Old School Gamer Magazine chats with Bulbs 2.0 developer Marina Makarewska (Director & Designer, Error300 Games), who details the game’s development cycle and so much more.
About Error300 Games:
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Founded in 2020 by designer Marina Makarewska, artist Rafał Chałupnik and programmer Dominik Kawka, Error300 Games is an indie studio based in Dublin, Ireland. The team consists of six passionate game fanatics who strive to create fun, entertaining games they want to play themselves. In addition to Bulbs 2.0, Error300 has released puzzle games Tangram Collection (iOS and Android), Welcome to My Cave (iOS and Android), and Mosaic Chronicles (Steam). To learn more about Bulbs 2.0 and Error300 Games, please visit https://error300.com. |
Old School Gamer Magazine: How was Bulbs 2.0 born?
Marina Makarewska: Out of curiosity, mostly! I was wondering if I could come up with a game about mixing colors that wouldn’t be another version of Lasers & Mirrors.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What is your role in the game?
Makarewska: I handled pretty much everything except for the interface and music/sound.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What has development been like?
Makarewska: Rusty. I don’t usually write code… I think the last time I touched coding was 2016, so I had to actually recall how to do it.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What makes Bulbs 2.0 special?
Makarewska: Personally, I’ve not seen a puzzle with similar design before – although the fact your game is unique is not always a good thing…
Old School Gamer Magazine: What games influenced this one the most?
Makarewska: Obviously – the monochrome puzzle game, Lights Out.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?
Makarewska: Not sure how fun or wild this is, but the current game basically has the name, gameplay, and one single sound left from the very first version. All the rest was replaced as a result of tester feedback.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What were the major lessons learned?
Makarewska: Manuals and tutorials. Explaining your game to users is actually harder than writing it! That was a big lesson learned on this project.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
Makarewska: That depends. I don’t think the players really need yet another remake, clone or “reforge” of older games – especially when it’s done poorly. On the other hand, I have a collection of games that are 20 or 30 years old and are badly outdated in terms of graphics – but still remain unsurpassed when it comes to design and replayability.
Old School Gamer Magazine: The marketplace is crowded. How do you think you stand out?
Makarewska: Honestly, at this point I don’t think we do. These are our first games, and we’re focusing mainly on delivering a complete and fun product. But the game has been featured twice on the App Store to date (“New Games” and “New This Week”) and has been covered by outlets such as TouchArcade and Pocket Gamer – so we must be doing something right!
Old School Gamer Magazine: How have your previous experiences in the industry helped this game?
Makarewska: We have just started with game making – but we have learned from developing our other games such as Mosaic Chronicles, Tangram Collection, and Welcome to My Cave … all of which were released just last year.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How do you want Bulbs 2.0 to ultimately be remembered?
Makarewska: As a little fun logic puzzle. Let’s be honest, this game isn’t a big milestone 🙂
Old School Gamer Magazine: What’s next?
Makarewska: Right now, I’m working on a puzzle game with a fully unique design – but that one will come in late spring. In terms of the studio, we’re looking to release Mosaic Chronicles on mobile – and later in the year, on the Nintendo Switch. Our new PC game, Nora the Wannabe Alchemist, is also just around the corner.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Anything else you’d like to add?
Makarewska: Hope you enjoy Bulbs 2.0!
Patrick Hickey, Jr., is the founder and editor-in-chief of ReviewFix.com and a lecturer of English and journalism at Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York. Over the past decade, his video game coverage has been featured in national ad campaigns by top publishers the likes of Nintendo, Deep Silver, Disney and EA Sports. His book series, "The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult and Classic Game Developers," from McFarland and Company, has earned praise from Forbes, Huffington Post, The New York Daily News and MSG Networks. He is also a former editor at NBC and National Video Games Writer at the late-Examiner.com
