Frenchman Fabrice Breton is COWCAT: the studio made BROK the InvestiGator, a detective adventure with beat ’em up and RPG elements set in a world where animals have replaced mankind, and it also publishes other studios’ games. Now two titles have reached iOS and Android: BROK: The Brawl Bar, the beat ’em up spin-off with 60+ challenges, six playable characters and a creator mode, released on October 9, and Demon’s Tier+, Diabolical Mind’s dungeon RPG roguelike, released on October 22. Both are free to try, with a full unlock at US$ 4.99.
I liked Fabrice’s straight-to-the-point email, so I kept the questions short. The answers came in the same style: the mobile market, the work behind touch controls, why he avoids predatory monetization and some good news for Brazilian players.
The interview
Why bring BROK: The Brawl Bar and Demon’s Tier+ to mobile now?
“I like to port my games to all possible systems players are on, and mobile is the biggest market. It’s harder to make revenue from it, but it exists and revenue cumulates, so why not? My games don’t require big powerful machines to run!”
What was the hardest part of making them work with touch controls?
“Thankfully I was able to use the main game touch controls, which took a long time to design for touch! But offering so many options (virtual buttons AND a gesture-style mode, making them work for both the adventure AND beat ’em up parts…) was a lot of work!”
Why “free to try, pay once” instead of ads or in-app purchases?
“I’m not a fan of predatory monetization that alters the gameplay of games deeply. And ads don’t bring much revenue at all. So this is the best model: you can try it for free like a demo, and if you like it, pay just once to unlock all the content.”
How do you split your time between making your own games and publishing others, like Diabolical Mind’s?
“Porting another dev’s games still takes way less time than making new games from scratch!”
What’s next for BROK and COWCAT?
“We’re making Celsius Strays with another developer I’m cooperating with (demo available also on PC and mobile!), and I have a new game in pre-production!”
Anything you’d like to say to Brazilian players?
“I’ve just added support for Brazilian Portuguese to my first adventure game, Demetrios! You can play it in Brazilian Portuguese on PC and mobile, plus my newer games also support the language!”
COWCAT’s mobile games, including BROK: First Hat (Android) and the free Celsius Strays prologue, are listed on the studio’s page.
Source: SavePoint email interview with Fabrice Breton (COWCAT).
Max Xavier
