In the month of April, England-based Lighthouse Games Studio launched the Comedy Night game for Android users as well as iOS users. The game was released for mobile devices after it had a successful run for the PC version. And GamingonPhone had the chance to hold Comedy Night developer interview with Mr. Edward Denneskamp from Lighthouse Games Studio to know more about the game. So without any further ado, let’s dive into the Comedy Night developer interview.
About the game
GamingonPhone: What was the initial idea behind the Comedy Night game? The concept looks like a virtual comedy show. So how did you come up with this?
Mr. Edward Denneskamp: The original idea for the game actually came from a singing game we were working on 9 years ago for a competition. However, we missed the deadline as the project was a bit too ambitious for the time frame we had given ourselves.
We burnt ourselves out trying to get it done, and we never ended up finishing the game. Then in 2012, we had the idea to simplify the concept and turn it into a simple comedy room. So we released it on the Xbox 360 Indie platform using the Xbox Avatars. Later in 2017 we re-built the game with our own Avatars and launched on Steam. And after doing a few tests late last year on the phone we saw that it could be possible to do on mobile too.
Game Concerns
GamingonPhone: Tutorials are an integral part of any new game, but there is no proper tutorial in this game. So, do you think that people may find the Comedy Night a bit difficult to use because of not having any in-game tutorial?
Mr. Edward Denneskamp: The game is fairly simple, you press and hold 1 button to talk and you are in a room of other players, so if you can quickly ask for help if you need it. We may still do a proper tutorial system in the future however it didn’t launch with one as tutorials take time to create and being a 2 man indie team time is never on our side!
GamingonPhone: Many players can not play the game because of the device requirement. So, are there any plans to make the game available for the low-end devices?
Mr. Edward Denneskamp: We currently support 3977 devices on Android which the majority of mid to high-end devices, we have no plans to support older devices.
Looking into the future
GamingonPhone: What is the Comedy Night game update roadmap? We would love to see a little sneak peek.
Mr. Edward Denneskamp: We have a few updates coming soon, some of the new features are a Stage Timer (gives the room admin the ability to limit how long each performer has on stage). Private Rooms and also Room Invites (so you can invite friends via Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. directly into the room you currently in).
We are also adding a Performer Queue system like the Steam version. This will allow players to queue up to perform which makes it easier to get some stage time. Something else that will be a first for the Comedy Night games is the ability to buy a virtual beer for players in your room. So if you really enjoyed their performance you can reward them with a free beer. We will also include a leaderboard for extra recognition. Guitars are also planned, as well as a few other new features which we can’t talk about just yet.
Social Segment
GamingonPhone: The Comedy Night game followed the mobile release after the initial Steam release, however, the mobile release happened during the COVID-19 situation. Did this planning helped in the game’s overall popularity?
Mr. Edward Denneskamp: Looking at our other games we can see that more people are playing and downloading more games, so it probably did help a bit. We were already working on the game and planned to release it in the same time frame, so it didn’t have any effect in our decisions.
Since the game is available in PC and mobile devices with a good and positive response already which portrays the core concept of the game is well appreciated by the gamers.
GamingonPhone: In that case, what advice would you like to give to the other indie devs who are trying to breakthrough?
Mr. Edward Denneskamp: It’s very difficult to survive as an indie dev in the current mobile climate. Big publishers are pushing a lot of money into advertising game to dominate the top lists which makes it incredibly difficult for indie devs to survive.
I would recommend keeping games simple initially. And then seeing if it resonates with an audience before investing too much time and money only to find out later than nobody actually wants to even download your game.
To stand out from the crowd your game needs to have character to get the potential customer interested in your game and want to try it out.
If you have any questions regarding Comedy Night, feel free to drop them in the comments below. We will try our best to get them answered.
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