Online multiplayer and Puzzle Edit mode coming to ChuChu Rocket! iPhone
Developer Binary Hammer tells all about Sega's spacemice
One of the best loved games from Sega's ill-fated Dreamcast, quirky action puzzler ChuChu Rocket!, gained plenty of attention when it was released for iPhone and iPad.
Indeed, it also scored pretty highly on iOS review sites, with a Quality index of 7.9 from 10 reviews.
But how did the game get made?
We caught up with Bob Koon, president and technical director of US studio Binary Hammer, which developed the game for Sega to find out.
Pocket Gamer: How did you get the opportunity to work on ChuChu Rocket!?Bob Koon: We first worked with Sega to develop Sonic 1 for clickwheel-controlled iPods. Around that time, it also asked us if there were any other classic titles we were especially interested in, and I had to bring up ChuChu Rocket! since I was a big fan.
That discussion got put on hold for quite a while, so I was really excited when Sega reached out to us a few months back to see if we were still interested.
What was the brief?Sega was quite open-minded when it came to the brief. It followed my lead pretty much from the onset. I wanted to keep the experience as close as possible to the original Dreamcast version and add embellishments where possible.
I was told that since Sonic Team is the licensor, it would have final approvals for all visuals and overall game experience, so we had to make sure we gave old-time fans the same experience they remember, while also introducing new players to the brand.
What was the most difficult thing about moving from joypad to touch control?We talked about a number of different control schemes: tap arrow-tap board, drag the arrow from the panel to the board, swiping, etc, but the swiping method felt the most comfortable. Some game modes require the player to be quick, and nothing is quicker than swiping.
As a result, I think the most difficult decision we had to make for the controls was determining how large we could make each gameboard tile appear on the screen.
Too small, and players would have trouble being precise. Too big, and we would run out of screen real estate. Once everything came together, the control scheme became perfect.
What were you provided with in terms of original code and assets?We were given the entire project archive for both the Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance titles, including source code and graphics.
The menu code was rewritten from scratch but all of the game modes use the original Dreamcast code. You can put the iOS version next to the Dreamcast version and they'll be 1-for-1 exact.
What part of ChuChu Rocket! are you most proud of?I think I'm most proud of the download size for both iPhone and iPad versions. We took extra effort to make sure the size was under 20MB so that anyone can download it whenever they wanted.
All of the graphics and audio assets are present; nothing is missing. Unfortunately, I have learned that most customers won't notice this, so my pride is somewhat bittersweet.
How difficult was it to get the multiplayer mode to work and why no online mode?Multiplayer was a big challenge for us. The Dreamcast version never had to handle the kinds of situations that the iOS version has to deal with, like interruptions via phone call and making sure everyone's screens are synced up correctly.
Some people may not remember that the online mode in the original didn't have everyone in the same room.
Related to this is the fact that some multiplayer lag was included on purpose in the original code to help keep things running smoothly overall. We had to balance that while also tweaking the code to accommodate for different hardware speeds, and we're really happy with the result.
Although we weren't able to build online multiplayer into the game by launch time, it's still a big priority for us as we work on updates. We should have more info to share on that front in the very near future!
How long did development take?The project officially started in mid-May and ChuChu Rocket! launched on October 28th, so just over five and half months.
Is there anything you would have liked to have added but didn't or couldn't?There were a few features we were really hoping to include for the initial launch, like online multiplayer and Puzzle Edit mode, but now that the game is out we're hard at work on adding those features as soon as possible via free updates.
What's the reaction been?It has been tremendous! Lots of outstanding reviews from the press and features in the App Store have told us that people are just as excited as we are about ChuChu Rocket! appearing on iOS devices.
Do you think there's any potential to take the brand further on iOS or other mobile devices?Absolutely! We're working on a bunch of exciting updates that include new features and puzzles, and we know the community has been asking lots of questions about other devices, especially Android phones.
We'll be looking closely at those kinds of opportunities in the coming months.
Thanks to Bob for his time.ChuChu Rocket! is out now for iPhone priced $2.99, €2.39, or £1.79, and for iPad priced $4.99, €3.99, or £2.99.
