Mobile Mayhem Interview (Pocket Gamer)

### By Tracy Erickson //// May 19th 2009

As Producer on *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem*, Alan Martin is the man responsible for greasing the gears so that before summer's end you'll have this comic strategy game installed on your iPhone or iPod touch.

Speaking with us exclusively on the day of the game's reveal, Alan tells us about the process of reinventing real-time strategy for a new audience on iPhone and the slew of improvements being made to this revitalised version.

**Pocket Gamer: Why haven't real-time strategy games taken off on handhelds? Is it controls, writing, depth of play? How does *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem* tackle all of these in the pursuit of great portable strategy?**

Alan Martin: I think there are a number of reasons that RTS games aren't seen more on handhelds. Controls in RTS handheld/console games have definitely been one of the major challenges for developers over the years.

With *Robocalypse – Mobile Mayhem*, however, we found that using a fingertip is just as intuitive as using a mouse (like the great, old-school RTS games did) - but even easier!

A handicap with the Nintendo DS is that most publishers only see it as a platform for younger consumers, not the older market that historically makes up strategy-gamers. For the *Robocalypse* games, one of our goals is to try and bridge that gap - appeal to the older fans that want more gameplay depth, while still making it accessible for younger players just getting their feet wet in the genre.

One of the ways we try to accomplish that in *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem* is through humour - with a story by Jay Lender (*SpongeBob Squarepants*) and Micah Wright that's funny for gamers of all ages.

Another way we’ve tried to make it accessible is through the gameplay. Fans of RTS games from the '90’s will recognize the familiar "mine, build, and deploy" gameplay, as well as the humour that came with those titles.

From that gameplay, we’ve built a variety of mission types that deliver action-packed fun in smaller, portable-sized "chunks" that will never leave the player bored.

**The Nintendo DS version of *Robocalypse* was quirky fun: why do you think it fell under the radar? How will this revitalised iPhone edition succeed beyond the previously overlooked release on DS?**

Glad you thought it was fun! Unfortunately the DS version has seen a limited release in the US and has not made its way to Europe yet. While this certainly contributed to the game falling "under the radar," we've been very fortunate in how the press has responded to it.

We've also been encouraged by the feedback from consumers - we know that there is indeed a market for strategy games! By using digital distribution for *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem* (via the worldwide App Store), we will be able to get the game right into consumer's hands without them having to search hard for an online (or brick-n-mortar) store that carries it.

**While this iPhone version retains the same gameplay of the original release, have there been alterations to improve criticised elements such as pathfinding?**

One of our goals with *Robocalypse – Mobile Mayhem* was to bring the entire DS experience to the iPhone - the complete story, all of the in-game action, as well as the multiplayer features.

The one gameplay area we wanted to improve was the pathfinding of the basic units, which are controlled through an action flag system.

While the soldiers generally do what they’re "told" (from healing friendly units to capturing control points to attacking a target), sometimes in the DS version one of the little guys would wander from the group and not follow directions.

For the iPhone release, we’ve fixed a number of these pathfinding/AI bugs, so hopefully the basic troops will follow orders better!

**How has designing for iPhone differed from Nintendo DS when it comes to the touch controls? Without the precision of a stylus, how have the controls been tweaked around taps of a fingertip?**

When we first started getting *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem* to the iPhone, the goal was to have your fingertip feel as good as the DS stylus in terms of responsiveness and precision. The two main aspects we thought crucial to this were interacting with the in-game user interfaces and scrolling around the battlefield.

We entirely re-designed the look of our in-game interfaces so they would show up better on the (larger) screen and would be very easy to interact with.

In addition to making the graphics look more like our character robots, we incorporated more visual-feedback for when these icons are interacted with (i.e., they get brighter, more highlighted, expand when selected). Overall the icons are larger, so that even my big fingers can easily jump between buttons and the play field.

The fingertip also works very well when trying to scroll around the battlefield - even better than the stylus, in my opinion.

Maybe it's just because people are so familiar now with the iPhone screen-scrolling, but everyone who has picked up our game has commented on how great this aspect feels.

**Since the Nintendo DS version had the benefit of two screens, how have you tackled designing the game to a single screen on iPhone? In what ways has the difference in screen resolution factored?**

Actually, combining the contents of the two screens into a single screen has really benefited gameplay. For example, in the DS version the large view of the game field was by default on the touchscreen, while the mini-map (which presents the entire play field, shows all enemy locations, etc.) was relegated to the top screen.

If you wanted to utilise the mini-map in the heat of battle, you had to switch it to the touchscreen, and then back again. Because the mini-map is now on the same (touch) screen as the game field, it makes far greater use of this feature - which in turn adds more depth to the gameplay.

Because of the better screen resolution on the Apple devices, we're also able to show a larger area of the game field, and all of our characters, animations, icons, and movies look crisper and more detailed than ever before.

The other exciting thing that we’ve been able to do with the iPhone/iPod touch hardware is allow players to change the way they want to play, horizontally or vertically - on the fly!

When players rotate their device, the game field (and all of the interfaces) rotate in the same direction. We've also created left/right hand versions of both view’s interfaces.

**Good audio is extremely difficult to pull off on Nintendo DS, though is a strength of iPhone/iPod touch. How have you approached remixing the audio for the device?**

We were very happy with how the audio in *Robocalypse* DS turned out, despite the limitations of the hardware. For the music in *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem*, we went back to the composer (who did such a great job in MIDI) and had him re-create all of the fun, cartoony military tracks (as well as updating all of the instruments) to an MP3-level quality.

We also have the advantage of being able to spread our sounds and music across multiple channels, to create a richer, more layered sound.

I was honestly shocked the first time I heard the updated music (through only my iPod touch), as there were parts of the compositions that I had never noticed before!

**Are there any plans to leverage in-app commerce with the release of firmware 3.0? What about utilising Bluetooth for the game's competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes when the update hits?**

The potential for the new firmware features is very exciting, and we are currently evaluating what can be incorporated into *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem*.

Features that naturally work within our game, like the Bluetooth multiplayer capabilities, are something that we can hopefully address in future updates if we are unable to implement in time for the initial release.

**When can we expect the game to hit the App Store and at what price?**

We are planning a summer release for *Robocalypse - Mobile Mayhem* and are working with Apple to determine not only the best timing, but the best price point for consumers.

What I can tell you now is that our price will be competitive with games (like ours) that offer a deeper gameplay experience than what you generally expect from a basic app.

*Thanks to Alan for his time.*