Interview | Mekensleep Talks Soul Bubbles on Nintendo DS

Olivier Lejade, Creative Director at Mekensleep: Well, when you've worked for over three years on something, it always feels great to hear that people are enjoying what you did. It makes you feel like the pain was worth it and that your time was well spent.

AR: Have you actually heard any negative comments at all, or 'constructive criticism' that you can take into consideration for your next project?

OL: Certainly! I think the biggest lesson I've learned is that we can significantly increase the contrast between the difficulty curve for experienced gamers and the curve for beginners. We could also raise the bar for the end-game a little.

AR: Are you able to say roughly how much the game has sold worldwide so far?

OL: Not enough *smiles*

AR: In your honest opinion, do you feel that Eidos gave the game enough support? And do you feel about the limited Toys 'R' Us release in the US severely restricted the game's performance in that market?

OL: It depends what kind of support we're talking about. Eidos was very enthusiastic about the game during acquisition and extremely supportive during production. They basically gave us everything we asked for! Things were very different on the sales and marketing front, though, and it's been heartbreaking to see how much marketing (or a lack of it in this case) can hurt a good game. In their defence, I have to say that Eidos has been going through rough waters of their own, which did not help create favourable conditions for the launch of Soul Bubbles.

Concerning the TRU exclusive, although I understand it makes it difficult for gamers, I'm not sure Eidos has such a great distribution service in the US to have made much of a difference: witness what happened to Arkedo's Nervous Brickdown. At least the TRU exclusive came with some guaranteed sales, which helped our bottom line.

AR: Looking back now, what are you most proud of about the project, and is there anything you would like to have done differently? And are you still happy you chose DS instead of something like WiiWare?

OL: Soul Bubbles was made specifically for the touch-screen of the DS and it definitely was a great platform to work with. I'm still not sure how the controls would translate to the Wii remote.

What makes me proudest about the project is having actually completed it! It was a huge leap of faith for a tiny, unknown, unproven Indie studio like us to be able to finance, create and ship a completely original game of high quality. Believing in yourself sometimes works out against all odds...And, of course, there are things I would like to have done differently but hey, hindsight is always 20/20!

AR: Is it true that the last few stages were not as polished as you may have liked due to time constraints? And were there any other problems faced during development?

OL: Whoever said that? *smiles* The difficulty curve ramps up very abruptly on the last world and maybe if we had had more time we would have tuned it better. But lots of gamers enjoyed it like that, so...As for other problems, what can I say? Making games is all about solving problems! Recruiting, game design, graphics, programming, administrative, financial, human relationship, marketing problems, etc...There are hundreds of problems, every day that need to be solved, and the better you solve them, the better the game becomes.

AR: Have you retained the rights to Soul Bubbles, or did the deal with Eidos mean they control it now? In either case, is a Soul Bubbles 2 likely?

OL: We own the rights to Soul Bubbles. As for a sequel to Soul Bubbles, I don't know: should there be one?

AR: Would you consider including something like a Level Editor and online Wi-Fi sharing of gamers' creations in a potential sequel?

OL: We would have loved to do that with Soul Bubbles, but there were some awkward technical issues that made it impossible.

AR: What is next on the cards for Mekensleep - Wii, WiiWare, DS, or some other platform? Are you able to give any preliminary details or even hints towards your next game?

OL: It's too early, I'm not sure myself.

AR: With the iPhone quickly garnering more and more support from developers, is it something you will be looking into eventually?

OL: I was convinced the iPhone was going to take off as a platform just as much as I was about the DS and we discussed porting Soul Bubbles to it while it was in development. But we didn't have enough energy to do both at the same time and now the iPhone is fast becoming as crowded as the DS, so I'm concerned about the timing.

AR: (This is a question from Camille at Arkedo) What are your thoughts about the retail scene in general? Do you feel the system is on the verge of a collapse and Indies should take the power back?

OL: Camille knows how to get me ranting... *smiles* I think retail is very, very sick. Mostly, it's inconvenient, games are too expensive and the money all goes in the hands of retailers. With shelves full of garbage, the signal-to-noise ratio is catastrophically bad. The public is being force fed crap with the help of massive marketing. I do not think this is a sustainable situation and yes, I am hoping Indies will find ways through alternative business models to take the power back.

AR: And what are your thoughts on digital distribution, via WiiWare and DSiWare for instance, being a viable model for developers?

OL: I think it's a no-brainer. Considering the ridiculous (if any) margins developers make on retail, it can only be better online. At a minimum you're getting back manufacturing and distribution costs. More if you're smart…

AR: Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Is there anything else you would like to add about Soul Bubbles, your company or anything else in general?

OL: Thanks for playing Soul Bubbles and supporting Indie gaming: we definitely need it!

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