PlayStation Universe recently hooked up with Switchblade Monkeys’ Creative Director Yousuf Mapara to chat with him about the indie revolution, the PS4 launch game Secret Ponchos and to find out how the journey began for the independant developer.
Here is the Q&A in full.
The indie development scene has exploded in recent years while larger studios, including ex-employer Radical Entertainment, have crumbled. What have you learned about the industry from the downfall of some popular and successful publishers and developers, and do you think the indie revolution will last?
As long as there has been a games industry, there has been a need for new IP’s, new styles, and new types of gameplay to surprise players. Right now in this development landscape we are seeing the smaller teams in the digital space take that focus on creativity and new IP. Indie developers can go there because frankly they put themselves on the line out of creative passion.
A lot of the larger franchise games we play now were developed by small teams back in the day, that resembled the "indie studios" of today. The term that defines the teams that take these risks has changed over the years, but I think it has always been there.. small groups of people passionate about making new types of experiences.
AAA games are great too, they just bring a different type of experience to the market, that focuses on leaving you in awe of what 100 or 1000 people can make if they work together, in terms of scope and perfection of craft. My personal passion however is in the digital space, because it delivers constant surprises in style and innovation which is compelling for an artist.
We understand that Secret Ponchos started as a fun project and that there were no initial plans to launch it as a full retail product. At what point did you realize the game had a potential to be much more?
There was a point early on where the project was much smaller. Quickly some of our friends saw the game, and said "That’s cool, if you guys want help I’m in!" They were so talented in their respective fields it inspired us to something bigger if we could all stay disciplined and collaborate together. With that decision we sort of changed goals and what we expected of ourselves.
What’s the idea behind the name? We understand that the ‘Ponchos’ part of the title is related to spaghetti westerns, but what’s the ‘secret’?
The word "Secret" came mainly from our project history. We started this project in secret, and we would all get together and collaborate on this passion project on the down low. This was our Secret Project, and we called the blog "Secret Ponchos". When we were naming the game, we brainstormed hundreds of names. But a lot of the imagery and creative content of the game connected too deep with that identity we had on the blog, and it just felt gross switching it to a more ‘video game standard’ name. These mysterious outlaws and bounty hunters, concealing themselves and their weapons in giant sombreros, ponchos, trenchcoats – Secret Ponchos just had the right vibe and attitude . In the end people tell us they either love the name, or hate it. But the interesting thing is that it is a memorable game name and not something generic which is what we wanted to avoid.
How did the decision to initially launch Secret Ponchos as a PlayStation 4 exclusive come about and how have you found working with Sony?
We were presenting our game for the first time at PAX East, and Brian Silva, Nick Suttner from Sony Dev relations were at the event. Brian and Nick came to our booth (disguised as regular gamers as I like to say). They checked out the game, and watched people playing it for quite a while. We had no idea they were from Sony Dev Relations or we would have been a lot more nervous having to go into pitch mode. But they got to see the game for what it was, without being hyped. They eventually introduced themselves after they formed their opinion and asked us if we’ve considered launching on PS4. At the time I was shocked, it was so outside the realm of what we thought was a possible option. I actually told Brian "We’re just a tiny team, I don’t know if we can do PS4 " and Brian asked "What are your barriers?" and suggested how we could work together to overcome them. We really were honoured by what they were suggesting. It also did strike an impression how proactive they were in finding a strong portfolio, while being really down to earth and the type of people you want to do business with. After they left, we just huddled together and decided as a team no guts no glory, and decided we wanted to work together with Sony and get this thing on PS4.
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What does Secret Ponchos bring to the shooter genre that sets it apart?
Shooter and fighter genres have been stuck in similar conventions for quite a few years now. They are awesome genres, but we wanted to try and bring gamers a new angle on the genre, so they experience more than only superficial advances. The key stone to what we’ve done was moving the camera up overhead in the team shooter genre. Players suddenly had this awareness of where they are, where exactly their enemies and team mates are positioned and what they’re trying to do. We suddenly had the opportunity to learn from fighting games and incorporate mechanics that let players compete over spacing, timing, and counter each other’s attacks with precision. Team play and cover mechanics work really well from this angle too, and we have a really interesting "line of site" mechanic where players can disappear from another players view if they are taking cover behind something, so you can use the environment tactically to your advantage.
The result is Secret Ponchos just plays like its own breed of combat game, I feel this is what we’re the most proud of.
Can you tell us more about the various classes and their play-styles?
We focused on making sure every character has its own feel. They all have different strengths that suit different play styles. On top of their movement style and attitude, they each have 2 different weapon types, and there are different attacks for each weapon that use different ranges and timing.
Kidred is a guns blazing character, fast movement, dive rolls, dual pistols, trick shots. An example of a character with contrast to that is Phantom Poncho. Poncho moves slower and more methodical. Though he has a shorter range shotgun, it has devastating effect if you can get close range. Since its challenging to get in range, he plays more tactical like a predator who stalks and wounds his prey before going in for the kill. You do this by using his whip to wound enemies, slowing them down, or even for disarming their weapons out of their grip. Then you have them where you want, and you you can move in for the kill.
Instead of using generic gameplay design systems and building our characters from that, we let the art and attitude of the character inspire their mechanics. It helps keep us away from cliche expectations, and just create new types of abilities rather then using only standard archetypes.
Secret Ponchos has a heavy focus on multiplayer. How many players will it cater for, and what game modes can we expect? Do you think it’s important for developers to consider the cries of gamers who yearn for local and/or splitscreen gaming over online offerings?
We have recently been building an addition – Split Screen Couch co-op, because it is a lot of fun to have a friend come over, and as a team you login and fight together online. When online play first arrived last gen it opened new possibilities – and developers in their excitement for this new thing lost site about splitscreen. But we think there is this value in having someone next to you too, and splitscreen together with online can create some nice chemistry, so we decided to go for it.
Secret Ponchos is an online combat game, so you can play 1 vs 1, and team fights too ( 2 vs 2, and even 4 vs 4). There is also 8 player free for all, in which you get some pretty wild shootouts. And of course for 2 vs 2 you have the choice of split screen local coop if you want to form your team that way.
Secret Ponchos seems like a title that would also fit perfectly on PS Vita. Any plans to create a version for Sony’s handheld?
It’s a possibility for the future, but for launch we feel it’s important to focus on one thing at a time and do it well. We’ve been asked a lot about Vita and we would love to add that if the opportunity presents itself after we get the PS4 feeling great.
You’ll be teaming up with PlayStation Plus to give Secret Ponchos to members free for a couple of months. How does that method of bringing it to the market affect the studio and finances? Is it all about getting as many people as possible to play your game, forgoing returns, or is there some incentive from Sony?
For us, PlayStation Plus is very exciting because it means the game can reach so many gamers. An online game is only as strong as its community and user base, so we felt this was the right way to go because it will populate all the lobbies and lead to stronger match making. We’re feeling pretty good that the game will be a lot of fun, and as long as the community is in place hopefully new people will purchase the game and join in after the PlayStation Plus period is over. We hope that if people love the game there will be enough demand to continually developing new characters to keep the game fresh and evolving.
With the indie scene exploding and the influx of creative titles that will be vying for the attention of gamers, do you think more risks need to be taken in this space in order to stand out from the crowd?
The cool thing with indie games, is that by their nature they are so original and unique, that to me they are not in competition with each other. For example Limbo and Journey are so different from each other – that I don’t see them in competition the way two different first person shooters might be, or two MMO’s. They’re not identical games with different brands, but 2 different compelling games that offer different gaming experiences. As a gamer, you miss out if you don’t play them both. So I think as long as indie developers have cool ideas, there is room for new games.
It’s clear that marketing and promotional opportunities are going to be key for smaller games at a time when big-budget titles will have huge online and real-world campaigns. How are you tackling marketing, and does Sony offer you ways to reach the PlayStation audience?
We’re definitely developers and not marketing experts. The only thing we know how to do is make things as good as we possibly can, with every second of the day. So our focus is making a good game that is original, and genuinely fun to play, so that people can enjoy themselves and have an experience that makes an impression.
The second part to that plan is we always work hard getting the game to PAX, so we can show it as many gamers and press as time lets us in that window! It’s a great feeling when people who have not heard of it before, play and it and enjoy it. You see them getting invested in the game, and we’ve been so lucky that they have jumped in to help us spread the word. We don’t have a lot of money, and when we do get our hands on money we tend to use it to make our game better instead of marketing it because we’re developers at heart.
Sony has helped us a lot, they have a much broader reach then us and them including us in events like E3 has just been an amazing experience and opportunity.
A core PS4 game is going to cost consumers up to $60, yet you’ll probably be able to pick up half a dozen indie games or more for the same price, with some of those likely featuring Cross-Buy with PS Vita. With everyone a bit strapped for cash at the moment, do you think creating good quality, cheap games and selling them at affordable prices is the best plan for success on PS4?
I love the digital space because while there are limitations on the scope of the games, they have the potential for delivering a high quality experience, and highly creative/stylized experiences. Like Journey for example! I think the lower price point is a nice bonus, but ultimately digital games are not made for delivering a lower price point, they are made for delivering a refreshing burst of creativity. This is our goal for entering this space with Secret Ponchos.
To find out more about SwitchBlade Monkeys and Secret Ponchos visit the official Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.