We’re playing Nightmare Boy to bring you a review, so we got in touch with indie team The Vanir Project to talk a about the game’s development for Sony’s PlayStation 4.
PS4Blog: Welcome! Thank you for joining us. Could you please introduce yourselves to our readers and tell them a bit about your work?
Victor: Hi! Thank you for having us. I’m Victor, and I’m in charge of the development and programming.
Juan: And I’m Juan, and I’m in charge of the design and the creative side of things.
Victor: Together we’re The Vanir Project. We’re here to talk about Nightmare Boy which will be released on October 25. This is our first project, and it’s a 2D action adventure within the Metroidvania genre.
Juan: We also want to mention that the music and sound effects for the game have been created by Vic Hernand, with whom we’ve been working with for the last couple of years
PS4B: On that note, with Nightmare Boy launching on PS4 this month, what can you tell us about the game?
Juan: The good thing about working as an indie team is that we can present a product that is very different from what most other studios bring to the market – a game you’d like to play again a few console generations from now. In Nightmare Boy you control a boy who has been dragged into a world of nightmares, having to live through it all in order to have a chance at seeing his family again. He will rescue kids that will teach him new skills, he’ll get to know new characters along the way, and he’ll face many monsters on his adventure. The story can also be interpreted in many ways depending on who is playing, which makes this a very different experience for all.
PS4B: How long did it take to develop the game? Where there any considerable changes or challenges you had to overcome during development?
Víctor: The project as such stated roughly over four years ago. The biggest handicap we had to overcome during the first few years of development were, in my case, learning to program – Juan had to learn how to animate. We had never done something like this before! We both come from the world of advertising (and to this day it continues to be our regular 9 to 5). We started to develop our understanding of things and practiced as we started to define what we wanted Nightmare Boy to be.
The biggest change for us was when we got a chance to show the project to Badland Games, who decided to trust in us. It was then that we could focus completely on developing it.
Juan: Video game development was something that we started to work in as a hobby, and it’s still hard for us to realize where it has taken us. Anytime you begin from scratch, and especially when you’re a small indie team, every problem during the journey is magnified. But with a lot of hard work and plenty of drive, we managed to not only complete the project but also release it on PC and consoles.
PS4B: Could you please share with our readers the game’s trophy list on PS4?
Víctor: Certainly! You can check the trophy list below.
ASTER AWAKENS – PLATINUM
COMPLETE THE GAME BY GETTING ALL OF ASTER’S PARTS
THE END? – SILVER
COMPLETE THE GAME
SPEEDRUNNER – GOLD
DEFEAT BALDER IN YOUR ROOM
EASTER EGGS – SILVER
EXPOSE THE EASTER EGGS
PACIFIST – SILVER
COMPLETE THE GAME WITHOUT KILLING ANY MONGOS
CAPITALIST – BRONZE
BUY ALL OF THE ITEMS IN THE STORE
EXPLORER – SILVER
DISCOVER THE WHOLE MAP
GOODBYE LOVE – BRONZE
PUT AN END TO SPIKEY’S LOVE
SKILLED – BRONZE
ACQUIRE ALL OF THE SKILLS
WIZARD – GOLD
UNBLOCK ALL OF THE SPELLS
MONGOCIDE – SILVER
KILL MORE THAN 200 MONGOS
CONSERVATIVE – BRONZE
SAVE THE GAME AT LEAST ONCE
RISK TAKER – GOLD
COMPLETE THE GAME WITHOUT SAVING
YOU’RE GOD – GOLD
COMPLETE THE GAME WITHOUT EVEN DYING ONCE
PERSEUS – BRONZE
KILL AT LEAST ONE FOREST MEDUSA
CURIOUS – BRONZE
OPEN ALL OF THE CHESTS
EYE FOR AN EYE – BRONZE
DEFEAT VIRGILIO
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION – SILVER
SAVE DAISY
GIANT KILLER – SILVER
SAVE LYDIA
ENERGY POVERTY – SILVER
SAVE LEYRE
HARLY’S BROKEN HEART – SILVER
SAVE MOLLY
MOLLY’S COUSIN – SILVER
SAVE ROB
AT THE BAR – SILVER
SAVE DMITRI
THE PREDATOR – SILVER
SAVE BERG
HUNGRY FOR SOCCER – GOLD
RETURN THE BALL TO ADAM
PASTRY CHEF – GOLD
HURL A CAKE AT 10 ENEMIES
NO BARRIERS – SILVER
HELP DANI GET OUT OF PRISON
TRICK CHAMPERNOWNE – BRONZE
KILL VIRGILIO AND HIDE THE TRUTH
PS4B: Now that the game has been completed, what is the team working on? Are you considering a port of Nightmare Boy for the Nintendo Switch or will you focus on a new project?
Juan: We do plan to work on an even more ambitious project, but we’re currently in the design phase.
As for the Nintendo Switch, it’s something we’re definitely considering, and we’ll soon have more to share on this.
PS4B: Once again, thank you for your time. Is there something else you’d like to add before we go?
Víctor: We want to thank you and your readers for taking the time to get to know us and our project a little better. From the 25th of this month we’ll be able to see what gamers have to say about Nightmare Boy, and we look forward to seeing who can manage to keep Billy from turning in the first scene of the game – which is one of the hardest trophies in the game and something even we have trouble with!
