I’m always inspired and curious about gaming developers. The way they manage to go from an idea or concept and craft that into something playable is borderline magic to me.
Being from Australia, I’m always hoping that we have more breakthrough games coming out of our market and talented devs.
You just had to take a quick walk around the PAX Melbourne Indie area to see how many good games are coming out of our part of the world. I can honestly say this zone was the highlight for me, and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that it is becoming more and more populated with each year that I’ve attended the conference.
A few years ago I had the chance to meet the developers of one of my favourite games Damsel, an intense vampire inspired platformer full of action and high score challenges. It was clear to see the passion and energy they have for their project and it was contagious. You can’t help but become invested in the success of the game, and become a supporter of sorts, cheering from afar as you hear of awards and success in new areas.
This year I spent some time playing Zunius, a psychedelic rogue like bullet hell game and had a crack at the high score table challenge. Whilst I didn’t make it near the top, it was a game that stuck in mind and I was thrilled to get to play the game more once I got home.
Zunius is developed by a Coaf Research and has a few exciting updates coming into the new year. I was lucky enough to ask some questions to Leon Fromont about their experience Living in Melbourne and solo game development.
What inspired you to make Zunius and video games in general?
Short story – I played lots of games as a kid and always wanted to make my own. I can remember drawing up level designs in sketch books at an early age.
Long story – Like lots of creative endeavours I’m not sure making Zunius was a choice – I had to do it. I’ve had the vision for Zunius for a long time. A few years back I realized because of my profession and hobbies I’d done enough levelling up that I could make a genuine effort at developing Zunius into a commercial game (this was a solo dev effort i.e. I did all art, code, music, game engine, etc etc).
How do you feel the industry of game development in Australia is going at the moment?
Full disclosure – I’m from New Zealand, been living in Melbourne for 10 years. I find the Australian Game Dev Industry is amazing on two levels. On the commercial side seems like things have never been better. Lots of great games coming out and selling well. On the community side – I genuinely would never have shipped Zunius with the help of the Melbourne games community. So many talented people willing to help out others.
I first saw Zunius at PAX this year, what did you learn from that convention and how was the feedback?
PAX was crazy. I was blown away by how much love there was for Zunius. In terms of learning we worked out Zunius plays well in a convention setting. Big colourful graphics, arcade style gameplay, high score competitions etc. We’re planning on doing more conventions this year. Watch this space.
Moving forward, you have mentioned some updates for Zunius, are you able to offer any insights into where the game will end up and what you have in store for the future?
Current plan is a major update for Zunius in February 2020. The single most requested feature was a hard mode so I hope everyone is ready to dodge lots and lots of bullets. On top of that there’s gonna be more crazy powerups, enemies, achievements and more Zunius-y goodness in general. I’ve got a thousand ideas for future Zunius releases. As long as there’s a community of people that are asking for it we’re gonna do it. In terms of non Zunius work there’s lots of top-secret planning going on that I can’t discuss yet.
We’ve seen games, such as Untitled Goose Game and Hollow Knight do so well from Australia. How do you feel gaming devs can build on that success and get their games out into the market?
Someone really clever once told me it’s pretty simple at a high level (and really complicated at a low level). Make games that people love, find where those people are and make sure they’re aware of the game. There’s a whole industry of Australian specific conferences, reviewers and streamers these days and they love local games. Use that network as much as you can.
What is the most stressful part of developing games?
I found technical unknowns the most stressful part. A game can run perfectly on four different graphics cards and run like garbage on the fifth one. Controllers are controllers unless they are non PS4/ Xbox in which case they are a whole different thing. I could go on all day…
What is the highlight from developing games?
Sitting in my study looking at the Melbourne city skyline at midnight making art/code/music. Going from something that was a daydream a few years ago to seeing people giggle with joy while playing it at PAX. It’s been a wild journey.
What have been some of the biggest challenges along the way?
In terms of people, dealing with the trolls has been challenging. In terms of tech the classic villains of game development were the most challenging. OpenGL and large company that I can’t name because of NDAs, I’m not angry – I’m just disappointed.
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I can’t thank Leon enough for letting me ask a few questions and there are some exciting times ahead for Zunius. I can’t help but imagine what a hard mode will look like for Zunius and the amount of bullets that will end up on the screen is going to be intense. In the meantime, if you want to have a look at Zunius for yourself, I’ve added some links below to check out!
Check out Zunius on steam! https://steamcommunity.com/app/1058510
Find out more about COAF Research! https://coafresearch.com/
Alternative check out a short clip of Zunius gameplay below alongside a few other indie games!
Indie Game Blitz 