The Indie Game Magazine May 2014 | Issue 37 | Page 13

like this in mind, then crowdfunding is a great way
to find your audience.

IGM: What is it about the era of mascot platformers
that is so appealing to the team, on a personal level?
Strife: I feel like the ‘90s were special not because

of the mascots themselves, necessarily, but because
of their creation in a time when the gaming industry
was being reborn. There were no multi-billion
dollar game companies back then. Development
teams were small and didn’t have much to lose
from taking risks, so all sorts of weird new genres
and gameplay mechanics were being created.
A plumber who stomps on turtles and grows
bigger by eating mushrooms? A blue critter who
runs faster than a car and collects gold jewelry?
Kinda ridiculous if you think about it, but they
were fun, so they worked! Many of the games in
the ‘90s were basically the seeds of what would
eventually grow into today’s most famous game
franchises – Mario, Mega Man, Sonic, you name it!
I feel like in a lot of ways, the gaming industry of
the ‘90s paralleled today’s indie scene. Right now,
as we speak, more seeds are being planted, and I’m
willing to bet that some of the smaller indie games
and companies of today are going to bloom into

immensely popular franchises in a decade or two. I
believe that sort of perpetual growth and rebirth is
essential to the industry.

IGM: Asking around the Galaxy Trail office,

which characters do you guys prefer playing as?

Strife: We’re split pretty evenly between Lilac and

Carol fans. We like Lilac because of her fluid moveset
that’s great for seamlessly speedrunning through
the stages, and we like Carol for her mobility and
fun attacks, particularly the motorcycle. As for me
personally, I’m in the Lilac camp, but just barely.

IGM: With all the consideration and admiration
you guys have for the ‘90s era of consoles,
was there ever any talk of creating a cartridge
version of Freedom Planet? I’ve got a Sega
Genesis that’s begging to be plugged back in…
Strife: I’ve daydreamed about that before, but it’s

most likely beyond our expertise. We’d basically have
to remake the game within the technical constraints
of whatever system we decide to work on. If it were
possible, though, then I reckon we could go as far
back as the Playstation 1 or Sega Saturn for the kind
of power and space the game would need.

IGM: We all knew this question was

coming: If you could pick one favorite classic
platformer, what would it be and why?

Strife: Eeeeh, really tough call... but I think that if I

was stuck with just one platform game for the rest
of my life, I’d have to go with Super Mario Bros 3.
It’s rich in content and controls well, it has a diverse
variety of levels, tons of secrets, and it’s pretty much
a technical masterpiece even to this day. (I would
say Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES, but that’s
probably cheating since it’s four games in one, heh.)