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Without a doubt, Australian developer Halfbrick Studios has become one of the biggest powerhouses in mobile development. Ever since the studio launched its food-chopping simulator Fruit Ninja in 2010, it's become one of the most prominent studios across iOS, Android, and beyond.
And at the 2012 Game Developers Conference, Halfbrick chief creative officer Luke Muscat peeled back the curtain on one of the studio's most recent hits, Jetpack Joyride. It took the studio 10 months to create this simple, one-button action title, and now you can take a look at how it all came together in this video of Muscat's presentation, courtesy of the GDC Vault.
Even before Halfbrick actually started developing the game, however, the team had a number of essential goals it wanted to meet. First, Muscat says Jetpack Joyride had to be a one-button game, because that simple control scheme helped it appeal to even the most inexperienced players.
"We also wanted to have the same 'ad break play' model that both Fruit Ninja and Monster Dash had, where you can fit the game in during a [television] ad break, or you can play it on the train or on the bus.
"And this time, we were hoping we could add a bit more depth to the hardcore players. We wanted to make this game for our fans, and we really thought we could add a bit extra in there as well."
To learn how Halfbrick tackled those goals and to see how it all came together, simply click the Play button on the above video.
Video: Depth in simplicity: The making of Jetpack Joyride
Making a game with wide appeal is no easy task, but in this new video, Halfbrick's Luke Muscat explains how he and his team did just that with their popular one-button action game, Jetpack Joyride.