From Hook Champ to Mage Gauntlet, RocketCat Games is one of the leading indie iOS developers. Thus far, every game they have made has garnered praise from gamers and gaming press alike, and there’s no surprises seeing as how they’ve all been fun. In this interview, RocketCat talks to DIYGamer about how it all started and where it’s headed, including a PC port of one of their games sometime this year.

DIYGamer: First and foremost, who is involved with RocketCat Games? How many of you are there? When/How did it come about?

Rocketcat Games: There are three of us. Brandon Rhodes is the artist, Jeremy Orlando is the programmer, I do the design. A few years ago I was working really quiet night shifts, so I brought a netbook so I could chat on a tiny IRC channel that the three of us have been on for over a decade. Originally the channel was to coordinate playing the game Asheron’s Call, but we just kind of stuck on there. One night I was talking about making games with Jeremy, and we arbitrarily decided to do it. Brandon joined not too long after. We chose iOS because there were no barriers to entry, made a few quick practice games, and then made our first real game, Hook Champ. Before all this, none of us had any real experience with making games.

It seems you guys are influenced by old-school 8- and 16-bit games, am I correct in assuming these are the types of experiences you want to give gamers? How did the idea to create in this style come about? 

We try to provide an experience centered around novel and carefully constructed game design, that’s also a little familiar. Part of it is thinking about nostalgic games, then busting them down and making something new. Also, I just like the aesthetic. Us going for a pixel-art style for our first game was a combination of me playing a lot of Spelunky and Dino Run at the time, and a squarish-proportioned character working really well on the iPhone screen.

I have to ask, do you see yourself doing something entirely different and branching out onto different platforms besides iOS? You guys seem comfortable on the platform and there has been widely positive reviews of your efforts, but can you see Mage Gauntlet releasing on, say, Steam for PC/Mac?

We’d love to get on Steam. We’re planning on doing our first PC port this year. We have a lot of games planned ahead, and some of them are made specifically with PC in mind.

I have to say I’m really impressed by how fun the gameplay for Mage Gauntlet was. It’s a different sort of action-RPG, with fluidity both in gameplay and presentation that I’d yet to see in most other games on iOS. Tell me a bit about the game. Why stray from the “hook” gameplay, is that something you see yourself going back to? What influences were behind Mage Gauntlet?

We did a few games in our “grappling hook racing” genre, because with each game we looked back and saw other stuff we wanted to try out. Once we ran out of things we wanted to improve, we abandoned the genre. We’ll most likely do the same with the action-RPG genre… we’ll keep making them until we run out of new designs we want to turn into games, then move on. Though, the action-RPG genre is way, way bigger than the tiny (maybe just us?) grappling hook racing genre, so we might end up making a bunch of them.

Mage Gauntlet was influenced by a bunch of SNES action-RPG’s and action-adventure games, and each system of the game was a mix of inspiration and lots of prototyping. The sword combat was first inspired mostly by Secret of Mana, particularly how your sword swings tended to stun enemies. The anti-magic dash/charge through enemy projectiles was just due to brainstorming of how to put multiple functions into each move, to get the most out of combat without cluttering the interface.

The consumable, random, powerful nature of the magic system was based on an early version of the game where it was an arcade-style shooter where you were a constantly-shooting wizard with magic spells. You could destroy your current spell to cause a big explosion, after which you’d automatically switch to the next spell in line. We have a video of this early version of the game, it completely and utterly changed since then, but the idea of the magic system remained.

We also had some other developers testing the game during the later stages, which was really helpful. There was another iOS developer, Madgarden; Bennet Foddy, of QWOP/GIRP; Tarn Adams, of Dwurfs Fortress; and a few others. Feedback from other developers was especially good at telling me what needed even more revision, I think the sword combat went through four different phases.

This turned out to be a pretty long answer, and I’m pretty sure I could go on.

What are some of your favorite games (old or new, indie or otherwise)?

Recently, Binding of Isaac and Atom Zombie Smasher. Lots of SNES/NES games that I’m not even going to try to list. I’m really fond of experimental/short form indie games, like the Pirate Kart. I really liked the new Deus Ex. I am especially into roguelikes, and games inspired by them, including the mentioned Binding of Isaac and Spelunky.

With success in the world of critics and gamers, how have you guys fared financially thus far? Have you sold enough copies of your games to “get by” or are you living comfortably?

We’ve done pretty well. When we released our second game, we made enough so that we could all quit our jobs and work on this full-time. However, despite being iOS developers, we’re not “makers of The Fart Button” rich.

Have you started development on your next project? Anything you can tell us?

We’re doing a spin-off of Mage Gauntlet that will be a roguelike-inspired action adventure game. Multiple character classes with different gameplay, highly varied randomly generated dungeons, permadeath (though you get to keep unlocked equipment). It’s going to be clearly be our best game so far, we’re finally getting to do stuff we’ve wanted to do since we started to make games.

It will also be free to download, using a “free-class-of-the-day” system. You can unlock characters for use on all days by playing the game, or instantly by paying. It’s a system we stole from League of Legends, which I think handles the “free” thing in the fairest way I’ve seen.

Our Facebook page has a bunch of info on the classes and other stuff about the next game. www.facebook.com/rocketcatgames/

Finally, what would you like to say to the rest of the indie/gaming world? Words of wisdom, tales and advice?

It’s definitely possible to make a living off making games. If we could do it, with no previous experience, it’s likely anyone can. If anyone wants specific advice, I respond pretty reliably on Twitter. I’m on there as @rocketcatgames

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And there you have it, folks. For all the enigma surrounding many indie devs, they really are personable people. I strongly suggest encouraging their good work by sending them a message or two. Thanks to RocketCat for answering our questions, and look forward to coverage of their upcoming games in the future!