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[Continuing a series of interviews with 2010 IGF Mobile finalists, FingerGaming speaks to Jetro Lauha and Jani Kahrama of developer Secret Exit, whose iPhone game Stair Dismount is competing in the Best Mobile game category, having won the IGF Mobile award for Technical Achievement.]

Before they released Zen Bound, the nearly indescribable puzzle game which remains one of the iPhone’s killer apps, Finnish studio Secret Exit worked on a series of physics centric, stair tumbling computer freeware games in Porrasturvat, or Stair Dismount (“the ultimate stairflight simulator”), and sequel Truck Dismount.

Seeing the player push a hapless Kubrick-alike, Mr. Dismount, down a flight of stairs in order to “inflict massive damage to every weak point!”, the game has more in common with their aforementioned iPhone debut than meets the eye, most noticeably being another technical marvel, the recent iPhone version earning the IGF Mobile Technical Achievement award.

Taking time out from working on their sequel to Zen Bound (“… we’ve been totally tunnel-visioned with getting Zen Bound 2 ready”) Stair Dismount mastermind Jetro Lauha and cohort Jani Kahrama took time out of their busy schedule to speak to FingerGaming about the development of their IGF Mobile finalist sequel, a whole eight years after it first saw release on the PC.

What is Secret Exit’s background in game development?

Jetro Lauha: We have strong background with practically all flavors of mobile games development, from previous companies our people have worked in. Still, all of our coders share interest for various platforms so we do have some insight about desktop and console platforms as well.

Can you tell us what development tools your team used to create Stair Dismount?

JL: We leveraged many open source libraries such as Irrlicht and ODE. The levels are authored with irrEdit accompanied by our own custom-developed plugin and postprocessing tools. The workflow could always be better, but in the end the choices we made have still saved us a huge amount of time. Without getting OpenGL ES port of Irrlicht from the community it could be that we’d never even have made the iPhone version.

How long was the iPhone version in development?

JL: About 3 months in full production leading to first release version. But before that there was many shorter periods of pre-production work which is harder to quantify, especially because the iPhone version codebase was directly based on earlier prototype running on desktop.

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Tags: igf mobile, secret exit, star dismount, zen bound

The meditative rope-wrapping puzzler Zen Bound was an impressive demonstration of the iPhone’s strengths as a gaming platform, and developer Secret Exit plans to push the platform’s hardware capabilities further with the upcoming sequel Zen Bound 2.

As seen in the comparison screens above, Zen Bound 2 will boast more realistic textures when played on an iPhone 3GS or a third-generation iPod Touch. For any other game, this would merely be a nice bonus, but for a tactile game like Zen Bound, the enhanced graphics promise a richer experience.

No further details have been revealed regarding Zen Bound 2, and Secret Exit has not yet announced a release date.

Tags: Puzzle, secret exit, Upcoming, zen bound, zen bound 2

Okay, some advance warning here: many of the games featured in this edition of Weekend App Sales will be discounted for today only. If you’re reading this on Saturday, some price drops may still be active, but in other cases, you might be disappointed.

If you can load up iTunes within the next several hours, though, you’ll find a selection of excellent deals on some great titles. Boggle and The Game of Life are 99 cents for the next 24 hours, and Secret Exit’s Zen Bound and Stair Dismount are also available at steep discounts. Act fast, and you might even be able to snag a copy of Equilibrio for free.

• Zen Bound ($4.99 -> $1.99)
• Stair Dismount ($2.99 -> $0.99)

• Boggle ($2.99 -> $0.99)
• The Game of Life: Classic Edition ($4.99 -> $0.99)

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Tags: boggle, equilibrio, Free Games, Price Change, sales, stair dismount, weekend app sales, zen bound

[In this interview originally posted at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra, Game Developer editor in chief Brandon Sheffield speaks with Secret Exit's Jani Kahrama and Jetro Lauha about the iPhone, the Finnish games industry, and the challenges indies face in developing for mobile platforms.]

Secret Exit is a Finnish indie game developer known for the iPhone game Zen Bound, which won the Best iPhone Game and Audio Achievement awards at this year’s IGF Mobile Game Awards.

The company was formed out of the ashes of Fathammer games, a 3D-focused mobile game developer and engine provider, formed by Samuli Syvahuoko, who was formerly a Remedy (Max Payne) co-founder and subsequently set up Recoil Games (Earth No More).

Here, we spoke with Secret Exit head of studio Jani Kahrama, as well as co-founder and technical lead Jetro Lauha, both of whom worked together at Fathammer.

Lauha may be familiar to some as the creator of the freeware Dismount and Truck Dismount games from the early 2000s (and in fact, the company has a working version of Dismount on the iPhone, but hasn’t decided what to do with it yet).

In recent months the company has doubled in size – from two to four – and has had breakaway success with Zen Bound that affords the company independence and the ability to work on more original IP.

Here, we discussed the Finnish game industry as it affects indies, the iPhone as a platform, and the rise and troubles of Fathammer, a Finnish game publisher and tech firm that ended up being an allegory for the high-end mobile game industry at large.

How is the Finnish development environment as an independent studio?

Jani Kahrama: For me, I think the good part about being in Finland is that you really find talent in people here. The engineers are top notch, but it’s not just finding good programmers. There is plenty of talent here, engineers who are also very creative game designers, people who really can have a vision about a game and implement it. And having these kind of people in the companies is a tremendous experience.

On the other side… Not even on the other side. It’s a global business to be indie, so from that end, you can be that anywhere. I guess it could be nice to be somewhere warmer and cheaper, but aside from that, Finland is fine.

Are you equally able to get stuff like TEKES funding (government funding of technology R&D, including for games) compared to larger companies?

JK: Yeah.

JL: Yeah, we are able to get TEKES funding, but there’s a certain limit with the small companies or big companies they are supporting. We are kind of just on the limit. If we were just a little bit smaller, it would probably be much harder to actually get support funding because they don’t support the very small companies.

Is that why it was important to double your company in size and get those two other people?

JK: Well, it was a project that facilitated recruiting people. We were just the two of us, and when we pitched the project that we got the funding for, the whole plan was to bring our headcount up by one or two people and get things rolling.

TEKES… The function of TEKES is to facilitate and help the growth of Finnish technology companies, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to just throw money at single-person garage studios who would do nothing but make a single product and kind of try to get rich off that.

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Tags: dismount, indie, mobile, secret exit, zen bound

Every Friday, FingerGaming rounds up the best, worst, and weirdest free iPhone and iPod Touch games released over the past week in the iTunes App Store.

This week’s free releases include demo editions of Zen Bound and Galaga Remix, along with free full versions of EyeCue and Mafia Wars.

- Zen Bound Lite (Chillingo)
This rope-wrapping puzzler has been getting a lot of good reviews lately, and having played this free version, I can see what all the fuss is about. It’s like nothing else in the App Store, for sure, and the meditative vibe gives it a feel all its own.

- EyeCue (RightSprite)
It’s two puzzlers in one! Examine images and then answer specific questions about their contents, or arrange a sequence of images in their previously presented order. The game is free only to the first 100,000 downloaders, so get clicking if this sounds like your kind of thing.

- Pee Monkey Toilet Trainer (Exoweb Labs)
“Due to some medical mystery, PeeMonkey can’t stop peeing!” Oh no! Help Pee Monkey aim his unending stream into the toilet before the bathroom floor’s urine level reaches the electrical socket. Gee, wouldn’t that be terrible.

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Tags: free, free app roundup, Free Games, galaga remix, mafia wars, zen bound

[In this feature reprinted from FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra, Leigh Alexander reports the winners of the second annual Independent Games Festival Mobile, held yesterday at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.]

The second annual Independent Games Festival mobile announced its winners yesterday, and Subatomic Studios’ tower defense title Fieldrunners took home the prize for best game.

iPhone and iPod Touch platforms dominated across all categories, although the festival invited entries for platforms including Nintendo DS, PSP and mobile handsets as well.

The winners share $30,000 in prizes across 7 categories, including Innovation in Mobile Game Design, Achievement in Art, Technical Achievement, Audio Achievement and Best Game overall. This year, two new categories were added: Best iPhone game and Next Great Mobile Game.

The Audio Achievement award was given to Secret Exit’s Zen Bound, which uses music and sound effects to build an aural atmosphere. “Traditionally mobile audio means that you have to work with a myriad of craptastic mini handsets,” said the designer as he received his prize. “All I had to do was make it work on headphones — so iPhone is kind of changing that.”

Firemint’s Real Racing, launching next month, took home the Technical Achievement award, while Subatomic Studios’ Fieldrunners took home a second prize with the Achievement in Art award. “It’s amazing to be at this forefront where gaming technology and hardware allows us to create these wonderful things that were only possible on high-end console systems,” said Subatomic Studios as they accepted their award.

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Tags: fieldrunners, firemint real racing, galcon, igf mobile, iPhone, winners, zen bound

Speaking today at a Game Developers Conference Mobile keynote address, ngmoco CEO Neil Young praised the iPhone as being “better than the DS, better than the PSP,” citing its always-on functionality and lack of first-party games as critical factors for mobile game developers. Chris Remo at FingerGaming sister site Gamasutra summarized Young’s thoughts and advice for aspiring iPhone developers.

“Our love affair with the iPhone began by simply touching it,” Young said. “This was rapidly becoming the most important device I had ever owned. It was an all-encompassing, complete device. And I knew that that device was going to enable incredible things for gaming.”

Young dismissed claims that iPhone games are inherently inferior to titles designed for traditional portable gaming platforms, noting that overall graphic quality in iPhone games has seen a steady rise since the platform’s launch. “Don’t let the haters tell you it sucks compared to the DS or the PSP,” he explained. “It doesn’t. It’s good. It’s clear that the quality of iPhone games is eclipsing its [portable] console counterparts, and that’s even more acute when you compare it against the prior generation.”

As far as gameplay is concerned, Young advises that developers follow Nintendo’s example with its Nintendo DS platform. “It didn’t do it by competing on spec, it did it by competing on its unique capability. Nintendo was able to win that battle by combining great software with hardware that it understood very well.”

Young concluded his speech by encouraging iPhone developers to find their “super power” — a distinguishing factor that comes with intimate knowledge of the platform — in order to stand out among the mounting App Store competition.

“I know that there is a general malaise over the game industry today, but I can say it’s never been a better time to be an independent game developer,” Young said. “The gap in job security between you being independent and you being at a big company has changed pretty dramatically over the last year.”

“We’re at the center of the new everything,” he concluded. “the iPhone has revolutionized everything.”

Young additionally revealed during his keynote that ngmoco would soon collaborate with Zen Bound developers Secret Exit on a future iPhone title, and detailed what the future holds for his company’s flagship Rolando series. Rolando players can expect to see three more free level packs (each containing five stages each) leading up to the June release of Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid. Rolando 2 will then see similar updates and expansions until the planned November launch of Rolando 3.

Tags: iPhone, neil young, ngmoco, rolando, secret exit, zen bound

Fresh off of its win in the Excellence in 3D category in this year’s International Mobile Gaming Awards, Secret Exit releases its winning title Zen Bound ($4.99) today in the iTunes App Store.

Described as more of a “tactile experience” than a traditional goal-oriented video game, Zen Bound challenges players to wrap rope around sculpted objects throughout its 51 included levels. Zen Bound supports both tilt and multitouch control schemes, and includes an appropriately soothing 22-minute soundtrack, which can be downloaded to your iPhone for free via an in-game download link.

Zen Bound is also a finalist in the Best iPhone Game and Audio Achievement categories in the upcoming Independent Games Festival Mobile 2009 competition. Zen Bound’s official gameplay trailer is below.

Tags: chillingo, Puzzle, secret exit, zen bound

Eight mobile titles have been selected as winners at the 5th International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. This year’s winning titles span multiple countries and developers, and include several entries developed for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.

Real Arcade’s iPhone app Tropical Towers (also known as Tiki Towers in North America) earned this year’s Best Casual Game award. Firemint’s Real Racing won the Excellence in Creativity award, as the multiplayer GPS-based title Fast Foot Challenge from Urban Team in Germany took the prize for Best Real World Game.

The People’s Choice Award, chosen via an online popular vote, went to the Spain-based Digital Legends for its side-scrolling iPhone brawler Kroll. The ceremony’s Special Innovation Award was given to Jadestone’s single-switch multiplayer puzzle game Kodo Evolved.

The Excellence in 3D award went to Secret Exit’s Zen Bound, an iPhone puzzle title that debuts today in the iTunes App Store. Finally, Mobigame from France went home with two prizes this year, earning both the IMGA’s Excellence in Gameplay award and the mobile operator panel-chosen Operator’s Choice award for its iPhone action-puzzler Edge.

Launched in 2004, the International Mobile Gaming Awards offer recognition and talent scouting services for high-quality mobile games. The IMGA has awarded over $140,000 in cash prizes since its inception, and has reviewed over 1,000 games from more than 50 countries since 2004.

Tags: awards, edge, imga, kroll, tiki towers, zen bound

Here’s another awesome bit of news that slipped by during the holiday rush — Secret Exit has released a handful of screenshots from its upcoming iPhone title Zen Bound. No release date for the title has yet been announced, but it’s from the guys who brought us Stair Dismount and Truck Dismount, so odds are it’s going to be worth the wait.

Zen Bound is a game in which you wrap rope…around wooden…sculptures? Huh. From the sounds of it, it’s supposed to be more meditative than goal-based, and features an element of self-reflection in its gameplay. The preview video is intriguing enough, and the screenshots below already show a nice-looking work-in-progress. Here’s hoping for a release soon!

Tags: Puzzle, secret exit, zen bound