White Birds has announced that its latest project for the Wii console is being built on Qube Software’s ‘Q’ platform. The title, called Crazy Garage, is a cartoon style ‘party game’, inspired by TV shows like ‘Pimp My Ride,’ and features a number of mini games. White Birds started using Q in December and the title, which is now at Beta stage, will be completed in the next few weeks.

The deal makes White Birds the first studio in France to adopt Q.

“Among the features that led us to choose Q were the interface-driven philosophy (QCOM), the ease of use of QStudio for artists and the quality of the Maya exporter,” said White Birds’ Lead Developer, Damien Kochanek. “We appreciated the modularity it offered, which was perfect for a party game like ours.”

The backup White Birds received had also been a key factor in their decision, said White Birds’ Production Director Jean-Brice de Cazenove.

“The support from Qube has been great,” he said.  “Our questions have always been answered very quickly and most of the features we've asked for have been implemented. This is without a doubt another huge benefit of working with Q.”

The close working relationship between the studio and Qube helped the French developers to get to grips with Q’s unique approach. Q is designed to offer a framework and components which studios can configure and augment to match their project and chosen way of working.

“Q has been a challenge for the team to master,” Kochanek said, “but the time it takes is definitely worth it.

“We are still learning, but once we got the basics of Q down, it proved to be a powerful engine and framework. Thanks to QCOM, Q is very modular and highly customizable, maybe too much in the beginning! Thanks to features such as the shader profile system, Q is also a true multi-platform engine: we have been able to develop our game on one platform and make it work on a second without difficulties,” he said.

White Birds in turn provided the team at Qube with one of the best tests to date of Q technology. The French team’s technical expertise meant that the feedback it provided was valuable.

“They’re very professional and very able,” said Q Program Manager Jamie Fowlston. “In particular their artwork provided a really useful test for us and helped us make sure that our tools work the way they should.”