Co-Optimus: Tell us a little bit about yourselves. How did you both get into game development? How did you meet?
Jesse: We met in CP Biology class sophomore year of high school. Beau was the weird quiet kid in the back and I was the one in front that wouldn’t shut up and always got yelled at. At some point we were partnered together to dissect fetal pigs. Over the stench of ammonia-soaked fetus organ we eventually discussed how we both loved to play video games and even both designed them in our sketchbooks. When he invited me over and showed me a silly little program called Klik n Play one day, the fate of our universes was written.
Co-Optimus: What was the genesis of Wyv and Keep?
Beau: Wyv and Keep started out a longggg...time ago in a different programming language and as a very different game from what it has become. The premise was always a platforming puzzle game where two players would work together to get boxes to switches. But the original WnK world was filled with orange and blue alien characters marching boxes across plains of purple grass. It was also a grid-based game. Pressing an arrow key would advance the players 1 grid segment, which made it very exact, but also a little harder to tell what was going on between all the teleporting about.
Jesse: The original also had Atari sounds and the Donkey Kong starting jingle. It was sad to see those go...
Co-Optimus: Looking through your site's blog, it looks like developmet of Wyv and Keep began back in 2009 . Has a lot changed since that time? Was there always a clear goal of what you wanted Wyv and Keep to be? Have you added more to it than you originally intended?
Beau: This ties in strongly with the above. The game actually started more along the lines of 2000. The original version was given a castle make-over, but ran into programming difficulties and ended up being shelved. We opened it back up with the new version in 2009, once again in the castle, but highly modernized. We did away with the grid-based restraints, and gave it a full platform movement. We also eventually did away with the castle and moved the setting to the jungles of Amazonia. Needless to say, the project went from being a “few months” to the full-scale multi-year endeavor we’re still chugging away on.
Jesse: There was a good seven or eight year break in there! We didn’t work on it for 12 full years... though sometimes it feels like that...
Wyv and Keep features plenty of puzzles and perils for the duo to face as a team as they explore the depths of the temple
Co-Optimus: The game’s overall aesthetic is one that, for me, invokes many fond memories of sitting in front of my TV with an SNES controller in hand. Why pixel art, though? Is it purely for nostalgia reasons, or are there technical/programming reasons behind it, too?
Jesse: Thanks so much! It’s an honor that you’d compare us to games on the SNES. If you hadn’t guessed, we certainly have nostalgia for the 16-bit days. These were days of smaller studios, creative design, innovative solution, and little corporate interference. Game design was purer then, much like film was in the 70s and early 80s. Modern games can be beautiful in their own ways, but somehow the capability to basically do anything has lost much of the romanticism. Like a freshly painted canvas vs. a high-resolution photoshop composite. Limitations always spur creativity, and for me trying to fit Wyv’s exaggerated expressions and Keeps’ voluminous hair into 18px2 were projects in themselves. I suppose for us low resolution pixel art isn’t so much a choice as it is just natural. We kind of just start on 16 or 32 pixel grids without thinking. We’re certainly interested in high-definition art and will be exploring it in the future, but it’s safe to say many (maybe a majority?) of our projects will continue to be good and pixely.
The game's graphical progression from its inception in early 2000s, to its revival in 2009/2010, to its current gloss
Co-Optimus: Speaking of the art, your site includes some great entries from you, Jesse, on how you translated hand-drawn art to a 16-bit world, while still maintaining the overall characteristics of said art. But what about from a development point of view? How did you all decide upon the inclusion of cooperative gameplay? What challenges did that present? Why co-op?
Jesse: For Wyv and Keep the co-op style was the focal point of the gameplay. I mean it’s built into the title! So more than a decision to include, it was the core element from the beginning. Beau designed every puzzle in Wyv and Keep to require teamwork between the two players from the beginning. Originally it was based around playing locally on one keyboard with your friend or lover. It’s great to be able to high-five or hug your teammate when you solve a puzzle, or karate chop them in the neck when they die at a crucial moment. Playing online opens up even more challenges because now you can’t point at the screen to tell someone where to go! We’ll probably need to add some sort of flag-planting system to help with that...
Co-Optimus: What games, if any, influenced your co-op game design?
Beau: The obvious answer would be Lost Vikings. But only in a sense of character interactions. Co-op wise, both Jesse and I have always been a fan of local co-op games. Twisted Metal 2, the Mario games, even oddities like Red Faction entertained us for hours (even if we didn’t always play them as intended). We knew we wanted a strong local co-op game, where 2 players could get in a room and work together, or be at one another’s throats when frustrations ran high.
Co-Optimus: Were there certain mechanics you wanted to implement and couldn’t?
Jesse: Yes and no! Originally Wyv and Keep was to be a much bigger game. If you go far enough back on the blog, you’ll see it first took place in a castle. The story of this castle is already written, but it includes four different bosses, thirteen worlds, alternate paths, and a much more complicated lore with many more characters and full cinematics. Shortly after we began creating the game we realized that, at the level of polish we wanted to achieve and with us all working full-time jobs, this was going to be a lofty goal. So we scaled back a bit and developed a sort of starting quest for Wyv and Keep. We sort of planned a Wyv and Keep 0.5 prequel, with just four worlds and no online play. And ultimately, its current manifestation is much more complete than that! I suppose you could say what we’ve ended up with is something in-between, at the logical size and scope for a first game in what will hopefully become a series of adventures.
Wyv and Keep's original setting was in a castle and the aesthetics were more 8-bit than 16; a lot can change in 10 yeras
Co-Optimus: How difficult has it been to implement online gameplay? Do you regret going down that path? Was it a decision that came internally, or one influenced by feedback?
Beau: It has been very difficult. No one on our team was a skilled net coder, so we really had no idea where to start. We have been lucky enough to garner some community pity, and get an online mode together (and very near playable by now!) We always knew that we would need it. In this day and age, it’s difficult NOT to include it if you want wide-spread appeal. We don’t regret it at all, but that isn’t to say it’s been an easy path!
Co-Optimus: How likely does it seem that we’ll see a Steam and/or XBLA release of Wyv and Keep? Have you had any success on that front?
Jesse: We have yet to approach Valve and Microsoft, but that’s simply because we want to make sure our online modes are working well before we do. Online play was always a priority, but because of programming limitations we’ve only recently begun to implement it. Since we want it to be one of our main sells, we don’t want to approach either distributor before it’s ready. That said, we are absolutely committed to doing whatever it takes to get Wyv and Keep on both platforms, and hope to be sending along good news in the near future!
The game features a pretty extensive map creation system that lets you tweak existing levels, or make your very own
Co-Optimus: When was the decision made to include user-generated maps? Are you worried about the type of map submissions you may get? For example, maps that may include some dubious depictions of certain organs.
Beau: We always wanted to include them, and in fact we have many more plans to expand the usability of user generated maps. With co-op being as important as it is to us, we felt that user should be able to create their own content--we encourage it! Map contests are a start, but we would like to integrate user maps into online, as well. The thought of anatomy based maps hasn’t really crossed my mind, but I guess if it was well constructed, I would look forward to the biological refresher ;)
Co-Optimus: Are there plans in place to provide additional support for the game, either DLC or free content packs, after its release? Any additional game modes you all are considering?
Jesse: At this point we’re very much on the fence about the whole DLC trend. We absolutely plan to provide free updates and support for Wyv and Keep for forever, but we mostly don’t see the point of paid DLC. We don’t like the idea of charging users for simple things that should have been included in the first place (see: Marvel vs. Capcom 3, or... well, most recent AAA games). So what you’ll likely see from us are free updates with online game modes we might not be able to get into the first release, like, say, a tournament mode where four or eight teams compete side by side for the fastest time (though we hope to get this in for the first release!). We’re not opposed to more traditional expansion packs and/or sequels, but we’d want to make sure to include tons of new content - enough to warrant another purchase! If we really need the cash, maybe some super-exclusive hats? ;)
Everybody loves hats
Co-Optimus: What’s been your favorite moment in the game so far as you’ve been playing and testing it?
Beau: As the lead tester, my favorite moments have come from the strange, strange circumstances we ran across while testing. There have been a host of laugh-out-loud bugs as different objects were thrown together in different ways. Totem poles of objects picked up, armies of snakes held aloft, unexpected teleportations into the bowels of Earth. I’m a fanatic when it comes to breaking games--including my own :)
Jesse: Since Beau designed all the levels (except for one or two of mine!) and wrote all of the dialog, I have been able to experience and enjoy the game much as one of our players will. He’s made me laugh more times than I can count, and stumped me with puzzles even more. As far as my own work, animating Wyv’s and Keep’s fidgeting animations has been a joy, and working to bring the cinematic opening together was really rewarding. I love these sorts of “unnecessary” details.
Co-Optimus: Off the subject of the game for a second, what are your favorite co-op gaming memories?
Jesse: Beau and I were roommates in college and had lots of time to game in between long, sleep-depriving architecture assignments. We played the standard 2-player stuff, but often had more fun inventing co-op modes in games that didn’t exactly feature them. In TFC he’d control the keyboard/movement while I aimed and fired on the mouse, or vice versa. We were surprisingly deadly! Another favorite was getting five stars in San Andreas and hopping into a cargo plane, one flying us high into the air while the other balanced outside on the wing and battled F15s with a rocket launcher.
Co-Optimus: Finally, Wyv and Keep.... what’s up with those names?
Beau: The game originally had a placeholder name of “Dinnar Foerc X”. When we graduated that silliness, we had to come up with something a little more substantial. With a suitable castle theme, the game was going to be named “Wyvern’s Keep”. But we were never really in love with it. Soon after we broke the name up and from its remnants, the two leads were christened. Hence, Wyv and Keep.
Jesse: Look out for our upcoming new game, “Drag and Castle”!
Coming Summer 2012... In a world... Where dinnars are eaten by foerc...?
We'd like to thank Beau and Jesse for taking the time to answer our questions and shed a little more light on this upcoming co-op title. Wyv and Keep is currently available for pre-order for $7.99, which gets you access to the game when it comes out, access to the current beta, and a downloadable copy of the game's soundtrack. Wyv and Keep is currently slated for a Summer 2012 release on PC.