We’re currently playing Invector for our review so we got in touch with Hello There Games to talk about the game’s development for Sony’s home console.
PS4Blog: Hi! Thank you for taking the time to join us at PS4Blog.net. Could you please get us started by introducing yourself to our readers and telling them a bit about your work?
Hey! My name is Oskar Hanska, primarily Writer and Level Designer at Hello There Games. For INVECTOR, my job has been writing and directing the story. At the moment I’m also managing press and community.
PS4B: Invector is ready to go on PlayStation 4. How would you describe the game to someone who’s never heard about it?
It’s an easy-going rhythm party game, with the biggest hits in the galaxy!
On a more serious note, it’s all about getting your groove on to AVICII’s hit songs, alone or with friends, next to you in the couch. Old-school style! And thanks to the various difficulties, there’s something in there for everyone; casuals and hardcore players.
You navigate a ship through all these gorgeous looking environments and responsive levels, trust me, our team really outdid themselves. You collect colored fragments (marked with button symbols) on beat, twist, turn, bump and free-fly, until you get into this trance-like flow with the music.
The short story follows Stella, the game’s pilot. She spends a lot of time ranting about the malfunctioning ship and having lost her last chocolate bar (with almonds). We’re really happy to have the amazing American artist Maya Tuttle voice-acting, she really made Stella come alive.
PS4B: How long did it take the team to take Invector from initial concept to the final build we get to play on Sony’s home console? Where there any particular challenges or hurdles you had to overcome?
It took 2 years with a smaller, dedicated core team. Additional people joined and left as needed.
Among the bigger hurdles was our overhaul of the game’s level design. Our initial take, some kind of semi-auto-generated system for balancing obstacles, pickups and other level-elements – was simply not good enough. We went back and developed tools for traditional, handmade custom design. That way, each track got more attention and now highlight every song’s characteristic components. And judging from the first reviews – it really paid off.
PS4B: Are you considering delivering some additional content for the game post-launch either as free or paid DLC?
Absolutely. More is coming! Just can’t say what or when yet…
PS4B: What project is the team currently working on? What can you tell us about it?
Hello There Games has always been a multifaceted studio with several projects running at the same time. We’re working on games consoles and PC, exploring VR, as well as continuing our work on mobile games where we’ve excelled before, with “Kung Fury: Street Rage” and “She Wants Me Dead”.
Among many projects, we got our quite unique and praised “Taekwondo Game – Global Tournament” in the pipeline at the moment. Real TKD-movements through mo-cap technology and legit scoring. It was initially released on mobile and we’re aiming to expand it in different ways.
PS4B: And now it is time for us to go. Would you like to add anything else before we end this?
Play games. Be kind. Eat chocolate bars.
