We’re currently playing TINY METAL for our review, so we got in touch with the game’s producer and director to talk a bit about its path to the Nintendo Switch.
PS4Blog: Hi! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers and tell them a bit about your work?
My name is Hiroaki Yura, and I’m the Producer and Director of TINY METAL. My job is to simply make sure everyone is happy, and I lead everyone in the same direction and goals.
PS4B: TINY METAL is now out for Nintendo Switch. How would you describe the game to someone who’s never heard about it?
TINY METAL is a Japanese turn-based strategy game that harkens back to the classic days of good old Japanese wargaming. You will command a myriad of units, employ cunning tactics and devious strategy to defeat your opponents.
The stage is set across a tragic backdrop of war and you must discover for yourself as the young Nathan Gries the truth behind the war and stop those who see the world spiral into chaos and unending conflict.
PS4B: The game had a run on Kickstarter back in 2016 that, unfortunately, didn’t reach its funding goal. How did you manage to secure the funding needed to complete the game after that?
Private investors.
PS4B: Where there any particular challenges or hurdles you had to overcome while developing the game for Nintendo’s hybrid console? Are there any performance differences for TINY METAL between playing the game with the console docked or in portable/tabletop mode?
Optimizing rendering on the Nintendo Switch has certainly been a big ordeal. When TINY METAL first started running on the Switch, it hit an average of 7fps on most maps. After about a month worth of full-time optimization I have pushed it up to our goal of 30fps at 720p for most maps. Going forward my goal is to improve performance even on large maps to hit 30fps on all maps.
PS4B: Given the game’s nature, are you considering releasing additional content as either free or paid DLC to expand the game?
Yes absolutely. We are currently planning a free DLC which would allow the player to play 1v1 multiplayer.
PS4B: Once again, thank you for doing this interview. Is there something else you’d like to mention before we go?
Thank you for interviewing us, it’s been a pleasure! To those of you that have bought the game, thank you and please feel free to leave us your feedback. To those who haven’t, pick one up today! It’s a great little game and we’ve put in a lot of effort into it, I’m sure it’ll be worth your time.
