The iPhone sees its share of games that range from sprawling monumental epics to quick pick-up-and-play experiences. Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick Studios definitely falls into the latter, but that hasn’t stopped it from seeing rampant success. In its first three weeks the game has sold more than 200,000 copies. Not bad for a game about chopping up fruit. Luke Muscat, Halfbrick’s creator and lead designer of Fruit Ninja, recently sat down with Joystiq to discuss their first taste of App Store success.
The iPhone sees its share of games that range from sprawling monumental epics to quick pick-up-and-play experiences. Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick Studios definitely falls into the latter, but that hasn’t stopped it from seeing rampant success. In its first three weeks the game has sold more than 200,000 copies. Not bad for a game about chopping up fruit. Luke Muscat, Halfbrick’s creator and lead designer of Fruit Ninja, recently sat down with Joystiq to discuss their first taste of App Store success.
“We were at a point during Fruit Ninja development when we felt that everything was in the right place, and we had covered all bases for it to be successful. We had the simple, addictive gameplay, the timely marketing efforts and a pretty rad trailer. There’s always a dice roll with the app store, and thankfully the gamers embraced Fruit Ninja and the word of mouth began to spread. We hit the top five in pretty much every major market around the world, where Fruit Ninja continues to happily reside!”
More commonly a developer of home console titles, Muscat goes on to discuss the advantages that iPhone development offers;
“I really enjoy developing iPhone projects, because they way you approach them has to be completely different. If you stuck to traditional handheld or console genre conventions you may not achieve the unique qualities which are pretty much required for iPhone games to be successful. An added bonus to iPhone development is the short dev cycle. We never want to go overscope or overbudget, so keeping the timeline quick is a great way to keep everyone focused and excited. Of course, other platforms have their distinct advantages too, but obviously right now we are enjoying some success on the iPhone and can easily find praise for it.”
The interview also goes on to confirm Halfbrick’s intention to add new modes to Fruit Ninja, their development of a new iPhone title, the possibility of an iPad-enhanced version of Fruit Ninja and more. Check out the complete conversation at Joystiq.com (or simply pick up Fruit Ninja for yourself to see what all the hubbub is about!)
