Godzilab on the inspiration behind its Paper Toss in space game StarDunk

French studio Godzilab is building a reputation for quirky, highly stylised, and imaginative games.

Following on from its debut iBlast Moki, the company's released StarDunk, an online space basketball game. It might not sound like much, but it's racking up the plaudits and building a fanatical online following.

We caught up with Godzilab's Thomas Lachartre to find out how the game came about, and where it's going.

Thomas Lachartre: When we were looking for ideas, we had in mind the quick parties of Paper Toss or Doodle Jump. We really wanted create an addictive game that you can play for a few minutes with a pinch of competition.

We had an early prototype that demonstrated the addictive side of the game really quickly. The online component was the cherry on top of the cake - I love the idea of competing against the entire earth.

I think we can push this concept even further and we have a few cool ideas for future updates.

The controls are really simple and it's easy to get into the game. The achievements and unlockable balls are also there to reward players and provide a reason for wanting more.

The controls were actually the easy part. That was the first thing which worked really well in the game. The hardest part was to balance all the balls and unlock them at a good pace.

During the production we wanted to improve the gameplay and have it evolve towards the games we played when we were younger. Arkanoid is definitely one of those.

The best strategy is to score extra clean shots, and the best ball is the gem ball. I unlocked it a few days ago. I thought that 20,000 points for one shot would be too hard but I finally did it.

I think there are only two of us in the world to have unlocked it so far. I am really proud. The moki ball is also really good. You can see most of the top players use it.

It's going really well. We've got a lot of positive reviews and a Featuring from Apple. The forums have gone crazy and people are loving the online component and asking for more.

But we haven't broken into the top #100 yet, mostly I think due to this hydra we've created which is the game is hard to categorise so people don't really know what to expect.

We had the same issue with iBlast Moki. It's hard to understand what the game is about when you look at screenshots or the description, but once you play, you become hooked.

We have a lot of ideas about what we are going to add in the future - mainly improving the online by adding new modes, new themes and enhancing the social aspect.

You can get StarDunk now for 99c, €0.79 or 59p.