Indore based start up Creature Box Studio, that is founded a
nd spearheaded by Anshul Soni, has released their 2D game ‘Space Runner’ as a free app on Android.
AnimationXpress.com caught up with Anshul to know about the making of this game, what trends in the Indian gaming sphere impress him and he starts the conversation by saying, “The best part is that people in our Indian Gaming Industry are always ready to help.”
Please tell us about yourself, Anshul and how did gaming happen?
I am pursuing BTECH in Game Development from Backstage Pass School of gaming Hyderabad. Along with my college studies, I make games for my own studio. I used to play a lot of games and during class 8th, I got interested in programming. Now when the time came for selecting a career approached, I was about to get into computer science, but that very same time, Backstage Pass School opened up and I thought why not combine my passion of programming with games and this is how I came into this field.
So passion turned into starting up your own studio?
Creature Box Studio, actually started as a project, I never thought that I would start my own studio back then, when I entered into this field. But soon I started having my own game ideas, and I wanted to see them into action, and for that purpose starting my own indie studio was the only way.
Currently I have no such full time people working with me, I alone work as a full time programmer and I am the designer as well, I take art related help from one of my colleague in Backstage Pass, Anmol Nikam for the art and Shivam Kumar Jha helps me a lot in terms of music and a bit of design.
The best part is that in India people in game development industry are always ready to help, so I keep bugging fellow developers for any help I need, may it be related to art, design or programming, as I am just a beginner in this industry.
What is Space Runner all about?
Space Runner is a 2D game set in space, where you have a spaceship to control. There are asteroids in space which acts as obstacle in them game; also there are various pickups and power-ups to help you score more. So in shot space-runner is an endless, flyer set in space. And the aim of the game is to score as much as possible and score more on leader boards.
The game has very simple controls; you touch your spaceship with your finger and drag it around the screen to dodge obstacles. Now while you are controlling your spaceship with one finger, you have an option to use your other finger to tap and destroy asteroids. Also you have to shake your phone to active power-ups.
Why will one like ‘Space Runner?’
Well I would say people have been enjoying games like temple run and subway surfer a lot, where they are running on the ground, in this game they are flying endlessly in space. And also the part where you can destroy asteroids along with controlling the spaceship is a bit challenging as you have to concentrate on two things. The reason I think one would keep coming back to the game is the trait of challenging oneself by scoring more than the last time, and also there are random powerups which would impress the player.
Explain the look and feel?
As the game is set in space, you get to see stars and planets floating around in the background. Why I chose this, I have no particular reason behind this, as I said I took help from many people for the design of the game, so the idea was iterated day by day and as friends suggested me changes I changes the look and feel of the game along the line. As I am a programmer it was very difficult for me to decide this part, but in the end everyone’s help resulted in the look that we have today.
Please put light on the research?
Mostly my time was spent in finding the free art online, as I aint capable of making the art, I had to find most of the art and it was difficult as depending on the theme there is a particular art style that you have to follow and it difficult to find art with same art style and suiting your needs.
I had to do a lot of research on implementing leader boards into my game, as this was something I never did before and it really took time and effort. I had to do a little bit of research on implementing ads as well, but that was kind of easy and went smoothly. Also a bit of research and learning part which went and still going on is on leap motion, as somewhere down the line we are planning to put the game on leap motion controller.
What about animation?
Game is developed in unity game engine and I used C# to program the game. I stuck to a design where I did not have to do any animation, there are bits where you would feel it’s animated, but I controlled all that by programming as much as I could.
Please give the team credits?
The concept of the game is developed by me. Design is taken care by Anmol Nikam and Shivam Kumar Jha. Artworks used in the game are from opengameart.org, but there are places where Anmol helped me with certain arts and it is he who made the spaceship and the main-menu of the game. There were parts where I had to make some art for the game, like buttons and pop-up texts. Whole music of the game is also downloaded from freesfx.com, though Shivam was responsible for setting all the music of the game. Programming is done by me and my friend Satish Chandra mentored me on this front.