The idea for Fruit Ninja, one of Halfbrick Studios' most successful games, came from a commercial about knives, said CEO Shainiel Deo in an interview with the State Library of Queensland.
"The sources of inspiration for our games can literally come from anywhere," said Deo, before explaining that in a TV ad for knives, a Halfbrick developer saw someone throw up some fruit and slice it.
Deo also discussed the state of the modern gaming industry from the perspective of an independent studio making small games. "The most exciting thing in the games space now is how easy it is for people to get access to really good technology to create the games that they want," he said. "And ... once they've created something, they can distribute it to a huge audience so easily."
The CEO of the Brisbane, Australia-based Halfbrick, the studio behind Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, said his favorite types of games are "fun and simple" ones that "have a really strong gameplay mechanic that you can play over and over again.
"And I think that shows in a lot of the games that we make."
The State Library of Queensland will host a talk featuring Deo next month.
[Thanks, Corin!]