Iron Monkey Studios on Mass Effect: Infiltrator

Iron Monkey Studios on Mass Effect: Infiltrator

Feature

Mass Effect: Infiltrator developed by Iron Monkey Studios has been in production for over a year and little is known about it. So to find out more, I headed down to their Melbourne offices to see what I could discover about the game.

With the release of Bioware’s third instalment in the Mass Effect series fast approaching, it can be easy to get caught up in the hype. But with all the publicity surrounding the console and PC versions, a little known Mass Effect title is being developed for iOS devices (and Android in the near future) by a small team of Aussie developers.

Mass Effect: Infiltrator developed by Iron Monkey Studios has been in production for over a year and little is known about it. So to find out more, I headed down to their Melbourne offices to see what I could discover about the game.

Iron Monkey Studios on Mass Effect: Infiltrator
I have to admit, that prior to venturing out to the Iron Monkey Studios, I was a bit apprehensive about a Mass Effect game on an iOS device. My previous knowledge of games on current generation phones and tablets amounted to Angry Birds, tower defence games, and various other casual Facebook-style games that Iron Monkey’s Jarrad Trudgen later referred to as fremium games – you know, games that are free to play, but have the option of purchasing premium items. Would Mass Effect: Infiltrator be another of these titles cashing in on the Mass Effect name?

But after sitting down with Jarrad, it was soon apparent that this was no ordinary casual game. From the moment Jarrad plugged his iPad into the large screen TV and started demoing the game, I could see that plenty of time had been put into developing Mass Effect: Infiltrator. And I could see that Jarrad was passionate about Iron Monkey’s latest project. After a short time showing me through some of the games levels and features, I got to the business of asking him a few questions on behalf of the Hooked Gamers readers.

Hooked Gamers: Before we start, can you let the readers know who you are and what your role entails at Iron Monkey Studios?

Jarrad Trudgen: Hi, my name is Jarrad Trudgen and I’m the design director for Mass Effect: Infiltrator. I’ve been with Iron Monkey since 2009.

Iron Monkey Studios on Mass Effect: Infiltrator
Hooked Gamers: Not many of our readers would have heard of Iron Monkey Studios…how long has Iron Monkey been developing games, and what are some of your previous titles?

Jarrad Trudgen: Iron Monkey started back in 2005, and we’ve developed the iOS versions of well known titles such as Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, the Need for Speed series and The Sims.

Hooked Gamers: I’ve noticed that you’ve developed a number of games for EA branded games...how is Iron Monkey linked to EA and how much input does EA have on the design and development process?

Jarrad Trudgen: We are one of EA’s premier development studios for iOS devices. We already had a working relationship with EA, having developed a couple of successful EA mobile titles prior to the App Store boom, and we were subsequently acquired by them in early 2010 to work on all their big iOS titles. When we started out with EA there was a lot more process and external reviews and approvals required. Since the acquisition we have been bringing more and more of that in house which really streamlines development. We’ve recently added some Marketing roles to the studio, too. In most cases it’s actually the IP owners - in this case BioWare - that we communicate with primarily during development.