#treasurenauts

4colorrebellion: Hi Jools! Good to have you with us at 4cr. How is everything on your end with Atooi going full steam ahead?

Hi Antonio! It's great to be back at 4cr. Thanks for having me. Everything is going great with Atooi. It was a very challenging transition, ending Renegade Kid and starting a new company, but we're finally into the swing of things at Atooi and have some great games in the works that I am very excited about. 

4cr: It's time to catch up on your projects, so lets get started by talking about Chicken Wiggle. Care to explain to our readers what the game is all about?

We started kicking around the idea of Chicken Wiggle in early 2016. At that time, it was a much smaller and less ambitious title. It has grown quite significantly since then!

The stars of Chicken Wiggle are an improbable duo: a young chicken and his best buddy – a wiggly worm – nestled in his backpack! Together, they team up for adventure to jump, peck, and worm-grapple across a myriad of perplexing platforming levels – full of fun gadgets, tricky hazards, and sneaky foes – determined to rescue their friends from the wicked witch in her sky towers.

But wait, there’s more! Aspiring game designers and playful doodlers alike can spend hours of fun hatching their own levels with the user-friendly level creator included with the game. You can even choose different gameplay rules, art themes, and provide custom hints, tips, and search tags. Once you’re ready, it’s easy to share your creations on-line with other Chicken Wiggle players via the community portal. Now, anyone can be a game designer on the go!

Players seeking more levels to play after completing Chicken Wiggle’s main story mode will find a wealth of unique levels to download, play, and rate for free! Level categories include Atooi official, popular, latest, or simply enter your own search tags or a specific level ID to locate a friend’s level.

4cr: Now that the game has been submitted for approval, have you decided on the potential release date for the game in the US and in Europe?

We don't have a specific release date yet. I prefer to wait until the game is approved so we can set a firm date that won't change. I also like to try and see what else is releasing in that time period, and avoid going up against big titles so there's a chance my game will be noticed in the sea of games out there. 

4cr: It's interesting that you've settled at pricing Chicken Wiggle at $14.99 considering that indies are usually scared of even breaking the $10 barrier. How did you arrive at this price? What sets this game apart from other options on the platform?

Yeah, it was a challenging endeavor to decide upon a price for Chicken Wiggle. My knee-jerk reaction was to price it the same as Xeodrifter and Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, but when I looked at the content and features in Chicken Wiggle I quickly realized that it has a lot more in it, and features that are extremely challenging to develop.

The level count is pretty close to our previous games, standing at 48. The level editor was a massive undertaking, and something that I am proud to say turned out excellent in my personal and biased opinion. It took a lot of effort to design, implement, and test the editor to ensure it was easy to use, stable, and also offer a sprinkle of fun and charm while using it.

The online community was another massive undertaking, pushing us into new territory. Not only was there the big technical challenge of developing it, but also the logistical design challenge of how to handle and present it all to the user in an easy to navigate and digestible manner. Again though, in the end I am very happy with the final results. We really pushed ourselves to make it all that it could be.

And finally, we left the option of whether we were going to support stereoscopic 3D or not until closer to the end. It is sometimes best to wait until you have all of the assets in a game before applying an effect - even though, it can generate some rework of assets to make the two things work in harmony. Honestly, the fact that Mario Maker on 3DS does not support 3D pushed us to want to support it in Chicken Wiggle. It's one more feature we can proudly say Chicken Wiggle supports over Mario Maker - in addition to on-line level sharing.

4cr: Since there is an edit tool in the game so that players can create new levels or try out those built by players worldwide, are you considering supporting the game post-release with new official levels straight from Atooi?

Oh, yes! Absolutely. I have already started making "Official Atooi Levels" that players will be able to download and play immediately after picking up the game. This was another consideration when determining the price of the game, knowing that I had always planned on increasing the level count at no extra charge by taking advantage of the on-line feature in the game.

4cr: OK, elephant in the room time. You've said you're back at work on Treasurenauts, something we've heard you say before. Is this time the big one? Are you aiming at releasing the game this year? 

Yes, this is the big one! We are finally on the finishing path to bringing Treasurenauts to launch. I am ridiculously excited about that. We do not have a release date at this time, but a 2018 release looks more realistic than 2017. I am actively working on the game now, and my approach is to make it all that it can be. Fortunately, a lot of the heavy lifting has already been accomplished, which allows me to focus on the smaller details, such as enemies, bosses, and bonus gameplay features. There is still a lot of work to do, though. And, I am determined to work on Treasurenauts uninterrupted until it is complete. EXCITE!

4cr: With Chicken Wiggle pretty much ready to shine and that Treasurenauts is moving along nicely, are there any other projects you're currently working on that you could talk about for a bit or hint at?

We have something Mutant Mudds related coming to the Switch this year, as well as a few other secrets lined up for the future.

4cr: And now it is time for us to leave. Would you like to add anything else before we go?