Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Crystal Crisis

Interview: Nicalis President Tyrone Rodriguez Talks Crystal Crisis

One of the cool games we got to try out back at PAX West was a puzzler coming from Nicalis called Crystal Crisis, which we'll be seeing released May 28th. Before the game is unleashed next month on the Nintendo Switch and PS4, we got a chance to chat with Nicalis' president, Tyrone Rodriguez, about the game and the challenges and even the crossover aspect as some familiar character make their way into battle.

Tyrone Rodriguez

BC: How have things been going for Nicalis over the past year?

Tyrone: It's been good! We celebrated the second half of our 10-year anniversary in 2018 by releasing the most games we ever have in one year, including all-new original titles like Blade Strangers and Save me Mr Tako! Bringing back Code of Princess and Ikaruga was a real honor, too. We've got a lot of fun games coming out this year and we're super-excited about Crystal Crisis especially. It's our first internal game as a developer AND publisher since The Binding of Isaac.

What's it been like expanding your library and getting your name out there to more indie gamers?

When Nicalis was founded, the commercial opportunities for an independent developer were almost non-existent. That's no longer the case, obviously, and we feel like we've played an important part in changing the whole scene. We're proud of what we've done to get more independent games into more players' hands and to help the people who make the games to see more of a profit from their hard work. For us, it's really about the fun factor more than anything else. We enjoy what we're doing, and if people like playing our games and want to get on board, that's an added bonus.

How did the concept for Crystal Crisis come about?

I've always loved competitive puzzle games, and it's been a dream of mine to make one the way I wanted to play it. As it turned out, everybody in the office had a similar interest. We've also worked on a lot of games with really popular, really memorable characters. So the pieces were already in place for an epic versus puzzle game with crossover characters battling each other. It just felt like the obvious thing to do with our expertise and our experience; getting it started was really easy. We knew we'd made the right decision when the game started to come together and it was fun to play right away, as soon as we had the earliest playable builds.

What kind of challenge was it making a puzzle title that didn't feel like ones that came before it?

The biggest challenge was making a game that's simple and easy to play instantly, but at the same time technical and deep enough to continue playing for hours and hours. We've been able to do that, but it wasn't something that just happened overnight. We had to scrutinize all the characters' drop patterns, how their defensive and offensive Burst attacks work, how quickly their Burst meter fills and depletes, everything. Even though most of us have worked on puzzle games to some degree, it's been a learning process because this is really a competitive puzzle game with a lot of similarities to a fighting game. As such, we've needed to make sure there is a balance between all the characters and modes.

We were also not afraid to break the rules set up by other versus puzzle games. Like, we have a "wrap around" feature that lets you push a falling crystal pair through the side of the playfield to reappear on the opposite side—so you're never trapped by a wall, which is super important during high-level play. You can even split the pair, so one crystal falls at the edge of the grid on the left while the other falls on the right. It opened up a whole new layer of strategy. The team never felt pressured to add features like this just for the sake of being different—I mean, we like a lot of those existing puzzle games just the way they are! It was more about us doing things that we thought would be cool and would enhance what we were creating.

What was the process like in coming up with the characters?

The original roster was eight characters; we picked the best ones we had available, the ones we thought would look good and play well in this type of game. But as the scope of the game expanded, so did the character count. We kept talking about adding more characters from other games we were working on simultaneously, special guests from other companies, even new characters from games in development that haven't been released yet. Every new addition meant more diversity, more chances to include somebody's favorite character and more opportunities to come up with different Burst attacks. We ended up with 20 fighters, more than double the original line-up.

What made you choose the special guest characters from other games and series to join in?

The Studio Saizensen characters (Solange and Kawase) were really obvious since they've previously appeared in Code of Princess EX and Blade Strangers, both of which were published by Nicalis. We have a great working relationship with Mr. Kondo and his team. As for some of the others, Astro Boy and Black Jack from Tezuka Productions probably seem like random additions. We had the opportunity to speak with the production company in Japan and they were excited about the game and allowed us to include both of them in Crystal Crisis. President Thompson and Zombie (from The Tempura of the Dead), Knight (from Hydra Castle Labyrinth) and Akuji (from Akuji the Demon) are characters we're fond of and wanted to include, so we worked closely with those developers to get them added, too.

You have a ton of different modes to choose from. What made you decide to add all these in whereas many puzzle games only have four modes at best?

The development team put a lot of effort into making Crystal Crisis as polished as possible, and I wanted to make sure that the players would see the effort that we put into it. So it made sense to treat it more like something Nintendo would make—to make it a full-featured experience instead of a $40 game that should have been a $10 download. As the core gameplay came together, we started to experiment with different ways to manipulate the crystals in alternate modes. We knew that we wanted the game to appeal to all different types of players, so adding more modes, features and characters allowed us to broaden the scope of the project and offer more options to more people. Once you feel like you've mastered one character, there are 19 others to learn and over 10 different modes or variations to play. We want Crystal Crisis to have a long life for any player who invests the time to learn the core mechanics.

Are you going to have a ranking system for online play or will it just be a "see how good you are" kind of vibe?

We'll be sharing more specifics about the online modes and features in the coming months. With that said, it was important that the game feel competitive and fresh; we want to motivate players to continue to play both online and offline to hone their skills and strategies, not unlike a fighting game. The thought of players competing against one another in organized tournaments and events sounds awesome.

The game is set for Switch and PS4 right now. Will you do any crossplay with it down the road, or maybe get involved with the Epic Games Store to explore that option on PC?

I'd love to do crossplay, but Sony's system doesn't seem to be an open system, unless it's a game with a lot of clout, like a Fortnite or Rocket League. I can't say for certain that Crystal Crisis will have crossplay, but for any platforms that allow it, we'd like to.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about Crystal Crisis before its released?

We'd like to thank the fans who have supported Crystal Crisis from the very beginning. It's a really important game for us, and it's been very encouraging to see the fans getting more and more excited about it over the past year. We want everyone who plays the game to feel all the effort that we put into it.

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