Offline RPG: God of Magic - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Nope, I am completely self-taught, developing, and learning at the same time. In the past three years we published 4 choice games, making huge jumps in quality.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

Building in close environment features for the game is usually a lot of fun and the easy part. Integrating SDKs, cross-service communications, meeting store guidelines are dry and challenging parts that can give you days of headache.

_{Back to Panda}

Daniel, the interview is the co-founder of Back to Panda. It is a two-people team consisting of a developer/designer and a writer. Their first successful project was launched in May 2017. It was called God of Magic, was downloaded about 400,000 times organically, and has a rating of 4.5 on Play Store. They’ve been working on the game ever since.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

A text-based game called Lifeline was definitely the spark that ignited our imagination the most because it was able to create real thrill in millions of users with very simple software and also a simple but brilliant idea. That’s the level we have been trying to achieve or even surpass, only in the genre of fantasy, of which both I and my partner are huge
fans of.

How long have you been working on this app?

We usually spend 2-3 hardcore months developing an app, not counting the softer incubation period when we are coming up with ideas. This time might seem short but it’s enough, since our base software remains the same in our consequent games, we only have to find ways to improve and augment it in creative and enjoyable ways to make it feel fresh. But if you add these times together, you’ll find that our latest release has years of hard work put in it.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

We wanted to make both RPG fans and newcomers to the genre feel immersed in a magical world, as if reading a book, only more interactive because their decisions shape the story and they have to play games and improve their skills in order to finish the story.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

Our most important innovation is that we injected these simple but fun mini-games which are substitutes for skills that must be upgraded in order to move forward in the story. Apart from this, the game is full of hidden and fun details that speak of a well-thought-out atmospheric world in which the user can get lost and go on adventures in.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

We have just published our latest title which will have new stories every week, so that will keep us busy in the upcoming months for sure. The magical world we have created in these apps will definitely expand. We want to make our players feel as if they were part of an epic fantasy series.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

We are always interested in your feedback, since we are constantly improving the app to make it the best it can possibly be. Of course, kind remarks are always more than welcome as well. We’ve been making these relatively successful indie games for three years now, but it’s still inconceivable for us that we can generate joy and genuine feelings all over the world.