My Talking Angela 2 just clocked up a whole year since its star, Angela, packed her bags and moved out into the big city. With another wildly popular Talking Tom spin off for developer Outfit7, we talked to Helder Lopes, Head of R&D and VP of Design and Animation to find out why My Talking Angela still managed to blow away the publisher’s expectations in a market that is full of these familiar faces.
For those that aren’t aware, My Talking Angela is just the latest title from Outfit7 to feature in the growing line up of Talking Tom spin off adventures. This time however, Angela takes the stage and head out to the big city on her own. This feline superstar is one of Outfit7’s standout stars. After appearing in the hugely popular children’s Talking Tom cartoon series, this is a chance for fans of the show to follow Angela out of her own adventures, exploring the city by day and singing on stage by night. Along the way, players are able to take care o Angela, pick clothes, cook, clean, and take part in a ton of other activities that make this far more than an elaborate Tamagotchi.
Already, the My Talking Angela 2 app has already managed more millions of downloads on the Google Play Store alone and is ranked as one of the top causal titles on offer, but we wanted to find out just what makes this adventure so special?
The second year of My Talking Angela 2 is about to begin and it’s even longer for the wider world of Talking Tom. How would you think Talking Angela feel as we begin the second year of the My Talking Angela 2 title?
Helder: I bet she’d be feeling pretty great right now. My Talking Angela 2 has just achieved – in less than a year – 300+ million downloads worldwide, which is amazing. We’ve also released Talking Angela’s first original song and the music video to coincide with the game’s big summer update. The song is called Shine Together and it’s a real friendship anthem about Talking Angela and all her BFFs around the world. It’s all happening for our superstar right now!
What were your expectations when Talking Angela moved to the city and players got to pick up My Talking Angela 2?
Helder: We wanted people to be able to dive right in and join Talking Angela on this brand new adventure, whether they’d played the first game or were new to Talking Tom & Friends. It’s a game about friendship – and friendship is all about giving people the freedom to be themselves. So we wanted to make sure that My Talking Angela 2 was a welcoming and feel-good space. With all the care-taking, customization, and activity options we included (and there are lots!), we made sure that players could have fun in any way that felt right to them. There are no right or wrong choices, there are no “good” styles or “bad” styles in the wardrobe… It’s all about letting people express themselves.
What prompted the release of a second My Talking Angela game and how different is it from the original release?
Helder: My Talking Angela 2 was a real passion project for the company. We saw how much our fans loved the original game and we were excited to take it to the next level. We wanted to give them an enhanced experience that brought together everything we’d learned over the years.
The character of Talking Angela is loved around the world – she’s positive, kind, and full of excitement for life and all the fun it offers. So a game with her at the heart captures all those things – the original and the sequel. In My Talking Angela 2, the character is all grown up and ready for a new adventure, so she moves to the big city and invites her BFFs to join her. There are features, like taking care of Angela, that fans will recognize, and all-new ones, like baking, martial arts, and jewelry-making, that they can discover. We boosted the number of customization options, implemented even higher-quality art and game design, and even worked with professional choreographers to craft the dancing.
How has this game performed compared to other titles in the franchise?
Helder: My Talking Angela 2 is one of the most popular titles in our Talking Tom & Friends gaming universe. It was the most downloaded game worldwide when it launched in the summer 2021, and it remains one of our most successful game launches to date. And now it’s just surpassed 300 million downloads. We’re really proud of how much it’s resonated with fans – as the numbers show, they love this game!
This version is certainly more than a pet sim. There are tons to do. I’d love to know what mini-game goes down best with the player base?
Helder: By design, there are loads of activities and different ways to have fun in My Talking Angela 2, from learning martial arts and dancing, to traveling and collecting stickers. People can play any way they want! But if we had to isolate one stand-out, it would have to be the Sweet Shop. Players love baking and decorating sweet treats for Angela!
What are the plans on the horizon to expand the in-game content?
Helder: We’ve just released a summer update for My Talking Angela 2, which includes all-new outfits, decorations, and stickers. There are new activities too, including the new Talent Show, which sees Angela perform her talents for a panel of cute pet judges for the chance to win rewards, and jewelry-making. And over the last year, we’ve added the martial arts studio, new mini-games, new treats and more. We’re always working on new surprises for our players – next up are a few for the start of the school year! So stay tuned…
How big is the team that brings something like this to life?
Helder: A huge number of our team work on My Talking Angela 2 – depending on what’s going on with the game at the time. In development, it was all hands on deck because we created a whole new rig (an animation “skeleton”) for Angela. We wanted to be able to craft even higher quality animations for the character, and include new idle animations too. You see, at the heart of this game is giving fans a real virtual friend experience, and for that, we needed to make sure she felt real and fun. We wanted to bring her to life in a whole new way!
A good portion of Angela’s fan base and the Talking Tom audience has grown up with the cartoon, apps, and more. How do you keep the game relevant as the fan base expands in age?
Helder: We’ve been connecting with our fans, and creating for them, learning from them, and paying attention to what they like since we launched our first game back in 2010. We try to bring everything we’ve learned to everything we make. And My Talking Angela 2 was no different. We knew our fans had evolved, and so had we. So we were excited to craft this new experience for them. She’s still the same character our players know and love, but because they’ve changed and evolved over time, so has she. We’ve stepped up customization options, giving them even more freedom to create their own stories and express their current style however they like, from clothes to decorating Angela’s apartment. And we’ve added loads of new activities. You can even travel to other cities with her now. It’s like having loads of games in one!
While My Talking Angela 2 doesn’t explicitly address diversity, there’s a huge variety of different styles of dress, clothing, and representation that are obvious in Angela’s wardrobe, for example. I think there’s a lot to be said about diversity and inclusion with the game. How important is it and how do you fit that into the app without it feeling forced?
Helder: Our games are played and loved by people all around the world – they’re of different ages and genders, and from different nationalities and cultures, just like us! I mean, our team is made up of people from 27 different countries. We create with all our players in mind – we want everyone to feel welcome and have fun. So it was really important for us to be able to create a game experience where they could express themselves however they wanted. The number of customization options is vast in this game, I think the number of combinations is in the gazillions. It’s a natural part of the game because My Talking Angela 2 is a friendly space, where everyone is free to be themselves and have fun in whatever ways they want.
Can we expect some celebrations for the second anniversary of My Talking Angela 2? I’ll get my own cake!
Helder: The first year of My Talking Angela 2 has been filled with so many exciting moments and achievements, from the recent downloads milestone to the new song and music video we’ve released for the first anniversary… Who knows where we’ll be in another year! I can’t wait to see what happens over the next year on our journey with My Talking Angela 2.
My Talking Angela 2 is available now across iOS and Android storefronts for free.
