Big Bang Mini is a shoot em up on the DS with a difference- and that difference is fireworks. Instead of simply firing weapons at enemies, you shoot fireworks, creating bright and colorful weapons of fun using the touch screen. Sound confusing? To learn more, we spoke to Camille Guermonprez- who represents one quarter of the development team and is a co-founder of Arkedo. We chat about the game, their previous DS title, what it is like to be in a development team of only four members and much more.

First up tell us about yourself and Arkedo, who you guys are and how you come to be?

Arkedo was founded at the beginning of 2006 by Aurélien and me. We met in my previous studio, which I founded 1999. The first studio was a more serious one: we grew to about 60 employees after six years. Then I got fired (I was the founder and CEO, it was a bit of a shock . So I sold my stake, and invested it –almost- all in Arkedo. The idea was to have about 18 months worth of cash, so we could make a game up until the end. And then look for a publisher. I know it may sound a bit crazy, but to be honest…it was. But it was our only chance to start making a “real game” (the previous studio was in mobile gaming). We then met Eric (Lead Dev) and Maïwenn (our dev intern then, now Arkedo n°4, and made Nervous Brickdown, some kind of Breakout on acid. I am sure you have heard about it, as we must have sold about 27 copies in Australia. I’m kidding. In fact, Nervous Brickdown sold pretty well, for this kind of title (about 100K worldwide). So with the money we got from NB, we had another 18 months paid for our next game: Big Bang Mini, which is just out now. All in all, it was a bit risky at first, but then it allows us to have complete creative control on our game from start to finish. This is a luxury we cherish.

To someone who is reading this and knows nothing about Big Bang Mini, tell them in a nutshell what it’s all about.

It’s a shmup. With fireworks. Go and buy it. … Hey, what else do you need? All right You move your ship with the stylus (for bullet dodging, mostly). And you also use your stylus to shoot fireworks at the baddies, just like striking a match. Of course, it gets trickier and trickier as you progress in the game (nine worlds, nine levels, plus a boss per world). To balance this, you get special features (homing missiles, mirror shields, time stoppers, etc), w

hich you activate either by making gestures with your stylus—for example: horizontal dash for shield, backward dash for stop time, hold stylus still for fireball—or by pressing a trigger while shooting for a homing missile. These features are unlocked as you progress in the game: some of them are specific to a world, some of them you keep for the rest of the game. This is the main part of the game, ie. the Arcade Mode. There are four others. The challenge mode is a score mode where you can publish your score on an online leaderboard; you can also track your friend’s progress with friend codes. This mode is heavily combo based, and can become quite hectic. I love it! The game has been out in the US for a month now, and we can see a pretty nice competition already. To be in the World Top 10, you now need almost a million points… Then, there is the VS. mode, with two DS consoles. You only need one cartridge. Hold your DS like a book (there is a left hand option), and shoot fireworks at your opponent. Add to this a little volleyball feeling, as you can pick your opponent’s shots when they fall into your screen, and throw them back (faster, of course) at your opponent. You have four power-ups to help you, but can only use them once during your match. If you finish all the bonus zones, you unlock an additional mode, the relax mode, which basically allows you to admire your fireworks without the fear of being shot at. Last is mission mode. You have to beat the main game to unlock this: think "advanced levels" when you killed GladOS. 25 missions to complete, with sick constraints—beat this level in less than 22 shots, kill this boss in 30 seconds, etc. AND if you finish this too, you get a surprise.

How did the idea of Big Bang Mini come about?

After Nervous Brickdown, we made a lot of prototypes. And we also did a post-mortem of Nervous Brickdown, and we felt that the boss of the shoot world was something we could dig a bit deeper. Voila, Big Bang Mini!

The game is completely touch screen controlled; tell us how it all works.

You can move your ship anywhere you want with the stylus. And when you are not moving your ship, you can – also with the stylus – shoot a firework in any direction, like striking a match. Most of the time, the baddies are in the upper screen. When you hit a baddie, a big firework is created. When you miss, it creates deadly bullets that you have to dodge. That is the basis. We wanted to keep it simple.

What was the easiest part, the hardest part and the most satisfying part about developing Big Bang Mini?

The easiest part was the decision to start Big Bang Mini. The most satisfying was to still have fun playing it 18 months down the road. The hardest part was our approval. We got rejected a lot. We’ll do better next time.

Your first DS game, Nervous Brickdown how did that go? What was the number one thing you learned about the DS from that game?

It went pretty well, and allowed us to invest again in Big Bang Mini, so we are happy. What we learned from it was that four people could make a game, have fun doing it, and see other people have fun playing it. We positively loved this lesson!

The game has had a lot of positive reaction on the internet, were you expecting that type of positive buzz?

Nope. To be perfectly honest, it is quite weird to go each day for 18 months in a small room, to make a game, and have no idea how it will turn out in the end. For the moment, we have been lucky, as we liked how our first two games looked and felt like in the end. The awful truth is that if we make one bad game, we’re dead. That’s quite an incentive…

What’s it like making a game with a smaller team as opposed to “normal” game development which usually a huge team.

I would not go back to the “normal” industry for my weight in gold (and I’m quite heavy). Everything is snappier. The team is great, and we are having a good time. Our focus on our game comes naturally, as we have reduced all the other aspects of a normal business to almost nothing. Not feeling the stress is also a plus (and I would add, a pre-requisite).

What’s next for you guys? DS again, or maybe the Wii? What about WiiWare and DSiWare?

Our current project is on the Wii. We would love to do some WiiWare and DSiWare (amongst other things), but we are only four people, so we need to focus on one thing at a time.

Thanks for your time!

Thank you! Hope you enjoy Big Bang Mini.

Thanks to all of those at Arkedo especially Camille, and Drew at THQ