Developers Cubed: Doulin On Deck


Gizmodo’s Developers Cubed series offers a behind the scenes look into Australia’s up and coming dev scene. This week: We talk to Alisatir Doulin of Bane Games about how he develops for multiple platforms on a budget, and discuss which handsets he is looking forward to in the next 12 months.

Who are you and where do you work?
Hi, I’m Alistair Doulin and I run Bane Games. We’re a small indie game developer based in Brisbane with five members working out of our homes.

Why do we know you? What have you created?
We’ve released three games over the past two years. Our latest game, Battle Group came out last year on four platforms simultaneously. Before that we created Scoop Groups for Baskin Robbins in Australia and Flick Buddies was our debut title.

Before working at Bane Games I worked for Auran on the Battlestar Galactica game for XBLA and a 3D home building program.

What platforms do you develop for?
We develop for iOS, Android, PC and Mac. We use Unity as our game engine which lets us target multiple platforms rapidly and for a reasonable price. We are excited about developing for the Microsoft Surface in the future.

What are you working on right now?
Right now we’re working on updates for Battle Group and prototyping new game ideas. We like to continually come up with new ideas for any of our target platforms to see what’s fun and experiment with different controls.

What do you think about the rise and rise of App Stores? How has it influenced your titles?
One of the main reasons we left mainstream game development to work on independent titles was due to the rise of the various App Stores. We feel this is an awesome time to be an independent developer with the opportunity to reach a global market. With the rise of crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter we are also excited to see more games being made that publishers have previously turned their back on.

What’s your favourite app that you didn’t create?
I keep coming back to Ski Safari at the moment. It was made by a couple of friends and its super addictive. It goes to show that single button games are often the best and most successful on mobile.

What phone do you use? Why?
I’m currently using an iPhone 4 as it’s the best phone on the market for email, gaming and usability.

I’m really excited about the new Windows Phone 8 and I think I’ll be switching over once they are released. I haven’t found an Android I’m completely happy with yet but I’m hopeful they will continue to get better as time goes on.

What advice do you have for budding Aussie developers out there?
My best piece of advice is to find something you love and build it. Even small games take months to create and especially if you’re building something in your spare time, it’s important that you love what you are building to keep motivated. Everyone has an idea for a great app or game for their mobile device and its definitely worth building if you think you’ll use it. Chances are there are a lot of other people out there that think the same way and you can even make some money if they like it enough.


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