'm happy to announce we will be updating the game with more levels soon. It goes without saying that these updates are going to be distributed free of charge to all existing customers. We'd like to send a big THANK YOU to all the game's fans."

Hubert also explained that there are more titles to come from the developer, too, with the first set to be presented in August. As he put it, "It is going to be a big one too...I'd say it is the biggest and most polished game in the history of our studio," although he's not yet able to reveal all. We'll be sure to press him for more information when the time comes!

Anything else I should know about the developers?
All too happy to help, Hubert answered a few of our questions.

148apps: What was the inspiration behind Dive for Treasures?
Hubert: Not sure...Maybe this thing I drive by every day?

Seriously though, we wanted to make a game focused on exploration, with a unique twist. We didn't want to make another "runner" game, we wanted something fresh. When the submarine idea came up, we knew we had something that was fun and challenging in a new way. Sometimes, I think we gamers forget how nice it is to play something relaxing. We all agreed that there wasn't enough of these types of games in the marketplace so we went ahead and made one.

148apps: You've tackled some very varied titles. Is there a particular genre that the team prefer to work on?
Hubert: We like all sorts of games. Working on smaller projects, as opposed to large AAA titles, gives us room to experiment, explore and take risks. We always make the games that we ourselves would like to play instead of focusing on the flavor of the week that happens to be top on the app store. We really like tower defense games - I have a feeling one of our next titles will fall into that category.

148apps: What are the team's favorite apps or games?
Hubert: We like so many games that no one here can agree on just one title. We play our fair share of Starcraft, Gran Turismo and Left 4 Dead and of course we play a lot of mobile games: Sailboat Championship, Tiny Wings, King of Opera and Bike Baron are some of the office favorites.

Where can I find out more about Eccentricity Games?
We'll be keeping a close eye on the new title set to be released in August, but there are plenty of other sources to learn more. There's the Eccentricity Games website, Twitter account and Facebook page.

Thanks to Hubert and the rest of the team for taking the time to answer our questions. Dive for Treasures is out now, priced at $1.99.

DeNA and Scattered Entertainment’s ambitious mobile first-person shooter spearheaded by former Battlefield series producer Ben Cousins, The Drowning, has finally launched worldwide. After the first hands-on sessions at GDC 2013 the game has been in an international soft launch, but the final, complete version of the game is now available to everyone. I spoke with Ben Cousins about what he thinks this initial "complete" version of The Drowning succeeds at, and how the game has evolved over the past few months.

Cousins says that he’s quite proud of the way that Scattered Entertainment experimented with new control schemes. “…We were unsatisfied with the FPSes on mobile devices, and I think from our research, I think a lot of the potential audience who are really interested in the genre have a phone or a tablet, and they’re not satisfied with what they’ve got out there.” There’s two things that he thinks they have that others don’t; “The first thing that we’ve got which the competitors haven’t is a control system which is designed for touchscreens that you can play with just one hand, with just two fingers in fact on one hand, and one that really fluidly fits in with the way that we hold these devices and the usage patterns of these devices. So we’re really proud that we’ve created a control system which kind of unlocks the potential of this genre on the platform.”

"The second thing we’ve done is we’ve really respected the usage patterns of these devices as well. And we understand that people generally don’t sit down and create time for a four or five hour session of playing a game on a smart device. So we’ve deliberately created a game structure that means within two minutes you can make progress in the game and you can shut down the device, and you can bring it up for a two-minute session at any time, and you’re guaranteed to make progress.

“So we’ve divided the game into these discrete chunks. The gameplay feels very much like an FPS, you’re killing enemies, and it’s high action, and you’re in this 3D world, but the system we’ve created enables you to jump in and jump out in a way which a more console-style mobile-FPS doesn’t really let you do, you’ve got to wait for a save point or for a cutscene to finish or something like that.”

Interestingly, though, there’s a virtual control scheme in there as well, and Cousins justifies it by saying “If you remember back on Halo 1, you could actually opt to play that with the GoldenEye control scheme. Now the GoldenEye control scheme is very different from the Halo/Call of Duty control system. So in the same way that in that transition that Halo had to acknowledge the small numbers of players who were used to the GoldenEye style of controls, we’ve kind of done the same thing, we believe that the touch system we’ve created is the future of controlling FPSes on smart devices, but we also acknowledge that there is kind of a legacy on this platform and a certain number of people want to play with a traditional virtual stick style system.” He does believe that it’s a suboptimal way to play – and that most will switch to the ‘new’ control scheme, just as how console gamers have adapted to the scheme Halo introduced.

The international soft launch helped out in several ways. Cousins states, “So we actually went out with probably, an incomplete game, just because we got to the point where just playing it ourselves and trying got work out whether a feature was working or not wasn’t really helping, and we wanted to get on to the live audience,so that’s kind of what we did, and we’ve been adding a whole bunch of stuff that was in that backlog anyway.” The tutorial got trimmed down as part of the changes, and a stars system was added, which Cousins claims helped player satisfaction: “the game’s about going into these environments, playing for two minutes, getting a score, and then getting parts. Kind of exchanging that score for parts which you find the environment that you can then use to craft more weapons. And we never really had a clear way of showing the player whether they had a good score or a bad score. So players we were thinking were probably going in there and what was a reasonable score and actually they weren’t getting enough score to get that particular part that they need from the environment.”

“So we have a very direct feedback at the end of the round of whether you got a bad score or whether you got an awesome score, and this really helps the game loop because you do two things: you know you either just failed to get a score you wanted to get that part, and you want to play another round, or you’ve just succeeded in getting the score and it’s a fantastic kind of reinforcement moment in the game loop where you’re really excited because you just got that score that you needed to proceed.”

These little things may just make The Drowning a better experience, which players can now judge for themselves, as it is now available worldwide on the App Store.