When it comes to reporting on games usually the big AAA or certain indie titles manage to capture the audience’s attention, and then dominate headlines. However while these titles take the headlines there are thousands of others making games that can be overlooked too easily. Out of those thousands of games, a few may catch your attention for one reason or another, and that’s how this interview with Ivan Mandić from FrozenPixel Studios about an action adventure title called Nucleotide came about.
I stumbled upon a developer diary for the game and liked what I saw. It’s an action adventure game whose lead character is a frog named Gorf as he traverses a deadly environment. Going into this interview, I knew just that Gorf can use his tongue as a lasso and that he is blue.
Let’s see what light Ivan could shed on his creation.
TSA: With these interviews we first like to know about the developer, so Ivan, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Ivan: I am a 23 year old indie game developer from Slobodnica, Croatia. I fell in love with games when I was only 4 years old, when I got my first gaming console, SNES. When I was 12 years old, I started teaching myself the art of the game development. It didn’t take me much to get the grasp of programming, and start some real development.
At the age of 19 I started working as a full time game programmer for Trillenium, and did so for two full years. After my first full time job I decided that I don’t want to work for anyone else ever again, and I decided to follow my dreams as an independent game developer.
TSA: When I first saw Nucleotide I couldn’t help but think of Frogger, due to guiding a frog and avoiding traps. Was that one of the influences on this game, and what other games have shaped the path Nucleotide?
Ivan: I never actually played that game, but I know it’s one of the classic arcade games. Except from the fact that Gorf resembles a frog, there is no connection whatsoever. I think that I’m mostly influenced by the games of the original PlayStation, the golden age of the 3D Platformers. Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Toy Story 2, Croc…
But I see the Nucleotide as a completely original game, and you will to once you lay your hands on it. Don’t let the development diaries fool you. This is far from the finished game.
TSA: I see that Nucleotide has been in development since the end of 2012, and you did hope to release by the end of 2013. Has the delay come about because you thought of a lot of new ideas for Nucleotide or that development just needed more time? Do you have an estimate for release?
Ivan: I worked on many thing in the meantime, but I also had some personal problems. The development wasn’t going at a regular pace. But that is behind me, I’m back and ready to rock the world.
No, we don’t a release date. Nenad Marković, the investor, and I agreed that our only goal is to make this right. This game will be amazing in every aspect, and until we do it, we are not releasing it. But it will not take long.
TSA: Story wise I know that Gorf The Frog ( I see what you did there!) is the main character, comes from Chacko Mauwa village, and that his journey is filled with deadly traps. Can you give us a bit more of an idea for the plot, or is it something that you want to keep under wraps?
Ivan: What I can tell you is that I’m taking you on a epic adventure, that you will see multiple regions from the Gorf’s world, as well as the creatures that inhabit it. Death Traps are just a part of the problems facing Gorf on his adventure.
Why he has to do all that will have to stay a secret for now. It will make complete sense, and the story will be something unexpected from this type of game.
TSA: I believe you originally intend to create Nucleotide in your own engine but abandoned that for Unity 4 instead. Why was that?
Ivan: No, I never worked on the Nucleotide inside my own engine. Using Unity allowed me to get started with the development of the actual game faster and we also have the access to all the platforms in the world. But I extended the engine for my own purposes, so we now have a Nucleotide engine built upon Unity. I took the best from both worlds.
TSA: You mention that Nucleotide will be a title that all ages can enjoy and play. Has anyone, other than those at FrozenPixel, had a bit of a play test? What were there reactions?
Ivan: I’m very satisfied with what I saw when giving my friends the controller to test it. They were controlling Gorf perfectly after a few seconds of gameplay, and many of them aren’t even gamers. They all played the demo levels from the videos and said they were hard, but I know that.
Those levels aren’t the real levels for the game, and their design was definitely not something for a beginner to get into, but the controls are very tight. Gorf dominates his environment and you can literally feel the environment on something like DualShock 4, but more about that in the future.
TSA: In terms of platforms, you wish to see Nucleotide on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Wii U. Have you spoken to or been approached by any of the platform holders? If not, is this something you’d only do once the game was fully completed?
Ivan: We were, by the Nintendo representative. We will try to [speak to the others] as soon as possible, to perfect the game for every platform. I’m doing all the playtesting on a DualShock 4.
TSA: If Nucleotide does turn out to be successful do you see it becoming a series, or do you have ideas for other games that you would like to make?
Ivan: I don’t think I will, at least not right away, but I believe I’ll stay with the action adventure genre. I already have ideas for a few more games, and those ideas evolve and change. It’s hard to say where my passion will go.
We’d like to thank Ivan for taking the time to talk with us about Nucleotide. Hopefully we’ll hear more news about it soon.
three_leg_jake
I thought for a minute that was going to be a remake of the old arcade game Gorf!