PAX East 2012: Wither Studios Interview, Crowman and Wolfboy

During our coverage of PAX East, Press Pause Radio was sure to make our rounds throughout the indie alley portion of the show floor, and we stumbled upon Wither Studios and their showcased game, Crowman and Wolfboy. After seeing the details, GeorgieBoy made it his goal to interview the indie studio and learn more of the silhouette duo’s iOS venture.

GeorgieBoysAXE: As I stand here at PAX East 2012 in the wonderful city of Boston, I have the pleasure of standing next to next to the strapping young lad known as Steve from Wither Studios, and we’re going to talk about indie effort, Crowman and Wolfboy for the iPad, I believe, or is it more than just iPad?

Steve: It’s going to hit iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, so every iOS device properly catered to the device format purchased on.

GeorgieBoysAXE: Nice, well go ahead and tell us a little bit for those of us who aren’t in the know about Crowman and Wolfboy in your efforts to best distinguish it.

Steve: It’s a 2D action adventure platformer where the characters are trying to leave an evil planet to escape a darkness that’s always chasing after them, and they do so by finding orbs of positive energy in order to push back the ensuing darkness from catching up to them.

GeorgieBoysAXE: Now from what I witnessed from the tech demo, you control the team of Crowman and Wolfboy with a tilt-motion mechanic for movement and platforming, and without any auto-running for your characters. What was the challenge behind that idea, seeing how you’re constantly pushing forward to the right in order to avoid the scrolling darkness, and yet still implement platforms that will have you backtrack in certain sequences?

Steve: Well this allows us to have a little bit more control with applying more intricate level designs, and provides more tension to the gameplay. The orbs of positive energy you collect will push back the darkness that scrolls the stage chasing you and pause it momentarily, therefore allowing you to explore the stage a bit more in detail and discover hidden Easter eggs or bonuses for your efforts. This dynamic allowed us to create a risk-reward system with players who would tempt themselves the gamble of possibly being trampled by this ensuing darkness for the sake a perfect stage run.

GeorgieBoysAXE: So I noticed within the level design, that Crowman is essential in flying the duo over large chasms or platforming sections that demand the use of his wings, but there was no display towards what kind of talents Wolfboy would bring to the table?

Steve: So as you mentioned, there are points within the level that will demand the individual talents between the two in order to progress, and where Crowman is able to assist areas that demand his flying, Wolfboy will be able to use his claws to dig through certain walls or obstacles that Crowman would not be able to get through alone.

GeorgieBoysAXE: I see. Well then, will we expect a linear stage design just making use of these different talents in sequence, or will we come across a more open lay out in the stage movement with the option of different routes similar to what you would expect from the classic Sonic The Hedgehog games? Are there any moments where we would see the two split up?

Steve: Well the characters are inseparable. They need each other to survive, so there’s no splitting up of any kind in the game. Because they’re constantly together, it’s up to the player to micromanage the individual talents they possess in order to effectively navigate through the stage.

GeorgieBoysAXE: So will the player be punished for choosing certain routes over others? Perhaps a dead end as the title literally implies, or a much more difficult route as opposed to the other choices passed prior?

Steve: I wouldn’t say that we don’t want to punish our players, but instead tempt them with the risk-reward system we mentioned earlier from stage exploration pitted against your skills in survival from the looming darkness chasing you. We definitely have more difficult stage obstacles implemented as you progress through the game, like spike foliage and pits, or fireballs shooting out at you from the opposite direction that will add to the challenge and still compliment the stage exploration that’s encouraged.

GeorgieBoysAXE: Watching the game in action, it definitely has the black and white silhouette aesthetic going on, but it’s a bit different from other titles which have applied similar approaches where you guys also developed these bright and vibrant stages for the duo to travel, all while keeping them as blackened out silhouettes. What exactly inspired this sort of graphical design?

Steve: We didn’t want to just make a black and white game. The game does start off in this shadowy dark environment you’re trying to escape. But as your travel further along, you’ll go through outer space and end up going into a portal which takes you to a desert planet that inspires new hope, and only for our heroes to discover that this planet sucks just as much as the last one. The next planet could be a Snow planet, and in order to convey these different deserted environments, we needed work with different color palettes that would be able to convey these settings properly.

GeorgieBoysAXE: And yet our two protagonists are always darkened out?

Steve: As a reminder of the dark and evil shadowy place that they escaped from.

GeorgieBoysAXE: One last question: when you aren’t platforming through stages, you’re flying upwards in a spaceship through vertical scrolling stage. How does that stage work?

Steve: It’s more of a gameplay break away to give more variety to main dynamics of gameplay. You again have tilt controls in which you're maneuvering your ship to avoid meteors and other obstacles as your spaceship presses forward, and you can collect orbs and forcefield powerups as well.

George: So when can we see a release of Crowman and Wolfboy on iOS?

Steve: We’re looking for the 3rd to latest 4th quarter 2012.

George: Sweet! Thanks again for interviewing with me fellows, and may you all have an amazing PAX East!