Interview with Toki Tori Developers

The above images depicit the original concept of an egg as being the  Toki Tori character.

Thank you for talking with us Martijn, can you tell us a little more about how was the game planned? Who planned/designed it, what were their thoughts?

The original Toki Tori was released back in 2001. But the new iPhone version feels like a new game, everything from the visuals to the controls and execution have been redesigned and rethought. The idea was to make Toki Tori feel like a native iPhone app.

Who actually designed the physical drawings? How did they come up with the character idea, colours, themes, music?

Toki Tori was originally a simple sprite-based design, much like how Mario used to simply be a collection of dots on screen. A couple of years ago we decided to redesign the character. The end result is a fully 3D character that retains the characteristics of the original, but can be used in a much more flexible way.

Who do you see as the main target market for this game?

People who like a challenge and can appreciate true game experiences on their iPhones. Toki Tori is not a dumbed down game in any way. It offers a full experience (10+ hours of gameplay) and can be very challenging.

How long did it take from the original planning to the production process?

The iPhone version took up to 6 months to complete. The original game though had been in production for over a year.

How long do you envisage this game will continue to be a success? Would you consider making a sequel?

We always want to do more with Toki Tori. He’s actually been featured in a lot of games. Almost every game created by Two Tribes has a Toki Tori in some way integrated.

But if we’ll do a sequel really depends a lot on how well the game performs over the long run. So it’s too early to tell at this point.

Has the success of this game exceeded your expectations?

It is too early to tell. We’re still in our launch window.

Who and how did you decide on the price structure for this game?

We wanted to let people know that Toki Tori is a true game experience, so for going for the 99 cents dump price was out of the question for the launch of the game. At the same time, we know it’s not the most well-known brand (yet) so it would be bad to price it at the same level as the major releases. So, we settled on a very sympathetic price of 4.99 dollar (3.99 euros).

Thank you Martijn for this really informative interview, I am sure Toki Tori will continue with its success for a long time to come

Synopsis of Toki Tori

Toki Tori is a blend of two genres. On the one hand it looks like a platform game but it is really a puzzle at heart. Based on the success of the Wii game by the same name, the iPhone/iPod Touch version gives gamers the freedom to play where ever they want. Gamers get full use of items such as the Telewarp, Freeze-o-Matic and InstantRockTM. The controls have been redesigned to make full use of the multi-touch screen and tilt sensor. Developed by Two Tribes, a high quality Dutch game developer whose clients include Chillingo of course, as well as Capcom, Nokia, Team17 and THQ.

We have been so impressed with this game at whichiphoneapp.com that we felt we had to pit some questions to Martijn Reuvers, Managing Director at Two Tribes to learn more about this creative masterpiece.