Interview: Strawdog Studios – Space Ark!

Fans of color and fun may remember XBLA game Geon, the spatially crazy grid game where you collect pellets and power-ups and try to sabotage your friend. It’s fun and addictive, and anyone owning an Xbox (or Playstation or Wii) should already have it in their collection. Geon was brought to your console by Strawdog Studios, “an innovative and modern video game development company” from the UK. Since they have a new game on the way, the ridiculously adorable Space Ark. Dan Marchant, Business Development Director from Strawdog Studios was kind enough to let me ask him about Strawdog and Space Ark, due out this spring.

What was the idea behind the really interesting (and colorful) story?
A very odd mixture indeed – Space Ark was inspired by many of the early Arcade games, such as Arkanoid, Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands - with a pinch of The Hulk. The designer was watching his kids play the Hulk game and the enjoyment they were getting from leaping into the air. The leaping became bouncing and the Hulk became…. a cuddly Cat (!?). There are also a selection of other inspirations behind the name. Space Ark features a group of animals (the Arkonauts) travelling between planets. The Ark element of the name is a tip of the hat to Arkanoid as well as to Noah’s Ark (animals) and Jason & the Argonauts (journey).

For fans of Geon, how much different is Space Ark?
They are both arcade games but quite different in nature – GEON is like a versus mode Pac Man, mixed with Tron visuals. You race to collect pellets and deposit them in a goal, while also trying to stop your opponent (human or AI) from doing the same. There is quite a strong battle element to it as you really need to attack/defend in order to win. Space Ark, on the other hand, is to more of an arcade puzzle game in which you bounce assorted cute characters into the air (and have to keep them bouncing) so that they can grab crystals, bonus fruit and power-ups. It is much more about working out how to maximise your score by collecting crystals and bonuses in the most efficient manner. In Space Ark the levels are also way more varied. In addition to the crystals etc that you need to collect the levels contain a variety of “widgets” that may help or hinder you. Everything from simple clouds (you can bounce on), through pinball flippers, conveyor belts, teleporters, fans (blow you off course), switches (which turn various elements on and off) and more. There is a multi-player Vs mode  where 2 players race to complete a level but even in this mode it is you racing against the otherplayer with no real conflict between the players.

With Space Ark coming out on XBLA, are there plans to do more games that are downloadable, or is the next step a full release for the 360?

At Strawdog Studios we never say never. We all come from a background of big game development/publishing so that wouldn’t be a new thing for us. However I think our heart is currently in the smaller downloadable space. We tend to make original (and some might say weird) games and the downloadable space (smaller budgets, quicker development) is certainly a better place to be doing that. To date we have done GEON on XBLA, PSN, Wii and iPad (iPhone is on the way); Turbo Duck on iPhone and now Space Ark on XBLA.

Amongst all of the adorable games you’ve made, there’s a link to where you can buy Strawdog beer. Where did that idea come from? Is it delicious and should I order some?

Our Technical Director, Simon Morris, came across that and enjoyed it. Given the great name we thought we should share it.

What does Strawdog have planned for the future?
We have a couple more game ideas in the works but before we can get to those we are doing an update for Turbo Duck iPhone and Space Ark will be making its way onto other formats. It is important for small indie developers to put their games onto as many platforms as possible. It is expensive to make the first version of a game and much cheaper for each additional format. Spreading the cost across multiple platforms is always a good idea.