Q [William Usher] - First off, for those who don't know, who are the creative minds behind Pieyegames?

A [George] - Well, like many indie developers it's pretty much just me : )

Could you gives us a bit of insight into the company?

I started PiEyeGames after spending many years in the retail games industry as a programmer. I'd always enjoyed the art side of games though and had been creating 2d and 3d art for a few years before PiEyeGames came about. Esther helps out with the testing, text and art, and I outsource elements like the music and some of the 2d art.

How long was Arklight in development?

ArkLight took around 4 5 months from start to finish.

Textures, music, model files, etc., you had it all completed in less than 6 months?

The engine helped a lot. As it was fairly complete, the FX and general non game coding didn't take too much time. For example, all the e commerce system and frontend coding was already done when I started. The music was purchased so, again, it saved a lot of time.

Were there any previous iterations of the concept before Arklight came about?

The concept came from a game I'd written ages ago on the Commodore 64 called 'OutBreak'. It had all the same elements such as the vertical scrolling, Arkanoid gameplay and lots of baddies to shoot at.

Arklight is one of the most original cross genre games I have ever played. Was the game originally conceived to cross boundaries and bring elements of action and strategy together in one game?

Not really. The strategy element, with the energy bar, was added after the prototype. The main concept was always just to add scrolling to Arkanoid. I think it gives you a reason for breaking all those poor blocks. If you don't, you collide with them!

The game took on elements of a vertical scrolling shoot'em'up as the enemies went in, which was sort of by accident. I was actually aiming for a more casual look!

Following up on the last question, were there any other games that inspired the creation of Arklight?

Not directly although I used to play shoot'em'ups a fair bit. I guess Nemesis and Vulcan Venture lent ArkLight the concept of scrolling at a constant rate while having additional scrolling based on the movement of the ship. I always liked that feature, it's a great way to get more into the play area.

The lighting and graphics really complimented the centerpiece of the game's focus on a spaceship named the Arklight. Was it difficult coming up with the lighting and electrical effects, most of which seemed to work as a characteristic to the Arklight?

Actually the FX were created first for a previous game called 'The Fallen'. Although the game never got past the publisher demo stage the engine became the basis for the PiEye engine.

The energy spheres came about as an easy way to see something on screen for the prototype. As soon as I'd added them they generated a load of ideas for the game's main elements. This is why I like indie development, you don't have to design everything from the start and you're free to follow ideas as you go.

(screenshot from 'The Fallen')

Ricocheting energy blasts off the ship was a really cool feature. Using the ship to bounce the electrical spheres back toward enemies and blocks also had a really fast paced feel to it. Was it planned from the start to have the game play at such a fast pace, with so much action on the screen at once? And was the ricocheting feature originally targeted towards deconstructing blocks, or did you also plan to have it used as an alternative attack against both stationary and mobile enemies?

The ricocheting is certainly the key feature of the game and was the original gameplay mechanic. It was always going to be a fast paced game due to the scrolling. I think it adds a sense of urgency.

I'd always planned to have some moving elements which could be destroyed. After the spheres took on their electric feel the whole game headed towards being more of a shooter, hence the enemy craft, tanks and turrets.

Some of the stage designs seem to have archaic Greek semblances. Were there any specific locations or places that were used as a platform for designing the stages?

Heh a lot of my 3d art tends to come out like that! They're fairly simple objects which rely on the textures to provide the detail I guess they do look like Greek pillars.

Is that how you were able to design the game so fast, utilizing textures to carry out the details? It almost seems opposite of what a lot of bigger newer games do. It seems to work against them when it comes down to getting things done in a timely fashion.

The scenery models were kept fairly simple so that there'd be no problem in guessing which way the energy spheres are going to bounce! I guess it did save a bit of time though, which allowed for more variation in the textures.

How did you come up with the original levels, containing such complexity, versatility, and multi various challenges?

The levels were the longest part of creating the game. I always try to give each level something a little different (like the levels where you travel backwards, or speed up by x10). A lot of game features come out of designing the levels and trying to make them different from each other.

Are there any plans to develop an Arklight 2? If so, what would you actually consider improving or adding, or maybe even changing?

Yes, it's in production now and will hopefully appear before the end of the year. It features the same main ship, the Arklight, but completely different gameplay there's not a block in sight!

Wow, it sounds like Arklight 2 will be a full on action game?

Yeah, without the blocks it is more of a straight shooter, although each level will have 1 or 2 non shooting objectives so it's going to keep you quite busy!

Thanks George for taking time out to answer the questions, do you have any comments for your fans?

I'm not sure I have any fans as such, but I do get some kind feedback from time to time and it makes all the difference so thank you : )
 

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By: William Usher
Posted: Wednesday August 02, 2006