DIYgamer

Geoff wrote a strong review for Ovolo Games’ unique indie title City Rain, and I had the pleasure of interviewing Alexandre Renaud, Executive Producer of Ovolo, who took some time out of his schedule to talk about how things have gone since launch with the game and what the international team that makes up the company is prepping for next.

The socially and environmentally aware developer talked about their Tetris/SimCity hybrid game, how the PC version is just the beginning, and the group’s overall goal to create “games with meaning.”

Yes, we began shipping City Rain as a PC download this October 1st at (www.ovologames.com/cityrain) for $9.95. Reviews are really good, with more lined up going into the holiday season. Players like the way the mash-up between SimCity and Tetris was executed and the sheer fun factor to it. Plus, the ‘sustainable urban planning’ and ‘green’ theme of the game is positive and meaningful. Regarding sales, we’ll have a more accurate and balanced sales report in January, three months after release. It’s been only two weeks and sales are ramping up. We are working on a distribution deal with larger online stores like Direct2Drive and anticipate announcing a version of City Rain for XBOX Live Indie very soon, along with localization in French and German.

Based on your feedback, is the hybrid concept of Sim City and Tetris translating to players like you intended?

The hybrid concept, along with a subtle message and education about quickly making decisions in building a sustainable and green city, are the two major features and fun-appeal of City Rain, so, yes, it’s translating quite good actually. I would say the mechanics of the game work very well and reviewers are sometimes surprised at how the game works. Some players can just play intuitively, while other gamers who have more simulation games experience will go deep and try to track all the metrics. In the end both groups have fun. We are always evolving and as with any creative products, there are things we would have liked to improve, like, for example, the deepness of the story integration in the campaign mode.

How is the Xbox Live version coming along and when can we expect it?

We are very close to an Xbox Live Indie version. We’re expecting to post a beta/ peer review version before the end of October 2009 (this month) in the new XBOX Live Indie program. If all goes well in the community, then we are planning to be up on XBOX Live Indie before the end of November 2009. City Rain works very well with a controller so we are expecting good feedback from the players out there. Plus, the production value of City Rain is really good for an XBOX Live Indie game.

Other than the Xbox Live version, are there any future plans for City Rain?

Absolutely! Based on sales milestones and the game popularity, we are planning to start work on an iPhone version—which will be specifically created for the iPhone, and not a direct port. I think the concept of the game, mechanics notwithstanding, can translate very well for mobile games platforms, if done properly. We’ve also received a lot of requests for a MAC version. Because City Rain was built on the Microsoft XNA platform, it will take a bit of time to rebuild City Rain for a MAC version, which we could plan to make available next year. Of course, we are keeping an eye on PSN and WiiWare, and while we have not made any decisions yet, we listen to the collective requests of the players.

What can we expect from Ovolo Games in the near future? Any games you want to give mention, announce?

We have no official announcements planned until early 2010. We do indeed have a portfolio of projects that are in the early stage and other good concepts that we are always looking at and could expand on. Our core vision at Ovolo Games, and what differentiates us, is that we bring ‘games with meaning’ to market, so for sure, expect other games that are fun but have a cool, positive impact to come out in 2010. The themes of our games have to do with society issues like sustainability, resource scarcity and world population. In the end we are a collective of international talents and we will build one good game at a time.

Care to mention anything else?

We are planning two updates for City Rain PC, as mentioned previously. We highly encourage players to share their thoughts, wishes and vision with us and our development partner Mother Gaia Studio in Brazil. The best way to join the City Rain community is through our FaceBook community.

We are also working on a blog that will consolidate articles of inspiration for cities of the future. We hope people get engaged in the discussion… who knows what can comes out of that.

We thank Ovolo Games for taking the time to answer our questions and look forward to what they’ll offer up in the future.