Funky Swadling: My name is Daniel “Funky” Swadling, and I’m a producer, programmer and designer for Rocketmen, as well as one of A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.’s founders. Since we’re not a huge company, we all get to wear a bunch of different hats when working on a project. Jesse Joudrey: I’m Jesse Joudrey, the other founder of A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. as well as technical officer for the company, and was a programmer and designer for Rocketmen. Jeff Yu: Hey, I’m Jeff Yu, producer on Rocketmen.

How was Acronym started? Any particular reason?

JJ: A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. was started primarily because we believed that a small team of creative people could create small, fun games and have a much better time doing it compared with working on a 100+ person team. We may have messed up the “small” part of small fun games — nobody would call Rocketmen small compared to any other XBLA or PSN game out there, but we think it’s pretty fun and we had a blast making it. FS: Compared to working on, say, a next-gen retail game with a huge team (like we used to do), working with a tight-knit team where everybody knows everybody else allows faster iteration, more communication, and it’s just more enjoyable. JY: We also wanted a reason to use the period key more in our day-to-day lives, and typing A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. over and over definitely gives us that excuse!

Why Rocketmen? What was the concept behind Rocketmen and how did it come about?

FS: Rocketmen has come a long way since its original conception as a PSP game called “Humans vs. Aliens vs. Robots vs. Demons” (H.A.R.D. for short). Although both games were, at their core, two-stick shooters with “RPG-lite” elements, the changes brought about by changing the platform, IP (that’s game developer talk for intellectual property, meaning the Rocketmen concept invented by WizKids), graphic style, online gameplay, and game scope meant that what we ended up with was pretty different from what we started with. JJ: When we first dreamed up the idea (this was in the days before Xbox 360 was launched), there had been a long period of time where two-stick shooters had been forgotten about. So, bringing that style of gameplay back was a great idea. Too bad everybody else had the same idea during the last three years! But we did add a lot to it, rather than being limited by some of the conventions of the genre. JY: We liked Rocketmen for the graphic style and humour of the internet cartoon episodes, the fact that a universe was already defined for the game, and how well the characters tied in to the gameplay that was already fun in H.A.R.D.

How long was the total development time? How many people did it take?

JY: If you go back to the game (and the company’s) beginnings, the entire process took three-and-a-half years, with over a dozen people working on the game at times. JJ: That doesn’t count the external contractors… that’s just people in the studio working on the game! We’ve got over twenty people working full time at the studio now. FS: It all started with just two programmers doing everything. As you can imagine, the art was pretty sad at that point, but as we added people (particularly artists!) to the team the game started getting more professional looking.

Any funny or interesting background stories happen during development?

FS: No. Development was completely boring, and nobody had any fun. JJ: That’s not entirely true… there was that time where… uhh…. FS: Yes? JJ: Forget it. Development was boring. JY: Yeah. What fun can you have making games?

Did the game turn out the way you guys wanted? What would you have changed?

FS: On the whole, Rocketmen hit on all the features we wanted to deliver. We created a game with a story, great moment-to-moment action, RPG-lite elements, fun online and offline multiplayer, and the most content for a $10 game you can possibly get. JY: If we could go back in time and change a few things, we would definitely have made the free version of the game be less of a tutorial (people either get the game right away, or they’ll never get it) and more of a “here’s what the game is like after you’ve played it for a while.” In Rocketmen, your character starts off weak and becomes strong. People get the wrong idea of what the whole game is like when they play the demo and see that the character is weak. JJ: I’d also lower the amount of story “cut-scenes”. They’re pretty funny (assuming you share our sense of humour), but everyone ends up skipping over them the second time they see them. FS: Some people skip them first time! JJ: True. Also, the game could be shorter — 10 huge levels for ten bucks, what were we thinking? JY: Yeah, but some people think that kind of value is awesome. Not the people who compare the game to Gears of War and Dead Rising, obviously, but not everyone is going to be satisfied with a downloadable game. JJ: I’m satisified with a downloadable game. FS: Me too.

How did you come up with the name “ It Came From Uranus †for the Rocketmen expansion?

JY: About an hour after a spicy takeout meal, the name just came to us. FS: Actually, it was forced on us by the evil people at Capcom marketing, who thought the name would appeal to juvenile boys (our largest target demographic) JJ: We wanted to call it something serious. But that just wouldn’t be acceptable.

What‒s next for you guys?

FS: We’ve got the Rocketmen expansion just about done, we’re working on the PSN version of another Capcom game that I’m sure people will be able to read about one day on the Capcom blog. We’re also ramping up for a new original game for XBLA and PSN… but that one is so secret it doesn’t even have a public name. JJ: We want to keep doing what we’ve been doing: Fun small games with fun small teams.

What is your goal for the Acronym? How will you know when you‒ve “made it� When you‒ve all got Ferraris?

JJ: A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.’s goals are simple. We want to keep working on a variety of different games that can be completed with small teams. If we can keep that up as a business model (and all indications are that we can) then we’re happy. JY: Also, Ferraris don’t handle too well in Vancouver’s constant rain. We’d be better off with something solid and heavy, like a VW mini-bus.

Any advice for aspiring development studios?

JJ: Make sure you’ve got a ton of experience. If no-one on your team has completed a game, you’re in for a very rude awakening. Even if people have been working on games for years, as is the case with A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.’s senior team, there’s still lots to learn. JY: Make sure you can afford to stay in business while you make your dreams come true. Finance is a slow thing compared to game development. FS: Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s easy for development to get out of control, especially with an enthusiastic team. JJ, JY, FS: In short, don’t bother. It’s impossible! 🙂