Feature: de Blob Developer Interview – Paint the town Rainbow!

deBlob has hit stores worldwide (Aussie stores today!) and the Australian developed game is garnering great reviews and great reaction from Wii owners. Thanks to THQ we were given the opportunity to speak to Nick Hagger, Creative Director at Blue Tongue Studios located in Melbourne. We ask Nick all about the game, working with the Wii, development here in Australia and more. Look for our review of the game shortly but for now check out our interview with its creators! Interview inside

Vooks: First up, deBlob – strange name – tell us what it means or how it came about.

Nick: Well, I guess it’s strange because the title of the game is in Dutch. It’s a nod to the origin of the project, in that the original gameplay demo was a Dutch student project, produced out of the game development course at the Utrecht School of Arts. It means “”The Blob””.

Vooks: Tell us about the history behind deBlob including the decision to release it on the Wii.

Nick: Blob started life as a PC student project for the City Council of Utrecht. It was a kiosk based demo which combined a mouse-based trackball control style with a painting mechanic. THQ became aware of the title, as it grew in popularity online [it is still free to download], and approached the university about acquiring the license. The university and the students were more than happy to be recognized for their innovation, and THQ acquired the rights to build a game around the painting mechanic. Within THQ, we were known as a studio that was strong in Wii development, and so we were offered the opportunity to reinvent Blob for the Wii in Oct 2006. We jumped at the chance, and the rest is now history.

Vooks: deBlob is a game of many genre’s, from puzzles to platforming. What would be the best way to describe deBlob to a friend?

Nick: It’s a 3D revolutionary musical colouring book. You don’t have to be very games literate to enjoy Blob, but there’s plenty in the game to engage seasoned gamers.

Vooks: deBlob is obviously an original project, was it harder working with an original idea rather than, say, a sequel to a well known franchise?

Nick: Good question. It’s a different form of challenge from working on a license or sequel. When you have complete creative freedom, defining the design constraints for your game is more complex than normal. Pre-production is a deal more complex as locking down on the final prototype takes considerably longer, as it’s harder to say exactly when you have nailed the vision.

Vooks: The game is set in Chroma City, how interactive is the city and how big are the levels?

Nick: The city is 100% interactive – it’s your play space, it’s your painting canvas. Blob uses a variety of platform and built in mechanics to traverse the city from top to bottom; its broken into 10 levels, each level is subdivided into 3 sectors. These sectors are all quite large and packed full of missions as well as being loaded with stuff for you to paint and transform.

Vooks: The game was to be released earlier in the year, what has the extra months of development added?

Nick: We used the time to polish the game. We optimized game flow, performance and graphics; we conducted focus tests which allowed us to smooth off the rough edges. It’s difficult to quantify what polish is, but the game was pretty much complete when we commenced the polish phase.

Vooks: How do you feel about the current state of the Australian developer industry? In the past, many Australian developed games have been restricted to licensed products, it’s been suggested that for Aussies to really make a name for themselves in this global market, original products and ideas are needed. deBlob seems to certainly fit the bill for this. Comments?

Nick: I think the situation of the games development community in Australia reflects the global status of developers, it’s just smaller. Licensed games are a significant slice of the industry, and they present challenges and rewards for developers as much as new IPs do. The fact that we were able to make a game like Blob is underwritten by all the hard work and passion that every member of Blue Tongue has put into making quality games before Blob. The Nicktoons franchise is a massive property for THQ and was brought to life by the team at Blue Tongue. So, regardless of whether you are working on licensed or original IPs, the real challenge for any studio is to prove that you can make quality games and bring passion to whatever you do.

Vooks: What do you think of the Wii platform, from a developer standpoint? How about a gamer standpoint?

Nick: I heart the Wii. As a developer, it is a nice position to be in, as we can produce games with an intimate team size and a comfortable budget, while still having the opportunity to innovate. As a gamer, I am glad to see Nintendo stepping up and reclaiming a big slice of the market they invented. I have a soft spot for all things Nintendo, and I think they have been so audacious in a risk averse industry, that the Wii has helped to shake things up a lot and change our preconceptions of games and the gaming public.

Vooks: deBlob has a range of characters in the game, from the evil I.N.K.T. Corporation to deBlob himself, how did the design for these guys come about?

Nick: Designer vinyl was a big inspiration, but there numerous influences which shaped the evolution of the character design. Terry Lane, Blue Tongue’s Art Director is the genius behind these characters. Tez was tireless in running through so many iterations – it’s impossible to put into words how time consuming it is to make a video game character, who has aesthetic constrains dictated but his gameplay function. Terry spent nearly six months concepting Blob before he had the “”eureka moment”” – he screamed “”It’s alive!”” and swears that Blob winked at him off the page.

Vooks: With deBlob on the Wii and iPhone now, can we expect more deBlob on other consoles in the future? Or even a sequel?

Nick: There are plans for a de Blob DS, but anything beyond that is in the hands of the Gods. Each version of Blob will be different, and will play to strengths of the platform, while retaining it’s core values.

Vooks: Finally, what was hardest challenge with deBlob and how did you overcome it?

Nick: The hardest challenge was convincing people that a 3D musical colouring book was a good idea for a game. Thankfully, the world isn’t fully controlled by the INKT Corporation, and the lovely people at THQ allowed us to pursue our vision.

deBlob is in Aussie stores from today, find out where to get it cheap in this weeks bargain hunting article

Thanks to Drew at THQ for organising the interview and to Nick for taking the time to answer our questions. Also thanks to to Blue Tongue for making an awesome game.