Indonesia game studio MassHive Media had quite the reception with its 2022 JRPG 2D pixel graphic wonder Potion Permit. In the indie title, you play as a chemist who has to cure what ails Moonbury’s residents in open-ended sim JRPG form. And about 3,000+ people on Steam love the charming title.

Of course, getting your game out to other new platforms would be a sound choice to get your popular game across, so what better way to do that than on Apple’s gaming ecosystem? Thanks to Apple’s recent “Here’s to the Dreamers” App Store spotlight, MassHive’s hit title is getting time in the sun.

We talk to MassHive Media Chief Development Officer Andika Pradana about the latest port of hit indie game Potion Permit in this exclusive interview.

(L-R: Anggia Lestari, Andika Pradana)

What are the challenges of porting the PC game into the iPhone? What major changes did you need to do to make it work on mobile
Andika Pradana: For this project, our partner Playdigious, did all the amazing porting for us. They did some makeover on the user interfaces, specifically the HUD, so it can be suitable to be played on mobile devices with user experiences-oriented focus.

What exclusive support did you get from Apple when going into the business of porting Potion Permit onto mobile?
AP: We had a few goals when expanding our platform to App Store. We wanted to engage with a wider set of audience, understand the correlation of user expectations and their behaviours on different platforms, and gather more user information to better shape our upcoming projects. Having said that, we believe App Store offers a high-quality and safe platform for our users, and the ability to appeal to a wider audience. The support from the
team to spotlight us in “Here’s to the Dreamers” campaign is a great honour. We are confident it will provide us with great visibility to create awareness about our game and its availability on iOS.

What are your thoughts about the gaming mobile scene right now, especially in the Apple and iOS ecosystem?
AP: We believe the mobile game market has evolved today into a more diverse and mature audience which provides avenues for both free-to-play and premium games in the mobile game market.

The App Store has a robust and wide spectrum of apps ranging from mobile games to productivity apps spanning across various countries, many of which offer high-quality gaming experiences. To be part of the ecosystem means a lot to us, and acts as a bridge to connect and commercialise to a different type of user base.

Is indie gaming development in a good place right now compared to 10 years ago? What improvements would you wish to see in the indie game development community in Indonesia?
AP: The indie game community in Indonesia has been growing really great from the past 10 years. There have been numerous regional communities where they share thoughts, knowledge, and experience, especially for younger generations to learn and grow. I hope these communities can grow even further so new young guns could be born from it.

This may vary from other app developers but we do hope to get more support in terms of funding provision from either venture capitalist (VC) or government organisations in the future. I think the bottleneck of the problem in the community is related to (directly to indirectly) human resources and up-skilling. With support from government organisations and VCs, we will be able to encourage new talents to acquire more knowledge and skills to fill in the gaps of skilled labour and pave way for more opportunities.

As for the funding, we believe having mentorships to guide existing and aspiring game developers is a crucial role in ensuring profitability for both developers and investors. With those two ideal hopes, I’m sure the number of talent will grow which leads to the community and the industry getting bigger and steady.

Your studio is in Bandung. Is travel considered a major issue for spreading awareness of your game in Indonesia seeing as most game conventions would be centered in Jakarta, the capital?
AP: It’s truly not an issue, especially these days where we’re lucky enough to have the high-speed rail train between Bandung and Jakarta that takes approximately 30 minutes. Although relating to exhibitions and conventions, we are mostly focusing on the international conventions rather than local ones as for now to focus on expanding our audience.

Will your next indie project be on Apple Arcade? Or elsewhere in the future?
AP: If such an opportunity could come by our way, we would really love to have that. However, at least for now, we’re aiming our next project to be available on most platforms, just like our current product.

Potion Permit is out right now for iOS for RM29.90.