We had the opportunity to ask Americo Amorim, founder and CEO of MusiGames Studio some questions regarding their newest iPhone game, the eagerly anticipated DJ Nights : Global Tour and their partnership with power publisher Clickgamer. Here is what he had to say:
Congratulations on the imminent release of DJ Nights, we are really excited to get our fingers on this one.
First off, how did the idea for DJ Nights and your collaboration with Clickgamer come about? Did you shop around your game to multiple publishers before deciding on Clickgamer, or did they see the game and approach you about distributing it?
We have been working with Clickgamer from early on in the game’s dev cycle. We started developing DJ Nights on our own, and once we had an initial demo we looked for a leading publisher to help us with the release. We spoke with many top publishers, and Clickgamer folks were enthusiastic from the beginning. They gave us valuable feedback during the development process, helping us to make DJ Nights even better than it already was!
Let’s face it, there are already a couple of serious power houses in the rhythm game space on the iPhone. What made you decide to take on the likes of Tap Tap Revenge and Rock Band? Are you hoping that your focus on electronic music and the turntable element, will address an untapped (no pun intended) area of the market?
To be honest, our goal is to be the powerhouse in mobile music games. Other brands started earlier on iPhone (Tap Tap) or spend a lot of money on advertising (Rock Band). On a different note (pun intended) we have eight years of expertise in designing music software and we genuinely live and breathe the music just like the fans. That makes DJ Nights an unparalleled experience for people that play it.
We come from D’Accord Music Software, where we created applications that are used by millions of musicians worldwide. So, with our unique computer music background we believe we’re on the edge of innovation.
We love electronic music and turntables; I was a DJ when I was a teenager, so that was probably why the idea came in the first place. But of course those elements make the game different than the existing ones.
Of course we think the game will stand out because of its soundtrack, with leading dance music artists such as Tiësto and Tom Cloud. Also, along with the accessible “tap anywhere” mechanic, there’s shaking and scratching elements to master along with Vibe Time and multiple game modes – lots to get into and enjoy!
Could you tell us a little bit about DJ Nights’ development cycle, how long was it, and how much of that time was spent just on tweaking and perfecting the game’s control system to get just the right feel? How was this experience different from the previous titles that MusiGames has developed?
We started to develop DJ Nights and in August we had a presentable demo. In September Clickgamer came on board and we spent two more months really digging deep to perfect the game.
In our other titles like Drums Challenge, which achieved the 5th bestselling music game position in the U.S. App Store, we developed and released the games by ourselves.
DJ Nights was the first time we were working with an iPhone publisher, so we were in constant touch with Clickgamer to decide which improvements would be made and when the game would be “ready for submission”. This was a great experience and has produced a fantastic end product.
We couldn’t help but notice the “Global Tour” subtitle after “DJ Nights”, are you planning on releasing multiple games in the series (perhaps in different musical genres), or will you be expanding this game’s content through some sort of DLC system?
You’re right. The Global Tour means that this game focuses on clubs all around the world, from Brazil to San Francisco to Ibiza! This is the first iteration of DJ Nights, which will be followed by special editions with other premium dance, house and trance music artists.
We will also offer free and paid downloadable tracks for DJ Nights: Global Tour, which will come in the game’s first update.
Do you have any pro tips that you’d like to offer future DJ Nights players, to help them rock some high scores?
I’d say that first they should focus on getting the combo counter as higher as possible; this will make them get many extra points. They should also use the Vibe Time wisely, in portions of the song where there are lots of notes to play, so that they get a maximum points boost for each note played.
Finally what games are you currently playing on your iDevices and what is your all-time favorite title released on the platform so far?
Right now I’m playing the new version of Drums Challenge, which we will release soon. But beyond music games, my all-time favorites are Flight Control, Parachute Panic, Minigore and Cash Cow.
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and congratulations again!
