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Interview

POP Wii & iPhone: Nic Watt Interview

We fired some questions at Aussie indy games developer Nic Watt about his creation POP.

What inspired you to create POP?

Pop was greatly inspired by Lumines, Geometery Wars, Electroplankton and Every Extend Extra. I was also inspired by watching my better half play a lot of Lumines. It got me thinking about what would make a simple yet involving game using the Wii Remote.

How challenging is it being an indy developer breaking into the market, especially in regards to the Wii?

It is pretty tough starting out on your own but also really enjoyable. You have to be really dedicated and also have some savings or financial backing behind you. On the Wii and DSi you need to purchase development hardware, pay for localisation, pay for getting the game rated by the ESRB, PEGI and so forth. Plus you also have to pay your staff! So on that side of things it is pretty tough.

On the other side you have a lot more control over the direction and quality of the project and have fewer people telling what to do and what not to do. Obviously this can be a bad thing as you can spend a lot of time trying to sort out what is right and wrong but for me that is part of why I love making games. As in independent developer you have to really focus on what you want to make, prototype it well and then follow through on the execution. A lot of startups fail because they have grand ideas that they cannot complete or the team drifts apart during development.

POP - Wii Screenshot

POP - Wii Screenshot

You have expanded POP from Wii to iphone and now developing for DSi, which has been the most challenging to work with so far?

The Wii was probably the most challenging as there was so much to learn at the time. Not just in terms of making a game for the Wii but also about running your own company, getting a title approved by Nintendo, getting it rated by the ratings boards, generating PR and so on. The other titles have been easier as we have really learnt from our mistakes and have a slightly stronger foundation now.

Is Nnooo just you or are you building a game company with other solid geeks to take over the world?

At the moment I am the only permanent member of Nnooo. Each project so far has been with different engineers and so forth. However our long-term goal is to get a core team which we can grow around, we are always on the look out for talented and dedicated engineers. The main reason for why our team has changed over the last year is down to finance, as you can appreciate using all of your own savings to fund your first game is kind of risky so we had to slow things down when Pop on WiiWare was released until we could recoup some of the investment. Now that we have generated more money than we spent we can start to look at getting a stronger foundation in place.

POP - iPhone Menu

POP - iPhone Menu

Are you work on anything other than Pop? If so can we have a sneak peak?

We are working on some other ideas at the moment however nothing is as of yet in a state that we are ready to show. We will definitely get in contact when we do have something.

Are you interested in doing more narrative style games or do you just prefer creating casual games.

At the moment we are less interested in games with narratives however that is not to say that we only want to focus on ‘casual’ games. My focus is more on making the are of play fun, so getting the interaction between the user and the game really tight and enjoyable. Mario is a good example of this you have have so much fun just with him that you can make up your own narrative! Many of the ideas we have and in particular the one we’d like to tackle next are more complex than Pop. Our basic plan is to start of simple, learn from our mistakes and make each game bigger and better than the last.

Apart from Pop what is your favorite game?

POP LogoThe game I have played the most probably has to be World of Warcraft as I have now been playing it since the first beta! It is a great game with such an involving world where there are always interesting and challenging things to do. Other than that I absolutely love Pikmin, The Legend of Zelda the Windwaker and the original Halo amongst many!

Which is best? Console or PC or Phone or Handheld?

Hmm that is a tough one. I tend to flitter between them depending on what great games are out for each one. At the moment I am using my new DSi a lot to play Fire Emblem and then dive into some DSiWare, my Wii just got turned back on for MadWorld and WiiWare/VC (thanks to the new 4.0 OS), my Mac gets used daily for World of Warcraft. I have to say that my iPhone probably gets the least gaming love at the moment. Although there are a lot of games on there I find the choice overwhelming and there is something that prevents me from wanting to invest a lot of time playing games on it, not sure why.

What inspired you to become a game developer?

POP SOLO - DSi Screenshot

POP SOLO - DSi Screenshot

I fell in love with games as a child from when we used to go on holiday my brother and I would always rush to play the arcade games at the airport as well as picking up my Dad from the airport and being more interested in getting onto the latest arcade game. Also because my Dad was away on business a lot he used to bring us back the cool Game + Watches occasionally. I spent hours just trying to see how many times I could max the score out in Donkey Kong Game + Watch (something else which inspired Pop and its ability to loop back though all the waves).

From there I loved playing on my Spectrum, Atari, SNES and so forth but never really thought I would ever be able to work in the industry as I was not good at programming. It wasn’t until I was in my last year of University, studying Architecture, that the PS1 and N64 came out. Seeing Ocarina of Time running in 3d convinced me that my skills would, now, be applicable to making games!

What tips would you give to indy developers looking at breaking into the market?

Focus on making a game which does one or two things really well, don’t try to make a GTA or WoW beater as your first title. Really work hard at trying to focus on which market (console, PC etc) you want to be in and how to get the best out of it. Stick at it and work hard. Running your own company is not 9-5, some days you might only work a couple of hours others you might be there for 16 hours or more. Finally be prepared to get close to having no money at all left and it can take a while to recoup costs. Although there are stories of people hitting the jackpot on their first title the likelihood of that happening is very, very small.

You can buy POP for iPhone now from the iTunes Music Store or jump onto WiiWare and grab a copy for the Wii.

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About The Author

Bruce Moyle

Self-proclaimed media addict, Bruce is the technical power house of Joffre Street Productions which includes being a founder of the world (in)famous podcast (Cool) Shite on the Tube. When Bruce isn't working on this website, he is working on other peoples websites and new media solutions. Movies, comics and 50 foot robot wrangling is where Bruce is at.

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Comments

One Response to “POP Wii & iPhone: Nic Watt Interview”
  1. David Quinn Q-Dog says:

    DSi ware?! hmm. cool. i can’t wait to see some more of these DLC games. how does one get a hold of this game?! i want it on my DS now please!!!! or i suppose i could just wait…

    April 8, 2009 at 3:24 pm

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