[Indie Talk] moWOW Studio - Make Fun Games With iOS

Indie Gems has new feature article right now. We like to talk with indie developers. Our first guest is moWOW Studio, Germany based indie developer and here is my interview between Alex, one of moWOW founder. moWOW Studio has been founded by Tudor and Alex since 2011. So far, they've made 2 games for iOS platform. Check the full interview below :)

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Hi, my name is Yesi and would you mind if I do a short interview with you?

Could you tell us more about your company? How many person on it? When and how was it founded?

Hi Yesi. It would be my pleasure. It's just me and Tudor right now. We founded moWOW studios in 2011 with the main goal to make fun games for iOS.

I played your game, The Way Home. Is that your first game?

No, it isn't.

Then, how many games have you made so far? Are they built for iOS only or also other platform too?

The Way Home is our second game. The first is Clumsy And The Stars, a precision physics game. In a way, the theme and story of Clumsy is a reflection of our goal to make a living out of creating games.

Hmm, I see if you make game for iOS platform only, are you indeed focusing on iOS platform only?

At that time we started thinking about making games, and it seemed iOS is like the best fit for us. We didn't have too much overhead with adopting the platform since Tudor already had experience with developing for iOS. We also saw it as a more compatible platform for our small team.

Your game, The Way Home is bit twitchy and requires fast reflex. Could you tell me what's the idea behind it?

We usually play a lot of web games and flash games. The inspiration came from a similar mechanic found in one of the games we played and we made some improvements and changes to the idea in order for it to fit the theme of the game.

What engine did you use to develop it?

Cocos 2D and we will move to Cocos 2D with Swift. It's not that we wanted to stick only for iOS but we will only move to the next platform and porting when we find a good game or app to do it with.

What's decided you to make your game freemium instead of a premium (paid game)?

We like the idea of people having fast access to our games. Making the game freemium enables that.  We also like that players can test out the game before deciding to pay.

The game is challenging but it can be finished without using any IAPs (this goes for the hardcore levels too).

We launched as freemium knowing that there was a good and fair balance between the player's skill and his need for aids in the game (which means using IAPs)

How long does it take to develop this game?

Right now, with the work on the big update included, we have counted somewhere along the lines of 1600 hours per person. That includes everything, from prototyping, story writing, design, implementation, marketing and promotion.

It was a bit of a challenge and it ended up taking a lot more time than expected. But it was and is a fun ride.

Wow, 1600 hours per person. Anyway, the game has been out since December 2013 and hasn't receive any update yet till now. However, I hear if the update of this game will be out soon. Would you mind to give us the sneak peek about feature update of this game?

The Way Home did have a small update at the end of January, but it was mainly a bug fix.

The big new update comes with a new refreshed UI, new scoring system that features a win streak bonus (similar to bowling), a new story with hardcore levels and localization for Portuguese and Spanish.

The game also available for iOS only right now, do you plan to port The Way Home to other platform like android in the future?

iOS has the technical platform where we have the most experience and it has a slightly higher quality standard than Android. Having said that, Android is surely the next step, if the game is successful.

Android is looks interesting because there are many other App Stores, aside from Google Play.

Do you have any inspiring or may be fun fact for being Indie Developer so far?

Let me think it first.. Hmm, not funny or fun but quite interesting.
Last year we found out that one year after we launched Clumsy And The Stars, another game with similar mechanics had pretty big success on the App Store. We kind of flopped on launch

Last question, do you have other project in work right now?

Yes

Mind to reveal some teaser about that for the readers :)?

As a matter of fact, we do. Hmmm, teaser... Well, it will be a blend between gambling and luck with skill and strategy.

Thank you Alex for spending your time to do the interview with us. I learn some interesting story from you, wish the best for your company and can't wait to see your next project in the future.
For the readers, you can follow +moWOW Muntleau on Google Plus or @moWOWStudios on Twitter and visit their homepage to get the latest update from moWOW Studio :).

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Here is me, trying to play the hard mode of this game and it's really hard... I'm serious...
My suggestion: Don't be like me wasting all my lives for nothing :p. Just mastered the normal mode first before you try the hardcore one ;)

Ps: Yes, yes... I know I played like an idiot in this game (No laugh, please, let me explain it first) (just seek until 05:42 and you'll understand what I mean). I don't know why my finger is so freaking stupid even after I've used the slow power up and still I hit that wall -,- dangit... Okay... You can laugh peacefully now -.-