Interview

Realtime boss: 'iPhone is the perfect platform for audio adventures'

David Warhol talks Soul Trapper

Realtime boss: 'iPhone is the perfect platform for audio adventures'
Soul Trapper: Episode 1 was one of the more innovative iPhone games released in 2008 (as we said), thanks to its gameplay focused on wrapping audio and narrative around interactivity.

Publisher Realtime Audio Adventures even coined a new genre to describe these kinds of games, even if that genre was titled, ahem, realtime audio adventures.

With more of them on the way, we fired some questions at the company's president, David Warhol, to find out more.

Tell us about this new category of realtime audio adventures...

Realtime Audio Adventures are a new category of App Store entertainment that intertwine audio stories with interactive gameplay to create in-depth storylines that require the active participation for the listener to complete.
Soul Trapper in particular, is our first full scale audio adventure production. It’s a single storyline that allows the player to take control of Kane Pryce, as he or she moves through an environment, making decisions, talking to other characters, inspecting items and even solving puzzles.

The best way to describe it would be to say it’s an interactive radio drama, or audio text adventure, with a single story thread from start to finish.

Where did the idea come from?

I've generally wanted to do an audio only game for about 15 years now based on a conversation I had with Brian Moriarty, one of Infocom's authors, who I also have to credit for suggesting an audio-only interactive game.

Although, it wasn't until about two years ago that I realised the time was right to create one. There were about 90 million iPods out there, and doing an interactive audio adventure was a perfect fit for the device.

We approached Apple with a demo just before they announced they were opening the iPhone and iPod touch as a platform for developers, so we naturally jumped at the opportunity.

Why do you think it's such a powerful idea?

The power of our audio adventures is that the graphics are all in your mind - games wherein all of the information needed to play come solely from audio cues. Games played with headphones and your imagination.

Like I said before, it’s similar to listening to a radio drama, or even like reading a novel - players fill in their imagery in the same way as they would when reading a book.

Is iPhone particularly suitable for these kinds of games then?

Out of all of the devices currently available, the iPhone is the perfect platform for audio adventures. Its roots are firmly in an MP3 player technology, as it started as an audio device.

Other portable game systems concentrate on the visuals, but we actually suggest that you only look at the screen when it's time to make a move or solve a puzzle.

In addition, the iPhone is an everyday device, meaning its portable, and you can enjoy Soul Trapper everywhere you carry a phone.

But do you see the genre moving to other mobile platforms, like Android, BREW etc?

Yes, they can be ported to other platforms. It's just a question of economics - will sales on a new platform justify the cost of porting to the platform? As soon as the number is a positive one, we'll support a new platform.

Has the reaction to Soul Trapper borne out your faith in these kinds of games?

I've been extraordinarily encouraged by the critical and popular reception to this type of entertainment. It’s truly different, and people recognize it as such.

Although Realtime has only launched one audio adventure to date, we are absolutely committed to growing this category to its true potential.

What are the technical challenges or requirements to making a game like Soul Trapper - do you need better audio facilities than a regular mobile development studio, for example?

Most of the audio value was added in the recording studio, by Greg Turner, who gave Soul Trapper his all. His creations are ultimately played back as MP3 files, so it doesn't tax the hardware in that way.

On the device, we need MP3 output and three or four other stereo outputs that can be used at the same time to layer gameplay audio, interface audio, and instructions.

What are your plans for 2009 - how many more of these games are you doing?

We have two more full-fledged audio adventures in the works that should be ready early April: Bloodvine, a vampire action/romance; and LA Knight, a noir-detective game set in Los Angeles in the late 30s. These will be the 2+ / 3+ hour full experience like Soul Trapper.

Besides those we are sketching out a comedy / crime solver series, and a variety science fiction series – similar to a Twilight Zone in that the characters and plots don't follow a single thread, but still have an overall vibe in common.

Overall, it's been an absolute blast to work on these adventures and we plan to carry on in the genre as long as we can.
To read Pocket Gamer's review of Soul Trapper: Episode 1, click here.

Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)