Lupis Labs, the creators of excellent Android tower defense game, Robo Defense, kindly agreed to take time out from their busy schedule to answer a few questions for this blog.
Here is the Q&A session in full-

First up, which Android devices do you use yourself?


We are currently still using the G1 as that was all that was out when we first started working on Robo Defense.


What inspired you to create Robo Defense?


We thought a tower defense game would be excellent choice for a touchscreen mobile device, given the ease of controls and the ability to play for 5 minutes or so at a time, but still make progress.


How long did it take to create Robo Defense and what was the biggest hurdle you had to overcome during it’s development?

The game took several months, I’m not sure exactly how long though. The biggest hurdle was trying to find enough time to get everything done right. Getting a game from 90% done to 100% done takes a big chunk of time.

Which is your favourite Android app (other than your own of course)?


My personal favorite is the Google Sky Map. Really shows how much you can do when you combine all of the phones features.

How much potential do you personally feel the Google Android platform has?

I feel the platform has a lot of potential, especially with all the new devices coming out soon. As long as they keep some level of compatibility between phones it should be easy to have tons of apps that work great on every device. 


What’s on your personal wish-list regarding Android apps or features? Is there something you feel the platform is sorely missing?

I liked the release of the native development kit, but wish it was expanded a bit to allow for graphics code. While Robo defense does push a lot of sprites on the screen, given the hardware, I think the platform still has a lot of speed hiding under the hood that could be accessed with better libraries.

What drew you to developing in Android, and do you feel it is a powerful enough platform for developers?

The openness of the platform was what drew us in. The full development kit including emulator were all freely available and the openness of the market was very attractive, just making user aware of your game on other platforms can be difficult. I think the platform still has a lot of room for improvements, but is clearly at a good level given the number of quality apps already out there.

What’s next for you – updates to Robo Defense or something entirely new?


Robo Defense is nearing feature complete. After the latest updates there will probably be a few more achievements added, but not a whole lot more features. We have gone back to the drawing board for something new though.


Any advice for aspiring Android devs?

The Android market is a great way to get your stuff in the hands of a lot of people. 

The most recent version of Robo Defense, v 1.1.2 was released just a few days ago. Check out the Lupis Labs website for all the latest news and updates on what they’re working on.