PewPew Live - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

Yes, I've been coding video games since I was a kid, and I've been a professional software engineer for almost a decade now.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

Without hesitation, the most challenging aspect was implementing multiplayer. I use an unorthodox technique (lockstep with rollback) to offer gameplay with no local latency. I went through many many iterations of the multiplayer system before having something that works well.

_{Jean-François Geyelin}

Jean-François Geyelin is a French independent game developer. He started creating games on calculators in middle school and hasn't stopped programming since.
His first successful mobile game is the critically acclaimed PewPew with more than 2M downloads. Since then he released PewPew Live in 2020, a sequel that includes multiplayer and community-created levels.
In his spare time, he enjoys playing Rocket League and reading about Science and Technology.

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

I really like "Super Hexagon": when you start playing a level, it seems impossible to beat it... but then unbelievably you do manage to do it, which feels great.
Another incredible game is "Tiny Wings", unfortunately only available on iOS. The mechanics are very original, and the execution of the game is simply perfect.
Other than games, I use Discord to keep in touch with my community and I love the app because there are just so many features! Anything you need to do is available in it.

How long have you been working on this app?

I started mid 2017, so about 3.5 years ago. I started with a prototype to see if multiplayer over the internet was possible for that kind of game. Turns out it was possible, and so I've been working on it during my free time since then.

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

I created PewPew Live because I wanted to play an action game in co-op with my friends, and I couldn't find any good mobile game to do this!
The secondary motivation is that I felt that there are not enough games that allow you to express your full creativity, which is why in PewPew Live you can create and share fully customized levels (assuming you are willing to write a little bit of code).

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.

To be honest, I find the quality of the games in the twin joystick category to be low.
There used to be Geometry Wars which was really good, but unfortunately, it's not available anymore. Compared to Geometry Wars, I believe PewPew Live offers more diversity, in no small part because people can create content.
There are other smaller aspects from which PewPew stands out from nearly all the other games:
It uses a custom game engine, which allows me to control all aspects, including making sure the input latency is as small as possible. It has the side benefit of allowing the game to be very small, and because the assets are all vector-based or procedurally generated, the entire game takes less than 3MB when compressed. And that's including 1.2 MB worth of music.

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

The current release is just the beginning, I plan on working on this game for many years. If all goes well I will be releasing this game to more platforms (including iOS) and I will be adding content: more game modes of course, more unlockable content, more music, 4 players multiplayer, and achievements.

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.)?

You should definitely share the app! If you are of the creative type and know a little bit about programming, I encourage you to check out how to create custom levels for PewPew Live. If you are just curious about the game, you can ask questions on the Discord server (invite link: https://discord.gg/kpkPgDG).