It's quite hard to talk about how we felt during the project, because it was like running 110m hurdles: you just hold your breath and run as fast as you can. And try not to miss the hurdles, but hey, you can run through them too, if you want. You can get bruises AND win!

There is a real feeling of excitement in knowing that next month, your game will be out and people will play it. It really physically make you look at the Atelier differently, the people you work with, when you realize that all the current discussions and ideas are going to turn into a new Series, and people will say what they think of it, and if it's crap then shame on you. So that's why we are making plenty of games, so no-one notices when one sucks!

I believe that in the business of creative content, very few have this blessing of going so quickly from finishing the project to getting the public reaction. I can think of cartoonists, for instance: they, too, can feel this urgency to create stuff that are going to be broadcasted the next day. But when you look at cinema, gaming, books, music, whatever, it usually takes months or years for an artistic effort to come true. And then there can be another very long period before it finally reaches the public. And another one for the feedback, fame or shame. Hey, you could be dead for ages before that happens!

So indie = happy.

What were you least happy with, in retrospect?

No more boxes, joke-filled manuals, and lenticular sleeves.

No one can resell our games if they do not like it anymore. It is also quite difficult to offer a digitalized game, and even when you can do this, it lacks some weight to it.

We have done 2 games for the DS - Nervous Brickdown and Big Bang Mini - before. I would say "classic" studio development, with long periods for milestones, testing, QA, localization, and final approval. Then we would have to wait some more months before our cartridges got pressed and available to the public.

But we love our boxes. We really do. Boxes are the reason why we started Arkedo in the first place (we were coming from a mobile games studio I founded in 1999). For our last DS game, as I said, we even managed to have a special lenticular cover :)

But download has strong arguments. Also, as a studio, you almost get as much money with a 240 MS pts game as with a $20 DS game sold on retail.

All together, we guessed we could make games principally with 2 people: one dev, and the other for the rest. Of course, we rely heavily on what had been developed internally before, and Eric, our oldest dev, ported some of our gfx primitives into something the XNA could take advantage of (for instance, particles. We love particles.)

What is the biggest lesson you're going to apply to the next game you make?

Well, developing for the XBLIG is great, it is so snappy. But we love also to make tangible games. Something to collect, or just look at. Or to resell. We want both! So we would really love to be able to make hybrid stuff in the future. Cheap version download only, and if you want something more, cratfed by us, maybe you could. We'll see if we can do this. I would love to.

And we also have the hope of putting the Arkedo Series to another level... We get the request a lot to get the Series on XBLA or PSN. We want to do it, and are discussing it right now with some publishers, but we want the jump to be worth it. We are pushing ideas right now, but should we do it, it would have to be something more than just a compilation in our view.

And to be more specific on the next installment of our Series, I believe that we might allow a litle bit more time for each game. A month is definitively possible, but I believe some of the value of what we do is in the little details, and a depth bigger than you would expect first. It his is really hard to do in just a month. So maybe we are going to add a few weeks to each new Series, for the polish. PIXEL may be, in this way, the first one of a new kind of Series (it was done in 2 months, not one).

But ultimately, we have decided not to decide anything before we make at least 4 games in this Series. So if there are big changes in the future, it won't be before at least Arkedo Series #5.

[The Arkedo Series includes 01 - JUMP, 02 - SWAP and 03 - PIXEL!, which are all currently available on the XBox Live Indie Games for 240MSP / $3 each download the trial versions by clicking here.]

If you want to know the awesome story behind the top image, here's the skinny. When I requested a picture of their studios, Camille sent me the above one with the following:

"I do not know if I told you, but I seriously considered starting my own restaurant between my two studios (I have a passion for food and wine), and... well, I hid one restaurant within Arkedo. Best of worlds like this.

"Usually, during summer on Fridays, I cook for Arkedo, Pastagames and/or friends. I am really fortunate, as I share the same butcher as the Elysée and the french Senate. Hugo is a friend of mine, and he also provides beef and pork to almost all 3 stars-Michelin restaurants in Paris. And for wine, another good friend has an amazing cellar a few yards away from Arkedo. Same for organic vegetables, and fantastic dairy: great boutiques just around the corner. There even is now a new cake shop literally across the street, and teh girsl who started it had been studying with the best chefs, and what she does is really interesting (I have my 4 year old girl Mahaut taking lessons in her kitchen once a fortnight, she comes back with really nice "Totoro" cakes, I love it!"

"So we don't get many complaints from our Arkedo lunches! The only downside is that we usually don't get much work done on Friday afternoons, but hey."

I want to move to Paris now.