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N-Philes: Speaking of winning over gamers, Nintendo is big right now on promoting "Touch Generations" titles, especially to older players and non-game players. Is Konductra the type of game that would appeal to a wide audience, both in age and skill level?Dunlop: Yes it is. Gamers and non-gamers alike have played Konductra and all come away wanting more. That is the nice thing about puzzle games is that they do have a universal appeal and that pick up and play anytime aspect to them. We've had people aged six to sixty playing this game. I won't say who performed better!
N-Philes: Haha! Do you know if Nintendo has a system in place for third parties to jump onto and benefit from the Touch Gen branding?
Dunlop: The game is not going to be under the Touch Generations branding. With respect to 3rd parties getting on board with that branding I honestly don't know.
N-Philes: Oh, all right... I was just wondering. We've seen in games like Lumines, the music in a puzzle game can be a huge component. What kind of feel does Konductra's music have?
Dunlop: From a game direction perspective it was important to me that the music supports the mood that I wanted to convey to the player. What we went with is a piece of music per game mode that drives that feeling home. Rick De Jonge wrote and implemented all the music for the game. For the VS. modes, I wanted an aggressive piece that really keeps you on edge. For modes like the Task mode, I wanted the player to get into a more "thinking" mood so the music reflects that. Similarly for the Score mode... We were kind of stuck on what to do for the menu music. What emotion do you want to convey when you're in menus? That was when Rick put together a thematic piece that was really a combination of all the separate pieces of music wrapped into one. In a lot of ways that is my favorite of the lot. But the VS. music really keeps the pressure going!
N-Philes: Good stuff! Does the game have any unlockable features?
Dunlop: There is a secret game mode waiting to be found that has not been discussed or mentioned before. I can't say anymore!
N-Philes: Fair enough - I do like surprises in the games that I play. You began the project without a publisher, but you eventually teamed up with O~3 Entertainment to distribute the title. Was finding a publisher for the game difficult? Did not having a publisher right away (or finding one) affect how the game progressed?
Dunlop: I wouldn't describe the process as a difficult one. It really didn't affect the development of the game as such. Finding a publisher was just another part of the process as I was determined to finish the game either way. At the start of development I knew it would (or at least I assumed it to) be impossible to secure funding from a publisher before building something so I just decided to skip that whole process. So once the game was finished I could confidently show off this finished hi-quality title. Having a finished product helps.
N-Philes: Well congrats on finding a publisher! Is the game itself finished? When does the game come out?
Dunlop: Thanks! The game is 100% done. At this point it's really just a question of getting approved. In terms of a release date... we want to set a locked date, and so we need to wait for approval.
Colorful menus!
N-Philes: Awesome! I can't wait to try the game. Moving to oeFun, the company was founded by you early last year. How many people work at creating games within the company? And does the "oe" stand for anything?
Dunlop: The Company is pretty small right now, only a handful of people work here. The "oe" stands for many things. Right now I don't have an official meaning. What you will see is that on specific games those letters will become words and have meaning and context to a specific game.
NP: Sort of like how many DS games play with those letters; for example, the star of Trauma Center is named Derek Styles, and the subtitle of the Advance Wars game is "Dual Strike"?
Dunlop: Yep, to be honest nothing is set in stone - other than the idea to exploit that aspect of the name.
N-Philes: does Konductra exploit the letters at all?
Dunlop: Nope.
N-Philes: What games have you and your staff worked on prior to Konductra at oeFun?
Dunlop: I have been in the industry since ‘87. I won't bore your readers with all the details, suffice it to say there is a partial list [here]. I think the most notable efforts being Turok (N64) and Thief: Deadly Shadows (xbox). Marshal and Rick have extensive experience in their respective backgrounds however this their first video game.
N-Philes: Your company bio says that you intend to work on a variety of platforms. Which other platforms do you have ideas for?
Dunlop: We're very excited to be working on the Nintendo Wii for our next project. We have ideas for many platforms, but are choosing to concentrate on the Wii for now.
N-Philes: How do you feel about the Wii and the direction that Nintendo is going with the home consoles? Do you have a development kit for the Wii yet?
Dunlop: I think the Wii is just what the industry needs and that is only just the beginning. It's no secret that I am a Nintendo fan. I will readily admit that. The reason is that they are pushing the boundaries and expanding what games can do. I will always follow whoever does that.
We are official developers, but we don't have a Wii dev kit yet. To be honest we don't need the hardware right now. We can prototype quite successfully for now.
N-Philes: Have you decided on your next project? Is there anything that you would like to tell me?!
Dunlop: I have a lot of ideas and I'm fairly confident on what it's going to be. Oh, and it was the cook, in the foyer with the steel pipe!
N-Philes: That cook I tell you... What do you think of Nintendo's Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade? Is there any chance that oeFun would create games and distribute them digitally through either of these platforms?
Dunlop: I think those are great features to have on this generation going forwards. I'm a big fan of the 360. I just broke 500,000 on Geometry wars the other day!
I don't really know enough about Nintendo's service at this point to comment. The Xbox Live Arcade is certainly interesting, but it seems to have a limit on volume of games that seems a little worrying... the number of games available through the service is low. I read recently (can't remember where), that Microsoft were unable to handle the number of requests from developers
N-Philes: Last question... it's probably the most important one! Which puzzle games do you, an avid puzzle gamer, love to play?
Dunlop: Ok, so I've played just about every puzzle game that I can get my hands on. It's impossible to say what my favorite is, but I regularly play the following: Capcom's puzzle fighter, Puzzle League (Tetris Attack), Tetris and Puyo pop.
N-Philes: Awesome! Well, that's everything from my end, is there anything else that you would like to add?
Dunlop: Thanks for the opportunity to discuss Konductra at length. I hope that your readers will get a chance to play Konductra for themselves fairly soon! Cheers.
N-Philes: Awesome, well thank you again so much for your time. I know it's precious, we I really appreciate it!
Dunlop: No problem, thanks again.
oeFun, Inc. is an independent game development studio and official Nintendo developer dedicated to making fun and innovative titles for a variety of platforms including Nintendo DS and Wii. oeFun's mission is to become synonymous with fun, quality and innovation while making some of the best games in the video game industry.
Austin-based oeFun was founded in January 2005 by Ian Dunlop, a career games developer with 18 years in the industry. Dunlop has a long resume, his talent having been integral in the development of several world-class titles.
Konductra is an original title for the Nintendo DS, being published by O~3 Entertainment. A release date is yet to be determined.
