NMEYF: In Cubit music and game play are together and they give a great rhythm to the game. How did You choose the music? Did You compose them by yourself?
CC: Yes, all the music in Cubit has been composed by me. The only difference is the moment when it was composed 🙂 Most of the Cubit music was composed in early 90’s. At that moment in my life I was composing dance / trance music themes but never released them. I though that instead of leaving them on a corner in my hard disc drive it should be cool if I could use this music in a game. Cubit was the perfect excuse!
As all the music in Cubit had to have the same tempo and need to be arranged in a certain way (first 4 patterns should be an intro then 2 patterns should be the “music climax” then the 2 other patterns for a transition to the next level…) selecting my own music themes was the perfect decision, because I had all the material to arrange the music the way it was required by Cubit.
As an anecdote I would like to tell that during all the development time of Cubit, I was listening trance music during all the day long! just as actors do when they want to fit inside the character they’re interpreting. I generally listen any kind of music: blues, rock, jazz metal 😀
NMEYF: Did you inspire to any particular videogame to develop Cubit?
CC: The main idea behind Cubit was doing a game as hard as I could with a control as simple as only using one button.
I realized, this is the concept behind The Impossible Game but I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of doing a clone of that game, so I started experimenting and doing some tests.
I introduced the level design built around the music on the mix. The idea of a videogame where the music is very tied to the gameplay, is something I’ve been dealing since many time ago, and Cubit is the first game to include such feature (although I’m sure I will go deeper in future projects).
To increase the difference between both games I introduced more variety of elements in the level design. Every new level features at least an unique type of platform, besides new obstacles or enemies.
On the other hand I’ve been always fascinated with the non linear level progress in the old Sega’s OutRun game. I’ve always said: When I grow up I wanna make a game with such feature!
And then I did Cubit 😀
NMEYF: In Cubit, we find some characters coming from other very famous Indie videogames, like Dani from Unepic and Nec from Chronos Twins, why? Are there any common projects with these Indie teams?
CC: No, there are no common projects between these teams.
This is something becoming very popular in the Indie scene thanks to people like the guys from Bit Trip, 1001 spikes or Meat Boy. I really love these kind of things! I said myself: I want to do the same in my game!
I have the luck to know those wonderful guys so I asked them, and finally I got their permissions to use their characters in Cubit!
I think this is a great both parties, because the people who love Cubit will meet Dani from Unepic or Nec from Chronos Twins, and people who know Dani or Nec will meet Cubit!
I’m realizing Cubit is the project where I’ve been able to do many of those little things I’ve been always wishing to do!
NMEYF: Tell us your secret: can You play this game very well or You always dead too?
CC: Hahaha! It took me thousands of deaths to master it!
I usually play the game very well (I finished it with just one life) but from time to time, I need to check something in the game
and I find myself stuck in a level dying again and again and again! Argghhhh
NMEYF: What about work on Nintendo 3DS and what is the support offered by Nintendo?
CC: The Nintendo 3DS is a console with plenty of possibilities and it has a great balance between power and features. I really love it.
Nintendo is great providing support to the developers. May be some can think they are somewhat strict (nothing too special for a console company) but if you need help to solve something, you can ask them and you’ll get a quick response from a developer standpoint. On the other hand the libraries, samples and the documentation they provide covers probably any feature you can think for your game. They’ve done a great job.
NMEYF: Are You going to develop on Nintendo Wii U?
CC: I would love! CoderChild is not only content provider for the Nintendo 3DS but also for the Wii U, so this is something feasible. Porting the engine to the WiiU is something that I’m pretty sure would not take that much. It just depends on the way I choose to invest my time.
In any case, I would love to see some of our games in HD… this would be nice!
NMEYF: Thank You very much,
CC: Thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to communicate with your community.
I really appreciate it!
The images shown in this post were done by the great Miiverse community of Cubit The hardcore Platformer Robot
