GameBrains is one of the premier game development studios in Malaysia, with a track record that covers 16 games on a wide range of platforms. Now that they’re working in the casual gaming space, we had a word with their “brains man,” Brett Bibby.

CR: Could you tell our readers about what you do at GameBrains? How involved are you in the development of each game?

BB: I’m the founder and CEO of GameBrains. GameBrains is a turnkey game development studio located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that has developed 16 console games over the past 10 years. For many of those years I was the technical director and designer. I’m still very involved in the development of the games, but I consider my role to be one more of support and facilitation than lead nowadays as we’ve managed to build a team that is now very experienced and capable.

CR: What would you say are the unique things about GameBrains?

BB: We have always championed the individual as best we can. We strive to provide a great workplace and great work-life balance, which is something maybe less common here in Asia where a lot of outsourcing is done and the pressure to deliver is perhaps deemed more important than employee welfare. We’re also unique in that we’re still independent and therefore able to make our own choices about what to work on, sometimes with dire results, haha… But if it doesn’t kill you it just makes you stronger right?

CR: GameBrains has developed games for many different platforms: Gameboy Color, Game Boy Advance, PS2, PC and GameCube. Out of all your games, which really stand out? Which are you particularly proud of?

BB: That’s a complicated question to answer. Historically publishers have seen Asia and third-party development deals as an expense to be minimized in order to reap maximum profits. As a result it can sometimes be difficult to deliver a game that stacks up well against high-budget, high-profile games. So the pride I feel for the games we have made comes more from the amazing job the team did given the project’s constraints compared to the raw scores of reviews. I think the best combination of budget, timeline and resulting game though has to be our first Backyard Baseball on the GameBoy. It got such great reviews and was selling on e-Bay for more than the retail price for after it was no longer available in stores.

CR: What do you have in development for casual and/or web-based games?

BB: We’re doing pretty much the full spectrum of stuff: from really small browser-based games, online Flash up-sells, full downloadable products to casual MMO development. And we’re having a such a blast doing it too! As a studio that been making games for the past 10 years, and personally developing games for more than 20 years, it’s just awesome to be able to get back to smaller teams working together to make quality entertainment experiences.

CR: “Fun” is a subjective thing, but what fun things do you think GameBrains can carry over to web-based games from games on other platforms?

BB: I think there’s so much we bring to the table in terms of experience, skill, technical expertise, tools, and most importantly, an open mind. We know a lot about how to design, build, test and release games, but we’re new to the casual space and have a lot to learn about casual game consumers and what their needs and wants are, and that’s really, really exciting for us. It allows us to break free of any preconceived notions about what people want which helps drive creativity and innovation. Nothing is taken for granted and we prototype and test constantly. It’s just so much fun to develop games again and I’m pretty sure that’s going to shine through in the games we release.

CR: What kinds of casual and/or web-based games have you found particularly cool recently?

BB: I think if you asked any of the 40 staff you’d get 40 different answers, but for me my favorite games are story-driven adventure games with interesting mini-games and puzzles. Granted this tends to be sort of reversed at the moment and is usually a hidden object or puzzle game with a story/adventure binding it together, but I  think there’s a lot of room left for innovation in the hidden object and time management genres in terms of building better stories, characters and settings.

The great thing about all of the games is that there is almost insatiable demand; even for me once I complete one hidden object game for instance, I’m ready for the next. This is something that even consoles have too, but because the development cycle is typically longer for console games, and the publishers represent a barrier to entry, the consumer is left wanting for long periods of time. I like the idea of being able to get into a rhythm and flow in the development of causal games and focusing on exploring what could be done with the genres rather than wrestling with irrelevant issues that have nothing to do with the game, and casual games allow developers to do that which is just so exciting. I’m also a huge fan of casual MMOs and think this will be a huge growth segment in the coming years.

CR:  What’s special about GameBrains being in Malaysia?

BB: Malaysia was, and still is, the best place in Asia to build a business, especially a game business. The other countries in the region are great too, but Malaysia represents the ideal combination of cost, infrastructure and high-quality workforce. In fact, any business executive will tell you that people are biggest key and Malaysia simply has the best in the whole region. If you go to other places like Singapore for example, you’ll find lots of Malaysians working there because the studios couldn’t find local talent. The reason for this is that both the Malaysian government and the higher learning institutions in Malaysia really listen to industry and take steps to foster development of a truly world-class society. Other countries in the region tout that too, sometimes excessively, but once the flashy PowerPoint presentation is over and the work of setting up a studio begins, Malaysia wins hands-down.