Demonstrating the potential of iPhone to encourage people from other parts of the software market to get involved in games is Polish developer Szymon Masiak.

With a background in special effects via his company MotionVFX, he's just released his debut iPhone game, an old school-inspired beat-'em up called Revenge of the Mad John.

We caught up with him to find out how he got into iPhone game development, as well as his views on being a small, independent studio competing in the increasingly crowded App Store.

Pocket Gamer: Can you explain the history of MotionVFX?

Szymon Masiak: It comes from another world. I've been always looking for something other than the Windows operating system and in 2004, when I moved to California, I found a Mac. Yes, I'm a switcher. From that day, I knew I'll only be using MacOS. And because I'm a well-known computer graphic and effects artist (you can see my demo reel here), I was looking for something to do with my new Mac.

Basically, I've always been trying to discover new areas and because there was nobody doing ready-to-use scenes for the Motion package (before it became part of Final Cut Studio), I started making Motion templates as a hobby, and after few years of work I became biggest and the best source on the market. MotionVFX was set up to release these templates. Now, as well as high definition templates for Apple Motion, I also make them for Adobe After Effects.

Why you decide to get involved in iPhone game development?

After iPhone came out, I fell in love with it. I still am. I think it's a great platform. Twelve years ago, one of my friends said some day everyone will have a cell phone and they will use them as a gaming machine, just like a PlayStation. I thought they were crazy.

Now, to be honest, I think I'm two years late with my idea, but I wanted to try out my strength and I think there is always a space for good projects and smart people. I didn't have enough courage to do it before. I've many crazy ideas in my life, but I just didn't have enough time to do it. Now I'm even trying to convince my wife to quit her job and join forces so we can rule the world, but she doesn't want to. Well, I'm a man with many ideas.

However I decided to prepare a budget and take four months to create a game. I've worked with many stupid and crazy people who have forced me to do things I didn't want to work on, but this time it was different. I had the privilege to think of something new and create it by myself. Has it been worth it? Hell ya! Even if I don't sell a copy and end up as a junkie, I'll tell my son, 'You should be proud of your father'.

What was the inspiration behind Revenge of the Mad John?

Old school Commodore 64 games, for sure. I loved Renegade and didn't find any game like it on the App Store, so I decided to do it myself. I knew the sooner I'll did that kind of game the better, because anyone can come up with similar idea.

How hard was it to perfect the combat controls?

It's been tricky. I had another vision for the game which didn't work out. I spent a few days with my coder playing the game and we came up with something completely different compared to what we had in the beginning.

Instead of arrows and a virtual joystick, we're using the accelerometer, which you use for movement, and touch buttons for actions.

When you touch the fist (on the right side of the screen), you punch, but when you slide it up, you can hit the enemy from the bottom. With the slide down you can pick up your weapon. It's the same system for the leg. Touch the button the left side of the screen to kick, and slide up for jump kick, and slide down to knee kick.

Do you think there will be an audience for this sort of violent beat-'em up on the App Store?

Do you think it's a violent game? I wanted to add blood to the final release but I was afraid Apple would reject it after I've spent so much time making it. Sure, there are plenty of sweet games for kids but I'm trying to do something that hasn't been done yet.

And there are also plenty of games involving zombies where blood and brains end up on the floor. I hope many people will buy Revenge of the Mad John as I think there is always a space for good beat-'em-up, although I reckon it would sell even better if there was blood. I hope to include this in the 1.1 update.

How easy was the development process?

I'm not a coder and I have no idea what it would be like to develop a game only in XCode, so I used the Unity iPhone engine. You still need programming skills, but you can use C# or JavaScript. In my case, the person I hired as a coder used JavaScript inside Unity. Unity has a really great community who will help you at any time.

It took four months, but the graphics took most of the time as all characters are real and where shot on green screen.

How much consideration did it take to price the game at $1.99/£1.19?

I was thinking about 99c, but because I'm self employed and I know how hard it is to make a game, I decided to go with $1.99. I think this price is lower than it should be in terms of all the work I've done. All levels are beautifully painted in Photoshop.

The problem for small developers is they need to survive. I bet if my game was published by EA, Gameloft or ngmoco it would sell hundreds of thousands of copies without any advertising, but I'm an independent.

When I see small developers, I try to support them. I spend a lot of money on App Store games. I try not to buy games just from big developers. They have enough money. I prefer to support smaller developers - like myself - so they can exist.

It's really tough. I don't know if I'll make any money at all with Revenge of the Mad John as the game has only just been published, but there is something crazy about 99c as price. I think small developers decide to go with such pricing because they think they will sell more games and will make more profit. But hey, if the game is good, people should pay more.

What future plans do you have?

I would love to make more games. I would love to become the largest iPhone game creator. I wish! I've got so many ideas and so much self-determination - currently I have ideas for another 10 projects - but I need bigger budgets, and I need to sell my first game to get back what I've already invested and then start another project.

So, if you're reading this interview and want to support the ideas of people like me, please buy Revenge of the Mad John.

But the problem with iPhone is everyone thinks they can make millions no matter what game they make. I thought same way, but the reality is different. I'm not afraid say it's really hard to be successful without investing big bucks on an advertising campaign. Production and advertisement cost a lot - and not only in money but also time, determination, family time etc.

Another problem with the well known game sites is they won't review your game unless you're a big developer. And this is only going to get worse because the new Creative Suite 5 from Adobe will enable Flash developers to port their games straight to the iPhone. Can you imagine how many more games we're going to see on the App Store soon?

But to get back to your question, do I have plans for more iPhone games?

Yes, but I don't know whether I will be able to make them. I would love to make them but that will only happen if the people reading this interview buy Revenge of the Mad John. I love you all and thanks very much in advance for your support.

Thanks to Szymon for his time.

You can find MotionVFX here and buy Revenge of the Mad John via this App Store Link.