In the spotlight today is an upcoming indie developer called Elbert Perez. Elbert was born in California, but grew up in the Philippines where he grew a passion for video games. This passion is what eventually drove him to earn his BS in Game Design and Development from Full Sail University in Florida.

Elbert soon went on to develop indie games for Xbox Live, namely Gum Drop Celestial Frontier and Neo Terra. Unfortunately neither proved very popular. It was not the quality of the games that caused this though, rather than the business model. It seemed players did not want to pay for what Elbert had created. The advantage of being an upcoming indie developer however, is that you can experiment. Elbert’s next game, a space shooter called Impossible Shoota on Windows Phone 7, was released for free. This was to prove a revolutionary move for Elbert as he was able to draw a much more significant audience and income from the ad-support than actually charging players for the game.

Since then Elbert has gone to make many more free games for Windows Phone 7 and is one of the most successful indie developers on the platform. Elbert also holds himself up as an excellent lesson to all other indie developers as he very generously shares all of his thoughts and figures in his blog over at OccasionalGamer.com. It’s definitely worth checking out.

As said, since the success of Impossible Shoota, Elbert has been encouraged to develop games like a madman. In 2010 he managed to develop and release 6 games in total. He is the sole creative input on every possible aspect, and he seems to be getting better every time. Elbert even makes his own trailers for the games, all of which can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mechaghost

Elbert’s most successful games are quite rightfully Quadra and Impossible Shoota. Impossible Shoota is the type of game that has been around nearly as long as video games themselves, but it has proven to be a hit for Elbert as he tweaks the gameplay into a very addictive experience. You control the last Starboxer rocket ship and intend to take out as much of the Sho-dan fleet before you reach your demise. The coolest part of the game is the teleport ability that works really well on the smartphone platform.

Quadra is a dual-touch shooter in which you use your fingers to shoot a number of incoming projectiles. It’s very fun and can often lead to you getting finger-tied to your own amusement. It is an excellent example of how Elbert really understands how to utilize the platform he is working with.

One of the great things about Elbert is the range of styles he delves in to with his games. Fishing Girl is a particularly cute little fishing game in which you bounce your fishing rod to grab the fish for your lover.

Traffic Cop is a chaotic experience that sees you preventing a traffic crash at a crossway.

Scribble Defense is a fantastic take on the tower-defence genre in which you draw on your means to defend the Scribbles from the evil Scrawls. Despite the different approaches to game design, what is clear in each is Elbert’s natural talent and hard work.

As said previously, Elbert is a dedicated indie developer who shines for his openness in his development process. Anybody intending to go into developing games on the smartphone platform should really check out Elbert’s blog. Everything from how he implemented high scores into his games, to how he runs the business side of things is up there – a mini bible for the smartphone developer. It is this dedication to educating and inspiring others that has earned Elbert the spotlight, and we cannot but wish him the very best in his work.

The latest game from Elbert is called Steam Castle and is available right now for free! It blends everything Elbert has learned so far into a game that has some neat looking art design and very exciting and addictive gameplay. Check out more info on the game right here: http://www.occasionalgamer.com/wp7-games/steam-castle/

To finish off his time in spotlight, Elbert managed to find some time to answer some of our questions. Enjoy!

IGM: What is your background with video games? What games do you particularly enjoy?

EP: I grew up playing Video Games like most normal kids back in the late 80’s early 90’s. I enjoy all sorts of video games from First Person Shooters to Real Time Strategy Games. I probably sunk the most time in the Starcraft series.

IGM: How did you get into making games in the first place?

EP: I loved games to begin with, and it was something I know I will do when I growing up in the Philippines. The first game I ever created was this mech turn based battle simulator using QBasic when I was in high school. I actually sold my first game to a pair of classmates as they paid me money to make their final game project. After high school I moved to Florida and took a Bachelors of Game Design and Development from Full Sail University.

IGM: How do you come up with the ideas for your games?

EP: Most of my games are inspired by games that I love to play myself. It’s somewhat of a “What could have been done better with this game” kind of inspiration. A lot of times ideas emerge from me prototyping other game ideas.

IGM: What part of the development process (coding, art, design) do you enjoy the most?

EP: I’m a programmer at heart, and I really love what I do. But I’ve also been artistic growing up, but could not find the right medium to express it. But ever since I started working with 2D games on XNA, Art has taken the top spot. Most people won’t see the code you are working on, but everyone notices art.

IGM: What does it mean to be an indie developer?

EP: For me being an indie developer means being unhindered in the choices that I make. I love having to decide on every single detail rather than some executive who is not involved in the process of actually making the game, and yet he has the final say on everything. I love being in control especially since all my games are an extension of who I am as a person.

IGM: Why is Windows Phone 7 your current platform of choice? Do you have plans to expand to other platforms?

EP: I actually started with XNA on XBLIG, and when WP7 was announced I was very excited to be able to apply almost everything I learned with XBLIG onto WP7. Aside from familiarity, XNA on WP7 is the most developer friendly environment with fantastic tools support. There is also a matter of marketplaces, and where I can make the most impact. If I started out in the Android marketplace my games would have been overshadowed by the thousands of other games there. But with the WP7 marketplace being new there was little to no competition which made it easier for me to get noticed.

Hopefully if everything works out well I would not have to expand to other platforms, but if I had to I would expand to Android as I have a lot of experience with Java.

IGM: What do you hope your games will bring to players?

EP: I just want people to have fun while playing my games.

IGM: What advice would you give first-time developers?

EP: Don’t over complicate things. This covers programming, designing, and art. Not because something is longer, faster, or prettier means it’s a fun game. Concentrate on the fun in the game then everything else will follow.

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