Doodle Hex Q&A

Doodle Hex is the latest game to be released in the UK on the Nintendo DS by Tragnarion Studios. We were fortunate enough to get some time with a few of the staff behind Doodle Hex, and the up and coming sequel: Doodle Hex 2. The pair who answered our questions were Ricardo Carretero – Doodle Hex Lead Designer and Doodle Hex 2 Producer and Jean-Philip Rodriguez – Marketing & Public Relations Manager.

How many people worked on Doodle Hex?
The number varied quite a lot. As any project, we started with a few core people but for the full production we were 13 people working plus the QA team.

The concept for Doodle Hex is very unique, what inspired you to think of this title?
I have always played role playing games of all genres. Magic was always something cool to me and warlock’s duels seemed a cool idea to take into a videogame. I wanted this magician’s duel to happen in a cool way, not the normal “press A to cast a fireball” and then the drawing came to my mind, as it is something that everyone likes, at least to “doodle” in a notebook or a pad. So basically I had the two main concepts for the game “magicians duel – drawing runes” and everything evolved in the way you can see in Doodle Hex.

Had you never considered the PC instead of the DS for Doodle Hex?
Well, to be honest, the first prototype video was for PC, but then we saw that the Nintendo DS was a better platform to develop Doodle Hex and we went for it.

The music is all very unique and very catchy, who is responsible for the tunes?
Several people participated in the composition (Andres Ballinas, Rob Blake, Guillermo and Jorge Badolato) everyone contributed with one song or another.

Was the use of a magical school in Doodle Hex limiting when it came to writing the storyline?
Not really. We needed a boundary, some limit to work inside. We needed some place in which all these magician duels happens, and this actually helps to shape the story line. If you don’t have limitations, you can go really crazy with the story so I think the school was a good thing to keep us working within limits.

How did the concept of using runes instead of say a tapping motion come around?
I was looking for something different with the gameplay. I wanted the magic battles to be more than “Fireball – Lightning Ball – etc”. Drawing is something that everyone can do, at least at a basic level. And it is something that everyone enjoys to do or did in their childhood. It is also something that people can easily associate with magic. Runes were powerful and mystical symbols used a long time ago by many different cultures. Then we also saw how Nintendo really wants the developers to use these cool features they offer and we went for it.

There's a fine line between defense and offence in Doodle Hex, how hard was it to find the balance between the two?
Actually, it was quite hard. We soon recognized that the best defense was to be offensive! Characters and players that constantly attack are more difficult to defeat because they allow you little time to implement your tactics. The good thing is that it also works the other way around! We encourage players to not defend all the time. If you do that, it’s impossible to win. In early prototypes (and I’m talking really early pencil written card game) I also realized that people just enjoy attacking more than defending so, if players want it, I want to give it to them.

It would appear that Doodle Hex has a strong influence from eastern animation, what caused you to choose the anime style over traditional western designs?
Our art team was really strong with this style and it also fit really well with the Nintendo DS capabilities so we went in that direction.

The characters are all very unique, which was the hardest character to come up with and why?
I think probably the hardest one was the final boss of the game, Hyperion. It´s always a tricky task to come up with an exciting and cool looking bad guy, but the original thing here was that the bad guy wasn´t actually that bad, as you get to know by the great back story the character has (you´ll have to play the game in full to know what I mean).

Doodle Hex is surprisingly difficult; it catches you unawares, what part of Doodle Hex surprises you now?
People’s reaction... Everyone plays differently, feels differently. It’s a really different game and genre and it’s cool to see how people react to that. Some of the forum commentaries are just surprising.

It would seem that the process of drawing the Runes would be the hardest part of programming this game, is that true?
Nintendo offers a set of patterns recognition tools that we modified to implement into the game.

When designing the combo system, how did you come up with the scheduled system around the outer circle of the playing field?
We needed to give the players two different type of info: what to do and when to do it.

What? Draw a rune.

When? When the previous one reaches the circle.

It can be a little tricky as it is something completely new, but once you’ve got it, it becomes a really clear and simple way to communicate combos to the players.

What's your proudest achievement with Doodle Hex?
For good or for bad, it is unique and appeals to a wide audience.

I'd like to thank Jean-Philip and Ricardo for taking the time out to answer our questions.

Interview with David Wiltshire Developer of Pirates

I recently had the chance to sit down and preview Pirates: Duel on the High Seas which is the latest franchise to come out from Oyxgen Studios, with two games already in the franchise: Duel on the High Seas for the DS and Pirates: The Key of Dreams for the WiiWare and with this in mind I was fortunate enough to be offered an interview with David Wilshire, who is in the Development team for both titles.

Zentendo: What inspired you to go with the pirate theme for Pirates: The Key of Dreams and Pirates: Duels on the High Seas?

David: Firstly, everybody loves pirates. We feel that it’s such a broad and interesting subject as there’s so much to tap into and as a theme it lends itself perfectly to a videogame.

Zentendo: The artwork is fairly distinctive in game, what made you go for this style?

David: I think the style really came from the idea of a storybook perspective. Being able to keep the story rich and full of character was quite important in a game when you essentially don't get to see any characters. It was also nice contrast to an otherwise simplistic in-game style, and saved a lot of time trying to recreate such a narrative using 3d. The illustrative angle just seemed like the most logical path to take...

Zentendo: You're currently working on both the WiiWare and the Nintendo DS, what made you choose Nintendo over Xbox Live to launch Pirates: The Key of Dreams?

David: We're experienced Wii developers, so familiarity with the way the console works is a huge benefit and allows us to focus on having fun with it, rather than learning new technology. Our multiplayer mode on Pirates WiiWare is specifically designed to play to the advantage of the screen format and controls, rather than being a straight port of the DS game.


Zentendo: How different is it developing for the WiiWare in comparison to the DS?

David: The differences are subtle, but a few things need to be kept in mind. Download size needs to be optimal so players aren't waiting a long time before they play, and also storage of the game on the consoles AND memory needs to be considered. As there's no physical manual, an Electronic version is provided that can be accessed at any time. Players can even look at the manual before they buy the game to help them make their purchasing decision. Other than that, no other restrictions are placed on us by Nintendo; we're free to take advantage of all those great features with very few constraints.

Zentendo: In essence, Pirates: The Key of Dreams feels very retro owing to its top down look. What were the reasons behind this sort of look rather than a third person view?

David: The top down look works best for Pirates - from gameplay perspective it's really common sense. The action in the game isn't necessarily always in front of the ship, and the ship's cannons fire sideways. A third person 'over the shoulder' view would make the frantic dog fighting gameplay unfeasible, as well as taking up a third of the screen with blue sky rather than having more space to sail around, looting and pillaging!

Zentendo: What sets Pirates: The Key of Dreams and Pirates: Duels on the High Seas apart from the games currently on the market?

David: It’s first to format on wiiware. It is a fresh take on the pirates theme in contrast to other DS pirate games plus both titles have a solid tried and tested multi-player game dynamic which is always popular with NDS core gamers.

Zentendo: Can we expect any WiFi multiplayer action on Duels on the High Seas?

David: Yes you can. Both Multi-Card Multiplayer and download play (2-4 players) are supported.

Zentendo: Naturally, you're going to be very proud of both Pirates games, but is there any aspect of the games that you're particularly pleased with?

David: The standard of the art, particularly on DS is something we spent a great deal of the project time on getting right. The particle effects, environments, ships and weapons that give the in-game view its unique look also carry through to the cut-scenes and front end. From a play perspective the Multiplayer on both platforms are great fun and unique experiences.

Zentendo: Any chance of seeing the Pirates franchise move to the Wii in a full-blown game?

David: Obviously cost is a factor. Cost and therefore risk are lower on WiiWare, fewer barriers lay between us and getting the game out there, which means we can spend more time getting the most out of the game experience. If it proves to be a success then who knows..?!

Zentendo: How do you get inspiration to make the games you do?

David: We obviously work within a very creative environment so we are always bouncing ideas around the studio. The next stage after this (if the idea is strong enough) is to present our idea to marketing. That way it makes sure that we are focusing on making games that people want to play!

Zentendo: How can you tell if an idea for a game will be successful or not?

David: As we said before we rely on marketing for that! They do a lot of research that of course give us a focus as to who we are making the game for.

Zentendo: Finally, how did you get into this industry, and was it what you always wanted to do?

David: I was in magazine publishing before I moved to Oxygen. I have always had a passion for gaming and for me moving into this industry was a natural and exciting step.

I'd like to thank David for taking the time out of his schedule to answer these questions and I wish him the best of luck with the future of the Pirates franchise. You can see our preview of the DS game here.