Find Games

Go

• Channels
• Home

1. News
2. Games
3. Reviews
4. Previews
5. Cheats & Tips
6. Features
7. Blogs
8. Tags
9. Forum

• Mobile Gaming
• Nintendo DS
• Sony PSP
• iPhone
• Game Boy
• N-Gage
• myMO
• Forums
• Modojo Biz

• myMO
• Register

• Tools
• For Developers/Publishers
• Private Messaging
• Search Forums
• New Forum Posts

• Modojo Partners
• 
• 
• 

DS Homebrew: The Men Behind the Madness

What kind of person spends hours and hours coding a game without any (or at least very little) monetary compensation? Louise Yang attempts to find out...

...Continued From Page 2

QWAK

http://www.qwak.co.uk/

Not many younger people remember QWAK on the Amiga, but for those who do, the GBA game should look familiar. The game features simple, yet addictive gameplay that consists of finding a key and opening a door to the next level. The fast paced platformer and enemies makes me feel like I'm playing Bubble Bobble on speed. Considering its playability and quality, it's surprising that it isn't your average GBA game from a big publisher. QWAK was ported to the GBA by a one-man team.

Jamie, the developer was easy to track down and was kind enough to answer some questions I had about the game and home brew in general. The interview reinforced the idea that it's extremely difficult for an independent developer to bring something creative to the table when all publishers seem to be looking for are licensed and franchised games.

Modojo: What was your motivation to make QWAK for the GBA?

Jamie: I already had existing assets and code from the Amiga version; so it was always going to be a quick, easy job to do. My motivation for doing it? I guess I was hoping to sell it to a publisher. Also, it was fun to do! Aside any financial consideration, I wanted people to enjoy what I had made. Developing QWAK was a real labor of love for me, and I think when you make something like that, it's only natural that you want other people to enjoy it too.

Modojo: Was this your first project in the GBA home brew community?

Jamie: Not really. I've also developed technology demos and unfinished games for the GBA, including a very nice 'rotational isometric engine'. I was making a racing game with this. The technology was great, all highly optimized assembler code, with lots of 'neat tricks' in the code. I would have loved to have finished that game, but then, no matter how good (technically and playability wise) it might have been, there would have been next to no chance of finding a publisher for it (publishers only seem interested in sub-standard un-playable licensed games).

Modojo: A lot of home brew games never get past the download-able stage and into the commercial stage. Was it difficult to get the cartridges made and what made you want to do that as opposed to selling it as a rom download?

Jamie: It wasn't too difficult. It was more a matter of risk. I had to make the initial investment of buying the 300 carts, with no guarantee that they'd all sell. Once I had the 300 carts, there's also the thankless task of burning the QWAK ROM file on to them, one at a time, then sticking a little home-made label on them. I did it on a cart because I really wanted the game to be accessible to a larger audience, not everyone would know what to do with a ROM download. Selling QWAK as a download is certainly an option, and I may well do just that in future.

Modojo: How would you describe fan reaction to this game? I imagine there would be a number of people who remember playing this on the Amiga and are now thrilled to have this in portable form.

Jamie: Fan reaction has been FANTASTIC! People are invariably surprised at just how playable (and challenging) they are finding the game. I'm always very happy too, to get such a positive response from people about the game.

Modojo: Are you working on any future projects? A DS version maybe?

Jamie: I don't have any plans for do any more projects for the GBA, or the DS. They are both fantastic consoles to develop games on, and I would have loved to have gotten in to DS development (and I'm sure I could make some great game for the DS). However, I just can't see it happening, everything is tightly controlled by the powers that be, and they're driven by the desire to make money. There just doesn't seem to be any room for creative types like myself, who just want to follow our own hearts (creativity) and make the best games we can.

After interviewing the developers, I realized one thing. While there's usually no monetary pay-off to their hard work, a lot of them are happy to find an audience who also enjoys their projects. With all these bright ideas coming from the homebrew community, it kind of is a shame that big publishers are all but ignoring what could be the next great game.