TechFront is the largest game development studio in Brazil, with several great titles like Burger Island, Eye for Design, Purrfect Pet Shop, and now Pakoombo under their belt. We were lucky enough to have a long chat with their president, Rafael Aguilher da Costa. In Part 2 of the interview, Rafael talks about TechFront’s latest game Pakoombo, what game development life is like in Brazil, and what they have got in store for us next. This is great stuff, we swear - read on…

CR: You just released Pakoombo on RealArcade, and it’s your biggest game so far! Match-3, boss battles, quests, and more. What made you decide to take on this kind of project?

RAC: Pakoombo is in fact TechFront’s largest project to date in terms of size and gameplay scope. We had to decide the amount of risks we were willing to take, like the genre, the project size, file size, the theme, etc. Real Games worked very closely and collaboratively with us in scoping out the project and game design and this was a key process for the successful development of the title.

When we decided to create the game design, we used Puzzle Quest as a great reference, since many of us were fans of the game. Many of us really enjoyed that game, but a deeper analysis showed that the game was a bit too hardcore for the audience of casual gamers that is not yet comfortable with game elements such as RPG rules and generaly turned off by a medieval-fantasy theme. We thought there was a gap in the Match-3 genre that was not being filled and saw an opportunity to launch Pakoombo.

We planned and created a smoother and friendlier link between Puzzle Quest’s core idea and the casual gamer and realized a way to present the basic idea of an RPG/Adventure -using a family-friendly theme- to slowly introduce new genre mechanics to the casual public. Having an interesting storyline, funny characters and a quirky sense of humor was a way for us to attract casual gamers interested in being more involved in the gameplay experience.

CR: What lessons have you learned from your previous games that you’ve applied in Pakoombo?

RAC: We learn a lot with each project and even Pakoombo’s release has taught us a bunch of new lessons. Our past releases have taught us a lot about tricks regarding game balancing, the importance of certain production values, the importance of tutorials, the proper timing for introducing new gameplay features and a lot of many other things. However, the biggest lesson we learned so far is that nobody has 100% of the answers about what makes a successful casual game! It is many times a wild and dynamic marketplace and no one can predict for sure the next game genre or the next hit concept that will excite casual gameplayers.

CR: Techfront is based in Brazil. What is the game industry like over there? What challenges do you face?

RAC: We are the biggest game developer located in Brazil and Latin America at the moment with nearly 60 employees and two studios in southern Brazil. There are a few other game companies here, but they are mostly focusing on the advertisement and hard core markets. I am always a bit conservative about saying that there is a GAME INDUSTRY in Brazil. We have NO help from the government like they have in Canada, India, China or even Korea, and it is a great challenge to develop a new industry like this in a country that has no tradition inside the game industry. Having said that, we enjoyed the challenge we faced – to show the industry that a Brazilian company can make great games just like any other developer in the world.

In recent years most publishers felt it was common to hire a Chinese, Russian or Eastern European company to develop their titles, but a Brazilian company might have felt a bit odd – after all, our country is known for other things such as soccer, Carnival, coffee, etc…but not game development! However, the truth is that we are one of the biggest economies in the world (the 10th) and the domestic market for application software development in the country has always been very advanced and very large. In addition, Brazilians in general are very creative and artistically-minded people, with a rich cultural and visual heritage, and this has benefited game developers and the unique nature of the titles we create.

As mentioned before, Brazilians are very closely aligned culturally and financially to the Americans and Europeans and this has been underestimated and under-utilized in the past. However, we see this rapidly changing as Brazil takes a more prominent role in the world’s economy and this is eventually reflected in the games business as well.

CR: What’s next for TechFront? Any new project you can tell us about?

RAC: We are constantly expanding the kinds of titles and platforms we develop for, like iPhone, WiiWare, XBLA and soon even PSP. TechFront aims to be a one-stop solution for any partners who want to develop high-quality titles and game brands. We have a great capacity to develop any kind of game genre from the conceptual idea or theme to its multiple platform release and post-production demands such as marketing artwork, web versions, etc.

In the next few months you will see our first console titles being released on Nintendo DS, Wii and iPhone. We have some new original concepts we are exploring on the consoles which we hope to bring to market during 2009. As always we will be delivering titles that look great and take great advantage of the target platforms. We also have plans to release Pakoombo for the Nintendo DS, iPhone and Wii platforms, and will expand the gameplay to include new features on those platforms.

CR: Lastly, is there anything else you’d like to tell our readers?

RAC: Yes! Keep eyes out for TechFront’s new titles coming soon! I can’t disclose detailed information now, but there are a few new titles coming out VERY soon that will for sure make a lot of fans very happy… including the return of your favourite waiter!

Finally, in the name of TechFront’s teams, we thank you very much for all the time and kindness that casual gamers have given our titles. We hope to keep meeting their expectations and delivering great an innovative games to our fans!

Thank you, TechFront, for this great interview! To find out more about TechFront, go to their website at www.techfront.com.br. Be sure to check out Part 1 of the interview here. And if you want to find out more about Pakoombo or any of their previous releases, read all our TechFront reviews here.