Interview

2015 in Review: Chirag Chopra on making more emotional experiences

Future trends from the remembrance of things past

2015 in Review: Chirag Chopra on making more emotional experiences

As 2015 begins to fade into memory, we're taking a look back at the events that have dominated the last 12 months in mobile gaming.

As such, we've asked the industry's great and good to give us their take on the year, as well as predicting the trends that will dominate in 2016.

Chirag Chopra is the founder of Lucid Labs, known for its debut game Roto and 2015 puzzle game Stay, Mum.

PocketGamer.biz: What was the most significant mobile games news of 2015?

Chirag Chopra: I think it has to be Apple and Google dropping the minimum price of games and IAP.

That was really shocking to me. Buying a game for as low as $0.15 is something I had never imagined.

How did the focus of your business change in 2015?

We went from creating an arcade game as our debut game to creating something completely different and weird - Stay, Mum. It’s a game based heavily on emotions and the story rather than gameplay.

A shift to more emotional games

I won't call it a change in focus of business, I always wanted to create such emotional games. It's more like we started walking on the path we always wanted to.

What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2016?

I think updates will play a major role in any game. Developers will start using updates as content extensions rather than simply fixing bugs. They will take updates seriously and use it to retain players like a PC or console game.

Gone are the days when you could just make a game with 50 levels, upload it to the App Store and wait for the results.

What was your favourite mobile game of the year?

It has to be Lifeline…, a small text-based adventure which uses phone notifications to play out. It’s a very clever game where you talk to the protagonist in the game and help him survive on a lonely planet.

A creative and clever text-adventure

I remember waking up to its notification when the character called out for my help and required my attention. Truly creative and clever!

What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?

I want to make more games with emotional and meaningful messages behind them.

And I want the industry (especially the Indian industry) to invest more time on the polish and quality of the game rather than monetization and social elements.

We want more high quality games, at least comparable to games made in the western market, probably even better!

You can check out all of our 2015 in Review interviews here.

Editor

Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.