GARY CORRIVEAU TALKS GUACAMELEE 2

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

Before Drinkbox Studios and 'Guacamelee 2', how did you get your start making video games?

I’m now the lead designer on 'Guacamelee 2' but I started making games in grade school. Little text adventures and some arcade-style dungeon crawlers. This was quite some time ago and it was all done in BASIC with ASCII art using our school’s Commodore PET. Later, once I saved up enough birthday money, I was able to really go next gen with a 16K Atari 8-bit. I had been making games professionally for close to twenty years before I started with Drinkbox, in various capacities from level designer to game designer, producer and creative director. Graham Smith and I had worked together on a project a number of years ago, and we had stayed in touch. I was beyond excited when the stars aligned and I was able to come join the team at Drinkbox.

You didn't work on the first game?

I first joined Drinkbox to work on 'Severed'. So, although I was a big fan of 'Guacamelee', I hadn’t actually worked on it. I believe 'Severed' gave everyone at the studio a little space from the original 'Guacamelee', and so once development on 'Severed' had wrapped up the entire team was reinvigorated and pumped to get started on a sequel.

Was there something the team felt you wanted to evolve on, or something you weren’t able to add the first, that you wanted to add to this?

I’ve never worked on a project where the phrase “save it for the sequel” doesn’t come up regularly. It’s never possible to employ all of your ideas about a game as you’re working on it so getting started on 'Guacamelee 2', there was no shortage of seed material. Tending to all the seeds is all about finding the right balance between preserving what we all love about the first game while adding new mechanics and content that’s fresh and exciting.

Where does the story pick up from. What has happened in Juan Aguacate’s life since we last saw him?

I can tell you that the story takes place seven years after the first game and that’s all for now!

Being the lucha libre that he is, what can we expect from combat this time around?

Many of the combat mechanics from the first 'Guacamelee' will be coming back, but you can expect some refinements and flare, both visually and mechanically. You can also expect a much more robust upgrade system that will have a direct impact on the combat gameplay, amongst other things.

Have you plucked at the “chicken form” gameplay?

There’s been a good deal of work put into this. We all love our little pollo friend and he’s going to get some well deserved attention for 'Guacamelee 2'.

What is the new Eagle Boost mechanic?

The Eagle Boost is a magical power that allows you to zip around by hooking onto Eagle Points placed around the world. It was designed in such a way to integrate well with the combat as well as the environmental navigation.

I personally came to enjoy the original game solo, but this are very much co-op friendly games?

The game works really well as either a solo or co-op experience. Players can drop in and out as they please, without interrupting the flow of the story. There will be some cool added content for co-op players but nothing that’s required to experience the entire adventure or notch up achievements.

These games has really unique and nice aesthetics. Have there been any particular sources of inspiration for the art style?

For the original 'Guacamelee', the team was inspired by the styles of Jamie Hewlett’s Gorillaz and the TV cartoon 'Samurai Jack'. The art team took these styles and adapted them to something that would be well suited for an action featuring melee combat game.

How have you found the development process for PlayStation 4 in terms of not having to care for older consoles?

With 'Guacamelee 2', we are spending a lot of development effort on improving our rendering technology and effects, to make more use of the power of the current generation of consoles. For example, we’ve put a lot of effort into lighting the environment and characters in more realistic ways, making heavy use of normal mapping, and edge detection-techniques.

Why is this game not multiplatform as the first one was?

We have an exclusivity agreement in place with Sony, and are currently entirely focused on the PS4 version of the game.

Will you support PS4 Pro?

We do also plan to support the PS4 Pro, where the game will run in 4K, with HDR-support.

With gameplay demos being available at PlayStation Experience, how close are we to the release of the game?

Our official answer is “soon-ish”. We don’t have a specific date in mind yet, but we’re hoping that you will be able to play the game sometime early next year.

Is a physical retail release of the game something you’re considering?

We are definitely open to this idea, and we are currently considering our options for something like this.

Is there still more to be revealed about 'Guacamelee 2'?

Not yet, but stay tuned! We still have a lot to reveal.