Interview: Mad Blocker Alpha

TSA Staff 32 Comments

Xbox Indie Games titles don’t have Achievements either, so why opt for a PSP game, I ask.  “You’re not going to believe this,” came the reply, “but during the Summer of 2010 we developed an XNA version of Mad Blocker, which featured some of the new blocks from Mad Blocker Alpha and had a really cool multiplayer mode and things like that. We were very excited about the game, but it was a nightmare getting Microsoft to consider the game and we wanted it as an XBLA game, not an Indie title because there are some unsavory aspects to the XNA indie scene, such as Peer review which at points comes down to ‘I’ll rate your game good, if you rate my game good’. It just felt like there was no level of quality control present.”

So how were Sony?  “Sony were incredible to deal with and I am really not just saying that. We have had the pleasure of dealing with awesome people like Shahid Ahmad, Ellie Finnerty and Agostino Simonetta at SCEE, who will all be getting huge thanks in the MBA credits as this game would never have come to fruition without them… Basically, Support is a huge thing and you will always go with the company that shows you the most support. For our Company, IPs and franchises, Sony was that company.”

But there’s bound to be an iPhone version, right?  “It’s in production [laughs]. We have a version of the game, different again to Mad Blocker Alpha and the traditional Flash game. It’s being coded by a close companion of ours, Pedro Sousa, who is an amazing brazilian coder. It’s actually been in development since March of this year, but it should see a release in the next month or two and we really hope it appeals to another audience again… We basically want the Mad Blocker brand everywhere!”

We go back to the game itself, which features (as you’ll see in the screens) a pretty unique art style.  I ask Murphy what made him come up with the hand-drawn style, which is pretty scary?  “So many people find the faces scary,” he says, “but to us they were never meant to be, they were supposed to be funny. As the current game evolved it took on a darker tone, but alot of that comes from the introduction of the new Moke enemies who are polluting the land. The art style is all down to our amazing artist, Mike Naughton. Mike comes from a background in concept art, so this year has been a learning experience for him as he has had to do the assets for all of our games, including GUI design, sprites and more. We are a very
communal studio and a lot of the design choices come from a collection of ideas. While I can’t talk about some of our bigger projects next year, I think they are going to carry a visceral visual style that many gamers will hopefully find fresh and distinctive. Trying to keep projects secret is so hard!”

Speaking of the team, I ask Paddy whether he feels that the developer diaries on his site are an important aspect to consider.  “Most definitely,” he says. “We’ve always gotten a great response from the PSP Mini community and before that it was through our flash games. I find that you have to stay connected with the end user and make them part of your process, otherwise you are just making games, solely for yourself… Which would be great… Except there are people other than you out there… It’s why all the big guys keep dev blogs and create an interaction with the fans. For example, Mountain Stage 3 in the game was chosen by the fans from 2 tracks, partially because I couldn’t decide which to include but also because alot of people like that their opinions are heard. I know i love that over on Capcom Unity or on the Epic site.”

Do you have any plans to convert any of your other Flash games, I ask?  “We were originally creating our title, Ninjamurai, as a Flash game but have decided instead to bring it to the PSP via the PSP Minis service. We have plans to hopefully bring an expanded version of Goldie’s Revenge to the iPhone/iPad (or possibly a sequel). We have a very strict year in terms of development and while I can’t talk about much we hope to begin work on a larger scale title around May next year. However, I think we will try to continue creating Minis even during that development as they are a lot of fun(work) to make.”

And to conclude, I ask Murphy why should people be excited about Mad Blocker Alpha?

“If you want honesty, I think people should be excited about Mad Blocker Alpha because it’s going to be a really fun, solid, beautiful title that is being developed by 4 guys who love games and are treating this first project with the same respect as a AAA title. For us, it’s not ‘just a PSP Mini”‘and we hope we can change people’s opinions of PSP Minis with MBA. Also, I could be biased but I think the story is really clever in how it lets you fill in the blanks of what’s going instead of ramming exposition down your throat. Block games are an awesome entry point for some gamers as everyone is in some way familiar with the concept.

“We just hope our new gameplay features, such as our new GUI, our story, local leaderboards, tower mode and more will really cause people who are new to games or veterans to get different but similarly cool experiences from it. And thanks to you guys for this. it can be difficult to get sites to take the Minis platform seriously, so once again. And thanks of course to everyone reading this!”

We thank Paddy Murphy, Mike Naughton, Colm English and Eoghan O Donovan for their time.

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32 Comments

  1. Oh yeah, If anyone has any further questions please feel free to ask them here in the comments section and I’ll do my utmost to answer them efficiently, Ha ha.

    Paddy Murphy,
    CEO, Open Emotion Studios,
    http://www.openemotionstudios.com

    • Oh, and as a newbie here I hope you’ve read the rules as we have a strict “no boring gits” policy ;-)

      • :( I’ll try to be non-boring… How do I begin? :O

    • Can I congratulate you on having the perfect name for a sterotypical Irishman :)

      • My parents should have just called me “Default” ha ha! :P

  2. I’m not really into these block games but nice backgrounds all the same and great to see an irish developer!

    • Thanks TS. We’re starting to emerge hopefully. Theres a whole heap of Irish Game Dev talent, but it kinda feels like a big lack of support from the government even though they claim they are supporting digital media… Thanks again for the comments about the art though, Mike appreciates it big time, ha ha!

  3. Is there a chance Paddy Murphy (great name!) could comment on the pricing on Sony’s hardware compared to games on the likes of the iPhone. Not so much, maybe, about his own title but in general. From a customer perspective it’s fair to see why people would question paying X on iTunes and 3X on the likes of the PS Store. However, a developer’s input would be very insightful.

    • I think there are some big costs involved. I cant give specifics, but Sony have lowered the entry cost, that’s really all I can say. Unfortunately, there are marketing costs involved, Ratings, Hardware… It all adds up and Devs have to at least break even… I do think the current trend of Minis being 7 bucks (The Flying Hamster and Zenonia) is a bit exorbitant… I mean, you can get a great PSN game for 7 or 8 euros…

      • Cheers, fella.

        That’s good to know as part of me was thinking about how much it costs to even get it out there and then what percentage Sony take, etc.

        I know Apple take 30% of everything, I believe, but shan’t push you on further figures for Sony. ;-)

  4. Cool – I get to buy a new addictive game & support my local games industry!!!

    • Cheers Eirekun! That is legendary to hear. We hope you really enjoy it… Can’t say much but Tower Mode is gonna be preettty awesome, ha ha! Also, cheers for the local support! :D

      • Look forward to it & the best of luck!

  5. Did you ever consider making this a full PSN game rather than just a mini?

    • We sure did… Would have loved to… but our coders are still getting used to the Hardware and stuff, coming from Flash Games and stuff… As I said in the interview, as long as this and Ninjamurai do pretty well we should have something very intriguing coming into fruition next year which… We are really… really looking forward to… Oh yeah and maybe the next Mad Blocker will be on PSN with Crisp HD visuals like Critter Crunch or something, ha ha!

      • Cool. Mini’s are getting better when it comes to graphics and presentation – Flying Hamster is absoloutely gorgeous – but I still feel a bit dirty playing a SD game on my 52″ 1080P tv. I normally have to go and have a shower and then put on WipeoutHD to make the blocky pixels fade from memory.

      • Yup, but hopefully alot of the dudes, who start out bringing you cool looking Minis will eventually be able to bring you epic looking PSN titles, right? ;)

  6. Oh how I would have liked to appauld this…….if the CEO’s name hadn’t been so stereotypical.

    • In all fairness it happens quite a bit. My real name is Roger Sheep.

    • And for the record in case anyone doesn’t know, I’m Irish.

      • Ha ha, Nice one. Whats your own name? John Finnegan, Seamus O’ Reilly? heh heh!

      • Well put it you this way, my name is Allister, which is a scottish name, I myself am irish, yet I have a london accent. Basically I’m the last sort of person who could be classified a stereotrype.

      • My name is Paddy Murphy, However i don’t have red hair… or freckles… or a thick unintelligible Irish accent. I like to think that only my name is stereotypical anyhow :P

  7. Great to see a new developer being so involved on the blogs. Love the name and looking forward to the game. Keep up the great craic.

    • Heh Heh, Will do Matt! Thanks for the kind words :D

  8. The last Minis title I brought was Young Thor; hopefully this will get me reaching for my wallet.

    • We hope so too, Teabags ha ha ha!

  9. The game might be released a little later than our planned release date due to some technical issues and the dates of submission for store content at christmas. However, it gives us a little more time to refine the game even more and to blow you away even more :D

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