The Indie Game Magazine March 2015 | Issue 47 | Page 15

of entry as low as possible. It ensures that anyone that wants to get Ívar: Yes! There are lots of secondary objectives, Easter eggs,
their friend involved in ReRunners can do so without having them pay. achievements, and other things to be discovered!
We also believe that going free-to-play will yield us a larger player
IGM: How many different locations or environments will ReRunners
base, which is something we need in a multiplayer game like this.
include at launch? Can you describe a few of them?
IGM: Occasionally, there are conflicting opinions about what the
Ívar: We’ll launch with 12 different types of environments, each
term ‘asynchronous gameplay’ means. Can you explain how it works
with a bunch of levels. Every environment introduces new platformin your game, and why it differs from other mobile experiences?
ing mechanics, so players are slowly introduced to new features
Ívar: In ReRunners, actions a player takes such as movement, drop- throughout the game. The areas are pretty hard to describe, as
ping bombs, using power-ups, etc. are all recorded and uploaded some of them are quite surreal. But players start off in a traditional
to our servers. All actions are reused as content in future game grassy area, and from there things just get weirder.
sessions for other players. By layering these recordings on top of
IGM: What are the post-launch plans for the game in terms of supeach other, a causality chain emerges that the player can directly
port? Are there any additional game modes or gameplay features
affect and be affected by in various ways. We’re not quite sure if
that players should look out for?
any other games do this, but it works out really well for us.
Ívar: One of the things that we’ll be adopting from our time working
There are of course also conventional asynchronous mechanics,
on EVE Online is that we’ll run the game as a service. After launch,
such as challenges that allow players to directly compete against
we will work with the community to continuously expand the game
each other in a turn-based game mode.
and make it better.
IGM: The artwork in ReRunners is quite different from everything
IGM: Fast-paced action platforming requires precision controls. Is
else on the mobile market. How long did it take before the team
that something mobile devices can accommodate?
settled on these partic ular visuals, or were they intentional from
the beginning?
Ívar: This was a huge concern for us when we set out with this
project. After endless adjustments, I can honestly say that I now
Ívar: The intention was to create something timeless, something
prefer playing on my device over my desktop.
we could look at in 10 years and still consider beautiful. We went
through a few different art styles in our first prototypes, and
through refinement we ended up with what we have today, and Will colorful, whimsical pixel art, asynchronous multiplayer, RPG
mechanics, and fast-paced platforming be enough to convince gamers
we absolutely love it!
to invest more time into their mobile gaming experiences? It’s hard
Mundi: It was kind of a go from the start; I did some big pixel art
to say, but in all honesty, ReRunners has a fair shot of convincing
drawings for concepts in the beginning and we went with it. Then
folks to try. ReRunners will be available as a free-to-play download
we added the depth of field and we knew we were on to something.
in Spring 2015 initially for iOS devices, with an Android release to
It’s been pretty difficult making it work and feel the way it does now,
follow later in the year.
and thinking back - making an art style that wouldn’t need to be
pixel perfect all the time would have been way easier, but I’m glad
Developer: Klang
that the first game we make is drawn in pixel art, and now when I
Platforms: iOS, Android
see it in full action, I’m confident we made the right choice.
Website: https://www.rerunners.com
IGM: Will there be any additional challenges or secondary objectives to the platforming segments?
Twitter: @ReRunnersGame

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