Libor Kubín Czech developer Jindřich Rohlík made his dream come true. Thanks to the website Starter, he was able to raise money to port his older game to tablets. In our interview, he admits, among other things, that he missed a cookbook with only Czech recipes.
Henry, how do you feel? A few days before the end, the campaign on Startovač.cz did not look like a success...
Surprise was replaced by satisfaction and joy. Now I'm mentally setting my sights on how I'll spend the next few months and looking forward to it.
What is your timeline for the release of the game?
I would like to release the game before the end of the year.
Will you be programming the iOS and Android versions simultaneously? Or do you prefer one?
I plan to use the Marmalade SDK, which allows concurrent development for both platforms. Although I physically develop on a Mac, both the beta and the live version will be released for both platforms at the same time.
Some have criticized you in the discussions for asking for too much money... How much time will portation take?
My guess is somewhere between four and six months, but there is always room for things to go wrong. Testing will take some time, it will be necessary to make interventions in the graphics, etc. I also have to take into account the fact that various small expenses must be deducted from the final amount, for example Marmalade developer license, Apple developer license, Photoshop cloud license, production of certificates, some Android hardware. Some of the listed things I would pay anyway, others not, but even the ones I would pay, I have to budget into the amount, because in between I won't be doing other projects that would earn me money. I can't even leave out the Starter commission, bank transfers (from all donors), etc. The collected amount will be reduced by this amount.
Actually, my original budget was higher, but I thought I would take some of the risk. I understand that the amount may seem high, but people who have ever developed a game usually agree with me (and some have also contributed, which is probably the most telling).
Why did you choose Startovač.cz for your project?
Actually, it was the idea of the guys from Starter, and they even had to convince me for a while. I was worried that I would embarrass myself with a fifteen year old game. I wouldn't want to go on Kickstarter with something like that, even if the path was feasible for the Czech. The gates of Skeldal are famous here and nowhere else. It is simply a purely Czech phenomenon.
What was the alternative plan if the money could not be raised?
In the beginning, none. I actually tested the player's interest with it. If the response was weak or even negative, I would leave the game where it is and not pull it back from history. But the response was better than expected.
Has a patron appeared? Someone is said to have offered you full financing of the project on the condition that you charge for the game. Have you considered this route?
Yes, one person even offered to finance the project for a share of the profits, and other alternatives appeared during the campaign on Starter. I would definitely try to use one of them.
One of the contributors helped with an amount of around CZK 100. Do you know who Petr Borkovec is?
Mr. Petr Borkovec is the CEO of Partners and a big fan of games in general, and it seems that Skeldal too. We exchanged several e-mails, from which it turned out that he is now already playing with children, both on the computer and on tablets, and on similar games, he explains to his children what gaming classics are. I like that very much. It was clear from the beginning that the introduction of Partners as a sponsor was quite secondary to his support (actually, I didn't know this until almost the end of the campaign). He has no special requests for his generous contribution, he just wants the game to come out and be good. The whole thing is all the more interesting (and I'm answering an unspoken question that comes to many people's minds) that we didn't know each other until then. Perhaps the only thing is that Mr. Borkovec remembered my reviews and articles from the days of Score.
How do you plan to handle the controls? Will it be a classic solution of virtual buttons and mouse simulation, or will you adapt the game more to touch screens?
It's a bit about trying different approaches, but the one I'll probably try first is this: on tablets, the game will have the same look and feel as on PC because the controls will fit there. On smartphones I would like to hide the control panels off the screen similar to consoles. I may have to change the characteristics screens as they would be too grainy on the phone as they are. I'm strongly considering gesture control for turn-based combat, similar to what Black And White set up (although Infinity Blade will be an easier comparison for most players). Movement will definitely be solved alternatively by clicking on the screen instead of the arrows (this was already the case in the original game).
Will the Bran Skledal port deliver anything more than the original game?
Probably won't provide. However, depending on how the development goes, I would consider an easy mode that would adjust the difficulty to contemporary standards. After all, the games used to be harder.
Are you considering an English version of the game?
Yes, there will almost certainly be an English version, but only after I publish the Czech one. After all, Czech players signed up for the game and the translations were not even part of the project as it was presented on Startovač.
What are your plans for the future? Are you planning another app, game?
In addition to projects for clients, I am currently finishing up an iPhone application called Czech Cookery. I started it because I missed a cookbook where there were only Czech recipes, the kind of classics that our mothers and grandmothers cooked, in a constant quality of texts and images, and in a way that did not require an Internet connection. But even here, my gaming background will not be denied, so the cook will keep statistics and for each cooked recipe there will be special points, for which the cook will receive achievements in the Game center. I also came up with some controls of my own, such as a hide console with the menu, to leave as much room as possible for the recipe itself even on the small display (which I'll probably have to rethink now with iOS7). (laughs) Otherwise, until the end of the year, I will mainly concentrate on the remake of Skeldal for mobile phones and tablets. After that, it will be seen, maybe even the third part of Skeldal. I occasionally create concepts for other smaller games, but those may never come to fruition.
Thanks for the interview!
Good day, may I ask about your experience with SDK Marmalade, or in what environment do you make the cookbook? Are there any possibilities and how difficult is it to contain the development environment after the programming side? I would like to learn more information on this topic, but I have the feeling that it is a secret area that no one wants to let anyone peek into.