Taito/Space Invaders Infinity Gene interview

[spadgy]

Like bloodflowers I need some help with an article.

I'm interviewing the director/designer of Space Invaders Infinity Gene (The iPhone one) on Monday.

Any burning questions you feel I should ask?

Of course I have a few, but any input would be greatly appreciated, and I'll of course post the finisged interview on the forum...

Thanks!

[Dragoforce]

"How do you motivate yourself for making the 112:th version of Space Invaders?"

Perhaps a little rude, but i'd love to know.

[spadgy]

No - it's a very good point. I'll definately ask that, though I might re-word it!

[fog]

How constrained did you feel by people's expectations of what a Space Invaders game should and shouldn't be?

How did the control limitations of the iPhone shape the design?

[mr_m0nks]

More and more serious game developers are turning to the iphone/ipod touch as a platform for their games. Do you think that this will effect the evolution of the traditional hand held gaming systems maybe to the point that Nintendo will release a game phone or the next PSP will be a Sony Ericsson development?

[BulletMagnet]

Sort of obvious, but "Which titles, from the Space Invaders series and outside it, served as your main inspirations for this project?" I'm curious to know how far the team's overall shooter knowledge goes...maybe "What are some of your personal favorite shooters, and did any of them influence this project?" would be a better wording.

[spadgy]

You lot should be journalists! Thanks!

[sunburstbasser]

"Whats your high score?"

[spadgy]

Thanks all - I'm doing the interview tomorrow afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes...

[TLB]

How'd it go? :)

[guigui]

How'd it go?

Same question !

[Estebang]

Were the branching levels and "evolution" theme intended as a connection to the Darius series?

EDIT: Whoops, already happened.

[spadgy]

How'd it go?

Same question !

Really well - I just have to get it online or in print for the magazine (http://www.develop-online.net) before I put it here as a link - or my editor would rightly throttle me!

EDIT: Got my own mag's URL wrong!

[TLB]

:P Well can't you say whether it went well? ^_~

[BulletMagnet]

Really well

Looking forward to seeing it up.

[Marc]

Nobody actually playing this? Really awesome reivention of a classic title, like the nods to Darius and Metal Black, love the way it throws in a new element ever so often to keep attention, and overall think this is one of the finest updates I've ever played. Nice one Taito.

[brokenhalo]

i've been playing it off and on for the past couple weeks. it's pretty darn cool and they got the iphone controls down perfect. my only complaint is that the gravity weapon makes the game too easy and unlocking stuff gets tedious after a while. definitely worth the $$$ though.

[spadgy]

People are certainly playing it. There's a good discussion of iPhone shmups here.

This interview will be up soon. We just need to decide whether it will go in the print version of our mag first, or just straight online. The man making the decision is off in San Francisco, I believe at the Unity development engine conference...

EDI: brokenhalo's post appeared while I was writing.

brokenhalo - once you've completed it, the hard mode opens up - still a mild-ish challenge, but a lot more rewarding. Shame you can't make how far you've got in hard mode...

[brokenhalo]

yeah, i ran through the hard mode as well. gravity shot absorbing enemy bullets takes all the challenge out of it. it makes it super easy to get 1000+ combos as well on most stages. definitely an overpowered weapon.

and the point you make about not being able to really track your progress in hard mode is another problem this game has. after you run through normal mode once, the game doesn't have much purpose other than to unlock stuff. it's a shame there is no actual score attack mode other than your individual level scores. what i mean is you can play an easy, high scoring level and then exit out of the next level, return to the high scoring level and repeat until you max out the score counter if you wanted to. the high score board doesn't really serve any purpose.

[spadgy]

it's a shame there is no actual score attack mode other than your individual level scores.

I totally agree. This seems to be a common trait in a number of otherwise enjoyable iPhone shooters...

[Warp_Rattler]

Just noticed this thread after seeing something about Infinity Gene on another review site the other day.

Maybe it's just not obvious to me 'cause I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid, but what makes people take a device seriously as a gaming platform where the primary input method is smudging your greasy fingers across the screen? I'm only 1/3 trolling, here--I'm really curious.

[gs68]

"How do you motivate yourself for making the 112:th version of Space Invaders?"

Perhaps a little rude, but i'd love to know.

And just how did Arika motivate themselves to make Tetris clone #31415926535897?

[spadgy]

Just noticed this thread after seeing something about Infinity Gene on another review site the other day.

Maybe it's just not obvious to me 'cause I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid, but what makes people take a device seriously as a gaming platform where the primary input method is smudging your greasy fingers across the screen? I'm only 1/3 trolling, here--I'm really curious.

I promise you I was sincerely skeptical about the iPhone as a gaming platform. I would never have bought one, but getting an iPod Touch for free as I did, I was effectively 'forced' into giving it a go, and I'm glad I did. There's a hell of a lot of bad games for it, and you really have to filter through the crap just like you did back in the Public Domain gaming days, but honestly - it's a great little gaming platform with some magic titles. The best games are ones built around the touch interaction - not one based on established genre convention awkwardly stretched around the touchscreen function.

There's not too many good shooters, but Infinity Gene is one of them...

[BulletMagnet]

For some reason I couldn't find the "main" Infinity Gene thread, so I'll link this in here: IG is coming to XBLA and PSN next month.

[TaygetaVendetta]

Japanese version of Xbox.com confirms Space Invaders Infinity Gene Coming Out September 15th.

IG and KOF Skystage on the same day. With Bangai-O HD and Guwange in the near future. XBLA is certainly on a roll.

[qmish]

so where is this interview?

[Pedro Lambrini]

^
I'd be interested in giving it a read too.