Welcome to back for part three of our interview with Jason Surguine (Jaybot).  Luckily, we were able to catch up with him when he stopped for a sports drink break, half-way up Mount Takao.  so, let’s get started with our third installment, direct from Tokyo, Japan.

Tekipaq: Welcome Back Jason!  Let’s start out today’s interview with a discussion about Mobile Game Platforms.  What is your favorite mobile gaming platform?

Jaybot: A notepad and a pencil.  Again, if we’re including all the mobile platforms: I’ll have to admit to the Nintendo DS. The clamshell form factor and the touch-screen combined with buttons (and microphone, and etc etc etc) was simply a brilliant design. Many game designers and developers took notice, and it now has an impressive library of great games (and surprisingly, applications).

Tekipaq: Hey, I was expecting a mobile phone to be your answer.  What about your favorite Mobile Phone or PDA type device?

Jaybot: Ok…well..as far as mobile phones as a gaming platform… I have to say the iPhone for now, simply because of the sheer amount of cool titles. However, the G1 Google phone is a slick piece of hardware. If the Android Market backend was as robust and well-known as iTunes, it would be a true contender. Strangely enough, Google doesn’t seem to have enough clout in this area (geez, you don’t hear that often).

Tekipaq: Which Operating system  do you think has the most potential for games, and in your opinion, the strengths and weaknesses of the different platforms.

Jaybot: Nowadays, the Operating System isn’t much of a hurdle to making great games, it is the strength of the hardware itself. As far as processing power and screen resolution, it’s become a level playing field between most phones. Especially since HTC still makes about 90% of the devices you see out there, including the Android G1.

• The iPhone is fast and has a great screen, but it is missing real buttons. Arguments can go either way, but in my opinion, you can’t beat a real directional pad and real buttons for gaming. The Accelerometer (or whatever you will call it) is a gimmick. There, I said it. There is nothing wrong with it being a gimmick, I’m sure it can be used for some really neat things, once or twice (like Wario Ware Twisted on the Gameboy Advance). But as far as games go, especially on a mobile phone, it simply can’t hold water (try any of the racing games which use Accelerometer control and you will see why).
• The Google G1 phone is a great piece of hardware. It even has four proper buttons on the face and scrolling mouse-nub-thing which can double as a Directional Pad. In addition, you can slide out an actual keyboard full of tons of hardware keys to play with.  However, we haven’t done any actual performance tests for gaming yet (we’re still porting our gaming engine to it), so I can’t comment on the speed yet.

Tekipaq: Since iPhone games are so inexpensive, how can developers survive in today’s market and do you think that .99 games are a fad or do you think all the “little guys” will be forced out of developing mobile applications by the larger companies?

Jaybot: Volume. While games are being sold at $0.99 on iTunes the amount of copies that are sold (compared to $5-20 on Windows Mobile on Handango) are astronomically different and more than make up for the price difference. However, it does cause a bit of a conflict of selling the same title on both platforms at different prices. “Why is game X more expensive on Windows Mobile? Is it better?” This is why PDAmill dropped the prices of all their games to match their iPhone counterparts, even if they do take a huge hit for it, it seems more fair to the consumer.

Ironically, I think it’s the big studios which are losing the most money. To build a commercial game like Metal Gear Solid Touch or Resident Evil 4 mobile (from a company like Konami or Capcom), it costs much more money to develop the game. Even selling it at $8, they will possibly never recoup the development and advertising costs. However, I think their aim is actually to be on top with their brand and lose the money (similar to the PS3 for Sony or the Xbox for Microsoft, neither of which turn a profit, but exist as a top brand for their parent company).

Tekipaq: What about the little guys?

Jaybot: Independent developers will never be forced out of what is really an independent platform (iPhone, mobile phones). The big guys already have the reigns on the DS and the PSP (and Wii,Xbox,PS3) to worry about. Mobile phones are just extra advertising for them.

Tekipaq: Is it possible to simultaneously develop games for all platforms or do you create for one and then start from scratch on the others?

Jaybot: It is quite possible to simultaneously develop games for many platforms at once. That’s pretty much what we do at PDAmill Game Studios now. We develop games using one engine, which is ported to each new platform. While we must tailor each game’s media (e.g. graphics, music, user interface) to each new device (due to new screen resolutions, hardware buttons, touch-screens, memory constraints), the underlying engine remains the same.

Tekipaq: What do you think the future of mobile gaming is?

Jaybot: Well, we have more storage capacity than ever, which means mobile games can contain better quality media (e.g. music , video, and graphics). We also have more processing power than ever, which can mean flashier graphics and smoother gameplay. This also makes mobile development much easier than it used to be and can attract more talented developers.

I imagine it will trend towards that for awhile. However, I believe that eventually game developers will move away from the temptation of using the advanced hardware and storage capabilities as a crutch and will focus more on mobile game design.

I’ll contradict myself and say that the best mobile games actually fall into both categories: Games that are tailored to mobile experiences, can be picked up at any time, and be played in short bursts (Bowling for Burgers, GameBox Classics). And games that are extremely engaging and suck you in just like a full console title, in which you can (and want to) play for extended periods in one sitting (Arvale, Anthelion).

Tekipaq: I would like to ask you a few questions about the new game engine on your website game sample, is that engine in current offerings for PDAMill or will this be new in upcoming games?

Jaybot: That depends on which engine you refer to… The Arvale: Really Short Tale on my website was made with a completely different engine outside of PDAmill. I was simply testing out different engines and made the game as a prototype to see how viable it was to make a new 2D Arvale on the PC. I don’t really plan on developing it any further as a mobile game. As a PC game… who knows?

• The PDAmill Arvale engine is still alive and well, and we do plan on doing at least one more game with it.  The engine used for Broken Blueprint (another sample game on my blog) is quite similar to an engine we have at PDAmill for Graphic Adventure games. However, that project was cancelled, so I decided to continue it in on my own in another engine and piece together something for people to enjoy (didn’t want all that nice artwork to go to waste!).  Here are some screenshots from Broken Blueprint:

• If you’re referring to the rumored 3D Arvale pictures I posted at one time. It’s still a rumor J

Tekipaq: Since we interviewed you last time do you have any new Gaming News for our readers?

Jaybot: As far as games…Arvale: Short Tales for iPhone is quite underway and should be finished quite soon. We’re pulling apart and doing cosmetic surgery on the Windows Mobile version, beefing up each individual ch aracters adventure and are going to release it as four separate games (each character will get their own game). Varju, the druid character will be released first.

GameBox Classics Gold for iPhone is almost finished. This will be a huge overhaul from the original GameBox Classics and will include brand new visuals, levels, and gameplay from the old Windows Mobile classic.

Tekipaq: Thanks for sharing this with our readers, I’m glad to hear that some more iPhone applications will be coming out soon!  Since your are living in Japan, I thought I would end of the interview discussing your experiences in Japan.  Do you have a blog regarding your Japan experiences?

Jaybot: Yes…For my last 20 days here, I’m doing a daily blog on how a lazy, cheap, person (that’s me!) can live in Tokyo. Showing the non-touristy places, cheap places to eat, weird food (of course) and even the excitement of doing mundane things like laundry. I even attempt some cultural education on Japanese toilets I’m on Day 9 now.

Tekipaq: I know that you were involved in creating a Pachinko game for PDAMill, however, I’m curious as to whether or not the real game still exists in Japan. Please do tell us about it?

Jaybot: Sure.  Actually, they have real pachinko EVERYWHERE here, it’s crazy. Pachinko is just as popular as Karaoke (which is HUGE) in Japan. I really should go play some, you know, for uh… research (Pachinko Go 2!)

Tekipaq: Do you have any pointers for our readers that might be interested in learning Japanese?

Jaybot: The best way to learn Japanese is to learn all the Kanji first. Even before learning the Kana. I know that sounds kinda crazy, but it is the fastest and best way. A brilliant guy named James Heisig figured this out and wrote a couple of books on it (and a brilliant method of remembering what they mean and how to write them). Once you have the first 2042 Kanji down (which can really be done in about 3 months)…

Tekipaq: I wish they told me about that when I was taking Japanese in college   What do you recommend next?

Jaybot: Then learn the Kana (that takes less than a week). Then you can start lots and lots of fun! That’s reading Manga, watching movies, dramas, reading websites, and playing Video Games (of course!) anything as long as it is in Japanese and you enjoy doing it. Any time you find something interesting (a sentence, word or phrase) and want to learn it, write it down and then put it into an SRS program such as Anki. A Spaced Repetition System is a fancy way of saying Flash Card, but with the added benefit of being electronic, automatic, and with an algorithm made by some genius German scientist.

Tekipaq: What about conversational Japanese?

Jaybot: Don’t even worry about speaking it. Just concentrate on lots of input. A bunch of bright Polish kids figured this out when learning English. They have a wonderful website (in English) here: http://antimoon.com/ Then another brilliant guy figured out how to do this with Japanese at All Japanese All the Time here: http://www.alljapaneseallthetime.com/blog/about

I’m not affiliated with these people at all. I’m just spreading the love

Tekipaq: What was the link to your Japan Blog?

Jaybot: Lazy Tokyo: It’s in the same place as my regular blog, but you can start from day one here: http://jaybot7.com/blog/the-lazy-man’s-way-to-tokyo-day-1

Tekipaq: Thanks Jason for your time and efforts and for providing our readers with a first-hand look at Mobile Game Development, Mobile Music and for this wrap up session.  Enjoy your stay in Japan and please keep in touch!  Sayooonara Jason.

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