Independent on the world market of casual games – Two Desperados

This company located in Belgrade, which now has over 80 employees, is guided by the mantra: “tech at core, fun at heart”. By designing games and technology that are player-centric, they believe that the answer to the question of what it means to be a desperado is risk: they try to challenge the modern gaming scene through creative innovations.

Following this motto, Two Desperados reached the first important point on its development path in 2016, innovating an already well-known genre on the market. Their marble-shooting title Marble Woka Woka: Jungle Blast quickly became the top 1 game of the genre for mobile devices.

Two years later the team launched Viola’s Quest: Marble Blast, which very quickly surpassed the success of the first game. To date, more than 30 million players have played these games, helping the company grow and venturing into a new genre of casual games.

NoNo Crossing is set in a colorful world of picross levels, with mischievous and irresistible characters. This relaxing and fun game offers a stimulating gaming experience through its challenging puzzles, obstacles and original features, and currently has an incredible rating of 4.9 on the Google Play Store.

This rating is mostly an average of experienced nonogram players’ impressions, who have almost nothing to complain about when it comes to this relatively new game, which promises to keep getting better. We especially enjoyed discovering the cute pixel-art drawings that are the key to solving the levels.

SGA is extremely proud that Two Deseprados will participate with us in Gamescom for Business as part of the official Serbian representation under the slogan THE NEW FRONTIER OF EUROPEAN GAME DEV.

On this occasion, we spoke with Jovana Filipović, a game designer, and Tamara Milovanović, a Communications Specialist who will be happy to welcome you at Gamescom.

SGA: In Serbia, we already know Two Desperados well, but if we stumble upon someone who isn’t familiar with our game dev scene, how would we explain to them who you are and what makes you different from others?

Tamara: Two Desperados is one of the largest domestic gaming companies that develops its own games and has been successfully and independently operating on the world market in the industry of casual mobile games for a long time. What is specific to a stIndependent on the world market of casual games – Two Desperadosudio of our size is the culture, manner and speed of decision-making. We have a lot of freedom and creative autonomy in the games we develop, and that implies a great dose of responsibility. The whole process is in our hands, and this is usually accompanied by a high degree of agility and readiness for change.

SGA: Your work on the revitalization of marble-shooting games has put you under the watchful eye of casual gamers. How have Woka Woka and Viola’s Quest helped you grow as a studio?

Jovana: As someone who worked on all three of our live products, the most helpful thing for me was that I had an incredible opportunity to learn a lot and grow, because there were different needs for different products. We were all in that learning process together, while the team, the organization and the development processes changed.

SGA: This year you also released a new casual title. We’ve already started the story of NoNo Crossing, and now it’s time to continue it. How was the game received after launch?

Jovana: We have good metrics so far, so we are happy with how the game has been received. However, when it comes to games like ours, the real work starts after launch, as we still have a lot we’d like to improve in order to reach our goals. The feedback from players is quite good, we heard that the game is very addictive and our current rating on the App Store is 4.7.

SGA: What’s it like working on the game now that it’s live? What can the players look forward to in the near future?

Jovana: We put a lot of focus on liveops and mini-games within liveops. We will also have special PVP events for the first time in the games we are developing. Releasing the full game requires serious planning and great investment so now the team is much larger than at launch. We have introduced new positions in the production team, which is reflected in the development process itself and that makes the biggest difference compared to before. Now there are also players that we take care of, listen to them and rely on metrics, which are an integral part of road-map planning. Other teams within the company are much more involved in the product, we collaborate more closely with them and align goals and results.

SGA: Did work on this game inspire you? Are you currently working on a new idea?

Tamara: We are always working on new ideas. 😀 I think the inspiration to create and work on new ideas is something that everyone who works in gaming has in common. I would say that there is never a lack of creativity, but also that the culture within our team is such that we constantly leave room for working on ideas, internal game jams, level-up projects, development plans and the like. We are not afraid to try new things. Creation is definitely something that is woven into the culture of the gaming industry itself, however, when a team independently markets their products, as Two Desperados does, the sustainable side of creativity becomes essential and then each prototype or idea goes through certain business and test phases.

SGA: We’ll see you at Gamescom soon. What is the goal of Two Desperados at the world’s largest gaming fair?

Tamara: It’s the first time we’re at this kind of event, and we think the timing coincides perfectly because of our new game. Our goal is mostly brand visibility, focusing on NoNo in order to introduce the audience to the game. We always want to meet as many people as possible who share our passion for game development and games, and to simply experience on the spot what the attribute “the world’s largest gaming fair” means.

SGA: Thank you very much for the conversation, we can’t wait for further news!

Serbia’s appearance at Gamecom would not have been possible without the support of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The participation of the startup Phobos was supported by the Science and Technology Park Belgrade and the Government of Switzerland through the project Technopark Serbia 2 – encouraging exports through the development of technology parks, as alumni of the Raising Starts program.

Gamescom is taking place from August 23rd to 27th in Cologne, so if you’re available, be sure to stop by and talk to the desperados in person!