Graceful Explosion Machine devs on initial sales, future plans, HD Rumble implementation, more
Over on Reddit, developers from Vertex Pop have been conducting an AMA about its recently-released Switch game Graceful Explosion Machine. Initial sales, potential plans for more content in the future, how the team implemented HD Rumble, and more were all discussed.
Notable responses from the AMA about these topics and more are below. You can catch up on the full AMA here.
On developing for Switch…
Okay, so first off: getting a pre-release Switch was pretty darn cool. Then there’s a whole lot of boring stuff that matters a lot: fast deployment time (from the PC to the Switch) so we could iterate on the game quickly. Their APIs are really nice and well-thought, and the documentation is great. Like I said: boring, but it’s important! Finally, Nintendo was very helpful and responsive when we had technical and usability questions.
On the game’s sales…
They’ve exceeded our expectations! We’ve been really happy with it overall.
On new content / DLC and plans for next game…
yes and yes, but we have no details yet! We don’t know what support will look like since it’s still so early, and pre-production on the next thing will likely follow shortly thereafter.
On how long it took to go from concept to release…
I started prototyping GEM in late 2015, and by the end of the year I had something that was fun, but also, kinda janky and filled with programmer art.
In Feb 2016, I brought on the entire team, and from there we took a little over a year to get the game done!
On implementation of HD Rumble…
The HD rumble in GEM is based on the sound effects. We decided which actions needed to be felt as well as heard and then optimized the rumble to match the sound effect timing and enhance the feeling of those moments (getting hit, using the sniper beam, etc). We used the same panning (left-right) values as the sounds to get the feeling on the left and right JoyCons.
On major influences…
The main source of inspiration was just the idea of making a shoot-em-up where you had many weapons that you could use at once in an effortless manner… but fumbling with a “switch weapon” toggle was not an option. So I figured, 4 weapons = 4 face buttons, face buttons = no using the right stick, sooo… Defender! (that was literally the thought process) Also, Treasure Games and specifically Bangai-O Spirits was a huge source of inspiration! I loved how the player in Bangai-O is absurdly powerful and the game was still hard as nails! Something about the weapons, and the (kinda) attrition-based gameplay really drew me in. You can see some of that influence in GEM if you squint a bit!
On how the game came to be a Switch title…
We pitched it to Nintendo when it was still called the “NX”. We kept in touch a bit after that, but when the Switch was officially announced, we were like “OMG THIS HAS TO BE ON SWITCH!” We started talking to Nintendo again, and they agreed!
On whether bosses were considered…
Definitely! We tried out a bunch of stuff that didn’t work mechanically. GEM works better with a bunch of smaller enemies, not one large enemy. The Warp levels are basically our bosses.
On accessibility options…
Yeah, I’m super sorry about that! We want to add accessibility options to reduce camera motion and disable screen shake. Not sure when, but it’ll happen!
