Q1. First off can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your company.

 

Hi Nathan,

I've been working in the games industry for 15 years now, with over 16 titles world wide spanning many different genres. Four years ago I had the opportunity to start my own game studio Zordix for game development as well as publishing.

 

Q2. How many people work with you currently?

 

Our office holds between ten to twenty people depending on the current projects.

 

Q3. As an indie developer it must be hard trying to get publicity, have you encountered such hardship?

 

To avoid hardships, our focus has been on digital distribution for the Nintendo platforms. The eShop offers great visibility, availability, and good press coverage.

 

Following the success of our Moto Racing games with over 13 million downloads, we can now expand naturally into the Nintendo space where the early buyers of 3DS and Wii U has proved to be the exact right audience. Anyone looking for exciting racing games in the 3DS eShop will find them quickly as there is a limited number of competitors in the genre.

 

Q4. What do you think of the next generation consoles and which you would you rather develop with between the Xbox one or the ps4?

 

The next generation consoles are perfect for our games and how we want to develop them going forward. My prefered choice is Wii U as a next step, then to be kind to answer your question possibly PS4 and finally XBox One. It all depends on the developer support; and right now I think Nintendo is doing the best job.

 

For each new generation of consoles, sales has increased by an impressive 20%. Even if that figure should be lower this time around, it is a huge market that many new developers might oversee. Our main idea from the start, is to be very good at the Nintendo platforms, and let that focused know-how generate business opportunities as the new platforms are fresh.

 

Q5 Two of your titles that you’ve released “Valet Parking 1989” and “1950s Lawn Mower Kids” are all nostalgia games all based in the past, is this going to be a running theme with your games or is it just a one off?

 

These games are actually the start of two new interesting gaming worlds we plan to expand with more games.

 

Our 1950s Lawn Mower Kids are called Tom, Nancy, and Tim (The TNT Kids). In the next game, called Box Car Kids, they have taken the engines from their lawn mowers and the players get to build their own box cars. The cars are then raced like in Mario kart, with lots of inventive pickups to use. Mr Mowman from the original game happens to work as a researcher in Area 51 and his basement is full of 50s style gadgets that he is happy to provide for the kids.

 

Valet Parking 1989 takes place in a world full of humour, characters and music themes inspired by the 80s. We have a world full of appropriate minigames lined up to be strung together into the ultimate 80s experience that we think will entertain both those who remember and those who are new to that time period.

 

Q6 Your recent title Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D hit the E store February 7th, But what inspired you to make a fire-fighting simulator? Because it doesn’t seem like something you’d expect to find on the Nintendo eShop.

 

There are too few first person 3D action games where you get to do meaningful things like rescuing people instead of killing them. Real Heroes: Firefighter, originally made by Scientifically Proven, has been a huge success on Wii, so porting it and publishing it in Europe in full 3D on a 3DS felt as a challenging but natural step for us at Zordix. It is a full size boxed Wii game, including controlling all firefighter tools of the trade and it has famous Hollywood film and TV star voice actors that spice your hero's journey up. We managed to shoe-horn all of the original production value into the 3DS and adapt the gameplay perfectly for the new controls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q7. Have you got any advice to aspiring game developers?

 

Yes, certainly. Look into the education side first; either study Computer Science on a University level, or seek out the different schools focusing on Game Development to match your interest. If you are extremely creative and productive, with the right tools you might be able to make games on your own at home, at least if you for some reason can allocate a lot of time. Here in Umeå, Sweden, I got a friend called Niflas (Niflas Games), a one person do-it-all that proves that anything is possible.

 

Q8 what’s your opinion on E3 and what is the game of the show for you?

 

E3 has always been great to visit both for business and pleasure and continues to be very important. I think the highlight for me this year's E3 has been the clash of the titans Sony vs Microsoft that started there and is now continuing. If I have to pick one game, it would be Mario Kart 8 for the Wii U which looks great.

 

Q9. If you could work on any franchise you wanted what would it be and why?

 

I think I would enjoy working on the Fire Emblem series; to see if the story and characters could be developed even further. Then, besides fantasy, there are also many inspiring parts of the real world with potential to become new franchises.

 

Q10. Can you tell us anything about more upcoming titles you’re working on?

 

We've got a brand new watercraft game, Aqua Moto Racing 3D, coming out on Nintendo 3DS this summer. It's an extreme racing game that lets you ride the waves and stunt for boosts in exotic environments. Easy to get into, really fun, in short it is a title we are very pleased with and proud of. We just released a preview film for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we have some more 3DS and Wii U projects under way that I'd be happy to talk more about when they become official.

 

Q11. Do you listen to the one up gaming podcast, and if not WHY?

 

We're trying to follow all game media including the latest game trailers each day on the lunch break. I'll ask our configuration manager to add your channel to the system.

 

Q12. Final question, in Sweden do you call them Swedish meatballs or just meatballs?

 

Meatballs.

As a nation we are also famous for our ability to produce not just one, but several games on the world's top-10 best-selling list every year. I guess I'll wave the ”Made in Sweden” flag here. ;-)

 

 

Many thanks

 

Nathan

 

 

Thank you Nathan, it was a pleasure! Have a nice week and I look forward to your podcasts.

 

Matti