One of the greatest features of the iPhone that sets it apart from other smartphones on the market is the multitouch user interface, a brilliant gesture control that has changed the face of mobile as we know it. Many companies have tried to integrate this UI into their applications and games but none have done it as beautifully as DarkWave Games and their new title, Master of Alchemy.

I sat down with Alain Bonati, Marketing Manager of DarkWave Games to discuss the history of their company and the iPhone, how multitouch has changed the industry and details about their latest title, Master of Alchemy.

Company Name: DarkWave Games
Name: Alain Bonati
Title: Marketing Manager
URL: www.darkwavegames.com

Q: How do you think the iPhone and iPad has revolutionized the mobile phone industry?

Apple Portable Devices are amazing. Apple, once again, has succeeded in revolutionizing the world, not only within the mobile phone industry. Thanks to Apple’s attention to enhancing the user experience, they have created devices so easy to use and so immediate that people now are really always connected.

It has only been a year since I’ve had an iPhone and I don’t know how I could do without it before – it is useful in every circumstance: e.g. when I have to work (at DarkWave Games and at alittleb.it, we all have an iPhone and/or an iPad – and I think that our productivity has increased a lot – and, probably, our working time too☹), when I have time to waste (ex: when I’m on the train I love play with my iPhone or my iPad), when I’m looking for a pub or when someone asks me for directions).

Moreover, I think that iPad is revolutionizing the world of printed paper (e.g. In Italy, some schools and universities are adopting iPad as a course book) and it is a great gaming device…it is for this reason that Master of Alchemy was first exclusively designed for the iPad; then we decided to dedicate efforts to develop an iPhone optimized version (iPhone 4 and Retina optimized, too).

Q: How do you think the iPhone or iPad have revolutionized the portable gaming industry with contenders such as Sony and Nintendo?

Personally, I think that Apple has revolutionized all the gaming industry. I’ve never been a gamer and, for sure, I wouldn’t have bought a portable gaming device, but since I have an iPhone, and now an iPad, I play videogames a lot – most of my app are games! I believe it’s due to a mix of factors, but mainly because I can play high quality games with a device that is always with me (my mobile) and in ways that are really engaging, thanks to the multitouch and the accelerometer features.

From a business point of view, Apple has succeeded in creating a well developed microtransaction platform; Sony and Nintendo are following. It is very important to lower entry barriers in the game industry, allowing companies without budget, like DarkWave Games☺, to create phenomenal, unique games. Moreover these companies have brought a lot of innovation and originality to the market, focusing more on the quality of their products than on money.

For instance with Master of Alchemy, we have taken care of every aspects (since it’s our first game) to create a highly-artistic product, not a commercial one; its gameplay is very original and it is a real puzzle game – you have to use your logic to solve levels, not patience.

Finally, we believe that the mass market appeal of iPhone and iPad allows the creation of truly social games and DarkWave Game wants to go in this direction, but at the moment we are not ready yet ☺.

Q: What separates your company from your competitors with mobile phone applications?

DarkWave Games is a spin-off of alittleb.it, a company with a big experience in multitouch UI, multiplatform frameworks and in creating user experience: in fact, alittleb.it’s products are interactive multimedia installations and complex rich internet applications. This relationship allows DarkWave Games to have that little bit ☺ more competitive edge than other companies in creating engaging gaming experiences. Also, DarkWave Games chose from the start to produce only artistic games that would be entertaining products. So our illustrators, animator, and graphic designer, spend a lot of time deciding on the graphic style and determining which style is optimized for iPhone and iPad, that still shows the handmade work as well. The entire team at DarkWave Games is enthusiastic gamers and we want to make games that we like!

Q: What is your company background, size (employees, developers, etc), and company inspirations?

As I have just said, we are a spin-off of a software house, but since we are all relatively young, we decided to open DarkWave Games driven by passion…rather than by economic reasons☺. By now, we are self-financing our project (for that I’ve just said that we are not driven by economic reasons), so we are a relatively small team: 4 developers, 1 graphic designer, 2 illustrators/comics artists, 1 animator, 1 project manager, 1 marketing manager. Some of us work at Alittleb.it too…and everybody is betting on DarkWave Games Project, working a lot of hours☺.

Our final aim is the development of social, multiplatform, multidevice and multiplayer games…for this reason we have developed in-house a multiplatform framework: starting from an iPhone/iPad game, we would be able to create versions of that game for Windows, Mac, Linux, Dsi, Wii, Windows7phone, Bada (naturally, with the necessary adaptations, mainly of UI).

Q: Do you outsource any projects or development, if so, how much?

No, we do everything in-house…only sometime, we work with Italian talented music artists (e.g. Fabio Marconi & NeMa PrObLeMa) – we think that in-game music is very important.

Q: Advancements in graphics and animations in the mobile phone industry have astronomically grown within the past couple of years. How much time does your company devote to graphical, animation, and sound production for mobile applications?

We think graphic and music are very, very important…as you can see in Master of Alchemy, we devote a lot of energy into this. However, I think we must use a different approach than other developers: we don’t look for iperrealism or high impact graphic, but we are trying to bring to the market high artistic products, where graphics are completely functional and integrated to the gameplay too; we want our products to call to mind handmade works…I think that Master of Alchemy is a good example of what I’m trying to say.

Q: How many applications has your company planned, developed, or created at any given time?

By now, we have developed only Master of Alchemy and it took us 8 months of development. We have conceived two very interesting games (Ruval Quest –an action platform RPG- and Dreaming Chamber –an adventure games), but per each we would need to dedicate a lot of work. We’re currently developing a demo and created a business plan and are seeking investors. So, for now, we are still focusing heavily on Master of Alchemy and we are considering some game concepts that we would implement and develop faster. On this point, Chillingo is helping us a lot.

Q: What do you think of the iPhone or iPad Operating System in comparison to other mobile platforms? Are Apple’s competitors finally producing a comparable product or has the iPhone or iPad already monopolized the niche market?

I don’t think that Apple’s competitive advantage depends on a better OS: I believe that developers prefer to develop for iPhone and iPad because of its strong microtransaction platform – also because it’s easier to develop for only three different devices. It’s difficult to know which will be its future, its devices, its numbers, its developer tools, etc. On the other hand, since there will be so many continuously updated apps on iTunes, consumers will continue to think better of iPhone and iPad than other platforms.

Q: Is your company currently developing for other mobile platforms, if so, which ones and why?

At the moment we aren’t, but we would like to develop for Android and, maybe, for Windows7Phone. We haven’t done it yet because we are afraid that Android’s App Market is not big enough and, mainly, because Android’s C developments tools aren’t completed enough. We are waiting for Windows7Phone, and then we’ll decide about it. By now, we haven’t considered RIM because we don’t think Blackberries are gaming devices yet.

Q: Marketing an application can be a very difficult task. With so many applications being developed and released on a daily basis, capturing user attention in an App Store is challenging. What have you found to be an effective way to market your products to users?

It’s true; I think that marketing an iPhone/iPad application is an almost impossible task. Moreover, I believe the most effective marketing instrument on App Store is Public Relation – but, to do PR, it’s important to have the right contacts, to attend the right conferences (but we are Italian, it’s more difficult for us) and, finally, preferably having a well-known brand (and MoA it’s our first game).

It is for these reasons that we decided to publish Master of Alchemy with Chillingo. Chillingo is helping us communicate and valorize Master of Alchemy. They also helped us a lot also during the production process, giving great advice about gameplay too.

We are really happy about our partnership with Chillingo, and we would like to continue this relationship even for our next games.

Q: Following the response above, what do you think of the store review process? Is it helping or hurting your business? What are some recommendations in order to speed up this process?

We didn’t have any problems with review process. I think that the store review process is helping companies like ours: if there wasn’t, there would be a lot of applications that would crash all iPhone and iPad…so, App Store wouldn’t have so much success.

Q: What do you think about other application review websites? Are they effective at providing in-depth reviews of applications and helping market your products? Or is your company experiencing challenges of trying to find quality application websites? What do you think of Appmodo?

I think that there are key review websites that can affect a lot the number of sold apps – especially in US (but we know that US market pushes other markets too). They can do this because their reviews are impartial, expert and justified. For sure, Appmodo is one of these websites, and because of that we are really happy about this interview.

From the developer point of view, it can be difficult to have your game reviewed especially if you are a new company. So, one proposal: I think that maybe useful is to create a space to facilitate also “quick”, impartial reviews, not only in-depth reviews of applications.

Q: What are your thoughts on the App Store user reviews and the ability to monitor them?

I think that App Store user reviews would be a good thing for consumer, but there are too many artful people that use comments and rating to make unfair competition…Anyway, when an app is really popular they are really useful for both users and developers.

Q: What is your favorite application?

Personally, I have two favorite apps: Waze and Evernote. Evernote because is really useful, Waze because I like very much the concept behind of it.

Q: What is your most popular application? Have you received any awards or achievements for that application?

Master of Alchemy: it’s the only one ;)….we was really proud when Chillingo decided to present it at E3Expo 2010…not bad for our first game!

Thank you very much Alain Bonati and DarkWave Games for your time.

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