A Playable Proof of Concept

Last week you might have read the news on Tiny Avengers: the mini demo; for the would be Avengers beat em up, if only Marvel(Disney) would allow for it to happen. Although until now Marvel/Disney didn’t forcibly stop development on Tiny Avengers, the IP holder also didn’t give the dynamic duo (wrong franchise, I know) the go ahead sign… Oh and there are giveaway instructions in this post too.

Q&A time

I got to the chance to ask the developing duo behind Tiny Avengers, Laurent Victorino(LV) and Raymond Teo(RT) some questions.

In your words what is it that you ultimately want this game to be.

LV:The first goal is obviously to make a fun retro multiplayer coop beat em up based on the Marvel Universe and with very strong gameplay mechanics. We both love this Universe and we would love to make a game about it or its characters.

RT: Pretty much what Laurent said, but design wise, I do vision it to have a very character driven gameplay. The thing about the Marvel universe is the diverse characters, and their abilities really set them apart. I envision the game to play heavily on that, where each character has a slightly different strategy to using. Dragon’s Crown is a great example of the diverse character class.

What if Marvel says; yes, make me a fine beat em up. What is the next step for the studio? Does the studio have enough funding? Is there a road map to get to launch date and if so, optimistically speaking, when would the game be playable? Kickstarter? 

LV: First of all Raymond and I are not from the same studio. I founded Monkey Moon and he founded Secret Base. I’m from France and he is from Singapore. The tiny Avengers prototype is not a game from Monkey Moon or Secret Base… it’s just a collaboration between to people who have a common passion and different skills 🙂

Then, there is actually no plan for what’s coming next. I don’t think we have enough funding but I’m confident in the fact that we could get some money or attention thanks to a crowd funding campaign. About the hypothetical date you can understand that it’s very difficult to give such information right now. It would depend of what Marvel asks for I guess. But you can see what we have been able to do in 37 hours. Imagine what could happen if would get paid to work on a full game 🙂 ?

Is there a plan for when Marvel asks, or knock on wood, forces you to stop working on this? In other words is Marvel’s IP so much engrained in the gameplay design of Tiny Avengers that without Marvel’s consent the entirety of your hard work would be rendered useless? Would you consider rebranding the game?

RT: Then life goes on, I suppose :/
There’s a lot of different IP I’d love to work with. Mighty Final fight, Golden Axe and Double Dragon to name a few. But I don’t think it should be about reskinning what we have, but making a game that justify the theme/IP, in the right genre. On the other hand, as a game designer, I have lots of my own idea that I’d love to work on, so it won’t be the last of me either.

LV: Obviously I don’t think the prototype would have gained so much attention if it has been a game from another brand or no brand at all. To me the beauty of this project is in the Marvel Universe. I know how to make games. Raymond knows how to make games (and very awesome art). What made us do something together was the Marvel Universe. So rebranding is not an option, right now, if Marvel asks us to stop working on this. 

Also everything has been made to be able to remove the game if Marvel asks us to do so. The game is only playable on web, so we would just have to remove the site without having to be worried about downloaded copies or piracy.

In my opinion the success of a game in this genre partially hinges on excellent battle systems and level design (Erhm, I meant enemy design but luckily the answers covered that), something which doesn’t necessarily translate well in a proof of concept. What would you say to convince Marvel, and any skeptical gamer who might think this is just another fan made project? 

RT: I think experience wise, Laurent and I are for up for it. It’s not our first game, and it’s not even our first beat em up. 

If anything, my goal is not to make another beat em up with interesting combat mechanics. What I really like to tackle as a game designer is the translation of beat em up, a genre that was created for arcade, and redesigning it to fit console better.

Scott pilgrim and Castle Crasher gave them experience points and leveling up with lots of contents. But it’s not exactly what I’ve enjoyed. In Devil’s Dare, I’ve tried combining beat em up with lite roguelike elements. It worked well with many of our fans, but was also harsh for some. And I have some ideas I’d like to try.

LV: Raymond has a great experience in making beat em up and the mechanics he has designed are very smart and adapted to this game and its characters. That should be enough.  I wouldn’t try to convince angry gamers because they are right. It’s just another fan made project… but by fan who has more than 10 years of experience in game development… fans who have worked 8 years on AAA games… that kind of fans 🙂

Giveaway

Secret Base was so nice to make a few codes for Devil’s Dare available. A beat em up infused with roguelike elements. If you like to enter for a chance to win a copy for Devil’s Dare, available on the Steam platform, please go through the following rigmarole; 1. Go play the free concept demo Tiny Avengers. 2. Beat my game over scores (picture below) 3. Follow me on twitter @italkgame so I can DM the lucky winner a redeem code. 4 Send a screenshot of your game over scores to @SecretbaseSG on_code @marvel and @italkgame