Eiconic just released their twin stick shooter Total Recoil for the PlayStation Vita. We did an interview with Dave Pollard of Eiconic Games to find out more about this cool action packed indie game from the United Kingdom.
Dave Pollard on Eiconic
Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi, I’m Dave Pollard, Lead Programmer and Director of Eiconic Games. There’s just the three of us at Eiconic so I have all sorts of roles – designing and creating the gameplay, particles and visual effects, menus and HUD, basically making everything in our games work. I also create our game trailers, deal with the accounts (boring!), and more – and this week for the first time I’ve taken on the role of working with the press, which has kept me very busy over the last few days, but has been lots of fun!
Total Recoil for PS Vita
If you had to describe Total Recoil in three words, what would they be?
Explosive Arcade Fun!
What makes Total Recoil for PS Vita special?
It’s a game about having mindless fun, no clever message or complicated story, just pure unadulterated gameplay. The twin-stick shooter action of Total Recoil is a perfect fit for the lovely dual analog sticks of the Vita. The controls just feel ‘right’ and that really makes a difference to the whole game.
The free Android and iOS versions of Total Recoil were praised for the implementation of the optional purchases, which added value but weren’t needed for completing and enjoying the game. Will there be extra things to purchase after you paid for the PS Vita game?
Like the mobile versions, we’ve kept the optional ‘bucks’ purchases in for the Vita, but we’ve balanced the game even more towards not needing them. We only really left them in to give players the option to get to the big guns quicker if they want, but there’s absolutely no obligation to.
Total Recoil will have a fragmented release in Europe we found out after contacting you, can you clarify the release schedule?
Yes that’s right, due to a slight administrative error on our part, which we only discovered two days ago (to do with not having the store text translated in time for certain countries), some European countries didn’t get included in the original release schedule so we’re working with Sony to get that sorted out asap. At the moment the remaining countries will have the game available on the 17th July, but I’m hoping to get that moved forward.
Will Total Recoil be playable by using only buttons and not the touch screen?
Most of the game will be playable with buttons and the analog sticks – we mapped all of the killstreak icons, item icons and weapon select to the face buttons to make it easier to access those things without having to shift hand positions. There are still some things which require either the touch screen or the rear touch pad (such as the guided missile and some of the killstreaks), but when you’re in the middle of the action you can stick to using the buttons and analog sticks just fine if you prefer.
What is the biggest enhancement for the Vita version over the mobile versions of Total Recoil?
The biggest enhancement is the use of the analog sticks. It seems obvious, but it really makes such a massive difference to the feel of the game over the virtual sticks on the mobile versions and makes the Vita version far and away the best way to play the game.
Dave Pollard on PS Vita and Sony
The PS Vita isn’t exactly doing stellar numbers sales wise. What made you decide to bring your game to this platform?
Compared to some other platforms, sure the numbers aren’t huge, but there’s still plenty of them out there and with Sony’s efforts to get more developers on board I don’t think you’d be wise to write it off just yet. It’s a great bit of kit and we really wanted to be able to play our game on it!
Are you working on bringing other games to PlayStation Vita?
Yes! In fact we’ve just started work on a brand new game which targets Vita as its lead platform. I can’t say much more about it right now, but we’ll be sure to let you know more when we can!
Sony gets a lot of credit recently for working actively on securing deals with indie developers. How has your relationship been with Sony?
Our relationship with Sony has been excellent – despite being unbelievably busy, guys like Shahid Ahmad and Spencer Low (of Sony’s Strategic Content Team) have always found time to help us with anything we need, and their passion for games really shines through.
Great post.