We had a chance to speak to one man Android developer, Ernest Woo, about what he thinks of Android development before moving on to the specifics of his own games. So far, Woo Games has released two titles – the first was FRG, a pretty successful arcade shooter. The second has only literally come out on the Android Marketplace but has been looking fantastic for a while, ErnCon is a multiplayer-enabled shmup in which you attempt to take over the galaxy.

Who are you and what do you do in the games industry?

My name is Ernest Woo and I’m the founder of Woo Games, a small indie studio based in Boston, MA. Our goal is to create great real-time mobile multiplayer games that appeal to hardcore and casual players alike.

What is your background in game development, any other previous projects?

I’ve been working on games since I was 8 – when I got my hands on a Commodore 64, actually J  Almost all of my game development experience is driven by independent projects including an old shareware game I wrote called Orb Rush, FRG for Android, and now ErnCon.

I’ve also been involved with other players in the industry – I wrote the Java Applet version of TipTop (published by PopCap) and I’m part of the 1^st party mobile browser games team at MocoSpace.

Why Android instead of iOS? Any thoughts on Windows Phone 7?

The jump to Android was very easy given the Java connection; after all, my career has been dominated by Java for web applications and enterprise development.  Android’s decision to use the Java language convinced me to develop Android games right off the bat.

Interestingly, my first Android game (FRG) was a Pascal project originally intended for the desktop. When Android Developer Challenge 2 was announced, I thought “Hey I got three months to port this to Android.”

Windows Phone 7 will probably continue to be a 3^rd or 4^th tier platform for a long time coming.  WP7 doesn’t have enough market penetration for an indie developer like Woo Games to even consider diverting resources.  It’s already hard enough to make money on Android and iOS!

Do you like where the Android platform is going with Ice Cream Sandwich?

I’m ambivalent on ICS right now. I’ve been happy with what Android has provided for game development since Android 1.5 and the only OS-level feature I’ve really cared about was JIT (just-in-time compiling), introduced in Android 2.2.

Mobile browser gaming is a segment I want to dig a little deeper.  It turns out Facebook’s Android app links only to browser-based apps and games, making such games an untapped segment.  The ICS Browser has regressed in CSS and Canvas performance (compared to Gingerbread); I’m unsure how feasible Android browser game development will be in the short-term.

How do you like being a one man studio? Do you prefer it?

I love being a one-man studio!  I get to win almost all of the technical and game design arguments

I do hire contractors to complement my abilities (I can’t draw or compose music — I don’t know anything about PR/marketing either) but I still get to set the pace of development to something that suits me best.  When I’m ready to take Woo Games to the next level I’ll find a partner to work with. For now, Woo Games is a one-man operation and I’m having way too much fun to think about hiring a Number 2.

Where did the idea for ErnCon come from? Any other influences?

ErnCon has existed in some form or other since 1995 when I learned Pascal in high-school. After finishing my first summer programming course, my computer teacher started me on a game project to keep me engaged (not that I really needed the help). Star Control was still fresh in my mind at the time so my teacher and I thought up of a one-on-one space combat game. The DOS executable for Star Control was “starcon” so he suggested “ErnCon” as the name of this project.

ErnCon went through some variations over my high-school years – at one point it was an RTS because I was playing lots of Command & Conquer. The last Pascal incarnation of ErnCon allowed 8-person multiplayer over an IPX LAN influenced by playing lots of multiplayer Doom and Descent. I made a lot of my high-school peers happy by circumventing the “no commercial games” rule for the computer lab!

What have you learned from releasing FRG that you have used in designing and programming ErnCon?

ErnCon is actually using an improved version of the FRG graphics and networking engines.  The FRG engine was designed to run on 1^st generation Android phones like the G1 so I was quite confident it could keep up with the design demands of ErnCon when running on modern Android devices.  Using an engine I am intimately familiar with has resulted in me being able to concentrate on actually creating a fun game as opposed to getting caught up in technical minutiae.

There are a number of things I learned from releasing FRG that no longer apply to today’s users and phone technology.  For example, a 5MB game was considered huge for a G1 and FRG received negative reviews because of that! FRG was also lovingly tuned to minimize object allocations and garbage collection pauses as a result.  Given improvements in Android’s garbage collector and phone processing power, I haven’t had to worry as much about errant garbage collections that would lead ErnCon to pause.

How do you design one app for a phone and tablet?  That seems like quite a challenge.

While developing FRG, I forced myself to learn Android’s way of doing user-interfaces with nine-patches, layouts, device-independent-pixels, and handling orientation-switches.  Using Android’s built-in UI framework rather than rolling your own UI in an OpenGL surface allows you to easily handle the screen-size fragmentation issue.  If you have the proper resolution graphics, porting your UI to the tablet becomes a couple nights worth of work.

ErnCon is now is beta, how do you plan on monetizing the game?  Do you have a post launch plan yet?

ErnCon will always be free-to-play.  For players who feel ErnCon is worth spending money on, I’ve designed a Premium Currency to be used for special weapons and custom colored robots and fighters.  This Premium Currency can be purchased with real-world dollars through Android Market In-App-Purchases or Swarm Connect’s Paypal API.

The post-launch plan involves designing new robots, fighters, and weapons at all price points (including free DLC) to keep players engaged.  ErnCon will also slowly roll out to other countries outside of North America and Europe as demand increases.  If commercial acceptance of ErnCon goes well, I will start working on the iOS version of the game.

How has the beta gone? I can imagine there is a huge influx of feedback, what are the biggest things you are seeing?

The beta has gone great so far! With over 3,500 players, I’ve received lots of feedback and awesome bug reports.  One thing I love about the beta is when I see games with 4 or 5 players.  Epic space battles are happening as we speak, which makes me incredibly happy.

Anything else you want the Indie Game Mag readers to know about Woo Games or your upcoming ErnCon release?

If anyone has an interesting story to share about their time with ErnCon, please drop me a line!  I love hearing from users that they enjoy playing one of my games. I’m always open to feedback and bug reports as well – so keep me up to date on your ErnCon experience.

You can find out more information on Woo Games over on the official website.

We had a chance to meet up with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games between some of the panels here at GDC. For those of you who don’t know, Dave is the developer behind the Blackwell Series and published other fantastic adventure games like Gemini Rue and Puzzle Bots. The chat was really casual, but we did get some great information on some of Wadjet Eye’s upcoming projects and some helpful indie tips as well.

First we talked about Resonance, a new sci-fi near future adventure game. Dave described it as a scientific experiment gone wrong where you and your team need to fix things. The game has been in the works since 2007 by a single guy in his spare time, but Wadjet Eye has stepped in and is publishing and putting the finishing touches on the game right now. The game allows you to swap between the 4 characters at any time to solve puzzles.

Dave also let slip that there will be at least two more installations in the Blackwell Series and that they’ll be producing another game called Primordia which is only about 50% finished. As we understand it, Wadjet Eye will be acting as publisher while the development team is listed here.

“The protagonist of Primordia is an android called Horatio. He is a humanoid robot whose cloak and hood—worn to ward against the violent elements in his wasteland home. His personality is defined by his independence, strong will, and steadfastness. He survived on his own for many years, and since then has had only the companionship of Crispin, his loyal creation.”

Dave also had some interesting insights into bundles, Steam and the importance of PR. Believe it or not, Gemini Rue was originally rejected by Steam (and by rejected I mean that his original email never got a response from Valve). Dave didn’t give up though and hired a PR guy to go to Seattle and meet with Valve.

In the meeting, Valve didn’t even realize that Gemini Rue had been an IGF finalist. Nuernberger’s game was quickly approved for Steam. Dave has had similar experiences with his own games but has eventually squeezed them onto Steam with a little diligence. The message is to not give up and to delegate responsibilities out.

You can find out more information on Wadjet Eye Games by visiting the official website.

Attending to survival gameplay in a very unique way, Under The Garden became a notorious freeware gem when it was released back in 2010. Chopping down trees, shooting bears and making shelter kept this player occupied in a delightfully delivered effort from Paul Greasley. If you never got around to playing Under The Garden, then make sure you do – you can download Under The Garden for free from this link.There were plenty of bugs to flatten out and a few other slights that Paul had to sort out upon the release of Under The Garden and so he learned many things during the process. He’s now in development of the sequel to Under The Garden which takes on a completely new location which comes with new challenges. Under The Ocean also marks a shift into 3D for Paul, no doubt bringing a whole load of other issues as well as making the game look very crisp.We spoke with Paul about Under The Ocean now that it is available to pre-order to find out why you should be interested in this brilliant looking title.IGM: What are the lessons you learned from developing Under The Garden which you will be taking over to Under The Ocean?PG: Honestly I try to think more in terms of where the game feels like it needs to go as a whole, rather than trying to dissect what worked and what didn’t.

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

We spotted Red Dwarf Games‘ debut freebie The Old Tree and immediately fell in love with its style after playing it through. Essentially it is a point and click adventure which draws many similarities with Amanita Design’s fantastical creations. You take on the life of a newborn creature at the bottom of the titular tree and worm your way up to the top, meeting some rather peculiar characters on the way. It’s a great atmospheric piece with plenty of personality – understandably, we wanted more.We contacted Red Dwarf Games to find out what they were all about and what they had planned for the future.

Original Source: Exclusive: Red Dwarf Games Announce ‘Tales Of Cosmos’

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

Design3 had a great chat with no other than Tommy Refenes of Team Meat (a hero of ours) which lasts about 70 minutes and covers many interesting topics.We all know Edmund McMillen very well, he is most famous for Super Meat Boy which he put a lot of creativity and character into. However, McMillen is only half of Team Meat – the the programming genius behind Super Meat Boy is Tommy Refenes. The guy spent three years tweaking that game to make sure those platforming mechanics were spot on.

Original Source: Tommy Refenes Talks Childhood, Programming And Super Meat Boy

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

As part of the promotions for Merge Games‘ upcoming release of The Binding of Isaac: The Unholy Edition, fans were asked to send in questions which would be sent to Edmund McMillen for him to answer.The questions were picked from those that were submitted with the winners will also receiving a free copy of The Unholy Edition. We also asked you, our readers, to send some questions in which were sent off with the others. We now have the answers from Edmund, which are as follows:______________________________________________Silvia De Maglie: Will I burn in hell for having played your game?Edmund: If hell existed, you still wouldn’t burn in it for playing Isaac, just make sure you accept Jesus as you lord and savior before you die and everything will be fine, FYI this also works for murder. its a but of a hell loop hole.Luke Haugh: You said once that Super Meat Boy (SMB) was your interpretation of Mario Bros and I felt that Issac had a Zelda feel with its dungeons.

Original Source: The Binding Of Edmund McMillen: A Quick Q&A

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

What do you do after making one of the biggest games ever made? That was the question Arnie Jorgensen, Alex Thomas and John Watson faced once work on Star Wars: The Old Republic had wrapped up. They decided to pack up their things over at Bioware and combine their experience and super powers to form Stoic Studio – a place they could call their own and make the games they wanted to make.Now united as a triforce, work then commenced on The Banner Saga. This was to be a game they truly believed in; a turn-based strategy game with incredible artwork and a compelling story

Original Source: A Moment With Stoic: Leaving Bioware And Going Full Indie

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.

You know those classic RPGs so many people love to play? The ones in which you trawl through every nook and cranny of a burgeoning wonderland whilst laying waste to demons, monsters and dragons both great and small? What’s one of the first things you do when you’ve looted the fallen corpses of your unworthy adversaries, raided all those dark, cavernous dungeons and pickpocketed that unsuspecting guildmaster in the local village? Why, you offload it to the nearest trader, of course, exchanging your unwanted trinkets for heirlooms and apparel rarer than a dose of subtlety in an Activision shooter.And you know what? These guys are always there, always kitted out with everything you need for a night out on the town/archdemon’s lair

Original Source: ‘Merchant’ Interview – Strictly Business (And A Few Other Things)

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Richard Glenn.

It’s no secret that the launch of the (eagerly awaited – it’s a fine lineup of games) Groupees ‘Be Mine’ indie bundle didn’t go as planned, with the site immediately collapsing under a flood of traffic. Neither did the second launch. Or the third. Oh dear… Well, they’re back now and the site seems to be holding strong after a fourth launch attempt, and the sale is on for two weeks. Come and pay what you want ($1 minimum) for Steam copies of The Ball, Xotic, Beep, Wasteland Angel & Sideway: New York, plus some impressive bonuses, including a major expansion for Xotic and well-recieved point & click adventure Nikopol: Secrets of The Immortals.

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.