The Indie Game Magazine March 2015 | Issue 47 | Page 12

INTERVIEW

Klang Games: Breaking Down Mobile Barriers,
One Step at a Time by Vinny Parisi

T

here’s a common misconception that both indie and
mobile games are almost entirely comprised of retro,
casual, underwhelming experiences. While pixel art is
certainly more cost effective when you’re working on a tight
budget, as most indies are, there’s no direct correlation between pixel art and poor quality. But that’s something gamers will eventually come to accept as indie games continue
to improve in the coming years.
I bring this up because Klang Games’ ReRunners likely has a

mountain of a hill to race up when it hits mobile devices this
Spring. Being an indie, free-to-play mobile game with pixel art
in today’s market is the equivalent of walking into a Marvel
convention wearing a Batman t-shirt and yelling “Stan Lee’s a
hack!” (For those who don’t speak nerd, it’s basically suicide.)
Yet despite the odds, Game Designer Ívar Emílsson and Artist/Designer Mundi Vondi believe they have something truly
special on their hands. After chatting with the duo about their
open world, multiplayer platform game, I’ll admit, they might
be on to something.

Indie Game Magazine: Klang Games “was founded in April 2013
with the purpose of creating engaging multiplayer experiences.”
Can you tell me a little bit more about the importance behind
creating great multiplayer, and your philosophy for how to achieve
it beyond current methods?

platforms, but on mobile it’s a bit different as players don’t really
set time aside to play on their phone; they don’t schedule a play
session, they play when they have extra idle time. Asynchronous
interactions solve a lot of those problems, and that’s the route we
took. In ReRunners there are no latency issues, you never have to
wait for other players, and you can play with your friends at any
Ívar Emílsson: Multiplayer games are what we love! Unfortunately
given time.
they’re often hard to get into, sessions can be difficult to coordinate
with your friends, and they’re commonly very time consuming. IGM: Ívar and Oddur [Snær Magnússon], you two spent many years
ReRunners is our shot at creating a multiplayer experience that is as part of the EVE Online team, which certainly built a unique comaccessible, and allows players to play together on their own schedule. munity not present