Interview: All about Furry Legends from Gamelion

We speak to the producer of the upcoming WiiWare title Furry Legends from Polish studio Gamelion

What they say: Furry Legends is a platformer, set in a distant, fantasy world. A lush and vibrant world inhabited by two major life forms – Squaries and Furballs, engaged in eternal struggle between each other. In Furry Legends you can explore this world, learn its secrets, learn the genesis of the world and the conflict. Jump, collect, solve puzzles and experience the physics governing this world. All of this and more – Only on WiiWare!

Lets find out more!

Describe Furry Legends for someone who is not familiar with the game?

Lukasz Szczepanski – Furry Legends is a platformer with cute and fuzzy characters, including beautiful 3D graphics and physics-based puzzles.

What inspired Furry Legends? Where did the idea come from and just why is the game called Furry Legends?
LS – We were inspired by Fury of the Furries as well as our own games such as Funkyball 99. We wanted a game about a crazy furball rolling around the world. Once we had the concept nailed, we started brainstorming for the title. We went through a couple of iterations, from Balls of Furry through to Fluffy Jones and we ended with Furry Legends.

What genre is the game? It looks like a platformer but are there also puzzles?

LS – The game is your typical platformer. Run, jump, collect, avoid enemies, try not to fall into the lava, you know the drill. In addition we have included some puzzles which the player will need to resolve in order to progress further. I think it’s a great way of pacing the game.

Is there any multiplayer in the game, or is it a single player only affair?

LS – We planned for multiplayer and various modes initially, but we had to leave this idea on the shelf in the final version.

How is the game controlled? Does it use the Wii’s motion controls?

LS – The game is controlled like a typical platformer. You use the Nunchuk to roll around and use special abilities, and jump with the A button on the Wii Remote. The only motion control we have is the attack. You hold the B button, and then swing the Wii Remote in the direction of the target. Your brave furball will dash that way.

The puzzles seem to be very physics based, is it difficult pulling this off on WiiWare?

LS – It’s not very difficult, but it does take time to wrap your head around it. And it’s not only puzzles based on physics. The whole world is physics based. This is both great and not. It’s not great mostly because the amount of objects on the scene limits us somewhat. With a lot of elements interacting it’s not a problem to choke the Wii to a standstill.

Gamelion has previously worked on mobile platforms and the iPod/iPhone. How was the jump to the Wii and the WiiWare platform?

LS – Honestly, pretty rough. It’s a totally new way of working, creating code, creating art, even managing the project. We’ve had some pitfalls and internal problems, but it’s a learning process for us, every time we’re wiser with the experience. I think that we’ll have everything nailed pretty much with our next project. There’s a lot of legacy issues in the current iteration of the game. It’s not like these are game breaking, but they could’ve been done better.

How many people have you got working on the team, and when did development of the game start?

LS – We currently have around 10 people working on the project. We have started some six to seven months ago, creating everything from scratch; the whole engine, workflow, toolchain and methodologies. We had nothing at the beginning, and we’re building the technology from the ground up. I think we have achieved pretty nice effects so far, and I am optimistic for the future.

Now that Nintendo has opened up the Wii to support the SD card slot, people don’t have to clear out their Wii as often. Do you think this will help WiiWare games?

LS – Certainly, as long as it’s easy for the players to use, it’s great for us. 512mb of internal memory was a real pain with the Wii. Now with up to 32gb on the SD cards, gamers can just download the whole WiiWare and Virtual Console library, and still have some space left. Not to mention that SD cards are easy to obtain and easy to store. I think that this will boost sales for everyone, especially if the space limit was a real obstacle to buying software.

When can we expect Furry Legends to hit WiiWare? Will all regions be getting the game?

LS – We’re planning for a Q3/2009 release for Europe and the US. We’re currently leaving the Australia/New Zealand and Japan regions out. Although this is not set in stone yet, and if the winds blow the right way, we’ll get the game to these regions too!

Thanks to Gamelion for answering our questions, lets hope we’ll see the game in Australia at some point!