Polarbit are a developer of 3D games for multiple mobile formats.  They have an enviable back catalogue of titles containing some seriously big name games, such as SSX, Krash Bandicoot and Tiger Woods 07.  They’ve released a number of 3D titles to the Android Market, such as the excellent Raging Thunder.  I have a feeling they are going to be a very big player in the Android Market over the next few years.  The guys at Polarbit kindly indulged me a few moments of their time for an interview.  Here it is in full-

Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about your company and its background in games development?

“Polarbit have been going at it since early 2005. The founders all have a solid background in mobile game development, going back as far as there have actually been games done on mobile devices.

Some of us come from the emulator scene – arcade emulation specifically. The guys that did the Rage and NeoRage NeoGeo emulators are part of Polarbits founding team. Some of us come from the console and PC side and some of us have earned our stripes at Polarbit.

Our work can be divided into two interconnected sections – game and middleware development.

We have developed and maintain our own Middleware platform, called Fuse. Fuse enables us to reach all major mobile platforms with one single source code. In other words, the source code for our Android games is exactly the same code as that for iPhone, or Ovi, or PC and so on. Consequently – no need for porting of any code, besides Fuse itself.

We then rely on Fuse in our development, both proprietary titles and for external parties such as publishers.”

Polarbit have created mobile versions of a number of high profile games, such as Spore, Crash Bandicoot Nitro Racing 3D and Fifa 10.  Which, if any, do you guys consider your flagship game, the one you’d name first when asked to list your portfolio?

“This is almost like asking which of our children we prefer.
The first title we did was Raging Thunder. It made a name for us on Symbian, Palm and other platforms back when 3D titles for mobile phones was uncommon.

We also got Raging Thunder out as a free download for the iPhone, even before the AppStore was launched – so it put us on the map there as well. Today, we have RT, and all our other titles, out for Android and on the Ovi Store and getting a lot of positive attention for getting high-quality games out early on these platforms as well.

If we go by the third-party stuff we’ve done, Crash Bandicoot did a lot for us in showing that we are a solid developer for publishers to rely on. FIFA10 is also a major title, which we are very happy with.”

“It depends on which game you’re making, I guess. We’ve mostly done 3D games, and might not be the best people to comment the differences between 2D and 3D development.”

Are all of your Android titles ports of other versions or have any been developed for Android from scratch?  Which is your preferred development environment for creating titles?

“As I mentioned, we don’t really develop for any one specific platform. We develop our games for Fuse, and then we port Fuse to new platforms as they are made available.

We’re agnostics when it comes to tools. As long as they get the job done and aren’t too annoying to work with, they’re fine.”

Can you tell us a little bit about the general development cycle for your titles?  How do you approach creating a new title and how is your team structured?

“We’ll spend about half a year on average on a high-end title, from design to deployment. It varies a bit from title to title, but by and large about six months.

We typically work with smallish, focused teams. We strive to employ only highly skilled people – the ideal situation is that any one Polarbit employee can step up and take a lead artist or developer role after a couple of months in the company.

Depending on the size and specifics of a given project, they might include 1-4 coders, 1 or 2 artists and a coordinator. In some cases more.”

Which of your Android titles has proven the most popular?

“It’s interesting, because all the titles we have out so far seem to have a dedicated group of people playing them. Raging Thunder has seen the most downloads so far, but that’s more or less to be expected. Racing titles have a broad appeal on all platforms.

We’re seeing quite a lot of multiplayer activity for all titles on the server, which is something we’re really happy about. At this point, I think Polarbit are unique in offering cross-platform multiplayer – that is, Android users can seamlessly play against iPhone users and Nokia Ovi users.”

Which, if any, Android devices do your team use (either for testing or for their own personal use)?

“Since it is crucial for us that Fuse is tested and verified to support as many devices as possible, we have quite a few different handsets lying around the office. I think we have most devices that are currently available in Sweden, a few that aren’t and some pre-release stuff.

The Motorola Droid is very popular at Polarbit HQ, as is the SonyEricsson

X10 (you have something to look forward to there, in case you haven’t been able to try one out yet).

I personally use an HTC Tattoo. Nice form-factor and you get good battery life due to the QVGA screen.”

“It’s very early to tell at this point.

In general, application stores like Android Market, AppStore and Ovi Store are A Good Thing for developers, since it shortens the distance between us and the end-user. Fewer steps mean less people to share the pie, and more pie for us.

For Android Market specifically, we would like to see paid application made available on a wider range of markets. Before we have a broad deployment of the service, we can’t say much about the long-term profitability.”

The Android Market receives a lot of criticism from users and developers alike, how has Polarbit’s experience of publishing apps on the market been?

“We haven’t had any major difficulties in publishing our titles – in getting them out there.

The biggest issue we see with Android Market is, like I said, that paid applications are only available in a few markets. We’d also really like to see it made easier for developers to precisely specify which devices, or groups of devices, that support or do not support an application.

From the customer feedback we’ve received so far, it seems some people have had difficulties with transactions and payment options. Amex cards for instance won’t work when buying something from a European seller, which is a problem for some.”

Piracy is a major concern for developers of Android apps, have you been affected by piracy of any of your apps?  Do you feel that more could or should be done to combat piracy of Android apps?

“Yeah, of course we’re affected by piracy. That’s true for any platform we’ve worked with. Some people just don’t feel like paying for stuff.

It’s a tricky issue, though. Anti-piracy measures tend to create quite a bit of extra work on behalf of the developers. If there are certification authorities and stuff involved, you can bet that it’ll add extra costs as well. And ultimately, our work will still get cracked and traded.

The people that are determined to steal your stuff will find some way to do it, whichever measures you take to prevent them. What you need to protect yourself from – and this is especially true in low-cost markets such as mobile games – is the casual piracy, people trading your games because it’s easier to get it from a friend than from the official source. Or in the case of Android Market, because it isn’t conveniently available in your particular national market at all.”

Has the well publicised fragmentation of the Android OS affected you in any way?  If so, how have your team been working around this?

“The way we see it, device fragmentation is par for the course on mobile platforms. That’s why we’ve developed Fuse. Of course, some handset manufacturers are better than others when it comes to implementing and adhering to standards…”

You have a few more Android games in the pipeline, notably a sequel to 3D racer, Raging Thunder, can you divulge any other upcoming releases to whet our appetites?

“Not at this point, no. Sorry.”

For more news regarding Polarbit and their upcoming titles, check out their website.