Optimum Games is an Indie Games Studio based in Mumbai, India. Their latest game, Globe, is an Arcade Space Shooter with rogue lite elements. Think of it like Pac-Man meets Super Stardust Delta with rogue lite elements. After checking out their game, we were really eager to get an interview with the devs behind the game, and they we’re kind enough to oblige us. Aditya Nataraj, the founder at Optimum Games took the time to have a chat with us, and here’s what he had to say.
Gaming Central: Tell us a bit about yourself.
Aditya Natarajan: My name is Aditya Natarajan I am the founder at Optimum Games, I love games, it’s my primary form of entertainment. I play games to take breaks from making games. When I’ve had too much of playing and making games I’m watching gaming podcasts on YouTube. I feel like I need to make games in all genres.
Gaming Central: When did you get started with playing games (and what was the first game that you remember)?
Aditya Natarajan: I’ve been playing games since I was probably 5 or 6 years old. The first game I remember playing was TMNT on the OG Gameboy.
Gaming Central: How did you get started with developing games?
Aditya Natarajan: Who doesn’t love games ? We figured making games would be equally fun, turns out making games isn’t easy but it’s a ton fun, a friend of mine and I kept having this discussion about how accessible its become to enter the industry, with no knowledge of how things are done we just jumped into it, pooled in Money and started developing our first game. We assembled a team and started from there.
Gaming Central: If you weren’t a game developer you would be a…?
Aditya Natarajan: Miserable guy doing mundane things
Gaming Central: What game are you working on right now? Can you tell us a bit more about the game?
Aditya Natarajan: Right now we are working on GLOBE which has also been selected as an official entry for Casual Connect Asia 2017. It is a Rogue Lite space shooter. The game features 40 mods which can be equipped at every from the Mod Workshop, the mods add 100s of combinations in the game and has the potential to make each run feel different.
Example for Mods:
1). SpaceDust Magnet – Attracts Space Dust in a small radius
2). Blast Core Destroying Asteroids and Aliens creates explosions
3). Frenzy Surge Get additional Frenzy Orbs
4). Frenzy Stasis – Freeze Aliens and Asteroids in Frenzy Overdrive
5). Gargantuan – Increase the size of the Space Ship
6). SpaceDust Blast – Create small explosions on collecting Space Dust
These are just a few of them, they can come in any combo and imagine the combination of 1,2 and 6 its just mayhem and alien annihilation.
Game features:
-Arcade Shooter
-Over 40 Mods
-Tier system for Mods
-Hundreds of combinations
-Leveling sytem for Permanent Upgrades
-25 levels, randomized enemy waves
-Comic Book Style Intro
-Built in Unity
-Two button Gameplay
Gaming Central: On how many games have you worked on so far?
Aditya Natarajan: We have shipped 6 games, and 3 are in development as of now. Incase you want the list of games, here you go:
Out now:
⦁ Rooftop Mischief
⦁ Flipster – Endless Arcade Jumper
⦁ Five Finger Fury
⦁ Hexadash
⦁ Pixel Crazy
⦁ 5 questions
In development:
⦁ GLOBE
⦁ Surge Galaxy ( One touch rhythm game)
⦁ Two Rings (Fast paced reflex game)
Gaming Central: Which game development tools are you using?
Aditya Natarajan: Unity
Gaming Central: Any other recommendations for software? (project management etc.)
Aditya Natarajan: We use the basic stuff really, nothing out of the box, Dropbox Pro is our life line though.
Gaming Central: What is your favorite platform to develop for? How do you choose which platform to make games on?
Aditya Natarajan: As of now we are focussed on Mobile games and have only developed that. If we had to pick between the two big ones, we prefer iOS. However we are planning a multiplatform game and our goal is to make a kickass indie game for consoles and we are also looking at the switch, it is such a great device, we are huge fans of handhelds here. So as of now haven’t really faced a situation where we have had to choose a platform.
Gaming Central: What is the basic structure for developing a game?
Aditya Natarajan: The basic structure is you think of an idea then create a prototype of it, because many times an idea may seem awesome on paper but may not translate to a great game. Once you have a porotype, build on it and see what you can do to make it better and what it requires, lock in the features and then go in to full blown production of art and sound.
Gaming Central: How did you come up with the game’s concept?
Aditya Natarajan: We started it as a completely different game, it was supposed to be a Katamari style game on a globe and while working on the initial prototype, we kept iterating it keeping the perspective the same that is of the globe, a lot of versions and ideas later we came up with the idea for this game
Gaming Central: What were your inspirations?
Aditya Natarajan: One of our big inspirations was Pac man and Stardust. We added our own spin on things and that’s how GLOBE was born.
Gaming Central: What inspires you outside of gaming?
Aditya Natarajan: Movies
Gaming Central: What would your dream game be like?
Aditya Natarajan: It would be if Bloodborne, Overwatch and Borderlands had a healthy Baby ?
Gaming Central: How was your game development journey so far?
Aditya Natarajan: I have one word to sum it up – Hopeful.
Gaming Central: Gameplay, Narrative, or Graphics? Which is the most important according to you?
Aditya Natarajan: Gameplay is King. Vanquish is a prime example for excellent Gameplay and a forgettable story.
Gaming Central: Sci-fi, Mystery,Action, or Fantasy? What would you choose and why?
Aditya Natarajan: Lines are blurred now a days, so mixing genres is the way to go.
Gaming Central: How long have you been working on your latest game?
Aditya Natarajan: A little over 7 months
Gaming Central: How many folks are involved in the making of your game
Aditya Natarajan: 8 in total and a fun fact is that people from 4 countries worked on this game, making the Title that much more meaningful (at least according to us), each and every one has been integral in the making of the game. Abhishek the Lead Programmer is the main man behind the wheel, he has worked extremely hard on this Game.
Gaming Central: What is the average budget required for developing a game?
Aditya Natarajan: It really depends on the concept, but on an average you can the minimum expenditure would be 3 lacs onwards
Gaming Central: What all can go wrong during development? What are the problems you might face while developing game?
Aditya Natarajan: Everything can wrong, Game development is all about how you piece the puzzle correctly, but the biggest thing that can totally derail your game is Sound, bad sound design can totally mess up the game and even though you might have a great game with great graphics, if the sfx and or the Background music is bad, youre going to have a sub standard game, also sound is the factor that helps nail the satisfaction factor in a game, and that is extremely important.
Gaming Central: What lessons have you learned from developing your game?
Aditya Natarajan: How to deal with failures and how not live in a bubble.
Gaming Central: Where do you think the games industry will be in the next 5-10 years?
Aditya Natarajan: The best thing about the games industry is that everything seems to co-exist beautifully, there was so much talk about the Mobile industry killing the console industry, but the PS4 is proving console gaming is alive and kicking ass and so is mobile gaming. The new wave seems to be brought in by VR and I think it will be great for developers to have the option to develop for so many platforms, it gives that much more scope to everyone.
Gaming Central: What games did you enjoy playing this year?
Aditya Natarajan: Horizon Zero Dawn and Nier: Automata.
Gaming Central: What is your favorite game at the moment and what makes it special?
Aditya Natarajan: Overwatch! The moments the game creates and the epic stuff that happens that you make happen with your team, that is truly special. The last minute game changers and clutch moments annoy and satisfy equally, In Overwatch it aint over till its over, also it nails the satisfaction factor like no other game.
Gaming Central: Any advice for budding gamers and developers?
Aditya Natarajan: Just be receptive and open to feedback and suggestions, not everyone will love your game, and do not defend your game like its your baby.
Gaming Central: Anything else you would like to add?
Aditya Natarajan: We are really excited to with GLOBE and are thrilled that we have been selected for Casual Connect, its a first for us. We hope you will like the game when its out.
Thanks Aditya for taking the time, and all the best to Optimum Games team for their upcoming releases. Follow them on Twitter We’ll be covering more of their games soon.
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