The explosive growth of the smartphone software market, notably lead by Apple and now compounded by Android, has created an opportunities for lots of game start ups.

One such is Italian outfit Forge 11, which as well as its internal development studio in Milan, is also offering publishing services.

Launched in July, it's released its first iOS games Ninja Training and Colorous: A Color Odyssey, and according to marketing and communication manager Alberto Belli plans to have a dozen more released by spring 2011.

Pocket Gamer: What was the inspiration for starting Forge 11?

Alberto Belli: Forge 11 was founded in 2009 by Fabio Filasieno, our CEO and studio manager. He previously worked for the UK government, taking care of technology related and innovative projects, but last year, he had the chance to access private funds to invest in something new.

Studying market trends, he came up with a solid business plan and decided to come back to Italy and start up the company.

What business are you in?

The original idea was for us to be structured as an outsourcer and service provider for thirdparties in the industry. Over time however, we realised we had to diversify the business so we opened up to developing and publishing on mobile platforms too.

What's your background?

I've spend ten years in the industry, starting as a journalist and then moving into distribution, publishing and development with the Leader Group, which is the Italian holding company including developers Milestone and Black Bean Games, who've released products such as Superbike World Championship.

I've launched more than 250 games in three years into the Italian market, and co-ordinated communications activities for SBK and History Channel brands in 16 countries worldwide.

The idea is to use such experience, release good quality games and become a point of reference for indie developers who are looking for a publishing partner able to push their products.

Do you think being an Italian company affects the way you do business?

Sadly, yes. Italy is a fantastic place to live with good food, sun and lovely people. But doing business, especially if you enter a market where you need to be competitive, is very difficult due to taxation and the total lack of help from the government. There are few public funds, no investors, a poor knowledge of emerging markets, and only a few proud people, trying to change the situation at their own risk.

The problem is that asking for money to make a videogames usually brings the response, "What? Videogames?".

I experienced the same situation in traditional publishing. Before the arrival of the iPad, there were a lot of people asking the big publishers about porting their printed magazines to a digital format. The long bearded businessmen answered "No way", before being forced to do all the work in just a couple of days after the release of the device.

I think there is a cultural problem in Italy, and it's reflected in more than one market. Those who take decisions and have access to funds are usually too old and so we always arrive second, even when we could be first and innovative. It's a huge mess, considering the number of amazing professionals we have. Most are forced to move abroad to develop their ideas

Yet with some luck, Forge 11 has been created with the idea to maintain an Italian identity, while acting like a British company. We work with studios worldwide, our corporate language is English, and we'll open a company in London that will take care of the publishing business, while we keep the development studio in Milan.

Why do you think the Apple market offers the best opportunities at the moment?

The most important thing Apple offers developers isn't the opportunity of huge revenues, although this can happen, but minimising risks.

People thinks a commercial success means billions of downloads, but a successful product really means investing X and getting back at least X+1.

I think that our method of planning wisely is a good way to build our business, which then provides us with the opportunity to raise more funds and schedule long term activities without risking too much. It's not good to enter a one shot market if you're trying to build a longterm business plan.

Why do you think developers should do publishing deals with you?

We offer everything a developer usually isn't able to do on its own. Of course, everyone has a mailing list and can chase websites for reviews but proper PR is very different.

It's taken years of traveling to conferences, having drinks and making friends to create the global contact book which we can share with our partners. Moreover, we will obviously support our projects with marketing activities and offer production support through our producers.

We also think there are a huge number of amazing games already published which didn't get the attention they deserved. We could work on these games, revamping them and giving a new life to the product. We will work on new IP and original games too of course.

How have your first batch of iPhone games performed?

Ninja Training is performing well in Japan. It was featured as top game by Apple on iTunes and we're already thinking of doing a sequel.

Colorous is performing very well worldwide, and we're going to release it for iPad. During Gamescom, we got some cool feedback about the game and also received some proposals to work on a DS port. NIJI will be released during December on iPhone and iPad as universal app.

These are the first tests for us to understand how the iOS market works, especially in terms of different game genres.

We're going to enlarge our portfolio before Christmas, signing more games to release in Q1 2011. We'll have action games, strategy games, simulations - internally we have eight games being developed - and we're working on licensing so we can understand how a well known brand or character could change revenues in such a market.

What opportunities do you think exist on other mobile platforms?

At the moment we're evaluating Android; that seems to be the only other option in the short term. There's a problem in terms of getting real numbers for Android though, so I think we'll continue studying it for a few more months before producing something.

What should we expect next from Forge 11?

We have a lot of projects due for 2011. As well as the new games I've already mentioned, we have some very cool products signed. We hope to have 10 to 12 products on the App Store by Q1 2011.

The idea then is to enlarge the publishing business, opening up to digital delivery for PC, WiiWare and DSiWare. The studio is actually already working on a PC/Mac game. We'll have something more to say about it during GDC 2011.

Thanks to Alberto for his time.

You can find out more about Forge 11 via its website.