WITH some ingenuity, animator Stephen ‘Big Bomb’ Williamson, 24, of Spanish Town, stepped onto the world stage with his android online game called TapKat Fiesta.

The game, which took him three months to develop, was launched in May of this year. He said the app is a fun-filled, arcade-style shooter which the player flies around in a helicopter and tap the screen to fire healing balls to cure mutated birds.

“You have to watch out for bomb birds that explode on impact and also make enough shots before you run out of fuel. It offers classic arcade game-play that mixes elements from Duck Hunt, Fruit Ninja and Sonic,” he told Jamaica Observer.

Williamson said the inspiration came about when his company Island Interactive (trading as Pandsoft), started to produce interactive content. “We wanted to do something fun.

The bird aspect was really about the colours and feel of game,” he said.

“Given our background in animation and how attractive the market was, we had already been producing content for marketing companies which represent various major brands, so producing digital content for a global market wasn’t such a great challenge,” he continued. His team comprises Carlton Gordon, Stefan Keaney, and Wesley Henry.

Since the early stages of TapKat Fiesta’s online release, the former University of Technology student said he has got feedback which were well received. Stressing his preference for animation, he said it’s a great market to tap into. His company has produced a number of animated shorts including The Logo Designer, Team-Ex and Star Boy.

“Animation and game development are definitely an area to reap great rewards if executed with careful strategy. Great games such as Angry Birds, spawning from a four-man team has launched its company Rovio to currently have a US$9 billion networth.

Flappy Bird’s creator, Dong Nguyen earned as much as US$50,000 a day from his amazingly simple but addictive game. There are also many great successes that came from small studios which produce content for the mobile market,” he said.

He said he is aware that it’s no walk in the park making a success of his app as he said many games are published daily.

“An effective growth strategy has to be carefully planned and executed or else the game will just be another game in the app store.

If it manages to do well on its own, that success will be short-lived so marketing decisions for successful games are considered before the game is started and continue to influence the design and growth process when the game is launched,” he said.

We plan to grow naturally, like that of a well-nurtured tree seeking sunlight in a forest.”