For this week's edition of "Game On," The Fly spoke in an exclusive interview with Luis Wong, head of Peru-based developer Leap Game Studios, whose upcoming roguelike brawler "Tunche" is set for release in the future on PC, Nintendo Switch (NTDOY), and Xbox One (MSFT). In the interview, Wong discussed the current development status of "Tunche," the studio's relationship with Nintendo, cloud streaming, and more.
'TUNCHE': "Tunche," a side-scrolling beat 'em up game with procedural generation mechanics, was announced several years ago and has been highlighted at indie showcases hosted by Microsoft and Nintendo. When asked if the game has a more defined release date than simply 2021, Wong said the studio doesn't have anything more specific to say on the matter, but that they are "really close" to having a set date, perhaps even announcing a date in the next month or so. "Basically, we are finishing the game, and polishing the game, and fixing bugs basically," Wong told The Fly. "That is very important for us because we are doing a simultaneous release on PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. There are certification processes we have to pass on consoles, so we have to [get ready for that] before the release so we can have a simultaneous launch.”
NINTENDO DIRECT: "Tunche" was part of Nintendo's Indie World showcase in December 2020, where the Japanese game giant discussed a number of notable indie games coming to its Switch platform. Wong said that the game received "great" feedback from that presentation, saying it was a good time to show how far along the game was at that point. "At that moment, we hadn’t shown the game for quite a long time, so it was a good time to show what we had been working on for months," he said. "And it was great because a lot of people that didn’t know the game before knew about it because of the Nintendo event. So it was great to receive feedback about how great the visuals looked, how fresh the setting was, which is in the Amazon rainforest. And also we received feedback about including the Hat Kid character [from the game ‘A Hat in Time’] in the game. We got very good feedback from Nintendo fans, and we are very happy to have the game on that platform.”
SWITCH DEVELOPMENT: When asked if the studio had a Switch port in mind from the start of development of "Tunche," Wong said they did. "Basically, we approached Nintendo with the first version we had," he said. "We have really good support from Nintendo, and once we had a more stable build of the game, we reached out to Nintendo with a trailer and they put it in an indie showcase. So yeah, Nintendo Switch was in mind at the start.”
“We thought of the three consoles from the start, and we received great feedback as well from the ID@Xbox team," Wong said about the Xbox version of the game. "There recently was a very short event in Sao Paolo, and I participated in a roundtable there and it was hosted by ID@Xbox. That was an opportunity for us to talk about the game and talk about some updates.”
In terms of whether the game will make its way to Sony's (SONY) PlayStation family of consoles at some point, Wong said Leap Game Studios will "definitely" make the game for PlayStation at some point, though he has yet to share any official plans for the PlayStation port.
ROGUELIKES: "Tunche" is what's known as a roguelike, meaning a game that uses procedural generation and permanent death mechanics as the basis for progression. Indie games tend to dominate this genre, with games like "Dead Cells," "Spelunky," and "Hades" highlighting how this game has gained broad popularity. When asked how the studio intends to make "Tunche" stand out in this highly competitive space, Wong said the game's unique art style and combat systems will give it an edge. “When we started making the game, our main references at that moment were games like ‘Dead Cells’ and ‘Lost Castle,'" he told The Fly. "In the meantime, some games like ‘Hades’ appeared, and there are things we have learned from that game and will try to include in our game. But we think that the main two aspects that will help us be unique in this competitive environment are: the art style, with a focus on detailed frame-by-frame animation, and all the animations are very fluid; and the other thing we have included is a very tight combat system. Our references are ‘Devil May Cry’ and ‘Bayonetta.’ We have a very stylish combat meter, and that’s something players tend to talk about when they play ‘Tunche.’ We think that those two features are particular and haven’t been in these specific genres at the same time.”
OTHER PLATFORMS: “We are constantly talking with platforms to see if there’s any opportunity there," Wong said in response to a question about other new platforms the studio is looking at for potential "Tunche" ports. "We haven’t decided yet if the game will also come to mobile. That’s not something we will decide probably until the game is released on PC and consoles. But we’re also talking to platforms to see if there’s a chance to include the game on specific platforms.”
“I think streaming in general and subscription services will be the norm in the future," Wong added. "They will also have an impact on how games are designed. We embrace that! We are totally apt to talk to platforms about that, and that’s something we have in mind when starting new prototypes.”
When it comes to subscription services like Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass or Apple Arcade (AAPL), Wong said that there are pros and cons to services like those. “I think that, apart from the financial aspect, the fact that players will have such a large variety of games to choose from will create new opportunities in the types of games you can make," he said. "Maybe they can be more experimental, maybe you can make shorter games that only last for 30 minutes or an hour. It would be just like watching a TV special on Netflix. At the same time, there are some risks, because there are always gatekeepers. If you don’t have this great relationship with a platform, if you don’t have a partner with a great relationship with a platform, this could create some difficulties for developers that don’t have these connections. There are definitely positives and negatives, and we’ll see how it all works out in the future.”
"Game On" is The Fly's weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.
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