Interview with Remode

For those who do not remember, the Mole Control representatives were Ella Romanos, Martin Darby and Matthew Beakes. I interviewed them (all three) during the ORF evening, so the answers the mix of all of their answers (and my extremely hurried and messy notes).

Mole Control, the cute puzzle game about exploding moles that brought the Minesweeper into the 21st century. How did it come about and what did the team learn during the process?

Converse to what I'd thought, the idea of the game remained largely unscathed from its conception to final product. The only major change was the main character and his mode of transportation. Originally the character was meant to move about with a jetpack strapped to its pack, but this upright character caused gameplay issues as the player could not see the square behind the character. The times were desperate, but Martin came up with the idea of a hovercraft, which you now see in the game.

But why choose Minesweeper? As this was their first game, they needed to produce something quick and easy with their limited time and budget, so updating an old game mechanic seemed the best way to go. However, no matter how simple the idea, it does not mean the process was a walk in the park (especially if you have exploding moles). The biggest challenges they faced was learning the production process (something I can relate to having done the 5D2 project). Other cited problems were risk analysis, testing (and the importance of it) and team communication.

Another hard part of the production were things beyond the team's control. Some of the digital distributors didn't release the game until nine months later - and that's gonna hurt your advertisement plans. Also another unfortunate setback was that during the year that it took for Mole Control to be finished, the focus of the casual games had move into the social gaming platforms. But no matter, the team is currently finishing up special edition version, which will go to US and Canadian markets, so it's not all bad.

Having briefly scoured their website beforehand, I knew that Remode doesn't work just on their own games; they also do contract work to keep a steady flow of income. They specialize in simulations and serious games, but they won't let them distract from the real goal which is to make the other type of games (as Ella described it, high-risk & high-profit projects). They see this risk diversification crucial to their survival. According to them, the lack of risk diversification is the biggest reason why game companies, even big ones, go bust.

When asked why they wanted to start their own company instead of going to work for someone else, they listed their previous project, Rotoblast, as a source of confidence to make that scary leap. Rotoblast was a prototype VR game they developed as a part of their final year work, and it received a lot of positive attention from game industry professionals . Mole Control was the company's first own game project, and as such it was meant as a learning experience and to establish a track record for the company - very important to any start-up game company. Getting a game out (and being nominated for Europrix) will certainly improve their chances in the future.

Talking about inspiration, I also had to ask them about their favourite games and game icons. The unanimous favourite within the team are World of Goo and Portal (and apparently this was weird, because all the team members play completely different type of games). However, they all cite Tim Schafer as their game industry icon, and his humour has definitely influenced their games as well. PopCap Games and Jagex (the makers of Runescape) were mentioned as their most admired game companies.

Talking about future, they revealed that they are also working on a new game project, which I couldn't find out too much about as it is still very much under wraps. I did find out that they are going to aim for the downloadable markets with a game aimed at more hardcore gamers.

Finally, their advice for students wanting to start their own game company:

"It's not about the product, it's about the people."
Meaning you should show the publishers and investors that your team can be trusted with the money and the game's production. The business and management side is especially important in this sense.

"Look at the market!"
Don't just go about making your favourite game, at least if you want to make it in the game industry. Research and try to find out what is selling at the moment. Make that. Or better, make something that is bit further into the future, because by the time the game is finished, the markets have most likely have changed.

And additional advice: "Go to conferences and network!"

I'm taking this advice to heart. Hope IMPs will get more chances to do this in the future, too! ^^