Awesomenauts: An Interview with Jasper Koning of Ronimo Games - News
by Joseph Trotter , posted on 26 October 2011 / 3,507 Views
At last month's Eurogamer Expo 2011, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down with the excellent Xbox Live and Playstation Network title Awesomenauts (previewed last week) and have a chat with Jasper Koning, co-founder of Ronimo Games, the Dutch developers also behind Swords & Soldiers.
Unfortunately, the recording equipment used was not up to the standard required and thus most of the interview was lost in an incoherent mess. Thankfully, Jasper was sympathetic and agreed to a follow-up interview.
After discussing Scottish weather, the perfect winter (big coats, mulled wine and open fires a must) and how exceptional this Christmas's release schedule is, we got onto the serious business of Awesomenauts, its development and Ronimo Game's future plans.
*NOTE: The interview was conducted using instant messaging, so it is not a like-for-like transcript. I have neatened it up into prose for coherency, but the sentiments, words and views expressed are accurate.*
gamrFeed: So, how's the beta going?
Jasper: It has its ups and downs; last week we were below 100 bugs for the first time, but then our QA team started playing the new beta . . .
gamrFeed: Did that just open a new can of worms?
Jasper: Exactly, but we'll get there. The online drop in drop out structure we've chosen is just very complex and there's a lot of fringe situations where unexpected stuff happens.
gamrFeed: Like what?
Jasper: The host leaving the moment a player joins, Xbox Live determining to switch host to a player that is till in character selection; lots of little things.
gamrFeed: Is that particular to the drop-in system? (Explained on the OS)
Jasper: Yeah, because in a normal game there's no situation where the game is running on one system, and the other is still working in the menus. We support host migration, but only when both the leaving player and the new host are in the actual game; luckily we can solve most of that by putting a timer on the character select menus. Overall, we think it will only affect about 3-5% of the matches; basically, the more players we have, the smoother the system becomes and since it's so easy to restart playing, we don't think it is a big problem.
gamrFeed: You must be delighted with the unanimous positive press you've received so far?
Jasper: Yeah, we're really pleased with that; especially in the UK, people seem to really like the game.
gamrFeed: It's the kind of thing we really like, jump-in, jump-out, quick-time gaming effectively; sometimes, you just don't have the time to sit down with a 30 hour story.
Jasper: Exactly, I sometimes feel intimidated when I have to sit down with a game for an hour to get anything out of it.
gamrFeed: When is it scheduled for release?
Jasper: We're hoping to be done sometime mid-November,so if all goes well, we could release in December, but we probably need a bit of luck for that. Also, it might not be the best idea.
gamrFeed: With download releases, do you feel the retail pressure is different to fighting for shelf space against the likes of Modern Warfare 3?
Jasper: Yeah, it definitely is different, but some games are so big that their impact is also felt on download platforms; the upcoming month consists almost entirely of those kind of releases. Usually retail releases don't impact download as much.
gamrFeed: I suppose your main problem is if your entire market is play Battlefield 3 online?
Jasper: That's probably another problem specific to us; part of our target audience overlaps, since we're also a competitive online game.
gamrFeed: That would be a problem; I guess the main hope is for a 'cult', of sorts, to form around Awesomenauts.
Jasper: It is a bit of a cult game I think; people that seem to like it, don't seem to 'just' like it. With Awesomenauts we've taken a more focused approach compared to Swords & Soldier, which was kind of an attempt to please everybody. In a way, it worked, lots of people liked it, but with Awesomenauts we tried to craft a game that some people just won't ever like, but the people that do like it, they can get really passionate about it. So far it seems to have paid off; people are already more passionate about Awesomenauts than they were about Swords & Soldiers - I know I am!
gamrFeed: I am too. I loved Awesomenauts; i found it refreshing thrilling. The premise is simple, but takes a lot of skill and teamwork to win; easy to grasp, hard to master you might say. though it's still a bit harder to get into,because of its online nature.
Jasper: Yeah, there's a lot of room for growth, in the RPG mechanics as well as the action gameplay. That's of course something every designer wants, though it's still a bit harder to get into because of its online nature.
gamrFeed: That might be something that works in your favour with the release; people will be encouraged to come back to it, form squads etc, rather than just go 'that was nice, next.' Gamers have infamously short attention spans.
Jasper: Ha! I hope so. I've actually seen that at work at the expo; people wanting rematches, because they think that this time, they've figured it out, they've found a winning strategy, and then the next match, the other team finds a counter.
gamrFeed: Aye, well, we won our first match against the devs 
Jasper: Hacks, exploits, imbalancements I say!
gamrFeed: And then we got thumped in the next round when we tried to use a bit more skill. It's like the fighting game paradox.
Jasper: The button mashing?
gamrFeed: Yeah; the guy with no skill will beat the better ones through luck and baashing, but as they get better and develop skill they get their arse handed to them. What are the options for those on one console?
Jasper: 1-3 players splitscreen on the same team, offline and online; it was too easy to cheat to allow vs on sole consoles. This is one of the modes I'm particularly looking forward to.
gamrFeed: When else would you consider a release if you decide against December?
Jasper: I've heard very bad things about January, so I guess February; also depends on DTP of course.
gamrFeed: True, January is awful normally; I would still be tempted to get it out in December. XBLA games don't tend to have huge sales immediately, they build followings, which in Awesomenauts' case would be no bad thing.
Jasper: I know, I prefer December too; hopefully Microsoft and Sony will approve it straight away.
gamrFeed: Have you had any troubles with them?
Jasper: No, not really. Well, with Sony we've had a last minute change in the rules regarding 3D content with Swords & Soldiers That caused a slight delay, but they were nice, and the changes were perfectly reasonable; we've been happy with both of them so far, the support has been great. for PSN, but also only for Europe.
gamrFeed: That's good to hear; least you're not dealing with Apple eh?
Jasper: Ha! Well, I've heard that if they approve your game, they do it quickly; if they don't, you can be left in the dark a bit,but on iOS we work with Two Tribes, and they maintain a great relationship with Apple, so I imagine it works both ways.
gamrFeed: What plans do Romino have post-Awesomenauts?
Jasper: Lots of 'em; new games, sequels, ports. We still haven't made a final decision though.
gamrFeed: Is there anything that looks particularly likely?
Jasper: We've gotten a lot of interest for Awesomenauts PC, but as I said, nothing definite yet, unfortunately.
gamrFeed: That would be very popular i imagine. Still, i guess you might want to test yourselves with something different?
Jasper: True, true. In any case, it's going to 2D, since we've invested a lot in cool 2D technology.
gamrFeed: Awesomenauts does look fantastic, which i think helps its appeal; it's a very charming style. It definitely works, and makes it stand-out, which is vital at this level.
Jasper: It's been pretty hard on our artists, but we're very glad with the results. I'm glad you like it; I love the style too. One of the primary motivations was readability, so it's cool that the result not only looks nice, but stays clear during battle. That was actually one of the disadvantages of 2D; since players can occopy the same space, it can get cluttered.
gamrFeed: It really works. Anyway, I think that's us. Cheers Jasper!
Jasper: You too, take care.
As you've read, Awesomenauts will hopefully be available December on the XBLA and PSN for 800 MS points/ 10 euros.
More Articles
========= clothes6.us ======
Cheap Nike air Jordan shoes33$,Air Force 1 33$, Nike dunks SB shoe,Nike Shox shoe. Wholesale Cheap Nike shoes with discount jersey, High quality T-shirts,ED hardy t-shirts,ED Hardy hoodies,ED hardy shoes,ED hardy Jeans,Evisu shoes,GUCCI shoes,LV Handbag,Chanel Handbag……welcome to
==== clothes6.us ====
Nike shox(R4,NZ,OZ,TL1,TL2,TL3) $30
SOCCER JERSEY 16USD
Handbags(Coach lv fendi d&g) $33
Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $14
Jean(True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $30
Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,Armaini) $12
New era cap NY $9
Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $18
New era cap $9
we are accept credit card free shipping
========= clothes6.us ======
