Awakening Kingdoms Developer Interview on All About Casual Game
Here’s another interview about Awakening Kingdoms, this time with All About Casual Game. Rachelle is the lead designer for this project, and has much to share about its game development! Read the original article here.
Awakening Kingdoms – Developer Interview
by All About Casual Game on January 15, 2014
We bet many of you are already being caught up in the beautiful world of Awakening after this F2P spin-off, Awakening Kingdoms was released roughly a month ago. Today, Rachelle Herrera, the game designer of Awakening Kingdoms is here to talk with us about the development of this game.
Please introduce your development team
Hello! I’m Rachelle, a game designer from Boomzap. I work together with a team of artists and developers from different parts of Asia to produce a spin-off based on one of our HOPAs. Awakening Kingdoms is our studio’s second F2P game and our biggest release so far!
There are quite a few F2P HOG games in the market, what makes Awakening Kingdoms so special?
Most F2P HOGs usually focus on the hidden object mechanics. We’ve made Awakening Kingdoms extra special by adding features that players loved from the HOPA series. Aside from allowing them to explore beautiful hidden object scenes, we’ve mixed it with other game mechanics such as building your own kingdom, decorating your castle, customizing your pet and also playing various mini-games and puzzles that would make the story more interactive and enjoyable.
Is it more difficult to develop Awakening Kingdoms compared to the traditional Awakening games?
Boomzap is known to have released several titles of PC hidden object games so diving into the F2P genre and creating Awakening Kingdoms was a real challenge for the whole studio. We had to research, adjust and develop new tech. It was a challenge but we’re glad to have made it; it’s a continuous learning process for everyone.
What is your favorite feature in Awakening Kingdoms?
Having mini-scenes inside HO scenes is something that other Free-to-Play HO games don’t have. In Awakening Kingdoms, you have to unlock these mini-scenes by doing a quest or playing a minigame to open it. It was fun coming up with creative ways of unlocking new locations. I also think it adds an additional challenge and fun factor to open these mini-scenes and see what’s behind it.
What do you think is the most important aspect in a freemium game?
I’m a F2P player too and what draws me to these type of games is that I can play for free! And I’m not forced to pay for premium content and still enjoy the game.
F2P games are open to both paying and non-paying players. I think its important to be able to engage the players to keep coming back to the game on a daily basis. To those who do purchase, developers should make sure that it’s worth every penny!
Would you recommend this version of Awakening to fans of the franchise or new players?
We welcome both new players and long-time fans. New players can still enjoy the game and won’t miss out on anything. At the same time, it’s a chance for us to introduce the world of Awakening and hopefully they’d be interested to follow Sophia’s journey in the HOPA series. Long-time fans of the franchise will also enjoy seeing familiar characters in the Awakening series and learn more about them.
Can players expect some exciting updates in the near future?
Yes! The good thing about F2P games is that the adventure doesn’t end after a couple of hours. We’ll be adding new hidden object scenes, towns, characters, minigames and a whole new series of quests for players to explore.
Are there any upcoming projects currently under development that you would like to share with us and the readers?
We are currently developing a lot of new games in our studio. Fans can look forward to sequels of their favorite HOPA series as well as a new HOPA franchise. At the same time we are working on new titles for mobile, both F2P and non-F2P. Whether you’re a traditional player or a social gamer, there is something for everyone to look forward to! Those who are subscribed to our Very Important Players (VIP) newsletter can expect regular updates on this. If you’re not a Boomzap VIP yet, you can sign up on this link: http://www.boomzap.com/sign-up-for-our-newsletter Thank you again for playing and we hope you continue to support us!