AMA 01×01: David Flores – Narita Boy (Studio Koba)

David Flores, Chief Programmer at Studio Koba answers all our questions about how it has been to debut with Narita Boy, his Kickstarter campaign, as well as the relationship with his publisher Team 17, achieving the success of his first project.

ASK ME ANYTHING

Questions asked during AMA:

Level Up:

• Can you tell us a little about your current context as a studio, partners and team in general?
• What are your main sources of funding?
• What weaknesses have you identified and how have you solved them?

Incubator Equipments:

• Fisherman’s Games Team:
  • Could you tell us a little about the experience of working with Team17? Did you have to go through some kind of previous procedure before you could consolidate publishing? And in case you can answer, what services did they offer you? (Funding, porting, Q&A, marketing, translations, etc…)
  • If you can share, what rank does Team17 usually fund with?
  • Are you currently producing any new IPs? If yes, do you plan to continue with the same publisher?
  • As for the game design, what elements do you usually take into account when structuring the design of Narita Boy?
  • What do you recommend taking into account when implementing secondary mechanics?
  • When making a prototype or demo to present to a publisher there are many aspects to take into account. Which are the most vital or the ones you would highlight the most?
  • Finally, what elements do you consider essential to address or take into account when developing a suitable pacing for the player?

• RPGames Team:

• • How much time did you spend preparing the Kickstarter campaign?
  • For the campaign, did you hire an external agency or did you run it internally?
  • Right now in KS they recommend that the goal is low (7k-12k€) but yours is very high, what was it due to or what motivated this decision?
  • How was the growth of your team? How many of you started, how you were expanding…

• «A Crone’s Yarn» Team:

• • Continuing with the theme of kickstarter, what do you think has been the key to its being so well received?
  • How much traction (on networks) did you have before starting the campaign?

Students and members of the Level up [Game Dev Hub]

• Aythami Cabrera Rodriguez
  • What is the most complicated/hardest aspect of learning about game mechanics programming? And about mechanics design?