N-Gager have managed to chat with Rob Murray, CEO at Firemint about the exciting new N-Gage game Mega Monsters! Even though still in development, there is much excitement surrounding Australian developers Firemint and their new venture onto the N-Gage platform.

Firemint have been going strong since 2002 with successful games released on GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS and mobile Java platform.

And soon to be; N-Gage.

If you didn't read our news article in November then be sure to and get a head's up as to what Mega Monsters! is all about.

Here's the interview in full:

Q: You (Firemint) first showed off a title called Mega Monster back in
2006 winning the IMGAward for "Excellence in 3D". That must have felt like quite an achievement?

Yes, it was a fantastic honour to win the award and it certainly opened a lot of doors for us. We were all very happy and excited to win, and we received a lot of interest from publishers as a result. The IMG Awards have really raised the profile of independent developers, we're a great believer in them and in fact we've had a game nominated in each of the three most recent rounds.

Q: What made you decide to bring Mega Monster back in the form of Mega Monsters?

It's actually the same game! The original Mega Monster that won the IMG Award was an early demo with limited content, to show off the concept and technology. Nokia picked up the rights to publish the title quite a while ago and since then we've been working with them in "stealth mode" to develop it into a full game.

Q: What gave you guys the idea of Mega Monsters? Was it the old C64 game Rampage which has similar ides?

The concept of a monster destroying a city came from a brainstorming session by our designers. It wasn't inspired by Rampage, but rather by pop culture. That initial concept wasn't Mega Monsters as it is now, just the seed of an idea. That seed had to spend a long time in incubation and years in development before becoming Mega Monsters. We think we have something very fresh that stands as its own brand while delivering the sort of fun that only an angry baby monster can deliver.

Q: Why did you choose N-Gage to be the exclusive platform the game is released on?

We weren't considering a specific platform when we started developing the concept, we were just focused on making the best game possible. When we got to finishing the demo we realized that we were building a game that was too big to publish through most of the existing mobile channels. It's not all that surprising, considering our tagline is "Big games for small devices" and we like to aim high!
So when we had completed the demo, Nokia N-Gage was the only viable mobile platform that had the power to support what we wanted to do. In addition to that, Nokia Publishing were on board for making this the massive title that we wanted it to be. In fact they had even bigger ideas of their own, so we all got revved up on the project and kicked off Firemint's biggest title to date.

Q: Mega Monster was originally designed for stylus control, how do the game's controls translate in Mega Monsters using a phone's d-pad/keypad?

We did have stylus support in one of the demos, but that was not fundamental to the game. The version of the game that won the IMG Award was running on a Nokia N93 with a d-pad and we had designed the game around a d-pad from the beginning.

Q: Following on from the previous question, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic features a touch-screen. Will Mega Monsters have touch-screen support?

No, it has been designed specifically for the d-pad.

Q: Can we expect any multiplayer features in Mega Monsters? Bluetooth or N-Gage Arena support?

You bet, we've got a few N-Gage and multiplayer features. For example, players can use a PC tool to create their own maps and place defensive units for the cities they make. These maps are then uploaded to N-Gage Arena, and the community is challenged to try to conquer that map with their own monsters. Should be great fun to see what they come up with!

Q: Firemint obviously know their platforms well. What is your favourite N-Gage game?

Well, I can't speak for everyone at Firemint because we all have different tastes, but I personally love Reset Generation. It really takes me back to some great gaming moments!

Q: If Mega Monsters is a success is there the possibility of more innovative and fun games from Firemint?

Absolutely! We've released 27 published games to date. Mega Monsters is a Firemint original and we are currently developing two more original concepts including Real Racing. We also have a few publisher-commissioned titles in development. You can definitely expect more from us!

Q: And finally, when can we expect to see Mega Monsters hit N-Gage?

Mega Monsters is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2009. You can stay up to date with what's going on (and find out more details as they are revealed) at N-Gage.com, and there's also a Facebook group for Mega Monsters. We can't wait to set the monsters loose!

So there you have it. Mega Monsters! in a nutshell. Quite an exciting concept if this is Firemint's biggest title and Nokia are pushing it hard. Multiplayer and N-Gage Arena content support show this isn't just 'another' N-Gage game, Firemint are going to bring us something very special indeed.

Be sure to check out the Firemint website for information on Mega Monsters! and their other great games (Real Racing is fantastic!) and expect to purchase the game as soon as it's released next year. Also, don't forget to become a fan of Mega Monsters! on Facebook here

A big thanks to Firemint for their time during this questioning, they're a very busy bunch!