Interviews
“Flipper Critters” Takes DS Pinball in a Different Direction
“We have chosen to be much more radical in our approach.”
Rare exceptions aside, pinball doesn’t normally make it big in the video game world. For starters, it’s a rough transition. You can’t fully re-create the feeling and experience of a pinball machine with a controller and a screen. It can come close, but it’ll never be perfect.
Second, pinball games suffer from creative confusion. Sonic’s pinball outing is one of many good ideas that just didn’t come together.
ZEN Studios hopes to break the curse with its DS-exclusive pinball game, Flipper Critters.
“[The] Flipper Critters pinball experience is set in a rich and engaging fantasy world,” said Zsolt Kigyossy, Managing Director at ZEN Studios. “Complete with strange characters, perilous quests, and a host of challenging arcade mini-games!”
Mini-games? Strange characters? Perilous quests? Clearly this game is shooting for something different. But don’t think that means it won’t include any classic pinball elements. “All the most famous and favorite pinball features are still there,” Zsolt adds, “including ramps, sinkholes, bumpers, jackpots, gates and goals – though not as you know them.”
Pinball is a tough genre to crack on any game system. How are you tackling it on the Nintendo DS with Flipper Critters?
Zsolt Kigyossy: Flipper Critters combines fast, fun pinball action with other arcade-style games, tying them together with a humorous, light-hearted storyline. With its addictive, fast-paced gameplay, pinball is ideal for any handheld device. There are already some excellent titles for the GBA, and there is also the popular Metroid Prime Pinball on the DS.
The developers of Metroid Prime Pinball have chosen to address the game for the hardcore pinball players (and certainly the fans of the Metroid IP). The game is great; however, we feel that our players would demand more action, drama, story, motivation, and visuals.
We have chosen to be much more radical in our approach: explosions, rivers of molten steel, glowing neon lights, destructible objects, mobile enemies – and more – all make our pinball game more exciting and immersive than any to date.
From the developer standpoint the real challenge is to make the best use of what is available. We support features on the DS, which are exceptional, but we would like to believe that balance is one of the major strengths of the actual game. The player can enjoy the game in short bursts, but can always move onto something brand new yet still exploring more puzzle elements of the story.
More specifically, could you describe some of the levels for us?
ZK: Instead of confining the action to a standard pinball table, all of the fast-flipping action in Flipper Critters takes place in a variety of landscapes, locations and areas, from town squares and mountain valleys through to towering castles and even the surface of the moon!
What DS-specific elements are being employed: touch screen, dual-screen view, or the microphone?
ZK: With the game featuring full time 3D presentation on both screens (and great stable framerate) we believe we made a major step ahead. Also, controlling the game comes very naturally - every button on the left side of the DS moves the left arm, and every button on the right side moves the right arm. Even the shoulder buttons can be used to control the game.
There are objects on every playfield, which players have to touch to activate. For example, on the first level of the Story Mode, there are jumpers sunk in the playfield at the beginning. If you touch them they will raise, and you will be able to jump up onto high ramps. Touchable objects are signaled with a hand icon on the playfield and have an important role in the gameplay.
Flipper Critters is different from other pinball games by having individual missions (as opposed to one on-going world or machine). Does this mean we'll have specific tasks to complete, such as hitting a specific object, before we can proceed?
ZK: Think of the different settings of the tables as different chapters in a book, and at the same time different sections of an actual geographical map. Players will also need a bit of empathy, since our heroes on the playfield are actually animal creatures whose goal is to accomplish missions for us.
All pinball tables are different and they all pose different targets and challenges. There are several interactions - like a bird stealing your next ball - on the diverse, highly interactive tables, but the goal is to remain faithful to great pinballing.
Most pinball games limit the number of times players can continue before having to start over. Will Flipper Critters be the same -- why or why not?
ZK: In Story Mode we start the game with 3 credits. As the story proceeds, players are awarded credits upon reaching certain point levels, and according to time spent with the game.
In Fun Play Mode the player can chose from all unlocked game levels without any limitation.
It seems that every game must have a story these days, and Flipper Critters is no exception. What is this game's story about, and how is it fitting to the pinball environment?
ZK: Our heroes, Tiger and Monkey set out on a quest to save poor Bull, who has come down with a cold. In the process they end up having a far bigger adventure than they had planned. A reclusive sorceress, a giant, and the secret of their own mysterious origin…
The enchanting story is full of humor, which is a very important element of the game. We would like to motivate the players to explore the whole game and find out the secret at the end of it. During the quest the player gradually unlocks all game elements (pinball and mini-game), which are all accessible in arcade mode from the main menu.
Suppose I'm a gamer who doesn't care about the story, only the gameplay. Is there a way to bypass all text and just enjoy the pinball action?
ZK: To finish the game the player does not need to read the story, so can bypass all the text, but does need to play through all pinball tables and mini-games. Several mini-games are included, and all with classic gameplay.
We admire some products from the 80's on the C64. These computers surely had their limitations, however we can still learn a lot from some of the games from that era. With our mini-games we would like to bring back the great gameplay of some of those games, but in a whole new visual world.
Are there going to be any bonus and/or side objectives?
ZK: The game follows a non-linear gameplay [style] so you can finish the missions in several orders. At the beginning of the game only the first table is unlocked and the player needs to visit other areas / tables in order to unlock those as well. Players can revisit those levels any time later on in Fun Play Mode, but to unlock all the huge content [you] need to play through the Story Mode.
Tell us about the visuals. What will the game look like? Will there any cool effects displayed as the ball bounces around?
ZK: The DS is a great device, and is capable of more than what we see on the market today. We have already implemented exceptional features on the console (like particle systems, multiple cameras and animated, full 3D environment), but all these exciting visuals can only supplement great gameplay.
We focus the most on the physics modeling of the ball and its interactions. We believe this will make the game addictive to the players. But it certainly looks exceptional seeing firework rockets launching, reaching the sky and blowing into several colorful particles, all in full 3D on both screens!
Will Flipper Critters contain multiple ball types (as seen in other pinball games), or at the very least allow players to play with three simultaneously?
ZK: Let that remain a secret for this time.
Is the game going to have any multiplayer features?
ZK: Yes, there are both competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes in the game.
Any final thoughts?
ZK: We are finishing off several exciting titles in the coming months, so please watch out for our games in 2007 on Nintendo DS and on Xbox 360.
Thank you for your time.
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