Putting the Cow in Cowabunga, Indie Game Studio Heavy Sheep Games launches their debut game: PurpleBit Surfing Cow on Google Android complete with you guessed it: A purple cow on a surfboard! I had to sit down and talk with Luiz Gustavo who leads the Heavy Sheep Games team to find out about the creators of such a unique game and get some insights on how they developed a game like this. PurpleBit Surfing Cow was created using GameMaker Studio and launched on Google Android with an IoS version in the works. With the formalities out of the way, let’s get right to the interview. I saw on your itch.io game page that there were a few contributors to PurpleBit Surfing Cow, how many members are part of Heavy Sheep Games? “Our team has currently 4 members.” That sounds like a good, focused compact size for a team. The main thing that stands out for everyone has to be the graphics choices. Can you talk a little about the process of how the art assets are created? … [Read more...] about [Indie Interview] Heavy Sheep Games with Luiz Gustavo
Interview
[Indie Interview] uZombie made in GameMaker!
Today I sit down with Indie Developer: Jonathon Colibaba to talk about his new android game: uZombie, a unique mobile RPG where you are not just a zombie but a Zombie Leader with intelligence. There is a myriad of features and things to do: Turn civilians, police and military into your own undead army, level up your character to gain better armor and abilities and watch as the city attempts to fight back. Jon developed uZombie in GameMaker Studio and took some time to discuss the actual development and decisions that were made throughout the journey. Getting right into it, what inspired you to make a zombie game where you play as the zombie? Seems like an odd choice when the current trend is heroically fighting the hordes, not leading them? “Well I wanted to create a game that I would enjoy playing. A lot of my inspiration comes from an older game called Stubbs the Zombie on the original Xbox. After that I fell in love with the idea of playing as the zombie and haven’t seen … [Read more...] about [Indie Interview] uZombie made in GameMaker!
Muv-Luv Interview — Creator Koki Yoshimune Talks Past and Future of the Beloved Series
The Muv-Luv series is considered by many the pinnacle of the visual novel genre, mostly due to its complex and dramatic stories, its interesting characters, and the top-notch mecha design that you wouldn’t expect in this kind of game. Yet, while its popularity certainly spiked after the successful Kickstarter that resulted in the western release of Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative, it isn’t as well known as it deserves in the west, Those two games (or three, if you consider Extra and Unlimited separate titles) hide an extremely complex saga made of many titles released so far only in Japan, and there is certainly more to come. In order to know more about the series, its past, and especially its future (in Japan and in the west), DualShockers had a nice and long chat with creator Koki Yoshimune at ixtl’s headquarters in Akihabara, Tokyo. The interview was translated directly by ixtl Executive Director Asahi Iwanaga. … [Read more...] about Muv-Luv Interview — Creator Koki Yoshimune Talks Past and Future of the Beloved Series
Writing when drunk and turning in your script months late: A Nier: Automata interview
Yoko Taro is, in many ways, a caricature of a game developer. There’s the obvious factor — he wears a mask during interviews and public appearances, saying that he wants games to stand on their own and that he thinks it’s more appealing for players to look at a strange character than an old man. And there’s the slightly less obvious — he goes by a pen name to differentiate himself from his persona. In English, that means Yoko Taro (officially, “YOKO TARO”) despite Taro Yoko being his real name, and in Japanese he uses a similar twist to separate the real from the persona. But he says he doesn’t care what name people use to refer to him. In fact, he says he’s happy if people don’t mention him at all. “If anything, I could just be called 01 and I’d be happy with that,” he says. Despite his attempts to hide in plain sight — or perhaps in part because of them — Yoko has become one of the most popular … [Read more...] about Writing when drunk and turning in your script months late: A Nier: Automata interview
Attack on Titan 2 Interview — Developers Talk Nintendo Switch, Gameplay, IP, and More
Koei Tecmo will soon bring a new chapter of the Attack on Titan franchise to consoles and PC with Attack on Titan 2. In order to know more, DualShockers had a chat with Koei Tecmo President and Chief Operating Officer Hisashi Koinuma (who is also working on the game as Producer), and Omega Force Manager Hideo Suzuki. First of all, we heard why the publisher decided to extend the release to the Nintendo Switch. According to Koinuma-san, one big challenge of working on beloved anime title is to make them as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. The first game had a portable version on PS Vita, even if it was never released in the west. For the second game, the company looked at the availability of the hardware on the market and made an effort to reach the broadest demographic possible. That’s why they decided to go for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Switch in the west, with a PS Vita version available only in Japan. Asked whether the Nintendo Switch version will be … [Read more...] about Attack on Titan 2 Interview — Developers Talk Nintendo Switch, Gameplay, IP, and More