Recently, NintendoGal.com was given the opportunity to interview Griptonite Games who are responsible for porting the DS version of Neopets Puzzle Adventure.
Nintendo Gal: Hello and thank you for taking the time for this interview!
Griptonite Games: Hello and thanks for giving me the opportunity to discuss the game!
NG: First up how about you tell our readers a little about Griptonite and Neopets Puzzle Adventure.
GG: Here at Griptonite Games we work with various publishers to develop portable games for the Nintendo DS, the Sony PSP, the Apple iPod touch, and the Apple iPhone. Because we have so many partners and cover so many platforms, we have a large variety of titles in development at any given time.
Our studio is a close knit family of employees. Whether they be an industry veteran or a talented new graduate, everyone in our studio is passionate about making high-quality games. So when the opportunity to work with Capcom on this title presented itself, we were extremely excited! Bringing the puzzle and adventuring aspects of this kind of game to the Neopets franchise was a perfect fit. Since there is also a PC and Wii version of this game—which share the same characters and general story line—we wanted to make sure we distinguished the DS version by customizing the game’s gameplay and presentation to fully maximize the strength and capabilities of the DS (such as a new mini-game that utilizes the touch screen capability, etc. ).
NG: Does Griptonite and Infinite Interactive have much interaction on the game?
GG: We did interact quite a bit, especially because the story and the artwork of the characters, maps, & mini-games had to be unified with the PC and Wii game.
NG: Do they watch over what you do or do they leave you to your own devices?
GG: In addition to sharing assets, Capcom gave us feedback on the game, working with us to improve it for the DS. Everyone was very happy with the end result, and we feel gamers will be too.
NG: Do you need to communicate with Capcom frequently since they are the publisher and do they have a say about what’s transpiring in the game?
GG: Having an open, communicative relationship with a publisher is how great games are made. Capcom is a publisher that prides itself on making quality games, and they were a great asset to our team. They would routinely review the game, giving us helpful feedback, and partnered with us during the whole development and testing process in order to reach the level of quality that Capcom fans expect.
NG: Has the development team working on this title played Puzzle Quest?
GG: Most of us had played the game and were fans before even hearing about the project. Being fans of the puzzle-adventure game genre in general, we were all very excited to work on this game. Getting a chance to work with Capcom was really amazing!
NG: Getting back to the game, has the team enjoyed their time working on Neopets?
GG: Absolutely. We’re a fun group of developers who are all very dedicated to the quality of our games. Everyone really wanted to deliver a great-looking game that is challenging and is a lot of fun to play, and we’re very happy with how it turned out.
NG: Were there any challenges that took time to work through?
GG: Of course! Delivering on Neopet fans’ expectations of this game, as well as on the expectation of Capcom quality, was a tall order. We comprised our team of well-experienced game developers who knew how to produce great work quickly. This gave us the time we needed to test, polish, and balance the game.
NG: Aside from the game and the franchise itself, was there anything that may have been contributed to the creation of the game?
GG: As I mentioned, the team was very experienced…and we’re also avid gamers. Capcom is also very adept at putting out great games. Bringing all of these skill sets together really helped in designing the game to meet the high quality watermark that was set. We also listened to the fans by reading message boards and sites like NintendoGal, to try to provide what they’re looking for.
NG: How will Neopets Puzzle Adventure attempt to be different from other types of licensed games?
GG: Already there’s been a lot of excitement over this game because it’s not just a typical licensed game where the handheld version is just a port of the console version. We’ve taken a successful web franchise and combined it with a successful puzzle game aesthetic in a way that works on the Nintendo DS platform. Also, we didn’t want to just rely on the strength of the license to carry the game. It was fundamentally important to build a fun and approachable game, with some deep strategy elements to it.
NG: Will it be an enjoyable experience for those who have never heard of Neopets?
GG: You really don’t need to have any experience with Neopets to enjoy this game. It uses characters from the Neopets world, but the story is unique and the game design offers a lot of challenge, so fans of this type of game will really enjoy it. If they’re experienced with the Neopet universe, great…but it’s also a great entrée point for people who have never heard of Neopets before.
NG: Thank you for taking the time out of your day to answer our questions!
GG: Thank you for giving us time to talk to you and your audience. We really hope they have as much fun playing the game as we did making it.
