Count To A Billion Interview With RAWR! Interactive's Pedro Alejandro Wunderlich
We take a break from this intense numbers game to talk a little shop, specifically future updates.
While no official (or even unofficial) scientific studies have been conducted, there's a good chance RAWR! Interactive's iPhone game, Count to a Billion, increases muscle mass in one's biceps by 38.9 percent. This is arguably the most intense button masher ever conceived, a title that makes Nintendo's Mario Party games seem weak by comparison. Blisters? Get out of here with your silly blisters.
On that note, we caught up with RAWR!'s Pedro Alejando Wunderlich to find out how he dreamed up this insane number cruncher.
What inspired you to create Count to a Billion? Haven't you heard that high scores died in the 90s?
The first thought that led to Count to a Billion was, why aren't most games taking full advantage of the iPhone's multi-touch screen? It's such a powerful screen that can support hundreds of taps per second, but it seems most games strive to use as few fingers as possible. So we saw an opportunity there.
The other opportunity that we saw was, many games are very laid-back, chill games that you can play in bed before going to sleep. We thought, how can we make a game that's exactly the opposite? Extremely physically demanding, ultra intense and make the user sweat after playing a few games.
Count to a Billion is a result of brainstorming ideas based on these two opportunities. Oh, I think 2012 is going to be the year high scores make a big comeback.
That said, what's your high score?
52.9 billion so far. I'm actually in position number two on Game Center right now. There's a dude with 61.8 billion! Crazy.
How many people worked on this title, and where are you based?
RAWR! Interactive is an army of two brothers, my brother Mario and myself, Pedro. We're based in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
In the trailer, you take aim at Angry Birds. Why did you single that game out, specifically, or was it random?
It was by design. We created that scene to contrast the lack of intensity in one of the most popular games out there, with our ridiculously intense game. It's not to put down Angry Birds, just a mechanism to illustrate a point: you've been playing these laid-back, chill games for years, it's time for some ultra intense iOS gaming.
What are the long term plans for Count to a Billion? Will we see updates? New widgets, perhaps?
We have big plans: new challenges, new widgets, the possibility of accelerometer-based widgets, an iPad exclusive version, a tournament edition in the future and a bunch of other "secret weapons" that would land me in Guantanamo Bay if I share them now.
We noticed there's no full screen iPad support. What's up with that?
Count to a Billion on the iPad offers so many unique opportunities over the iPhone. Two-handed widgets, split-screen versus play and tougher/faster widgets. We're designing an iPad-specific version of Count to a Billion that will take full advantage of the screen real estate.
Any chance of seeing this game on Android?
Oh, you can count on it. See what I did there?
So how about some tips?
Ah, yes, tips. We're actually working on creating a new website for Count to a Billion for future tournaments, complete with a technique page with tips. In the meantime, here's a few:
-Get your elbow close to your body. This way, you isolate the tricep and can get the hand to tremble really quickly on top of the iPhone.
-The hand that holds the iPod or iPhone should be able to twist and turn freely.
-Use all five fingers when possible.
-Hit the practice room to perfect the widgets you have trouble with.
