As we found out recently when talking to RIM's director of developer relations Mike Kirkup, BlackBerry is evolving its image from purely corporate to becoming a more lifestyle device.

Obviously games are a big part of this, so we caught up with Mike Barnes, CEO of specialist BlackBerry game developer Nickel Buddy.

The studio has released titles such as Solitaire Buddy, Marble Trap and RevBall, but its big breakthrough has been Fierce Towers.

A runner up in the 009 BlackBerry Partners Fund Developer Challenge, it's the first tower defence game for the platform.

Pocket Gamer. How did Nickel Buddy form and why did you focus on BlackBerry?

Mike Barnes: Nickel Buddy was founded back in 2003 to develop games for cell phones.

Back then, most people, myself included, didn't even know that BlackBerries could run thirdparty applications. But it had a hugely devoted customer base, and as its popularity grew, it became obvious this was going to become a great platform for developers. So we quickly migrated over to developing for BlackBerry.

Do you think the BlackBerry audience means making developing games for it is different to other mobiles?

The profile of a typical BlackBerry owner is a changing picture. It used to be that BlackBerry owners almost exclusively used their devices for business; entertainment applications took a distant backseat. But that's changing rapidly as people are realising just how fun/useful their BlackBerry can be in their personal as well as professional life.

What was the spark of inspiration for Fierce Towers?

I've enjoyed playing tower defence games online for years and have always wanted to make a mobile version. But I didn't want to do it unless we could make it look great.

The latest generation of BlackBerry smartphones finally has the bigger screens, better processors, and graphics capability to make it possible. As far as I know, we were the first company to bring a tower defence game to the BlackBerry.

How long did it take to develop and do you think it was different compared to if you'd been making it for other mobile platforms?

We spent about four months developing Fierce Towers. It really wasn't much different than developing for other mobile platforms. Mostly because the hardest part of development was actually the play testing and graphics development.

A tower defence game is very complex to build; Fierce Towers has so many variables that it's very hard to find the right balance so that the game is challenging but fun. And to complicate testing even further, we added several types of gameplay, each requiring a different strategy to win.

Also, we have an amazing graphics team, and they put a lot of work into making the game look great.

Have BlackBerry games experienced price deflation has is happening on the Apple App Store?

It used to be that games for BlackBerry sold for $10-$15. Now most games are $3-$5, so prices have come down quite a bit.

The problem for developers is when apps get down to the 99c price point, it gets very hard to make money. But I think BlackBerry apps are at a really good price point now. Developers can still turn a profit and consumers aren't paying a fortune.

Are you evaluating other mobile platforms for future games?

Well, of course we have to keep our eyes open for great opportunities. But we're a small company so we have to be very careful about spreading our resources too thin.

How do you think the new BlackBerry APIs announcements will affect the games you make in 2010?

I think two of them could really shake up the market.

The addition of OpenGL ES is something that will make it possible to create new types of games on BlackBerry that until now couldn't be done. The second is the advertising API, which will add a whole new way to monetise apps.

We'll be looking at both of these carefully as we plan our development roadmap. But the game is the thing. Just because a game can be done in OpenGL doesn't mean it necessarily should be done in OpenGL. It's got to be fun; otherwise, what's the point?

And so, that's our continuing mission at Nickel Buddy... to bring fun to the BlackBerry!

Thanks to Mike for this time.

You can check out what Nickel Buddy gets up via its website or the BlackBerry App World.