Talking FreeBallin', Star Hogs and A.D.D. with iPhone developer IUGO

It's hard not to like IUGO. Not only are they incredibly charming in person and the producers of cracking games, both on mobile and iPhone, but they're also active champions for the wider independent development industry, organising drinks gatherings under the only slightly tongue-in-cheek banner of the Independent Union of iPhone Developers.

We caught up with Sarah Thomson and Hong-Yee Wong at Game Developers Conference to learn a little more about the company ethos and the new games in development.

Sarah Thomson: We've been working in mobile publishing for about five years now, developing some of the major mobile titles for publishers like EA and THQ Wireless.

At that time we didn't have our names on the box, so to speak. With the iPhone that has all changed and we're now able to publish our own titles such as Toy Bot Diaries, Zombie Attack! and Shaky Summit.

I think the difference both for us and companies like ngmoco is that we always start with the device. That shows with Toy Bot Diaries, which was designed purely with iPhone in mind and we definitely put a lot of care and attention into it. Of course we don't have quite as much money as ngmoco!

The next title is pinball game FreeBallin', which we're really happy with [read our FreeBallin' review here]. There have been a few pinball titles out there, but they've been ports - this is completely original and made for iPhone - we've got four different tables (Tiki, Monsteropolis, Dreams & Nightmares and Neometric), three modes (Time Attack, Score Attack, and Adventure Challenge) and cool interactive elements - on one table they show the ball rolling up the back of monster IUGOdzilla.

Next up after that is Star Hogs. It's a turn-based multiplayer strategy game set in space. It'll be a very customisable title with the ability to modify units by purchasing different weapons, armour, etc. It's quite in-depth but still be easy to pick up and play.

After that there's a title we're really excited about called A.D.D - it's an acronym for Another Dumb Distraction, a bundle of around 50 mini-games, all short bursts of gameplay lasting five or so seconds each.

It's along similar lines to WarioWare, but with an IUGO twist - we're trying to keep it edgy but also generic enough to avoid any problems with Apple approval. You can read more on A.D.D. here.

Hong-Yee Wong: Well I don't think we'd like to pigeonhole IUGO games as either casual or hardcore necessarily.

ST: Obviously the iPhone is different from hardcore games consoles and I agree that there's a more mainstream audience, but I think we're still discovering exactly what will and won't work.

We do have an FPS coming in the shape of Revolt and the early success of Wolfenstein 3D (number 12 at the time of the interview) suggests that these games can also work.

HYW: In some ways a swing towards hardcore games wouldn't be ideal for us. As a small studio, we have to be careful about how much time and money we spend on titles - we'd love to be first out with new genres, but we can't put all our eggs into a FPS basket and hope it works.

ST: That said, we definitely believe there's a place for our new FPS, we'll make it very unlike the likes of Quake.

ST: We've been experimenting with different price points. We've done 99 cents, $3.99 and are about to do $4.99. It's true that the 99 cent frenzy made it difficult to compete initially, but I think it will calm down.

Ultimately, this isn't so much a price issue as a discovery issue - we'd like the opportunity to filter by price points and ratings, etc. We've also suggested that it might be good to have an indie developers section.

HYW: Ultimately, though, it's not a numbers issue - it's the filtering. Apple give a fair shake to both the big star publishers and also the indy scene and celebrated innovation/uniqueness from every source.

They are definitely listening to feedback, too. You just have to see 3.0 to understand that.

ST: Yes, we'll be taking advantage of 3.0 in a big way. We're very excited about that. You'll definitely be seeing 3.0 features in future games.