Interview: On Battle of Puppets
For the past few days we've had the pleasure of conversing and getting to know the CEO of Small Wonders, Juan Diego Gallego. One thing led to another, and we were able to do a short interview with him on their debut iPhone app, Battle of Puppets. A tower defense game at heart, this instantly popular title perfectly integrates one-of-a-kind sound, artwork, and gameplay into a very creative puppet theme.
Below are the interview questions and Juan Diego's answers.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with us! We’ve been wondering about your company name – Small Wonders. How did you come up with this and what significance does it hold for you?
We wanted our name to represent what we do and who we are. We love small, beautiful things that make a grand impression, and our games are the way we express that. Our name is what we aspire to be, and though we have just started down this path, in a future we'd like people to talk about Small Wonders as a company that makes enjoyable and novel games, while creating humor and beauty in their details.
Why did you decide to go into iPhone application development? Have you previously worked in gaming companies?
We’d love to hear about your initial ideas for an app and how you finally came up with the concept for Battle of Puppets. It’s such a refreshingly creative game and we definitely think it’s one of the best TD games out there at the moment. How was the entire process of brainstorming, developing, and tying up loose ends?
It's been a strange and funny process. We started thinking about what kind of game would be the best for us to create for the iPhone. Given our love of game art, our first thought was that the castle defense genre would allow players to enjoy our game without having their fingers always covering the screen. After that we considered a classic war game set in the Middle Ages, but we weren’t convince that the setting would be unique, so we started to think about theaters and fights between two rival companies. We incorporated the opera concept because we love the genre and we were excited about a “stage” setting and operatic artistic style. Finally, we decided to differentiate the puppet armies based on different cultures related to different operas, hence the Japanese army performing "Madame Butterfly" or Spanish army performing "Carmen".
In a few sentences, can you summarize Battle of Puppets – the graphical style, the gameplay, the experience you wish players to have?
Battle of Puppets has a unique graphical style, full of color and crazy, adorable puppets that make every screen unique (a lot of people ask for t-shirts, wallpapers, etc.). The gameplay is similar to other castle defense games but it has a lot of surprise details, like having the weather affect battles, playful animations, and unlockable ‘professions’ that let players cast magic on the stage. As for the experience we wish players to have, we only hope players enjoy the look and feel of playing BOP and that they want to share it with others. We make games to bring a bit of enjoyment to everyone.
The reception for Battle of Puppets has been overwhelmingly positive; in fact, we’ve yet to hear of a truly negative complaint! How does this make you feel and what steps are you taking to ensure that your app maintains and exceeds this initial success?
The initial reactions are extremely positive, and we feel great about it! We’ve also gotten some wonderful feedback from our players, and we’ve been busy making Battle of Puppets even better by adding new features that we think they’ll love. Going forward, we are excited to continue updating this game to keep it a success.
Are you looking to periodically update Battle of Puppets, or at some point would you consider making a sequel instead? Do you have imminent plans for a new game or app?
We have been listening closely to the feedback we’ve received for Battle of Puppets and we are planning a bunch of updates. We’ve been asked for even more armies, maps, professions, etc. and we’re adding them as soon as we can. In the next few weeks I’m hoping we’ll have an amazing update out that will incorporate a lot of things players have requested.
For now, I can't say if we’ll make a sequel to BOP. We are just getting started with the original and we have a lot of features we want to add before moving on. Though in the future anything is possible, nowadays it's not planned. We are starting work on a new game, however. It is also going to be playful and full of color, but as we are just starting, I can’t share any more details.
This is just the beginning for Small Wonders. How do you envision your team and your careers in the near future – say, 1 to 2 years from now?
To be honest, we go step by step, and although we have great ideas for the future, we are still figuring out what will work best for us in the long term and focusing on making current projects great. Our objective is to have people to associate "Small Wonders" with funny, beautiful and precious games, and we'll be working hard to make that a reality.
Of course I'd like to thank everybody who has bought our game, shared it, or has talked about it. It makes me happy every time I read what people think about BOP and I feel very lucky. The players are the most important part of any game, and they deserve our thanks. I'd also like to encourage everyone to play all games, there are a lot of companies out there with amazing games just waiting to be discovered.
We've previously reviewed Battle of Puppets and gave the game a solid 5/5. Read it here and see why BOP currently tops our list of favorites!
Interview: On Pocket Reference
Category: Reference
Seller: MEDL Mobile, Inc.
Price: $ 1.99
Requirements: iPhone or iPod touch, OS 3.1.2 or later
We've had the great pleasure of doing our first ever interview with developer Tim Vinsant, whose app, Pocket Reference, recently came out on the AppStore. Pocket Reference is an extremely useful and convenient application that lets you browse through hundreds of mobile-friendly websites - categorized and listed from within the app. It's a simple concept, but one that was well-planned and well-executed. We love how we can look up a fact, a dictionary term, or a biography and easily find search engines, social networking sites, and a lot of other useful information sources. In fact, Pocket Reference has got nearly everything covered! Perhaps the only complaint we have is that there should be an option to add a site of your own choosing to the app's directory, and the interface could use a little more work in terms of functionality.
Below are the interview questions and Tim's answers.
There are so many possible categories and types of applications to develop - why did you decide to create Pocket Reference? Where did the idea come from?
I decided to create Pocket Reference from my own personal needs. Since I've worked as a sales associate in the electronics department for many years now, I'm 'The Tech Guy' - who uses his iPhone for everything! I constantly have family, friends, and customers alike ask all kinds of questions for me to find answers to (on my iPhone). Well, I was getting tired of using several apps for this, and became a bit frustrated when I could't find a good, comprehensive reference app to do this, so I decided to look into the possibility of building one myself!
Tell us about the development process. How long did it take to finalize your app, and how has being part of MEDL Mobile helped?
The development process has been a really invaluable learning experience for me since this was my first App to be developed, and hopefully one of many more to come! My App took about 9 months to finalize - my labor of love took from April 22, 2009 when I developed my idea with an app called the App Incubator (from MEDL Mobile), and submitted my idea to this company in competition with 20,000 other entries. Pocket Reference was one of a handful chosen to be developed by MEDL Mobile, who then help me develop and submit it to Apple for approval (it appeared on the AppStore last Jan 14, 2010). Having Pocket Reference developed with MEDL Mobile has proven to be a chance of a lifetime for me. I couldn't have done it without them! They have been great and helped me through every step of the way, from concept design, a powerful but elegant, easy to use, and intuitive user interface to an excellent logo design - I couldn't be happier!
Can you describe Pocket Reference? What does the app do and how do you think it differentiates from other reference apps? What do customers need to know and why do they need this app?
Pocket Reference is a comprehensive library with in-app links to more than 500 various reference, how-to articles, newsfeeds, trivia, and information sites and integrates literally dozens of single purpose apps into a powerful centralized reference tool !!
• This reference tool is efficiently organized into over 50 categories to allow for quick and easy access.
• In addition, 185 mobile-friendly websites have been conveniently added to these categories.
• Favorite sites can be bookmarked for even quicker access, plus users click on the suggest a link feature to get the address to e-mail to request a (site) that they would like to see added in the next update.
• Other convenient features include the ability to use e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter to tell friends about the app, as well as see other amazing apps from MEDL Mobile, or get the App Incubator and create an application of your own.
I truly believe that this app will benefit everyone who uses it by saving them time and money. They will save time browsing the internet to find what they are looking for. There is really no other reference app quite like this one - many are saying that this is an excellent 'Directory to the Internet' from your iPhone! I also think this is by far the easiest, quickest, most convenient way to find anything about everything, no matter where you are - so never be without a fact ever again!
How has the initial reception been for the app? Was it as you expected or was it less or more enthusiastic than you hoped?
The initial reception, while still early in the game for Pocket Reference, has bern very promising and very enthusiastic! I'm very pleased with the initial reviews - 5 Stars!! However, I'll know a lot more about how people value Pocket Reference once press release goes out and I get some more app reviews. When folks hear about my app and hopefully try it out, the reviews will really start to roll in.
Now that the app is out on the AppStore, what's next? Will you dedicate your time to marketing Pocket Reference, compiling notes for upgrades, or thinking about a new idea for an app?
I think I'll be doing quite a bit of all the above. I feel you need to make an excellent app that everyone will want, but if nobody knows it's in the AppStore - who will buy it? So I need to extensively market it to let everyone know it's there, then hopefully, everyone will want to buy the app.
MEDL mobile and I keep track of suggestions for the next group of sites to be added in the next update, as well as working on the next killer feature that Pocket Reference will have. I also have an idea MEDL mobile is still considering developing that I submitted a while back - so I might be doing another project with them as well.
If you could sum up the entire experience in a few words, what would they be?
This has been like a roller coaster ride for me! Full of thrills and chills but better than Six Flags! Being a developer is not just a job - it's an adventure, and it's one that I've just begun.
Interface - 4/5 Creativity - 4/5 Experience - 4.5/5 Controls - 4.5/5
App-reciation - 4.25/5
