The majority of it is focused around the co-op experience. There’s definitely competitive modes, if that’s more your thing - if you want to just prove you’re the best around - we got all kinds of modes for that. The fact that you can mess with each other and beat each other up as much as you want because you’re not penalized for dying, unless you choose the mode where we penalize you for dying, means that you’re able to do the co-op and not get tired of it as quickly, because for me at least, when I’m playing co-op I’m like “eh, we’re working together so much and I have to play so nice with you that I just have to vent my frustrations sometimes.” So would you say co-op is the premiere experience? There’s lots of ways to move through the enviroment it might be a co-op level where you need your buddy, but if you got, say, the dart gun which will make a little platform on the wall, you can get through it that way too maybe. For example, the acid bubble will melt your face off or allow you to jump off the top of it, which is pretty cool. Yarn balls can be collected that you bribe the cat guards with to give you weapons, which we call weapon tools, that all have a “I will kill you function” and also a platforming function. You feel like “oh, I’m glad you’re here, because I don’t know how I could do this.”Īlthough, what’s kind of neat is the different weapons that you unlock in the game. So you’ll actually find the puzzles are set up different and will have to rely more on manipulating your environment to do some of the work for you, working with different friend AI creatures in the game to help you out, whereas co-op, the areas are roomier and we had the luxury of creating levels that were similar, but actually larger and puzzles that utilized both people, so that way you’re never really getting in each other’s way. When you’re playing the story mode, if you do go into the levels by yourself, you’re going to find that the levels are actually different then they would be. Does the game have to be played cooperatively? If not, how does the single player experience differ from multiplayer? “Anybody who plays the game is going to find something, some kind of mode that they’re really going to love and have a great time with.” At this point, I really think anybody who plays the game is going to find something, some kind of mode that they’re really going to love and have a great time with. We brought Stamper on and he started creating this amazing narrative and it just built on itself. The arena mode was the big focus at first and then the potential of the different blocks and various sequences really screamed for a big story, linear experience. Was BattleBlock Theater originally intended to become as robust as what it is now? We’re really grateful that we kept going at it and kept going at it and got where it is today, because we’re all really proud of how much fun we were able to squeeze out of it. With a small team, we had the freedom to be able to explore these things and stop when we’re ready to stop instead of it being arbitrary. During the beta and internally, it’s probably our favorite mode in arena. And we almost got rid of that because the way you interacted with the ball was kind of awkward, but we did a couple of tweaks right before we axed it - just to try it one more time - and it clicked. The idea is you’re trying to score baskets, it’s just kind of like basketball and soccer with the addition of grenades. One of my favorite stories is that we almost cut one of the different arena modes called “Ballgame”. We just kept on seeing the potential of this idea and trying out different modes. Originally, that was the core idea and that’s why it’s taken us three or four years to get it done. The basic ideas of blocks with different functions and trying to collect jems to get to the exit is basically the same thing, but it was more “stick man” on a smaller scale. After playing BattleBlock Theater, you can see that elements like the little boat are exactly the same. So if you go back and play - or download it for free on iOS - you can actually play it. BattleBlock Theater was originally based on PDA games, which are minigames inside of Alien Hominid. After Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. When was the idea for BattleBlock Theater conceived was it before Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers? Included is how the single player experience compares to co-op, narrator Stamper’s involvement in the game, its unique development cycle, what the story/characters have morphed into and much more. As the release date was finally announced just days before the convention (April 3 for those keeping score), we were able to get the inside scoop on all the many features the game has to offer. During PAX 2013, we had the privilege of sitting down with BattleBlock Theater Lead Level Designer, Aaron Jungjohann, to talk all things Batteblock.
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