Xbox Live Developer Interview: Glu Mobile, makers of Bug Village

Last week, WPCentral revealed that Bug Village would be the first freemium game on Windows Telephone. We shared a few details about how it would work and promised more than to come. Hither and so is the next installment of our Xbox Live Developer Interview series. This time, nosotros grill Mike DeLaet of Glu Mobile about Bug Village'due south revolutionary features and the challenges of bringing a freemium game to Xbox Live.

Hullo, Mike. Please tell the states about yourself and what you practice at Glu Mobile.

I am Mike DeLaet, VP of Sales & Marketing at Glu Mobile. I've been at Glu for over 2 years now and am responsible for the global smart telephone business organization, marketing and public relations.

Glu has an impressive library of games under its belt. Does your visitor have an overall approach to mobile game development?

Obviously our development strategy is highly confidential. Our overarching goal is to create games that are fun and enjoyable for our consumers.

Allow'south focus on your next big Windows Phone release, Bug Village. The game is already a popular coincidental city building game on the iOS, Android, and even the Chrome browser. What practice you think makes the genre appealing?

Problems Village is 1 of those titles that have a mass entreatment to all demographics. The high production value of the championship also makes it appealing with the 3D characters, which isn't something you lot typically get for Free.

What is the overall goal in Problems Village?

Similar any resource management game, the goal is to build the biggest and best village. Bug Village has a ton of content and quests to keep the consumer engaged for hours on end.

Problems Village utilizes two forms of currency: acorns and coins. What is each currency used for, and how is information technology acquired?

Acorns are obtained by playing through the game and can be used to buy items in the store. Coins are given out at the get-go of the game to get the thespian started and can also exist bought via In-App Purchase as well; too assuasive the user to buy items in the store. Some items require acorns, while others require coins.

What payment methods tin players use to purchase gilded coins? Can they utilise Microsoft Points?

Windows Phone payments work like whatsoever other piece of content. You can apply a credit card tied to your Xbox Live account or apply carrier billing if your detail carrier supports that option.

If I may inquire a selfish question, will Glu exist able to provide reviewers with codes for coins?

Unfortunately we take no technical way of providing virtual currency to whatever reviewers. Microsoft does non give us this ability.

The other versions of Bug Village take regular sales on currency and items. Will these sales extend to Windows Phone likewise?

Unfortunately we will not take the flexibility of making dynamic changes to the Bug Village economy after the fact like we are able to with iOS and Android. That existence said, nosotros practise look the capabilities of our titles on Windows Phone to better in due course and once that happens, we will extend the same capabilities to Windows Telephone as well.

Are there whatsoever Parental Controls in identify to foreclose children from making unauthorized purchases?

Our titles volition take advantage of any parental controls built into Windows Telephone. (Parental controls were promised with the Mango update but have notwithstanding to materialize. –ed.)

How many GamerScore worth of Achievements will Bug Village have? Will all Achievements crave the purchase of premium content before they tin can be unlocked?

Bug Hamlet will take 7 Xbox LIVE achievements at launch worth a total of 200 points towards your Gamer Score. No, y'all will not exist required to buy premium content to unlock these achievements.

Tin can players visit their friends' villages similar in the iOS version?

No, the version of Bug Village for Windows Telephone will not have a friend-visiting feature; all the same, we volition build out our feature ready for Windows Phone as the platform matures to back up such functionality.

Speaking of version differences, updates to Windows Telephone Xbox Alive titles are tricky business thanks to the Xbox Live certification process. While games similar Bug Hamlet on iPhone receive regular updates, the Windows Phone versions often go much longer between updates (run across Fruit Ninja, Pocket God, Doodle Jump, etc.) and thus lag backside the primary version in content. How will yous handle updates to Bug Hamlet on Windows Telephone?

Nosotros volition attach to whatsoever guidelines that Microsoft imposes on Windows Phone. It is an entirely different process than iOS or Android.

Slow update process or not, information technology's crawly that you guys are ushering in the official microtransaction model for Microsoft'due south mobile platform. How did Glu Mobile finish upwardly every bit the publisher of the first freemium Xbox Live game on Windows Phone?

We have been working with Microsoft very closely since the launch of Windows Phone and given how our business has shifted to freemium, we were obviously very keen on doing this on Windows Phone as well. Like any new technology there are technical challenges that must be overcome; yet, we were able to work through these with Microsoft to get Bug Hamlet submitted.

Will Bug Village crave the Windows Telephone Mango update?

Yes, Problems Village volition require Windows Phone Mango (seven.five) to run. Information technology likewise supports Fast App Switching…

Bug Village features colorful 3D graphics. What is the frame rate on the Windows Phone version?

We are operating at 30 fps on Windows Phone.

Volition the game support Button Notifications? If so, what information will they relay to players?

No, this is non available on [the Windows Phone version] at this time.

Does the Windows Phone port have a target release date nonetheless?

We plan to release Problems Village in the coming months.

Permit'south talk nearly Glu Mobile'southward previous Xbox Live releases: Glyder: Adventure Worlds, Guitar Hero v Mobile, and Deer Hunter 3D. Of the three, which has been the strongest seller?

Guitar Hero 5 and Deer Hunter 3D have been our strongest performers. Both are huge brands and accept a mass entreatment.

Deer Hunter 3D has one Achievement - 'All Yr Round' – that is completely unattainable by players. Volition this issue ever exist stock-still?

We are not aware of any bugs related to whatever of our Deer Hunter 3D achievements. If this is indeed an outcome, we will work with Microsoft to resolve it. (Don't say I never did anything for you, dearest reader! – ed.)

Finally, does Glu Mobile take any interest in bringing its licensed games like The Lord of the Rings: Middle Earth Defense or Family Guy Time Warped to Windows Phone?

No, our focus is on brining our superlative tier original IP to Windows Phone.

...

WPCentral volition have more news on those original IPs very soon! Tin't wait to play Bug Village? Chrome web browser users tin attempt the PC version right at present for complimentary.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-live-developer-interview-glu-mobile-makers-bug-village

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