Today, we were given the opportunity to interview Orian Livnat, President of Liv Games and creator of Legendary Wars, a game described by our writer, Gwen Phua, as “a fabulous side-scrolling game that combines real-time strategy with action, castle defense and attack.” Topics of discussion included the latest update to Legendary Wars and what the future holds for Liv Games.

Company Name: Liv Games
Name: Orian Livnat
Title: President
URL: www.legendary-wars.com

Q: Can you tell us about the recent update to Legendary Wars?

Sure. Legendary Wars has been a great success and with that in mind, this was our chance to make it even better. We have implemented gorgeous retina display graphics, as well as Game Center leaderboards and achievements. These were the most requested features, and though I will say it was difficult to pull off, we’re extremely proud of our fan support and the accomplishment. And for players new to the series, there is a free version available now, so if you get a chance to check it out, please do!

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Legendary Wars?

What a popular question! The game has morphed over time but the original design was Action-RTS with RPG elements that drew influences from the old 16 bit and RTS PC games we used to love playing while growing up. I really wanted to throw tons of variety at the player to keep the gameplay fresh and new. I wanted to make an Action-RTS game that was very fun and accessible to play as well as give the player complete control over their army, which is fairly unique to the iOS platform.

Q: How do you think the iPhone has revolutionized the portable gaming industry?

For the first time ever – you have a game machine where ever you’re at. Suddenly, everyone is a potential gamer. The idea of games being an impulse buy that you can purchase anywhere has never been done before. It really opens up the market more than any platform before it.

Q: What separates your company from your competitors with mobile applications?

That’s a very good question. We are dedicated to bringing unique experiences. Everyone has a stake at the success of the game so they do the very best possible job. Our artists have industry experience and Liv Games is their part-time passion. Liv Games is self funded so there is no set release dates. “It’s ready, when its ready.”

Q: What is your company background, size (employees, developers, etc.), and company inspirations?

Liv Games was founded in 2009 as a passion project of mine and my dad’s. My father’s company went out of business in Summer 2009, so I challenged him to learn objective C and cocos2d. I began designing a few game concepts with a couple of friends with a goal of making games that remind us why we love playing games in the first place. Currently we have 4 full time employees and 4 part-time employees. The art team is all part-time and the development team is full time. We aspire to make games anyone can enjoy. With Legendary Wars, we think we made one of the most accessible RTS games on the platform

Q: Do you outsource any projects or development, if so, how much?

The development team is remote while most of the art team is in Southern California. Although, our developers reside throughout Canada and Texas, we are communicating daily so we are always focused and on track.

Q: Advancements in graphics and animations in the mobile phone industry have astronomically grown within the past couple of years. How much time does your company devote to graphical, animation, and sound production for mobile applications? Are there areas that you focus on?

We started with a prototype that was basically just art and sound production. We have an animator that has worked on popular feature films and our 2 artists and musician all have experience and games under their belt. I think the quality of the art and sound production really makes Legendary Wars stand out from all the “me too doodle and stick games” out there. It’s something we’re going to continue to improve and focus on.

Q: How many applications has your company planned, developed, or created at any given time?

We had planned on doing a space physics puzzler about creating the universe through constellations. However, Legendary Wars took over and we knew we had to fully commit our time and resources to completing it. We do have a couple of projects in the works that we’re not ready to announce just yet.

Q: Is your company currently developing for other mobile platforms, if so, which ones and why?

For now, we are sticking with the iOS platform, and an iPad version will be out within a few weeks as well. We sway towards more to iOS for now because of the limits of other platforms. Legendary Wars is a big game clocking in at around 160 megs. Other mobile platforms have restrictions on size, though I’m sure that will change in the near future.

Q: Marketing an application can be a very difficult task. With so many applications being developed and released on a daily basis, capturing user attention in an App Store is challenging. What have you found to be an effective way to market your products to users?

We started 3-6 months before the game released, building interest and getting users involved in the development and testing. It also helped launching in MacWorld this year. It got us a lot of media attention. We also partnered up with Appular, a great marketing and PR firm that helped a ton. But what it comes down to is building your fan base and communicating with them on a constant basis through social networks such as Facebook or Twitter. We also love running contests and rewarding the fans.

Q: Following the response above, what do you think of the store review process? Is it helping or hurting your business? What are some recommendations in order to speed up the process?

We think Apple is doing a wonderful job with the amount of submissions they receive on a daily basis. They have accommodated us in the past for a quick turnaround. Sure it’s hard when an unexpected bug slips in there, and you have to wait at least a week in order to get it approved, but it ultimately falls on the developer to ensure it’s properly tested.

Q: What do you think about other application review websites? Are they effective at providing in-depth reviews of applications and help market your products? Or is your company experiencing challenges of trying to find quality application websites? What do you think of Appmodo?

I think there are 2 type of app review sites; ones that seek out fun innovative games to write about and others who charge for their services. We have had tremendous success with the former. We got featured on one site before release which helped raise awareness. If you have to pay to get a review than that to me means that your game does not stand out from the crowded mobile market. It really comes down to the product. We wanted to show the sites that we were listening to them – we took all the feedback we received and managed to rectify most of the concerns within 2 weeks with our first update. Appmodo has been great and was one of the first sites to give Legendary Wars high marks, and we appreciate that!

Many thanks to Orian Livnat and Liv Games for your time.

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