I can see you all out there working that one out; the 'seventh platform' covers the burgeoning world of mobile devices. With the iPhone now well and truly entrenched in the psyche, and the Apple App Store along with Nokia's N-Gage providing download services to mobile devices, this platform is emerging as a lucrative one for developers.

Last year's Game Connect Asia Pacific conference highlighted the emergence of casual gaming as one of, if not the, strongest interactive entertainment sectors in the industry.

And Firemint, the Melbourne based game development studio with a focus on mobile gaming, want to continue and expand upon their success in this field.

With the global financial downturn starting to bite business across an ever widening socioeconomic demographic, CEOs across the land have gnawed fingernails down to unsightly stumps.

AusGamers spoke to Firemint CEO Robert Murray. Murray speaks about the Firemint background story, his thoughts on the maturing of mobile device gaming and the future of the platform.

AusGamers: Tell us the Firemint story?

Robert Murray: Firemint was formed in 1999 as ndWare Pty Ltd and started out doing PC and GBA sub-contract work. In 2002, when Java and BREW enabled mobile handsets started appearing we jumped right on in. We were one of the earliest independent developers to work seriously on the new platforms and we worked our way up slowly by focusing on quality and good service. Looking back now, we have achieved a lot I believe, and we are certainly an international success in the mobile industry, but it's still the same story and the same focus. It is all about making great games, whether you are mobile or console, publisher or developer, individual or company.

AGN: Firemint have almost exclusively targeted handheld and mobile devices, do you see this market as a viable growth platform in the future?

RM: Firemint sees handheld and mobile devices as the leading growth platform. Handheld platforms and digital distribution are all about convenience, what you want, when you want it, wherever you are. The only thing that holds back handheld platforms, is that their lounge room or desk based cousins are still more powerful and immersive. However, the gap between handheld and lounge or desktop power is narrowing, and various technical advances and innovations are increasing the level of immersion that can be achieved on a handheld device.

People used to go out to the arcades to play games because home computers were expensive and offered a fairly weak experience by comparison.
Eventually lounge room based consoles overthrew the arcade machines because the gap in quality narrowed and people preferred the convenience and the sense of ownership of their own lounge-room systems and games. What happened to the arcades will happen to lounge-room entertainment if handheld devices close the quality gap. It has already happened to music, it will happen to film and games. I can't predict exactly how it will happen, but the drive for convenient and personal entertainment will not go away, it is just a matter of when technology and innovation will be able to fulfil it.

Having said that, handheld and mobile platforms are not all we are interested in. More broadly it is digital distribution that excites us.
Buying your content digitally is cheaper, more convenient and environmentally friendly. It is simply a matter of time and broadband penetration before digital distribution exceeds retail in revenue.

AGN: iPhone App Store and Nokia N-Gage service, how will they shape the mobile gaming market?

RM: Services like App Store and N-Gage are a breath of fresh air for us. They have their problems for sure, but the possibility of distributing globally through just one channel on a consistent platform eliminates an incredible amount of expense and lowers barriers to entry for content providers. I think it is good for the consumer, and it is good for the industry. The more spent on the game and the less spent on porting, deployment and distribution costs, the healthier the industry will be. In business terms these services are revolutionary, and they may finally allow mobile games to live up to the promise that we all saw back in 2002.

AGN: How does developing for the mobile/handheld market differ from other traditional gaming platforms?

RM: You have to think about a wider audience in mobile and also a very wide variety of use cases. Many different people are interacting with mobile games in many different ways, so you have to take that into account in your design. You also need to think about how to handle different configurations, much like PC development. It used to be that you had to cover 300 different devices with dramatically varying performance characteristics, but if you just focus on smart phones and platforms like N-Gage and App Store, then the performance gap narrows and enables a lot more creativity and less porting.

AGN: Tell us about the soon to be released Mega Monsters, the development of this game has an interesting genesis?

RM: Mega Monsters started out as an idea in 2005 which we worked up into a prototype development proposal for Film Victoria. When the funding was approved we kicked off development of the prototype which took about six months. We shopped the prototype around and won a few awards in the process.

Ultimately we secured a publisher who really believed in the game and was willing to get behind it. That was Nokia N-Gage of course. It was the award winning prototype that got us over the line, without that we would be talking abstract ideas and maybe some pretty pictures.

Since securing a publishing deal with Nokia we have been working very hard on this title and it has been a number of years in development now. I think it is going to make a huge splash in the mobile games industry; it is a crazy fun title and absolutely loaded with content and features. It is also by far the biggest title that we have worked on yet so I think it is very aptly named. I can't wait to see it on the market.

AGN: How important was the Victorian Government support in getting Mega Monsters close to the finish line?

RM: Most importantly it was the Victorian Government via Film Victoria that got Mega Monsters off the starting line. It is Nokia who are taking it over the finish line. Film Victoria's digital media prototyping fund provided the cash needed to build a prototype of the game to shop around at tradeshows.

AGN: How hard is it for Firemint to skill-up for a new platform? Tell us about the differences in producing titles for the N-Gage service versus developing for platforms such as the iPhone?

RM: Skilling up for new platforms is something we do a lot of here, because the mobile landscape is always changing. Most of our tools are written in very generic ways so that we can quickly accommodate new technology. The iPhone is an awfully fun and easy device to develop on, but you need to get your programmers working on Mac's rather than Windows which can act as a bit of a barrier. N-Gage requires a steeper setup and learning curve, but it runs on Windows making the build and integration process smoother.

AGN: How do studies in gaming habits influence the kinds of green-lit projects that Firemint undertakes? For instance, do you see yourself developing more mature content for the mobile platform as the average age of a gamer moves past 30 years of age?

RM: I wouldn't say we do a lot of formal studies, as an independent developer we need to rely a lot more on intuition. However, we do observe what gamers are saying online, and there is a lot of information there. We find that the market tends to mature and shift quite a lot, particularly on a developing platform like iPhone. What they liked three months ago may not sell now. Trends can move very fast, so while we look at what is doing well in the market, we really have to ignore that and focus on what we believe is a great game and may be popular in 12 months time.

It is important for developers to work on projects that they understand and believe in, so we seek out ideas that are the intersection of what we like, what the market wants and what will sell.

AGN: The global economic crisis, good or bad for Firemint?

RM: On the balance of things, the economy seems pretty good for Firemint. The demand for cost effective content, and mobile content particularly is rising and it is getting easier to find the staff that we need. However there is volatility in the economy, which makes it difficult to predict the future (not that I could do that in the best of times ;-)). It is a scary time to invest in a console game that may take three years to get to market.

AGN: Firemint Real Racing is about to hit the iPhone and iPod Touch world; expand our knowledge on this new IP.

RM: Firemint Real Racing is one of our big original titles (like Mega Monsters). We have poured more of our own money into this than any other game in our history. It is not just the development of the game that has consumed resources, but also the development of our online and web integration platform Cloudcell. We are not ready to show everything yet, just a few basic features that you can discern from the video on our website. You can expect to see more 'reveals' from us over time. For now, all I will say is that we believe that we have the best looking and best feeling racing game on any handheld platform.

AGN: And finally, Kindred Spirits is the working title of a new Firemint original IP for the PC, what insights can you relate about this new project?

RM: Unfortunately, not all that much at this stage. We have been working on Kindred Spirits for eight months now and it is an ambitious title (like Mega Monsters felt back in 2005). It is targeted at console platforms like PSN and Xbox LIVE, as well as future mobile phones. We should be revealing a lot more at GDC, along with a video.