Rodeo Games on ditching consoles to make turn-based iOS strategy shooter Hunters
New horizons
Over the past couple of years, there's been a steady trickle of console-hardened game developers coming over to iOS.
The latest dream team is UK-based Rodeo Games, which has just released Hunters: Episode One, a turn-based squad-based strategy game for iPhone and iPad.
Focused around customising your squad of Hunters; completing new daily missions; and trading armor, guns and equipment, the game also employs an interesting business model.
It's free to play, but once your squad reaches level two, you have to unlock the rest of the game as an in-app purchase ($4.99/€3.99/£2.99), or you can continue to play at level two indefinitely.
We caught up with the team to find out more about the thinking behind the game and its early reaction to the launch.
Pocket Gamer: Can you give us some background about Rodeo Games?Ben Murch: It was formed in August 2010. We're a small team of four industry professionals from the triple-A games industry, previously working at companies such as Lionhead, EA, Criterion and Codemasters. All of us felt the need to spread our wings a bit more, so Rodeo Games was born.
Rodeo Games; from left to right, Laurent Maguire, Adam Clixby, Ben Murch, Richard Brooks.
What was the inspiration for Hunters?
BM: It really came down to us wanting to play a game on our iPhones that didn't exist. All four of us are fans of turn-based strategy games. The game mechanics and controls felt like the perfect fit for an iOS game.
Adam Clixby: As Ben says, we never really set out to make a hardcore game as such, we just wanted to play a good TBS. A lot of our decision making came from the mindset of 'Will this change make us personally enjoy the game more?'
What were the biggest challenges in terms of the development process?AC: Developing for iOS is very similar to developing for consoles. I like to think of is as the best of both worlds, though I've read developers who think the exact opposite!
BM: I think the biggest challenge for all of us is having individual responsibility. If there's something that looks bad or plays poorly in the game, that's not down to a team of 100 other people, it's on us individually. Despite those pressures, it's been a lot quicker than making a console game.
How did the idea come in terms of using a version of the freemium model?Richard Brooks: There are so many different ways of getting your game out there. The main reason for doing it I suppose was to give people a chance to try out our game before buying it.
A lot of games do the whole Lite version and premium version. But in Hunters we want to you to become very attached to your team, so forcing people to start over again in the new premium app means they'd lose their team and we didn't want that.
What's the reaction been to the game's release?BM: It's been extremely positive. There were some bugs in the first week which rubbed people up the wrong way that we patched. However, we've been mostly getting fan mail saying "Thanks for bringing X-Com to the iPhone," which is massively flattering.
As for the level lock, a lot of people view it with suspicion, thinking we're going to charge them for everything in the game rather than the one-off purchase. Once they realise it's purely as a demo mechanic so they can try the game then buy it, they become a lot more accepting.
Has Hunters performed well in particular countries?BM: Obviously there's the huge iOS market in America where we've had the majority of downloads. China and Russia have also counted for a lot of downloads. It's pretty awesome getting fan mail in different languages and having to piece it together in Google Translate.
What plans do you have to build out the game in terms of new content?Laurent Maguire: The first single-player Campaign mode is being worked on at the moment, that patch will include new primary and secondary mission types along with new maps.
Our plan is to continue adding content and features to the game on a long-term basis. Multiplayer modes are also in the works, and that's by far the feature most players are asking us for.
BM: Our plan from the beginning was always to release a game that we could continue to develop and iterate alongside the players. At the moment, more people are calling for Story missions so we're working on those first.
What about bringing it to other platforms?LM: We've had requests for an Android version, and that's the next obvious platform for us but right now we're focused on iOS and probably will be for the next six months at least. We still have a lot of features we want to bring to the current version.
BM: Yes, rather than split our (very limited) resources to reach a wider market, we'd rather focus, at least for the near future, on delivering great content to those already invested in our game.
Thanks to Rodeo Games for its time.You can check out the game's website here, or get it from the App Store here [iTunes link iPhone or iPad].
