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Sliced Gaming Feature: Bit.Trip Void Developer Interview

Writer: Nick Schaedel
Posted: 28th September 2009, 6:59pm

If you haven't checked out Bit.Trip Beat yet, do yourself a favour and check it out. The minds behind this trippy retro music game are an ambitious bunch, with a six part saga planned and two games already on the digital shelves of WiiWare. We spoke to Alex Neuse, the free-form team's founder/designer/lead headperson/email respondent, about the project.

 

Sliced Gaming: What was the inspiration behind the Bit.Trip series? Did you have a few ideas that all came together under the one banner, or create the name and then design with it in mind?

Alex Neuse: The inspiration for the BIT.TRIP series was partially born out of frustration, to be honest. As a gamer, and as a creative dude, I was frustrated that so many games these days are just like so many other games. Before starting Gaijin Games and the BIT.TRIP series, I was lamenting the fact that gameplay tends to suffer and is overshadowed by complex/innovative features, art, special effects, etc. In starting the concept phase, I wanted to create a game that reminded people what a game is at its core. Simple gameplay can be just as fun (and sometimes more fun) as some of the more complex gameplay of today. So, that concept addressed one of my frustrations - complexity.

My other frustration was a lack of creativity. I wanted to show the world that there's still room for creativity in the medium. By way of example, look back at some of the Atari 2600 games that were very fun, but had nothing to do with anything real. Beany Bopper comes to mind. In that game, you're an eyeball that looks like an olive that goes around shooting bullets at propeller beanies. And it was fun! The point is, you don't need all the bells and whistles of today's systems to create meaningful (and fun) experiences. I wanted to try something new by going back to my roots.

In starting this concept phase, all six games in the BIT.TRIP series were conceptualized simultaneously, and the BIT.TRIP name and story was applied after the Gaijin Games team signed off on all concepts.

SG: How large is the team at Gaijin Games?

AN: There are currently three of us at Gaijin Games. I'm the Designer, Chris Osborn is our Engineer, and Mike Roush is the Artist. Being such a small team really helps us to maintain focus on what's important - fun through simplicity.

SG: What are some of your influences? Among the group, what would you cite as the most inspirational games of today or yesteryear?

AN: Influences for the BIT.TRIP series are Rez, the bitGenerations series and Pong. Other influences and/or inspirational games for us are Vib Ribbon, Super Metroid and Shadow of the Colossus.

SG: The series has some great chiptune accompaniments - were you a fan of the musical style beforehand, or was it just the logical choice?

AN: We were big fans of the chiptune genre before ...

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