Hi VitaIslanders,
the best gaming community out there deserves more games, and we get them, even for #VITA2020!!!
Today I’ve got a really awesome interview for you- about Twin Breaker, the collaboration between Barry from Lillymo Games and Colin Moriarty (@notaxation). Barry is known from his previous games Perils of Baking and Habroxia, while Colin was and is a vivid Vita supporter since his IGN days when the Vita launched and nowadays on his podcast Sacred Symbols.
EastAsiaSoft has already confirmed physical PS Vita copies for the game, that’s why the question does not pop up in the interview 😉
So, here we go, enjoy!
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Hi Barry,
thanks a lot for doing this interview with VitaIslandViews and even more for supporting our beloved handheld with more games! Here come my questions:
1. How did you come up with the idea for Twin Breaker?
While listening to the Sacred Symbols podcast I would often hear Colin bring up a game I loved, Shatter on PS3. Colin would ask why a sequel never came out, and I was left wondering the same. So I thought it would be fun to do a take on the brick-breaker genre with a fresh spin, similar to how Shatter had the push and pull mechanic. I came up with the idea to allow the player to charge shots, allowing them to shoot out ghost version of the paddle that would hit the ball for an aerial collision. I also thought it would be cool to have a sort of pong like structure where a single player controlled both paddles rather than competing left vs right. The game took full form as the story, boss fights and side modes came together, but the origin would be those two concepts.
2. What’s included in the game in terms of content and gameplay?
Twin Breaker includes 40 levels with 4 unique boss fights and a New Game + mode with increased difficulty. Over the campaign there will be numerous story dialogue scenes. The collectibles earned in each level provide a fleshed out backstory to the game. There are a number of side modes as well: Marathon, Pong, Random, Shooter, Catcher and Boss Rush.
3. Who was involved in the development of this game, and how?
Colin Moriarty handled all of the story and writing, also working as the co-producer.
Joshua Gossage is the artist responsible behind all of the story scenes, the ships and some UI.
Marcelo Barbosa is the artist who did the backgrounds, logo, gameplay art and some UI elements.
Lachlan Pini created all of our promo art and box covers for the game, as well as the theme and avatars.
I handled the development of Twin Breaker, co-produced with Colin, and created the soundtrack.
4. Where do you know Colin from?
I have been listening to Colin podcast since he started on Podcast Beyond. He gave out his PSN ID way back then and I managed to get onto his friend list. Back when the PSN max friend number was much more restrictive. I thought that was so cool, I never would have thought at the time that we would go on to make games together. As I started making games I sent a code to Colin to see what he thought of my first title (Perils of Baking). He was kind enough to play it all the way through, share his thoughts, and shout out the game on Sacred Symbols. When the time came that my second game (Habroxia) was nearly done Colin and I began talking about the possibility of working together. I thought that since Twin Breaker had only come about due to Colin repeatedly mentioning Shatter and seeing as he was as into that style of game as I am, he would be an invaluable asset to the project. Things worked out even better than expected though, as the story he came up with and fleshed out really made the game into something much more than it was.
5. How’s the performance of Twin Breaker on Vita? What framerate can we expect? Which engine have you used for development?
Twin Breaker was developed primarily for the PS Vita, I always playtest it on the Vita first. The game runs at 60 frames per second and was developed using GameMaker Studio.
6. Will Twin Breaker run on PSTV?
Yes, it will.
7. Does the game have any online functionalities, such as leaderboards?
No, there are no online features to the game. There is a rank based collectible system in the game to reward the player for high scores.
8. Will the game have a platinum trophy? And is it rather an easier one or rather difficult?
Yes the game features a full Platinum trophy list for both PS4 and PS Vita. The list was designed by Colin and is a well balanced enjoyable set of challenges. The difficulty and time to completion are both amped up a little bit from my past two releases, but the game is still a very doable platinum.
9. How did you become a Trophy Hunter yourself?
Attempting to get 100% completion has always been something I enjoyed doing with games. So when this completionist behaviour became tied to a system with trophies it instantly appealed to me. The first few games I remember playing with trophies were Uncharted, Dead Space and Pixel Junk Eden. All three were amazing games and from then on I was hooked.
10. What’s planned next for you? Another Vita game? 🙂
Yes, definitely planning on more games for the PS Vita! I’d like to support it as long as possible. I feel the old school style and feel of the games I like to work on fits the device perfectly.
11. What do you like most about PS Vita?
I love how it feels just right, the controls as well as how it fits in your hands. I love that it has a trophy system built into it. I love that it has so many cool Indie games and RPGs on it. I love that it has a Start and Select button. I love the fact that it’s still getting games released on it and has such a hard core following.
12. What do you want to tell the Vita community?
Thank you so much, to everyone who has supported my previous games. I really hope that you like Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure. Many of you already know that Colin is also a huge Vita advocate and I think we have cooked up something pretty cool together. We announced recently that EastAsiaSoft will be publishing a limited physical release of TwinBreaker on PS Vita (as well as PS4). If you pick it up send me a tweet of the game in your collection, seeing that stuff is always so cool. I am really looking forward to adding a copy to my physical Vita game collection.
Here’s the Trailer for you:
The physical version can be preordered from today on until 19th March as a limited edition on PlayAsia!
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The Vita Island Game Club
Do you know this place where people come together to discuss books which they previously agreed on to read during a specific time span- yep, that’s a book club! And on Twitter there’s now somethig similar for Vita games!
The Vita Island Game Club, or for short VIGC, has just recently started in February and is basically a Twitter group chat in which its members discuss one selected Vita game per month. Claire made the start for February. Undertale has been selected as March title.
If you are interested in joining, please get in touch with Gideon or Sean on Twitter!
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Kickstarter News
- Lazr
This fun looking action platformer has been funded on Kickstarter, and promises a VitaIsland version of the game.
- Vita Book – The End
Sandeep (@2_Old_4_Gaming) has opened his Kickstarter for the third issue of his awesome Vita book series! The first two were already a great read, looking forward already to the third one.
Can you support it now here!
You can also order VitaIsland Community Pins for 6£ now (just add it to your pledge of a physical copy)
And several stretch goals have also been reached already, so expect to get a free Vita magazine and a free bookmark with your Vita book!
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Ratalaika Games
The publisher and big Vita supporter Ratalaika Games has just opened a new Twitter channel, RatalaikaGamesVN, which is completely focused on Visual Novels. Several of those will find its way to VitaIsland, so I would really recommend to follow this channel if you are on Twitter!
You can see the first announcements on Youtube: here
And the first game has been released already: Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet
So, Visual Novel fans, VitaIsland is the place to be 😉
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That’s all for this time, talk to you soon on #VitaIsland!
Yours,
@LastRealGamer
VitaIslandViews 
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