Xbox Live Developer Interview: IronSun Studios, makers of MonstaFish and Fathom

It'due south been a while, only nosotros're back with some other installment of our Xbox Live Programmer Interview series! This fourth dimension nosotros talk with Paul Kelly, director of IronSun Studios. The British development house has already brought IonBallEX, Battlewagon, and MonstaFish to Xbox Live. Hither we discuss some of their influences, design philosophies, and even their side by side Live game. Head by the break for the full interview and lots of exclusive concept art!

Hi Paul - that's a good name. Please tell united states most yourself and what you practise at IronSun Studios.

Paul Kelly (left) and partner Peter McGann

I'm Paul Kelly, and I am a director of IronSun Studios.  I accept various responsibilities, only my main part is managing the resources of the visitor. I expect after the developers, testers, artists, etcetera – make sure that anybody is happy! I also bargain with marketing, concept design, branding and Press Relations. Sometimes I make the tea and melt up a squeamish curry.

Ooh, everybody loves curry. So how did you come up to form the studio?

Early IonBall championship screen

In 2022, I was working with two other game enthusiast developers in another visitor. We all realized that the mobile game market was expanding massively, and had also heard on the grapevine that Microsoft was preparing to launch Windows Telephone 7. This seemed the ideal opportunity to go in at the footing floor at the start of something that could be huge in calibration as a market. So we had some contacts with Microsoft and with their encouragement and help started IronSun Studios.

Rewinding time a scrap, what were some of your favorite games growing up?

IonBall concept art

My personal favorite games growing upwardly were games like Elite, Bomberman, Doom, Need for Speed, Lords of Midnight… I have also many to listing! Equally y'all can tell, I go back a scrap. My favorite games of the newer era are… Half-Life 1 and two, Battlefield i-iii, Demand For Speed: Hot Pursuit – over again too many to mention all hither!

Ooh, I'm something of a Bomberman fan myself. Do you play console or PC games these days?

I am mainly a PC gamer, but have enjoyed the Halo serial on console, and racing games like NFS:HP and Driver.

If we may venture away from games for a moment, what did you think of Ridley Scott's big summer motion picture Prometheus?

Battlewagon main game mockup

Good but flawed. It could accept been a dandy film autonomously from some obvious logic issues and trying to be too clever in places.  I loved many things about it – Michael Fassbender's performance was riveting, and some of the scenes were very thought provoking, simply it was let down by a script that made footling sense in some places.

Nice insights! Getting dorsum on track… IronSun started out developing indie games for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone. How did you make the switch to Xbox Live developer?

Nosotros were asked to do XBL titles by Microsoft. They liked the original IonBall [an indie game on Xbox 360 and Windows Phone], and wanted information technology as an XBL title. We did non want to do but a straight port with merely XBL tacked on, and then made lots of changes to make IonBallEX.

Do you have any advice for other indie developers looking to break into Live games?

Be prepared to piece of work hard. It's not an piece of cake market by any ways.

IronSun's first Xbox Live game on Windows Phone, IonBallEX, was the first steampunk game in the mobile Alive lineup. Would you similar to render to that type of setting in the time to come?

IonBall shop design

Yep – lookout this space. [In other words, someday. –ed.]

IronSun dropped the prices of IonBallEX and Battlewagon to 99 cents a short while ago, and shortly thereafter MonstaFish launched at the same price point. How is the new price point working out for you guys?

Battlewagon face up designs

Information technology's besides early to say really, every bit MonstaFish has simply been out for just ii weeks. We believe that 99 cents is the right price point for the game though, equally it is a casual game. In that location has been some debate about whether Xbox Live suits casual games like MonstaFish, but I believe that this type of game at 99 cents is perfect for XBL. Non all games accept to be the side by side Gears of War to go along a phone [in order to] have Xbox Achievements.

Speaking of MonstaFish, that game has a pretty offbeat theme and visual way. How'd you come with it?

Mmm …. Good question.  A lot of the time the ideas are organic. They come from the base idea for the game mechanics; in this instance we had the idea for a game where you had to debunk fish using bubbles (the MonstaFish mode). This plainly needed to be a cartoony game, so we asked the artist to come with cartoon visuals. The tendency for many games now is to have putter graphics, but we wanted to get for something unlike and more like a cartoon off the telly.

Nosotros did have ideas to have a full 3D background… just due to hardware limitations nosotros went with second. The fish were realized from their features – i.e. the fish that bursts bubbles has a sharp beak. Love the looks of the game. I recall it'due south really vibrant and different.

MontaFish's Fourth dimension Assault mode is much, much harder than the other game modes. Was the steep difficulty intentional?

MonstaFish ground furnishings blueprint and full mockup

This was not designed to be that much harder, only the principal reason was that we found it mode too piece of cake in earlier iterations. With the other game modes you tin bear on playing equally long as yous can concluding, but because Time Assault is fourth dimension limited we did non want to make information technology too easy – information technology held no challenge otherwise. If yous play MonstaFish way itself to level 45-fifty information technology gets actually actually hard – but information technology was designed to be an endurance type so is easy to start. Time Attack was different considering of its very nature.

I wanted to like the Fish Tank fashion, but the swipe controls for knocking off snails don't work too well. Could this be rectified in an update?

Aye we will have a look. Nosotros had not noticed an issue, just it could exist that the sensitivity of some phones is different.

We hear tell your next game is called Fathom. Will this be a coincidental or more serious game?

MonstaFish mockups. Note the overhead view on correct.

Definitely more than serious just not hardcore.

Serious is good. Some of my best friends are serious. What else can you tell us almost the gameplay?

It involves water. ;-)

How long has Fathom been in evolution?

[More than] 3 months.

Does information technology have a target release date yet?

Nope.

Windows Telephone 8 launches later this year. Volition you lot be updating whatever of your existing titles to take reward of its new features? What about future titles?

We are not sure nearly existing titles equally Windows Phone 8 is unlike under the hood from Windows Phone 7, and so that might not be possible. As for future titles -  they will be aimed at the newer platforms.

Multiplayer Xbox Live games are super scarce on Windows Phone so far. Are you interested in developing a multiplayer title at some point?

MonstaFish 'Fish Hook' mockup

Information technology'southward not on our radar at the moment – Fathom is purely solo. But we will think about it. Unless the thought is good and tin can be integrated really well (like Wordament for instance), we think the telephone is more than a solo gamers device.

A lot of the developers we've spoken to are excited about Windows 8 for PCs and tablets. Practice you plan to dabble in Windows viii development equally well?

Yeah. ;-)

Finally, how satisfied are you with the growth of Windows Telephone so far? Should Microsoft do anything different to help their mobile platform gain market share?

Battlewagon wagon blueprint (left) and blockade

It could have been ameliorate; even Microsoft admits that. I exercise call up that it's at present gaining traction, and I remember Windows Phone eight will exist an even better proposition. Microsoft has to improve their marketing, I believe, and also the features and apps bachelor on the platform demand to continue to go improve. It needs to become a more viable alternative to Android and iPhone. We [already] dearest it – everyone else has to be shown the calorie-free!

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If you lot liked the interview, why not try IronSun's games? They cost only 99 cents a popular. Market place links: IonBallEX, Battlewagon, MonstaFish

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-live-developer-interview-ironsun-studios-makers-monstafish-and-fathom

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