Michael Stearns was nice enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about their one-button wonder Sky Puppy.  The game is certainly as unique as anything we've played and it has a great cartoon-y feel as well.

Q - Russell Carroll) Before we go to far can you give us a little background, who is StarQuail Productions?

A - Michael Stearns) StarQuail consists of two guys, me, Michael Stearns, and Daniel Roth. We've known each other since high school, and since we're both gamers and he's a programmin' type of guy and I'm a drawin' type of guy, we thought we should team up and make games together. We made a game in high school but it's not much to talk about, and then afterwards we kept trying to make games but we would always stop for some reason, which is, obviously, the single most dangerous thing to indie development. You must not stop!


Q) Sky Puppy is built entirely around using one-button for playing, how did that come about?

The one button idea came from the contest RetroRemakes and One-Switch UK put on last year. The idea was to promote accessibility in games, but I have to confess that we mainly just found the premise of a one-button game really interesting.

Q) What about Sky Puppy himself? Where did a dog flying by flapping his ears come from?

When I was first coming up with an idea, I was thinking of some kind of mechanical hovering thing, like a robot helicopter, but for one thing, I figured maybe it would be best if it were something cuter, since the contest was about accessibility. Visually, for the character, I was thinking of something a bit abstract at first, like Nintendo's Kirby character, but as I played around a bit with "friendly" winged shapes, the dog just came right out. But really, isn't a flying dog just the most obvious thing? I am amazed it hasn't already been done.

Q) A one-button game can really be hit or miss, parts might work while others don't. In what ways does Sky Puppy hit or miss?

I think it really hits in that it is a concept that doesn't need more than one button. A lot of one-button games that were in the contest were multi-button concepts with all the other buttons removed, but Sky Puppy (and a few other entrants) is totally original. Taking out all the extra elements also distills it down to something very simple, I find that makes it very enjoyable and intense. Although you only have one button, can you use it to perform delicate motions that are easily as complicated as those seen in any "normal" platformer.

A definite problem is despite the simple premise of the game, the play is not as intuitive as you'd think and people have a hard time figuring out how to ride the arrows effectively. A lot of players get hung up on the fact that sometimes you stop and you have to fall down a bit to work your way back up. But that's just the nature of the game, learning how to recover quickly is one of the most important things to figure out about the game.

The game is definitely not easy, (I spent all this time worrying it would be TOO easy!) but I feel pretty strongly that those who do get the hang of it will find a unique game that they really love and treasure.

Q) Level design is key for any game, but with just one button there isn't much room for error. What kind of process did you go through in creating the levels in Sky Puppy?

It was pretty tedious! At first I just started out a bit haphazardly, throwing down obstacles and random strings of collidable material just to see what would happen, and then I'd begin fleshing out the stages. I'd like to say the levels were really planned out in some clever manner, but they were generally improvised and built "organically," where I would build a segment or two and then see how that went, and then build more or connect the segments in a way that flowed naturally. A lot of the time, in order to give the stages some more focused structure (and to keep me from going crazy), I would come up with a particular type of motion or a formation of obstacle types that would be the theme of that particular stage. I would reuse the theme on most of the difficulty variations, so as you play through on the harder settings you'll see these familiar structures, but you'll have to find new ways to get by them.

Q) Speaking of the levels, the backdrops are really nice throughout the game with a nice retro feel and great variety. How did the visuals and theming of the levels come about?

The inspiration for the branching levels was Sega's Outrun (more recently the excellent Outrun 2!), and I've always been a fan of those older, brightly colored games, so that was exactly the sort of look we wanted. UK Resistance hadn't done their "Blue Skies in Games" campaign until we were almost done with most our development, but that was very much the feel we were going for. I wanted to evoke the same feelings I got when I played a lot of my favorite 16-bit games when I was younger, so I hope many people fly through those backgrounds and are able to experience that same feeling, whether they played those games or not.

Having a variety of different backgrounds was very important, we wanted players to get into the new environments and be a little shocked at how the scenery had changed, trying to get a bit of a "wow, look where I am now!" kind of response, so you really want to see what's behind those clouds at the top of every stage.

Q) So we've talked about the levels a bit, were they the hardest part of the game to program, and if not, what was?

The levels were not so much programmed as built, but they were undoubtedly the single aspect that took the longest to produce. A lot of time was also spent polishing the details and getting the various programmed effects to look good, like the arrows and particle effects in the backgrounds.

Q) What is your favorite thing about SkyPuppy?

As the artist I'm definitely inclined to lean towards the look of the game, but it's really all about the motion. When you are playing the game well and bouncing off walls and avoiding enemies with such delicate moves, the game feels very graceful and smooth. And the way you speed up and slow down as you are flung from arrow to arrow, there's a real tactile sensation, I feel as if I am in total control even though I only use one button. Also, the vertical orientation of the stages lends a natural feeling of "progression."

We also feel that the quick nature of the game is very well suited for short "coffee break" style gameplay, I still find it satisfying to turn on every now and then for a quick run-through.

Q) Is the book closed on SkyPuppy? Will we see any updates or sequels?

We have some ideas for a small update, but we prefer to shift our focus on other projects. A sequel isn't out of the realm of possibility but we're very satisfied with the game as it is.

Q) What's next for StarQuail Productions?

We've got tons of ideas for other games (games that use more than one button!), but like I said we have started a lot of things without finishing them, so I don't want to say anything until things are in a state where we're ready to show them. Please watch for it when we do!
 

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By: Russell Carroll
Posted: Wednesday June 21, 2006