Old School Gamer Magazine chats with GRIDbeat! Creative Director Dan Kingdom, who discusses the process to make the game a reality and what it is like to work with Acclaim.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How was GRIDbeat! born?
Dan Kingdom: GRIDbeat! grew out of a very simple idea I had early in the pandemic. At that point, the concept was little more than a nexus of identical nodes that the player moved between on the beat. When I discussed the idea with the team, one of the Engineers wanted to explore the idea with me and so we created a basic playable version and the game started growing from there.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How does it feel to be affiliated with Acclaim on this?
Kingdom: Having Acclaim as our publisher is a little surreal. The ‘Acclaim’ branding has a lot of heritage associated with it, of course, so seeing the logo whenever you boot up the game always makes me smile.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What was development like?
Kingdom: Developing during the pandemic was strange for everyone involved, but luckily most of us have been working in the industry for over 20 years, so we learned to adapt relatively quickly. Once we had the initial playable concept, we spent about a year just iterating on the core systems and discovering what levels looked and played like.
Luckily, we had a very clear vision of the game style and tone from the playable concept and that helped focus the game throughout development, even when it started incorporating elements we had never even considered, such as narrative elements and boss levels.
One of the things I am proud of is that the core gameplay mechanic never really changed all that much from that initial concept to the final product. It grew and evolved, but the core of it is still that simple idea of moving node-to-node on the beat.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What makes GRIDbeat! special?
Kingdom: I’m particularly proud of how well the music and gameplay work hand-in-hand. The music is the living beating heart of the gameplay experience, and it’s very rewarding to see how players react to the soundtrack and compliment how much a part of the gameplay it is. The hope during development was always to create something akin to a ‘flow state’ for players, and seeing that happen during early playtesting was immensely rewarding.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How would you explain this game to someone who just sees it online and may be interested?
Kingdom: GRIDbeat! at its heart is a dungeon-crawler with a very simple mandate: move and act on the beat. If you enjoy exploration and puzzle-solving, all set to an incredible, pumping soundtrack then this is the game for you. If you also love music games, then this will also be something you want to check out, as the music and gameplay are incredibly interconnected.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What games influenced GRIDbeat! the most?
Kingdom: Honestly, the games that most influenced GRIDbeat! were the simple vector arcade games of the 80s, such as Battlezone and Asteroids. While the gameplay is of course different, the vision of searing hot neon vector lines and a booming electronic soundtrack were the elements that existed right from the start of development. Later vector-inspired games such as Rez were also a big inspiration, and of course a variety of music games, but the ‘flow’state’ inducing effect of Tetris was also a big source of inspiration.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?
Kingdom: I do clearly remember when we added the Mino.Tor opponent for the first time to a test level. The Mino.Tor is a simple, 2D sprite that just moves on the beat and chases after you, but for some reason its presence in the level scared the hell out of everyone when we playtested the level. Maybe it was something to do with the way it snarls and growls at you as it chases you down, or maybe it’s just the relentless element of pursuit, but it was exciting to see how something so simple, without animation or visual effects, could evoke terror in the playtesters. Our lead engineer even had to stop playing for a while because he started getting palpitations whenever the Mino-Tor showed up.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What were the major lessons learned?
Kingdom: I think the biggest lesson we learned early on was to try everything and test often. It’s very easy to get locked into your own view of a game during development, so getting feedback early on from outside the team is critical. Are the controls intuitive? Does the gameplay make sense? Is the core mechanic satisfying? Being able to respond to this feedback is also incredibly important.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
Kingdom: Fun never really goes out of style or gets ‘old’. Game mechanics that younger players might not have experienced can still be just as exciting, but the focus should always be on creating something that is ‘fun’ to play, regardless of where the inspiration comes from.
Old School Gamer Magazine: The marketplace is crowded. How do you think you stand out?
Kingdom: Visually, I think GRIDbeat! is very distinct, so hopefully the game catches people’s attention and then once they start playing they’ll find the core systems and music engaging. The game is also quite challenging, so players that are looking for something that is simple to play but hard to master should get a lot out of the game.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How have your previous experiences in industry helped this game?
Kingdom: Having been in the industry for over 20 years now, I’ve worked on pretty much every genre of game and every hardware platform imaginable, so that definitely helps focus the vision of a game as a designer. Trying to stay focused on the core concept and maintaining ‘fun’ at every step is critical, from menus to gameplay.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How do you want this game to ultimately be remembered?
Kingdom: As a huge Rhythm Action fan, I’d love for GRIDbeat! to be remembered as a worthy entry in the music game pantheon.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What’s next?
Kingdom: We’re currently working on the first major update for GRIDbeat!, which will include new levels and some quality-of-life tweaks, and beyond that… Well, Ridiculous Games is always working on at least a few high-concept and slightly crazy games at any one time, so there’s always something to look forward to.
Old School Gamer Magazine: Anything else you’d like to add?
Kingdom: Thanks for the questions. It’s always fun to talk about a game you’ve sunk your heart and soul into 🙂
The post Old School Gamer Magazine Exclusive: Dan Kingdom Talks GRIDbeat! appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.
