The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Mana Bomb

Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Mana Bomb, two guys who didn't let their location keep them from pursuing their dream of being extravagantly rich game developers.

How did you or your company get started?

Dan Weatherman - Programmer: A group of friends were eating lunch one fateful day and between the fajitas and enchiladas we started brainstorming about a game we would like to play. By the time we were done, we had a good starting point for what turned out to be Colony Defense. I thought, "Hey, I can do that I bet" and Jason Boren (designer) said, "Well let's do this then!" Boom, Mana Bomb was born. Wow, we had NO clue how much work it would eventually take to get our game to the point it is today. It's probably a good thing too, as I don't think any of us just love a ton of extra work. But here we are and we're very proud of what we've been able to accomplish.

Jason Boren - Janitor: I just wanted to do it, create something ourselves that we've enjoyed from everyone else for so long. I literally told Dan I would do anything to make it work, including being the janitor for our company. Nothing against janitors, but they really have nothing to offer a game company starting out who doesn't even have an office.

Why did you want to make games?

DW: Like most people I think: Being able to buy sports teams, mansions in Rio, riches, and glory beyond compare. That and we've spent the majority of our lives playing games. I started with pong, Atari, Coleco Vision, VIC-20's, etc... (oh yeah, I'm the old one of the bunch) and have been in love with games since the start. I've tinkered with making games off and on for twenty years now. Anyway, after that long playing games, we would always come up with suggestions of what would have made the games we were playing even better. So, now we've put our passion for games into their creation. It's a great feeling!

JB: Blizzard. Blizzard made me do it. It started with Blackthorne, then Warcraft II (I played Warcraft I later, I promise), and then World of Warcraft. If I can enjoy something that much that someone made, I've got to just try to give something back.

Why be independent rather than try to work for someone else?

DW: Our homes are here in Oklahoma City. There isn't anyone to go to work for anywhere near were we live. So, we changed that. I think a dream of ours is to get to a point where we can hire more people from the great local talent pool here. Another perk of doing it ourselves is we can make what we want. No marketing pitches to the execs, no working on page 7214 of a built in game codex that nobody will ever read. Sure we have to do all of the heavy lifting but we also get to work on all the fun stuff as well!

What's your game called, and what's it about?

DW: Our game is called Colony Defense. You start the game as a low-ranking military envoy tasked with guarding remote mining planets. It doesn't take long before an alien horde shows up determined to destroy the mining outposts you protect. Using an arsenal of ten unique, upgradable weapons towers and a high-powered ion orbital cannon, you must defend multiple bases on 34 planets. Your point of view is in orbit above each planet so you are constantly on the move to place your towers and keep the invaders at bay. Spinning around an entire planet and blasting aliens from space really adds an arcade action element to the established genre of tower defense. This is NOT a game where you can setup some initial defenses and then go make a sandwich.

Do you feel like you're making the game you always wanted to play?

DW: I believe we made the game that we wanted to play in this genre. With that said, we're just getting started! We have some great ideas for several games and they are all games we would want to play. Why would you work on anything else?

How long did it take you to create?

DW: A loooong time. We started in September 2009 with the first rough prototype. I have never done any kind of 3D programming before so it was basically all "learn as we go". We had what amounts to a zero dollar budget so for the longest time, art assets were hard to come by. As time wore on though, we wound up meeting some great people that chipped in on art and sound. Without those guys, we never would have finished. It really was a battle of perseverance. There are so many sites these days with all kinds of information and some great books on game programming as well. Those resources proved invaluable. Another naive move on our part was we wanted to release on both the PC and the XBOX 360. Both platforms have their own sets of issues and nuances that we had to work through. We also managed to get a publishing deal with a company in Russia so we had to deal with localization as well. It all turned out to be a lot to bite off the first time out of the gate.

JB: I really can't stress enough what Dan said, if you've never tried to make a game its a huge eye-opener when you dive in.

What are you proudest of about your game?

DW: We did it! We made a game that we enjoy and we're really proud of the results.

JB: No one really thought we would accomplish anything, and now here we are. It makes me smile every day, it's great just completing your goals and putting something out there.

What one thing would you tell someone to convince them to get your game?

DW: Arcade action tower defense in full 3D. Sound fun? It is!

JB: I dare you to beat every level without losing any of your population. Double-dog dare you. Bonus points if you can do it without using any talent points. As a matter of fact, the first person to send me (jason aat manabomb dawt com) a screen shot of the talent screen with 68 available points (win every level with full population, and not spend any of the talent points), I'll send them a Mana Bomb t-shirt.

What's next?

DW: We have a lot of great ideas up our sleeves. We've learned so much during the development of Colony Defense that we are eager to apply that experience to some truly genre-bending games. I think a lot of them would be far to risky for big game companies to try, but that's what makes us tick. All I can say is keep an eye on www.manabomb.com and I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Colony Defense is available for PC and Xbox Live Indie Games on Mana Bomb's official site. If you'd like to have your own shot at converting our readers into fans, email justin aat joystiq dawt com, subject line "The Joystiq Indie Pitch." Can't get enough indie? Check out the Pitch archives.