Warp Zoned Presents
Most Recent: Interviews
An Interview With PizWiz, the Developer Behind Warp’s Hand-Drawn World
Although there have been many games over the years that use a hand-drawn style, none have managed to encapsulate the sheer sense of creative doodleness of Warp. The game’s developer, PizWiz, is currently seeking $7,000 on Kickstarter, and you can read a bit more about it in our latest edition of Kickstart This!
We chatted with the New Orleans-based developer and artist to find out more about the project, what he has in store for the future, and how to “become cow.” (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, Top Story
Tagged Warp (2020)
Bot Gaiden Is A Side-Scrolling Platformer With Style: An Interview With Doug Pohl of SwordSwipe Studios
MetroidVanias rose to fame in the 80s and 90s thanks to the popularity of the Metroid and Castlevania franchises, but the genre went dormant in the 2000s as developers pushed pixels aside for polygons and aspired to create sprawling 3D worlds. After being rediscovered and remixed by the indie community, the MetroidVania is finally having its moment here in 2018.
But what if you’re looking for something else from a side-scroller? What if you want the fast action and self-contained levels that characterized the Ninja Gaiden and Contra franchises? Enter SwordSwipe Studios, and their upcoming game, Bot Gaiden.
The gameplay style and artistic inspirations for Bot Gaiden came to us straight from the 80s, but unlike most side-scrollers now on the market, SwordSwipe’s platformer doesn’t look like it came from the 80s. We sat down with Doug Pohl, one of the developer’s co-founders, to find out exactly how he’s bringing back the fast action and precision platforming of those classics in a new package. (more…)
R-Cade Combines Arcade Games and Ramen Noodles in Glasgow: An Interview With Owner Androo Faulkner
In my home city of Glasgow, we are blessed with several small gaming havens where people can enjoy old arcade classics. Last year, I interviewed the guys behind our first-ever “arcade bar,” Super Bario, and now I have the pleasure of talking to Androo Faulkner, owner of the gaming and instant raman noodle emporium known as R-Cade. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, Retro, Top Story
Interview: Pocket Mana on the Launch of My Uncle Merlin’s Kickstarter Campaign
Today, Pocket Mana launched a Kickstarter campaign for the company’s debut game, My Uncle Merlin, an interactive adventure for the PC about wizards in space. We caught up with Predrag Mladenovic (who composes stuff), Milan Andrejevic (who writes stuff), and Stefan Sladic (who draws stuff), to find out more about the game, and what had led them to crowdfund the project. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, Previews, Top Story
Interview: Serving Up Conversation About Joysticks, Pints, and Kickstarter With the Owner of Glasgow’s First Arcade Bar
One of the rare delights of following projects on Kickstarter is when you spot someone trying to build something in your own town or city, be it a video game, an album, a film, or, in this case, a bar. There is an instant, and intimate, connection of homegrown pride and creative curiosity. That’s especially true after Super Bario popped up on my radar late in its campaign.
For my sins, I never contributed to Super Bario when the project was live, despite my love of both video games and tasty craft beer. The arcade bar occupies a small space on King Street in Glasgow, Scotland, in an area teeming with art and creative spirit. It backs onto the Tron Theatre, while directly opposite there is Trongate 103, home to Glasgow Print Studio, Street Level Photography, and the Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre.
I have now become a patron of the bar, and try to pop in when I can, enticing friends who love video games, or those who remember being a kid standing before that monolith of entertainment… a cabinet of wood and a CRT display flickering sprites into our awestruck eyes.
Super Bario has proven to be a great success, a space for gamers to chill and enjoy a drink while sucking in the sweet smell of nostalgia. Amidst the craziness, I managed to chat with co-owner Shaun Murawski, who along with Scott McLauchlan and George Black, conceived of the arcade bar back in 2015, and fought hard to make it a reality with the backing of 166 donors. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, Retro, Top Story
Kickstart This! Anniversary Interview: Holden Boyles Talks About Qora
Spirit, as it was known then, featured in in March 2014’s Guinness Aftermath Edition of Kickstart This! At the time, the project managed to earn $10,692, more than double its $4,000 initial goal. Since then, it underwent a title change to Qora, and was released soon after in October 2014, making it one of the quickest turnarounds for a Kickstarter campaign I’ve ever seen.
We caught up with creative mind behind Qora, Holden Boyles, to discuss his game, as well as other projects he has funded through the crowdfunding platform. (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, Top Story
Tagged Qora
Kickstart This! Anniversary Interview: Chewing the Fat With Bacon Man Director Neal Laurenza
It is perhaps somewhat ironic that Bacon Man appeared in July 2014’s Common Creative Wealth Edition of Kickstart This! While athletes from around the world competed in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the developers at Skymap Games were hard at work campaigning for their project, which stars an anthropomorphized version of the fatty foodstuff in a surreal Earthworm Jim-style platformer. The game achieved its funding target of $20,000 (with an extra $1,280 to spare), and is expected to be released for the PC and Xbox One before the end of the year.
Neal Laurenza, Managing Director at Skymap, recently sat down with us to share a slab of bacon and to discuss Bacon Man. While we pondered if the breakfast staple proves the existence of God, we also talked about the game’s Kickstarter campaign, how bad emails can do good things, and other sizzling topics. (more…)
Kickstart This! Anniversary Interview: Bendik Stang of Snowcastle Games Takes A Turn to Talk About Earthlock: Festival of Magic
Earthlock: Festival of Magic was one of those rare Kickstarter projects that immediately grabbed our attention with its strong, colourful art direction, firm sense of genre, and polished gameplay. Its ambition was only matched by the passion of small Norwegian outfit Snowcastle Games, who, with only a couple of games under its belt, sought $150,000 to make a huge RPG for both PC gamers as well as the new generation of consoles. Originally featured in March 2014’s Guinness Aftermath Edition of Kickstart This!, Earthlock: Festival of Magic is expected to be released for the PC, PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One later this year.
We caught up with Bendik Stang, Snowcastle’s Game Director, earlier this year to talk about the team’s progress from campaign to nearly-finished product, as well as their experience at the 2015 Game Developers Conference. He even shared two brand new pieces of concept art with us… (more…)
Posted in Features, Interviews, PC, PS4, Top Story, Wii U, Xbox One
Tagged Earthlock: Festival of Magic