Part III: Interview with PomPom Games

Introduction:

Three years ago, UK-based PomPom Games brought retro gaming back to the computer and turned it on it's head. Their debut game, Space Tripper, was inspired by William's arcade classic Defender, but aside from the basic gameplay concepts, bears little similarity to its conceptual forebear. No, Space Tripper is an altogether different beast, with its dazzling 3D levels, outrageous special effects (that live up to the game's name), and huge, unrelenting bosses.

Then came Mutant Storm. Their second and, as of this writing, most recent game took all the best parts of Space Tripper - the blistering gameplay and gorgeous 3D graphics - and made them even better. The result is a nearly-perfect (no, really) action shooter that throws you in nearly 100 tightly-packed psychedelic arenas filled with all sorts of nasty beasts. Along with being a quick success amongst PC and Mac shmup fans, Mutant Storm is one of the first titles to grace Microsoft's innovative X-Box Live Arcade system, giving console gamers get a taste of the kind of gameplay that hasn't been seen very much there in recent years.

PomPom is just a two man team: Michael Michael, the graphics and sound man extraordinaire, and Miles Visman, elusive coder and sex monkey. Both are industry vets who worked together for 5 years before jumping ship so they could create their simple, action-based games. Here now, presented in amazing IndieVision(tm), is the e-mail interview I conducted with Michael Michael:

TIGSource:

First off - Michael Michael, is that your real name? You sound like a rock star!

PomPom:

Yep, that's my real name. My parents were whisky addicts.

TIGSource:

If I may ask, where did you and Miles work before you started Pom Pom?

PomPom:

We both worked at Argonaut games in the UK. It doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately. They were one of many devs that shut their doors in 2004. It's a shame. There were some good people there, even if the games were not so hot.

TIGSource:

What was your experience with industry like, and how does it compare to what you're doing now?

PomPom:

We've all heard the industry stories 100 times. Ours is no different. Deadline pain. Publisher pain. Feature creep pain... and of course, my favourite, 'You're canned!' pain. Generally, it was quite fun in a social way, but there were always too many obstacles in the way of getting the best games done. Now we're PomPom, we do what we want. That's probably why we have no money!

TIGSource:

What's a typical day like for PomPom?

PomPom:

Wake up. Coffee. A one hour conversation with my partner. More coffee. Do some work. Lunch. Coffee. More phone conversations. Bed.

We don't work together in the same building, so most stuff needs to get sorted via phone. It works quite well, as we would likely kill each other if we had to work in the same room!

TIGSource:

Do you guys have a game design methodology?

PomPom:

Keep it simple. If we need more than 3 people, then it's over ambitious.

TIGSource:

Are you guys making a satisfactory living as indie developers? Do you see yourselves continuing to do this for a while?

PomPom:

No idea. At the moment, we scrape by. There are a few things on the go right now. Hopefully we'll get a reasonable break soon enough. IF things don't improve over the coming year, we may have to re-assess.

TIGSource:

Mutant Storm is now being distributed via Microsoft's X-Box Live Arcade. How's that working out and does it compare favourably to other distribution systems?

PomPom:

It's a good system. Very easy to try and buy, so the games convert quite well. However, they haven't had the hard push yet, so I can't tell you at this early stage if it's working out well or not. Mutant Storm's perfect platform is the Xbox. That's where it belongs, so in that respect we're very happy.

TIGSource:

Are you guys any good at your own games? How far can you get in Mutant Storm without dying?

PomPom:

I'm pretty good at Mutant Storm, but I haven't played in a long while. The fans kick my ass though. I can (could) get through all the levels on 3-5 lives.

TIGSource:

What's your take on the indie "scene"? Does the future look bright?

PomPom:

God only knows. If 'indie' games (whatever that means [Good point! -ed.]) became more popular, then I guess it wouldn't be long before investors got involved and it wouldn't be indie anymore. We're not indie by choice. We would happily take in some investors if we could find any interested enough in what we're doing.

TIGSource:

Any suggestions for people who want to go indie? What are the indie developer's greatest assets, and what are the biggest pitfalls?

PomPom:

The biggest pitfall by far is cash. Indie games generally make peanuts. Probably because most indie games are so poor. Even the better ones sell more, but not enough. Some games in the puzzle genre seem to do very well from the established portals (Real, Yahoo, Bigfish, etc.), so this is starting to influence new developers trying to replicate that success. So, if you're designing games based on other successes, [then] that's not a very 'independent' way to work is it? (seeing as an indie's greatest asset is supposedly being able to make the game they want.)

TIGSource:

Both Mutant Storm and Space Tripper seem to have strong roots in psychedelia - hell, one even has "trip" right in the title. Care to comment on that?

PomPom:

We like psychedelics. Reminds us of our youth... and little square bits of blotting paper.

TIGSource:

What's next for PomPom? Can we expect an announcement about a new title any time soon?

PomPom:

Yes. We have a 3rd game almost ready [Wow, that's great! -ed]. Hopefully we'll be releasing sometime in March, but I wouldn't count on it! Its not a shooter. It's a much more fun and casual experience and much simpler to play. We wanted something that didn't need a joypad for once. Relying on mouse control and a single button was something we really wanted to try out.

TIGSource:

You guys are obviously big fans of old-school, retro arcade games. What games are you playing these days, though?

PomPom:

You would be surprised. We don't actually play many shooters at all. Currently my game of choice is Pikmin 2 on my GameCube. Miles (the other Pom) is into Pirates.

TIGSource:

Alright, you've got the final word! Shoot from the hip and aim high!

PomPom:

...where did I put my lighter.