Master of Defense Q&A by Game Tunnel

Q&A: Master of Defense
Q) As a first release Tower Defence, now Master of Defense is a fantastic game! What is the background of your studio?

Voodoo Dimention consist of two members- Arthur Ostapenko (me:) and Alex Backlanov. I'm doing all programming, game design and marketing works, Alex - art, models, textures, animations, cut scenes and sound works. We released small CD game some time ago, called "Epicenter: nuclear burn". This game was published by Idigicon and Akella.

Q) Speaking of that name change, how did it come about? What was the driving force behind the change?

A quote from our press release:
�€œMaster of Defense is a unique game in the casual games market�€? said Patrick Wylie, Vice President of Big Fish Games Studios. �€œWe decided to publish Master of Defense mainly because half of our company can�€™t stop playing it while the other half watches. Secondly, we think that its differentiated casual game style is just what a younger audience has been clamoring for an accessibly addictive RTS!"

So Big Fish Games is the publisher of our game :) The name change was their idea.

Q) For those of our readers who haven't yet played it (fools!), describe what you would call an average game of Master of Defense.

Player's task- build towers to protect world from monsters. Upgrade towers, upgrade skills, upgrade magic level, upgrade everything:)

Q) Like many great games Master of Defense is a seemingly simple concept: build turrets let them destroy a parade of enemies. When did you realize that it 'worked' and was turning into something special?

Personally I love defense theme games. Half of Epicenter: nuclear burn's missions was "defense". So this was compilation of my pure "defense game" ideas.

Q) I have to admit I didn't pick up on the experience points the first several times I played the game, which of course makes the game MUCH more difficult. What lead to including experience points in a strategy game?

Experience points just helps player. They are like additional help and additional power. I think they are organically integrated into game.

Q) What feature in Master of Defense do you think is the most innovative?

Hmm. The game is unique in casual games market, as I know. :)

Q) How did being an independent developer help you in the creation of Master of Defense?

We just made game that we love to play. No pressure from publishers etc.

Q) What type of player do you think will most enjoy Master of Defense?

It is male. Maybe not very young. Who likes strategy games but not very hardcore.

Q) What was the most difficult or trickiest part of Master of Defense to program?

Programming was easy for me, the most difficult thing was to keep game as simple as possible. :)
We had a lot of ideas about new towers, abilities, features etc, but wanted to make game very easy and simple.
Also balancing the game was not an easy task.

Q) Independent studios have much shorter turn-around times, meaning games are often released ever 6 months instead of every 2 years. What do you expect the future holds for Voodoo Dimention? Are you planning to get to work on another title or focusing on the success of Master of Defense?

I have a few very good ideas in my head. Each of the concepts are very different, but currently I can't say for sure what kind of game we will make next.

We want to focus on unusual (not match3, zuma-like etc) casual games. We want to bring some more innovation into casual games.

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By: Russell Carroll
Posted: Wednesday April 26, 2006