The shovel swinging knight with bull-horns and eyes you can't see will soon be digging his way into your heart--so gross an analogy for such a delightful neo old-school platformer. Shovel Knight, starring the hero whose name is the game's title was Kickstarted by fans of a bygone era where NES dominated the home and people could watch MTV for music. The game has you on a quest to save your beloved from the likes of eight worthy enemies all with other names before knight. You're also in it to dig up some treasure, luckily you wield the Shovelblade, useful for digging and dispatching enemies with.
The game is still waiting for a release date for PC/Mac/Linux and Steam as this interview goes up. The game will be also coming to Wii U and 3DS with no date given as of now.
Two members of the developing team from Yacht Club Games took to time to answer TTDILA's questions on the the epic title that brings back the love of digging up something and hoping it won't be a dead body. Ian Flood (Programmer) and Nick Wozniak (Artist) took the effort and time to answer about special integration on Nintendo's systems and if possible you could purchase your own Shovelblade.
IF: Ian Flood (Programmer)
NW: Nick Wozniak (Pixel Art Guy)
You're
all coming off of some extra time to perfect the game before its
release. Was there some controversy between you and your backers? What
exactly did you polish? That shovel best sparkle.
IF:
And sparkle it does! I can confirm, for a fact, that we added
additional sparkles with some of the extra time. As you might expect, we
originally decided on the end of March as a release date after planning
out all of the remaining work left to be done on the game. We knew we
had a certain number of levels left to do and that levels usually
consist of this many enemies, this many gameplay objects, a boss, etc.
It was a little on the aggressive side but we wanted to do everything we
could to pull it off and get the game into everyone’s hands! A few
weeks before we reached the deadline, we took a step back to evaluate
the game as a whole. While we did manage to get all of the content
completed (at that point, we had all of the levels, all of the enemies,
all of the objects, and all of the bosses!) we realized that some of
these features needed a little more work to be the best they could be.
Some elements needed to be simplified or built upon more! Some art
needed to be re-done! And some objects could be made many times better
after a few more passes of iteration. Rather than just release it, as a
completable game with some pretty cool stuff in it, we instead agreed as
a team that we would take the time needed to make the game shine by
iterating, removing, and reworking the game until we were all satisfied.
We’ve
remained in contact with fans and supporters every step of the way and
so we’ve read our share of responses on the matter. Some people were
understandably not pleased with how the situation rolled out, but others
rang in to show their support for taking a little more time. I really
do appreciate people on both sides voicing their opinion -- and I hope
that Shovel Knight’s imminent release will make it all worth while.
Have
fans controlled any part of the game? I hope they physically don't come
to where you work and berate you or anything. Perhaps at night they
come in and work on the game and you wonder whose been doing the coding.
Has their interaction changed your mind on anything or has it always
been what you've wanted, it is your game.
IF:
This project has been more open than any we’ve been a part of in the
past, to be sure! However, it was crucial that we maintained a core idea
for the kind of game that wanted to make and then build out from that
with suggestions and ideas from everyone around us. We’ve talked a great
number of people at conventions, in comments sections, and on
livestreams who have same level of enthusiasm that we have for Shovel
Knight! There’s been many times where a comment or two stuck in our
heads and eventually snowballed into a real feature within the game!
This is also pretty much how our design process works as a team too.
We
also had a “Director For a Day” reward tier, which means that people
got to stop in and work with us to construct a Shovel Knight boss fight
from top top to bottom! Some characters turned out to be cool and
menacing while others are off the wall oddballs. They all lend a touch
of unexpected fun when exploring the game’s world.
Shovel Knight looks like his mother was a bull and his father was Boba Fett, where did his design come from?
NW:
Shovel Knight’s design came mostly from us trying to create a simple
looking, iconic knight character. We looked to inspiration from games
like the Zelda Series, Wizards and Warriors, and even real suits of
armor from the past! Basically, without wanting to rip off any current
designs, we sought to make Shovel Knight iconic and unique while also
familiar and relatable.
One
of the more difficult aspects of his design was that he looks like an
enemy! Just a still frame of Shovel Knight might lead you to think that
he is trying to prevent the progress of some other hero rather than have
his own adventure! He has horns, no face and no apparent personality
when just standing still. To fix this, we made sure that all of his
animations were over-the-top, almost flamboyant in their posing. Now
when he moves, you really get the sense of personality of someone exited
to go on an adventure and, if we’ve done our job well, someone that the
player enjoys playing as.
How did some of the other boss Knights come about, could you please go over your favorite and why?
NW:
All of the bosses in Shovel Knight started as simple archetypes of
characters that we wanted to make. We assembled a big list of ideas for
what the bosses would be; sometimes it was themed to what they looked
like ( short and fat ) or what their “power” was ( a water themed knight
). That list was eventually paired down to a short list that was 8
knights long. From there Some quick whiteboard sketches were made that
formed the basis of the concept art for each of the knights. Throughout
the whole process, it was most important to maintain personality in
their designs so they stood out as individuals but also worked well as a
group.
After
all the work put into the knights, it’s really hard to say which is my
favorite, but I, coming from the perspective of an animator, I would
have to say Specter Knight was my favorite. He’s all flowing cloth and
too-cool-for-school attitude and I had a lot of fun getting that into
the character’s movement.
What
elements might a player gloss over that took you time to develop,
anything that stands out. Don't be shy, it can be about something minor
like the sound an enemy makes or a loading screen you love.
IF:
The stereoscopic 3D effect found on the 3DS version immediately comes
to mind. To achieve this effect, the 3DS displays two images at once --
the left eye and the right eye! This means that the farther back
something is in 3D depth, the more that the picture moves away for each
“eye screen”. There’s no real depth in a 2D game, of course, so we had
to go through and hand specify how much everything pops-out or pops-in
across the game for every effect, enemy, and tile! In a game where every
pixel is meticulously placed, this means we had to add extra tiles to
levels and extra art to illustrations. The end effect is always
impressive and so it was entirely worth it! Even if you are the type of
player to turn it off at the start of the game, I do hope you at least
watch the introduction!
Your
helicopter rats are my favorite little enemies to bounce off so far.
Where did they come from? Are there any other minor enemies that you
like? Will there be toys?
IF:
We were hard at work constructing our first level just days before
heading out to PAX East to show the game publically for the first time!
We had knights, wizards, bugs, and bubbling oil but we needed a flying
enemy to antagonize Shovel Knight from above. We brainstormed some ideas
that made sense but they were all trumped when Sean pulled out an index
card and sketched a helpless rat harnessed into a propelle. I remember
saying that there was no way to make it work within the pixel art
confines of our game, but in less than thirty minutes we had an idle
animation that looked just as amazing as the sketch. I don’t think we
have made any changes since that very day, haha. It was just perfect.
They were so popular that we made buttons of them for this year at PAX
and so maybe a toy line makes sense too, haha. Although, maybe its time
for a new enemy to take the center stage. Have you heard about Super
Skeleton? He’s kind of cool!
Can
you tell more about the Streetpass and Miiverse integration with the
3DS version of the game? Will there be other special features for its
release on other systems?
IF:
As a team we love to brainstorm how platform specific features can fit
into our game. It’s an extra touch that makes the game feel right at
home on that platform. I’m sure we’d follow the same way if Shovel
Knight arrived on other platforms too!
We
had a number of ideas for StreetPass on the 3DS including hiding
treasures for other players to find or creating custom characters that
could somehow help you on your adventure. In the end, all of these felt
way too passive! David soon upped the ante and championed the idea of a
competitive arena battle game against other players. The only problem
was that StreetPass is, by its definition, a passive multiplayer mode
where two players exchange game information in passing which can then be
played later. The idea soon turned into what it is today: a blind,
sudden death arena battle! You record multiple rounds of your Shovel
Knight squaring off against an invisible opponent by either landing the
first attack or collecting the most gems before time runs out. Once you
StreetPass with another system, you can watch your Shovel Knight play
against the opponent’s and see who really has the greatest strategy!
Even after lot’s of playtesting, we continue to find surprising and
hilarious battle combinations in the arena.
On
the Wii U side Miiverse takes the spotlight by allowing you to leave
and read posts from other players online! At any time during your
adventure, you can bust out the stylus and leave a note for other
players to see when they reach that same point in the game. Will you
leave hints? Secets? Jokes? Sketches of King Knight where it doesn’t
belong? The choice is yours!
I understand many of you worked formally at WayForward, why move on? Was it just for this game?
NW:
As a group we had enjoyed a lot of success creating games together and
working well as a team to make things happen inside a larger company
structure. At the same time, we also pay close attention to the state of
the industry as a whole, so we all knew things were becoming more and
more open to smaller companies venturing forth and finding success. With
this in the back of our minds, our lunch time conversations about games
that we wanted to make for the company slowly shifted into games that
we wanted to make on our own. Eventually the idea of Shovel Knight came
up during a lunch conversation and we knew that the game would be worth
pursuing and the timing wasn’t going to get any better. While we do have
a lot of fond memories of working at Wayforward, none of us has
regretted the decision of taking the plunge to try and make it on our
own!
How
hard has it been making the game on your own? How small is this team? I
just read Pokemon Gold and Silver were from four developers.
IF:
Well it’s never easy, haha. We’re about half a dozen or so people most
of the time, and are also fortunate enough to have support from many
great people around us. Everyone here plays many roles and fills gaps as
we see them to make sure that the Yacht Club continues to sail onwards!
Trying to use all of us on the development team as QA testers was
particularly brutal as we were all doing nothing but playing and fixing
Shovel Knight non-stop for the past couple of months. A developer can
sometimes catch some pretty tricky bugs but great QA testers really are
invaluable!
Is Shovel Knight in Super Smash Bros? If not, damn Nintendo for not realizing to do so.
IF:
I’d wager that Shovel Knight fell out of the running early due to
balance reasons. His shovel drop would be way too good as a meteor smash
and his DigSlash has both range, combo, and launch versatility. Way too
good! If you just overlook his speed that is...
What will be your presence at E3? Any special parties? Like a release party?
IF:
We’ll certainly be attending E3 this year and hope we can bring Shovel
Knight along! We’ll be more of a roaming band of Shovel Knight
enthuasiasts this time around. Once the game is released proper, that’s
when the big release parties can begin!
Your
Kickstarter says your LA based, but aren't you further out? In either
case, does Shovel Knight have any LA influence or LA connection?
IF:
Most of us are located a little further up north in Valencia so we’re
more LA County! This leaves us just a stone’s throw away from some of
the great events in the area, such as E3 and Indiecade. Now that we’re
emerging from out crunchtime, we hope we can participate in even more!
When will I be able to purchase my own Shovel Knight brand shovel?
You can pre-order Shovel Knight for $15.00 here
