Mini-serie: klein maar toch fijn: BiP Media

Vaak worden ze in één hoekje gezet, en kijkt men er maar weinig naar om: de kleine uitgeverijen. Kleine uitgeverijen die werknemers en hobbyisten in dienst hebben die hun brood verdienen met het intensief aan de man brengen van hun laatst ontwikelde kleine spelletjes voor diverse eShops. En meestal moeten deze kleine uitgeverij alles boven alles stellen om ook maar hun game onder de aandacht te brengen. Ook deze kleine uitgeverijen, die kwaliteit leveren voor de prijs van een zak snoep, mogen wel eens in het zonnetje worden gezet. Vandaar dat wij enkele uitgeverijen hebben benaderd om een interview af te nemen. Het is aan BiP Media om het spits af te bijten.

Wat voor een soort uitgeverij is BiP Media?

More than a publisher, BiP media is an independent videogame studio; “My Farm” is an IP created by BiP media many years ago, and as we funded the development of the game, we naturally self-published it on digital channels like eShop. For us it’s the best way to recover our investment… and to keep being independent! In 2009, we released our first self-funded and self-published title on Nintendo DSiWare : “Viking Invasion”. It was a success which proved us that digital publishing can be a real opportunity for a studio. But a publisher is still needed for retail copies and that why we released 3DS titles, for example “Viking Invasion 2” with Bigben Interactive. By the way, we are thinking in publishing a few games from other studios because there is a demand on taking advantage of our expertise on digital publishing on consoles (we published one of our game, “Tiny Token Empires”, on the PSN).

Welke games van BiP Media vinden jullie zelf het beste?

Buzzer! I love all my games, with their qualities and defaults (everything can be improved or enhanced!). I have a special feeling for “Viking Invasion” series, which are nice tower defense (they are not so many on DS/3DS); but I really enjoy playing “My Farm” with my nieces: it’s really funny to see how kids are happy taking care of their animals, seeing snow on the farm in the winter season, or when they unlock bonuses!

Kunnen jullie iets vertellen over jullie meeste recente game ‘My Farm’?

“My Farm” is a simulation game, but with a little bit of management. The aim of the game is to take care of animals, not to breed many animals as possible. Taking care of an animal, like in real life, is to feed it regularly with appropriate food, to clean it, to clean its environment (the farm), to heal it with medicines if necessary… Under this conditions, animals will be happy and will stay in the farm. An unhappy animal will disappear from the farm to be fed elsewhere! The simulation aspect is enhanced by day/night and season cycle. And you can even choose a name for each animal. Of course, to take care of animals, you will need food, medicines and sometimes equipment. And to buy this, you will need money. Here is the bit of management : at the beginning you have one single hen and a few pennies. If you take care of her, she will lay eggs you can sell to get money. And with this money, you can buy food. Sell more eggs and you will be able to buy more hens to get more eggs. Then you will able to raise ducks, which produce feathers to sell…. But ducks need a pond that you will have to purchase! And little by little you can run a farm with up to 10 different kinds of animals. But if you spend too much money to buy animals, you will be out of money to buy food or equipment. That why “My Farm” could be a good introduction to management game, and maybe a way for kids to learn how to manage pocket money J And to spice up the game, many events are announced by the local newspaper: super-deal at the trade fair, sales on poultry seeds, etc.

Kunnen jullie vertellen hoe het idee achter My Farm is ontstaan?

At the origin of “My Farm”, the idea was to designed a simulation game for kids, boys and girls, that they can play alone or with their parents ‘help for younger’s. And farm animals appear to be attractive for both! As we are fan of strategy games, we could not refrain to mix the simulation with a bit of management. “My Farm” is a long story but the best part started in 2008, when we proposed this game concept on Nintendo DS, and that Atari and THQ decided to publish it in retail. With the arrival of the DSiWare, then the eShop, we had the opportunity to improve the game and make it live by ourselves. As we did on other platforms, we decided to create different farm universes for the Nintendo WiiU and we hope to release “My Exotic Farm” soon and why not, other universes later !

Waarom zou je ‘My Farm’ moeten downloaden?

You should download “My Farm” if you love simulation and management… and farm animals! Especially if you are looking for a game playable by 7-10 years-old; but take care, don’t be so sure of yourself, farm life can be is a real challenge even for adults!

In het teken van deze mini-serie kunnen jullie volgende week weer een interview verwachten!