GAF - Interview with Charles Galyon

Interview with Charles Galyon

Hello GAF readers. Richard Brownell here. I had the opportunity to speak to head of a new development company made up of hardcore gamers that have their first game coming out a few months from now. From here on out, I (Richard Brownell) shall be known as RB and Charles Galyon will be known as CG.

RB: Welcome Charles. How about you introduce yourself and tell us your position at NeoPong.

CG: Thank you for the welcome, my name is Charles Galyon. I'm the Lead Designer and President of NeoPong Software.

RB: And what is NeoPong all about?

CG: We're about making games, fun, high quality games. We believe in focusing more on gameplay and content rather than shiny graphics, however we don't skimp on the artwork either. I believe that will be evident when the public finally gets to see our first title, World Reborn.

RB: From what we've seen on the first two trailers, that's certainly true. What are some of the challenges you face when making a shooter for the GBA?

CG: The GBA is actually an excellent platform for a small developer like us. It gave us the chance to leverage some of our previous experiences with the Nintendo and Super Nintendo platforms without trying to make the leap to 3D. Thus we could try to nail down some solid gameplay without trying to keep our poly counts low or worry about the dreadful collision in a 3D environment.

RB: And on top of that, it seems the story is also an important element in World Reborn. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

CG: Certainly! The story is the classic evil inhuman force enslaving all of mankind and the small band of kids must overcome them and save the world. There's not really much new in that, however, the story really takes on its own personality through the characters. The player will be experiencing the game through the perspective of the characters and the characters all of their own unique personalities. They're young, at this point, so they're brash and all about beating on some bad guys and saving the world, but they learn as they go about defeat, betrayal, friendship and, in the end, victory.

Also I think the players will enjoy our choices of dialogue. Especially some of our older gamers from the 80's era. ;-)

RB: Very nice. Now speaking of older gamers, what is World Reborn like compared to past side-scrolling shooters. How many ships? Weapons? All those typical things.

CG: World Reborn offers a variety of pilots and ships with strengths and weaknesses. I don't want to give away any of the secrets just yet, but I'll say that the player will definitely see at least four different ships and pilots. The abilities of the pilots and ships differ so you'll find particular combinations work extremely well while others might compensate for the shortcomings of their counterpart. The player will select who he wants to pilot and which ship he wants to use before going into a level. So there's a little bit of strategy as some combinations might produce particularly disastrous results on a given level, but not to worry because if the player should fail at a level he'll be given the chance to try again or return to the selection screens to make new choices.

As for how World Reborn compares to previous shooters... well, we consulted a lot of our favorites and hunted down nearly every shooter we could. We wanted to see what worked, what didn't and what was just fun. I think more seasoned shooter players will be reminded of some of their past experiences when playing World Reborn. I'm actually hard-pressed to think of a system that didn't have influence on our game!

RB: Now let's talk about the past a bit before we get to your next project. What kind of experience do members of the NeoPong team have with video game development?

CG: Frankly not a whole lot.

Most of our team members have previous experience in related fields though. For example, Robert Dean, our lead programmer, worked at Microsoft while finishing off his degree in computer science. Eric Stamm, our musician, has been playing and composing music for the better part of his life. Bertrand Dupuy, our artist, actually has a considerable amount of experience in video game development. And I have worked on numerous amateur projects and worked in management prior to the formation of NeoPong Software.

Other members of our team are more recent additions, but they're equally interested in video game development and I expect they'll prove themselves in the near future.

RB: So one might say that you are living one of the typical dreams of gamers: to not only assemble a team of young enthusiastic gamers, start a company AND finish game, but also find a publisher.

CG: Indeed, I would like to say we were just fortunate, but honestly it requires a lot of work and diligence. This particular dream doesn't come easily, but I believe we've proven it is possible.

RB: And your next project, an RPG, is typically the ultimate in those gamer dreams as shown by the huge success of the RPGmaker game series. Before we are out of time, what can you tell us about this Project DA?

CG: Project DA is our next great ambition. Whatever we may demonstrate as an out of the gate, fresh new developer with World Reborn, I can absolutely assure you that our next project will blow it out of the water. We've developed the engines, the techniques and cultivated the experience we need to make something even better and rather than sit and rest on our laurels we only feel more driven to push ourselves harder and produce more.

Additionally I feel I should mention that Project DA is intended for the Nintendo DS. The DS offers a lot of unique opportunities to do things we couldn't previously. Project DA, being intended for the DS, will utilize those abilities to deliver not only an enjoyable and solid RPG experience, but it will also offer unique content and play opportunities.

RB: Do you feel that getting yourself on the DS early will be a good move as an RPG developer? The current lineup includes a lot of unique games, but RPGs are not in excess.

CG: Indeed, I feel that lining up on the DS as soon as possible is a good idea. The GBA is still a viable platform and not to be ignored, but with the DS's backwards compatibility and abilities I think it is a platform better suited for Project DA. We can do more of the things we originally intended and offer the player a better experience on the DS. The fact that there are not a lot of RPG's slated for release yet, well, that's only icing on the cake. I imagine part of that is due to the amount of time required for us developers to familiarize ourselves with the DS hardware and the amount of time required to produce an RPG though.

RB: Just how different is developing on the DS? Obviously, it presents a host of new challenges for designers, but what about the rest of the team?

CG: We honestly can't say yet. The hardware is new and we're not licensed for the DS yet. Only time will tell, but we're anticipating it will be developer friendly. Nintendo did a great job with the GBA and I expect the same from the Nintendo DS.

RB: Excellent. Now to get to those last annoying questions. When can we expect to see World Reborn on shelves?

CG: As always I can't be totally sure, but I believe we can expect it this Christmas season.

RB: And one last question. When can we expect to start seeing some art or screens for Project DA?

CG: At this time we can't put up any additional screens or art from Project DA, though I wish we could. For reasons that will become apparent we must keep it under tight wraps for the time being. I believe, however, that everyone will be pleasantly surprised when we do finally post some new screenshots on our webpage.

I've appreciated the opportunity you've afforded me to speak to your readers. Unfortunately I must be going, but I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of World Reborn when it finally hits the shelves.

RB: Thank you very much for your time today Charles. I look forward to playing World Reborn and getting to see more of Project DA!

CG: Thank you again and take care!

And one last time, we at GAF would like to thank Charles for taking the time out of his schedule for us to ask him some questions. We'll have the latest on World Reborn and Project DA as it breaks.

Interview with Charles Galyon

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