Any independent developer taking a risk on a new operating system on day one – whether subsidised or not – will be looking for assurance concerning its commercial viability.

According to Peter de Jong, CEO of Dutch developer CodeGlue, this is something Microsoft has covered when it comes to Windows Phone 7; in particular the platform's close relationship Xbox 360 has the potential to tempt consumers across the console-mobile divide.

We caught up with de Jong to find out why he thinks there will be plenty of gamers to download its launch title Rocket Riot during October.

Pocket Gamer: How did you get involved with developing for Windows Phone 7?

Peter de Jong: We attended GDC 2010 in San Francisco where we had a meeting with Microsoft and talked about the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform.

Microsoft asked us to pitch some of our games for the new platform, which we did. We pitched Rocket Riot, a game we developed and released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2009.

The great thing was that we'd developed it using XNA already, so that made it a relatively easy conversion for us.

What is the platform like to work with?

Windows Phone 7 is a great platform to work with. The fact that it uses XNA takes away a lot of potential hardware questions or issues - XNA does a great job abstracting the hardware layer - so you can focus on creating the game logic.

It's very easy to get started, which is definitely one of the platform's strengths. The lack of multitasking is a weakness, but hopefully that's a feature Microsoft will add in a later update.

What opportunities does Windows Phone 7 offer?

For us, Windows Phone 7 offers us a high performance mobile device on which we can create great games.

The Xbox Live connectivity will open up opportunities for us to do cross platform gaming between both Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7, with achievements shared between the two versions of the game.

Other gameplay examples mean you could train your game character on your mobile and then use him or her later in the Xbox version.

Do you think the emphasis Microsoft has put on games with Windows Phone 7 will give it an advantage over other smartphones?

By linking it to Xbox Live, Microsoft will attract core Xbox gamers to the platform. This could be a big advantage especially when Windows Phone 7 games start sharing information, such as achievements, with their Xbox counterparts.

But I think the platform has other great selling points as well, like great MS Office and social network integration, and it has a very good looking user interface.

Microsoft can address a broad audience with the platform.

What specific aspects of Windows Phone 7 are you looking to take advantage of?

Xbox Live features are a must, of course. Rocket Riot will support leaderboards and achievements in the initial release of the game. It will also have several control schemes to choose from that all use the touchscreen and the motion sensor in some way.

In a later update, we plan to add challenges to the game, so that you compete with your friends for the best score for a certain level.

How would you say it compares to the likes of iPhone and Android?

When you look at visual style and the usability of the UI, I must say I'm impressed and would favour Windows Phone 7 over both Android or iPhone at the moment - and I prefer Zune software to iTunes.

Performance wise, it sits with the best Android devices and the iPhone 4, so these Windows Phone 7 phones are really powerful devices.

From a game development perspective, the real differentiator is the Xbox Live integration, but other than that it's just another powerful touchscreen smartphone with a motion sensor. Personally, I want one.

Do you think the smartphone market is becoming overcrowded?

Yes, it's getting a bit crowded, especially for us as a small developer. There are a lot of mobile platforms to develop for these days, so we have to make some choices.

Still, this kind of competition is good for innovation. The real success of these platforms will be in the hands of the end users - if they like the platform they will adopt it, if they don't, they won't.

Any more plans for Windows Phone 7?

Yes, we're already working on some new game concepts for the platform.

Our focus will be developing a game that works across Windows Phone 7 devices and Xbox 360. The Windows Phone 7 game will most likely be designed to complement the Xbox game in some kind of way. It's not final yet, but something is in the works.
Thanks to Peter for his time.

You can keep up to date with CodeGlue via its website.