Playdigious is known in the mobile world for creating fantastic ports of indie darlings. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, the team has previously released mobile versions of Dead Cells, Dungeon of the Endless, Streets of Rage 4, and Evoland 2, among others. Where possible, Playdigious also integrates controller support into its ports, giving us even more options for how we play.
We recently had the opportunity to interview Anthony Martino (Business Developer) and Laura Saada (Head of Production) about the company’s mobile porting efforts. Together we discussed how games are selected, the challenges associated with moving to mobile and the importance of providing controller support where possible.
According to your website, Playdigious only publishes “a handful of games a year”. Can you walk us through the process of selecting these games?
Anthony Martino – We try to focus only on titles that make sense to us. Obviously, we’re looking for successful titles because it’s a business necessity. But we always consider the will of the leads to work on a title to make sure we all enjoy working on these titles in the end so we can commit to the best possible quality.
We strive to create high quality ports for mobile, and for that it is critical for us to select games that we want to engage with and that perfectly fit the platform.
Do you ever contact specific indie games about mobile ports, or is it always the other way around?
Anthony Martino – Because we are known for our good work, some studios are looking to us to port and publish their games. But it’s also very important for us to be proactive in looking for the best new partners, because it’s the main way we can definitely work on the titles we want. It’s nice to be asked, but it’s important for us to also look at the new gems and keep up with what’s trending in the indy space, it helps us keep our balance between what we want to do and what we should do.
Playdigious has a particular focus on indie games. Is there a specific reason you went this route instead of offering porting services to AAA titles?
Anthony Martino – We feel that working on indy titles is in our DNA as we are very close to a lot of indy studios. On the other hand, for AAA games we would have to bet a lot more for fewer titles and that’s a risk we can take once we grow a bit. Ultimately, we’re always working on indy titles, but we want to keep the door open for some AAA titles that could be of interest to the team.
How long does it take on average to transfer a game to mobile? What are the general steps from choosing a title to when it will be available on the App Store or Google Play?
Laura Saada – It really depends on the game, it could be from a few months to more than a year.
First we need to evaluate the user experience and technical parts: is it feasible? From there, we think about how to adapt the UX (UI and controls) to touch mobile devices. We are working on a very rough build that can be run on mobile devices (without any UX) then test our theories on the UX and iterate depending on games and what we need to do. Should we focus more on performance, controls, UI, all that, etc? We try to take the time it takes to make sure the game gets the quality it deserves.
What are some of the main challenges you face when moving to mobile? Or does it all depend on the game?
Laura Saada – Every game has its own issues, but the two main challenges in moving a game to mobile are optimization (performance) and user experience. Not only do we need to make sure that the game can actually be played on most mobile devices, but we also need to adjust the control scheme and user interface to ensure a good game feel.
Given that there are many (MANY) different devices, it is never easy to accommodate everyone.
Is there a common area across all game genres that usually needs more optimization for mobile than any other area, such as the UI?
Laura Saada – Definitely the user experience as a whole: Touch controls allow the controls to become the user interface. We also need to make sure players understand how the game works. If there is no user interface, how to move the character or if there is a new button, what does it do, etc… the player can feel lost very quickly and that requires a lot of testing before he comes to anything good. But it’s also something we learn through experience, benchmark and games that have already been released.
How involved is the original developer during the transfer process?
Laura Saada – Depends on games and developers, we like to keep them updated on where we are, what we have etc. Sometimes we have a lot of freedom and just send them builds every now and then to get their feedback and other times, we work very closely with them. It is always a relationship based on trust, a partnership, we have the same goal. And since premium mobile games are very specific, especially in terms of publishing, and many developers don’t want to go there, they come to us for help and we do our best to meet their expectations.
You have taken great care in creating the touchscreen controls for Dead Cells, giving players a lot of options. How do you go about tweaking these fast-paced games to make sure they play well on mobile and cater to different preferences?
Laura Saada – Lots of tests and iterations! Taking PC/console controls and making them fun for mobile is a delicate task that requires making concessions and coming up with creative solutions. Dead Cells was a special challenge in that sense. and it wasn’t easy to translate all the controls to touch, especially since your controls become your user interface in that case. We wanted everyone to have a solution that works for them, so we let players decide for themselves!
There are several games you’ve published that support controllers, including Dead Cells, Streets of Rage 4, and Dungeon of the Endless. Why do you think it is important to allow players to play with a controller?
Laura Saada – Yes, every player is different and if we can provide more options, more power for them. Mobile devices are so awesome, you can just take it out of your pocket, and there you go, playing your favorite game. But sometimes touch controls aren’t what players prefer, or what they’re used to, that’s okay. And for them, if controller support can be an option, why not add it?
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