There are some very good Spanish mobile developers such as Digital Legends, Exelweiss and Geardome, but since the collapse of publishers like Lemonquest, there haven't been many larger scale operations.

That's one thing start up Bravo Game Studios expects to change thanks to its well funded backers, and a business plan that will see it rapidly increase headcount and production capability during 2010.

We caught up with head of marketing Rowan Corben to find out more.

Pocket Gamer: Can you tell us a bit about Bravo Game Studios, and what your longterm plans are?

Rowan Corben: Bravo Games Studios (BGS) was set up at the beginning of 2010 through a joint venture between Genera Interactive and Mobivery, two of Spain's largest mobile developers. We also received private funding through the Spanish Government, which sees mobile development as a huge area for growth and for new employment within the country.

As a result, BGS has a very aggressive growth strategy, both in terms of fiscal results and team size. We're currently around 35 employees, but need to grow to be around 120 full time members of staff by the end of 2010.

Finding people of the right calibre isn't easy, but we're working hard to ensure that we have a core team in place within the next three months, and from there we can broaden our horizons to find the right people to round out the company. It's an aggressive strategy but one that we hope will enable us to find and retain the right people for the job.

How would you describe a typical Bravo game?

Ultimately our aim is to design games for a casual audience, but built with a professional attitude in terms of overall polish, graphics, and performance. Just because our consumers may not know about jailbreaking or root access doesn't mean that they deserve any less when it comes to quality and playability.

Our games are devised and created, from the ground up, to work with the current touchscreen handsets, so we will always design games with touch controls in mind.

I think our first release Touch Racing Nitro is a perfect example of this attitude.

We took an established gaming genre and took it in a new direction, dropping the traditional D-pad controls in favour of a new way of controlling the cars. The result is a game that feels as though it was designed specifically for a touchscreen, rather than for a non-touch device and then ported across.

Touch Racing Nitro was your first original title, so what was its inspiration and how has it performed on the App Store?

Looking at the racing genre on the iPhone, the majority of games make use of a virtual D-pad or the in-built accelerometer which, in our opinion, don't make for the best gaming experience. So we decided that we wanted to make a racing game designed for touchscreen devices.

We were exploring different ways of implementing the basic steering and accelerate and brake controls and came up with the method that is in the final release - where you control the car directly on screen, using your finger position in relation to the car to control acceleration, braking and steering. The moment we hit upon the control method we knew we had something a bit different.

With regards to how it's performed in the store, we're absolutely thrilled with the success it's achieved. Within the racing category, we've hit the #1 grossing spot in practically every iTunes territory.

Considering it's our first release, it's totally surpassed my expectations.

Obviously it helps when Apple gets behind a game, but the great thing is that it believed in the unique controls too and saw, with us, its potential. It's also great to get positive feedback from our customers, and we're constantly getting emails from people just to tell us how much they love the game.

We've just launched the 1.1 update with OpenFeint integration, and a Lite version is also coming soon.

Plus the Android and Samsung bada versions will be ready to release this month so we have high hopes for its continued success, not only on iPhone but on other mobile platforms.

One of your first games was Powerpuff Girls Snowboarding. How did you get access to this licence?

Genera Interactive (one of the parent companies) has been working with big licenses like Turner, and through it, we were approached to make a snowboarding game based around the Powerpuff license.

Although we're keen to push our own IP, it was great opportunity to showcase our abilities as a work for hire studio, and launch BGS to a worldwide audience. We're also working with Glu Mobile and THQ Wireless in a similar capacity, and have some really exciting projects in the pipeline.

What else can you tell us about your plans for other mobile devices?

We definitely don't see ourselves as an iPhone-only developer. In fact our core strength is our ability to port our technology to multiple software platforms.

Our games are already working on Samsung bada, Android and Windows Mobile, as well as the iPhone platforms. We've even managed to port our technology to widgets on Vodafone 360, which allows us to port Java titles for clients such EA, Glu, and Gameloft.

We're also very keen to explore the online and social gaming space, but always with mobile foremost in our minds. We have some really cool concepts in the pipeline which should hit the market early in 2011. So definitely watch this space.

What can you tell us about Mr Hat, Resurrection and other games you've got planned?

Mr Hat is an educational game, designed to make the iPhone a meeting point whereby parent and child can share time together and learn.

Resurrection is a fantasy hack & slash game that completely respects the core values on which BGS was built - that of quality and playability. In fact, some of the development team worked on the PC version, so it's definitely got a bigger feel to it than most mobile titles.

We're just about to start pre-production on a really exciting licensed project (which, unfortunately, I can't say much about due to contractual restrictions), but, between you and me, if it doesn't make the top 10 on iPhone and iPad then I'll eat a new iPhone 4 on camera.

One of the longterm trends on the App Store has been a divide between big publishers and indie ones who can only operate at a 99c price point. As a company that sits in between that, how do you plan to create a successful business?

It's simple - produce the highest quality titles, in terms of content and production values, at the lowest cost by creating the right tools for the job, having the right teams in place and by adhering to the right internal procedures.

Technology and team is, I believe, the key.

By developing and making use of a low cost cross-platform delivery mechanic, we're better able to maximise title revenue. The same goal is achieved by putting our hardcore video game production expertise into creating professional looking casual games. And, of course, you can't overlook team creativity when it comes to bringing new and fresh content to a given platform.

You've got offices in Spain, Romania and the UK, so how do they differ from each other?

Well it's bloody hot in Seville, bloody cold in Romania and always raining in London!

On a serious note, the main body of our workforce is in Seville at our HQ. In Romania we have a smaller studio which is currently looking after our sport products, whilst our London office is shared with Genera Interactive.

From this London base, we focus totally on business development and product marketing and PR. We are also very fortunate in London to be able to share our office with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, which affords us an excellent base from which to conduct business.

Thanks to Rowan for his time.

You can find out more about Bravo Game Studios via its website.