Interview

2013 In Review: Lady Shotgun's Anna Marsh

'I'm pleased the death of premium hasn't happened yet'

2013 In Review: Lady Shotgun's Anna Marsh

As we come to the end of 2013, it's time to look back at the events that dominated the last 12 months in mobile gaming.

As such, we've asked the industry's great and good to give their take on the last year, as well as predicting the trends that will come to pass in 2014.

Anna Marsh is design director at Lady Shotgun Games, a co-operative of freelance game developers.

Pocket Gamer: What do you think was the most significant event for the mobile games industry in 2013?

Anna Marsh: I've been so busy I've missed a lot of stuff going on this year unfortunately, but I think 2013 has seen some fantastic premium games on mobile.

I'm not anti F2P and, in fact, we're working on a F2P project, but I'm pleased that the death of premium as predicted by some hasn't happened yet, it makes mobile games much more varied in scope to have that choice.

What was the most significant event for Lady Shotgun?

Being awarded a Prototype Grant from the University of Abertay, which we used to create a prototype of our antiques themed project Relic Restorer.

The strict deadlines meant I had some really crazy, stressful times this year - but the end result has opened up some great potential opportunities for us which I've got everything crossed come to fruition in 2014.

What was your favourite mobile game of the year?


DEVICE 6
. Perfect, perfect match of device and game. Simogo's games get better and better - I'm extremely jealous of their talent. Plus - the "Anna" song in the soundtrack made me smile for a whole day after hearing it!

Simogo's DEVICE 6

What do you predict will be the most important trends in 2014?

I'm rubbish at predictions, but I know Microsoft and Amazon are both seriously putting real effort into getting good games on their mobile platforms with tangible support for developers.

I'm looking forward to seeing how that pans out and if those efforts start to challenge the dominance of iOS for game developers.

What's your New Year's resolution and what resolution would you enforce on the industry?

Its been a tough learning curve for me this year on the business side of things, so my resolution is to learn from all the challenges this year to make our projects next year run smoother.

Resolution for the industry? More publishers and platform holders willing to share financial risk and provide at least in part dev budgets. It would massively improve the quality of mobile games.

With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.