Fancy restoring harmony in the universe and help shape its destiny?
Sure you do. And, if you’re anything like us, you’ll want to do it at light speed to the soundtrack of drum & bass.
Well now you can… From your very own smart device!
Say hello to Cosmophony, a game that’s turbo-charged solely by drum & bass. The music was written exclusively for the game by Salaryman – a French producer who’s appeared on Ram Records, Citrus, Spearhead, Soul Deep and many other respected labels – he’s scored the perfect soundtrack for the white knuckle shooter.
Blisteringly fast, stylishly presented in a simple but effective wireframe world and available on both iOS and Android and soon to be translated onto PS3 and WiiU platforms, it’s only been out for a week but it’s already received accolades from some of the most respected gaming sites.
It’s also ridiculously addictive. Check it yourself (Google Play / iTunes / Amazon / Windows)
We’ve got 10 free iOS versions to give away! Just enter your details below and we’ll pick 10 lucky winners on October 10.
Are you big fans of drum & bass anyway?
We start to work on Cosmophony with the ambition to create a game completely based on drum & bass. Indeed, we are big fans of D&B!
The first time I heard drum & bass Tudor Rose by Capone in 1999. At the time I was just a gamer and not yet a game creator, but over time my passion for D&B has grown thanks to many French dancefloors. One in particular was in Lyon. It was 2011. During a D&B party organized by TotaalRez the game was born; the idea was already in our mind, but everything became clear when we met Salaryman. Things are very simple and direct with him. We weren’t just looking for someone that could create a soundtrack and bring the musical aspect of our game to fruition; we were looking for friend who understand what we wanted to do.
Did you brief Salaryman on the types of D&B you wanted or did he have total freedom?
Salaryman was totally free to create the music. The only constraints were the time of each track and the idea that the music would have to grow in intensity throughout the track.
As the game developed did Salaryman have to change the music to fit the game perfectly?
Yes. As we were tweaking the game in the final stages some adjustment to the tracks were made in particular to ensure that the music intensity would match nicely with the growing difficulty. We really focused on respecting the artist vision while thinking of the player experience. It was a very interesting part of the job for the both of us. Working with Salaryman was really a pleasure, because he immediately understood the stakes that were behind the creation of this kind of soundtrack.
You’ve got an impressive history in games now – how does Cosmophony sit among your other accomplishments?
It’s a bit soon to judge Cosmophony, but indeed we’re really happy to see how the public and the publishers love our game. Cosmophony has already been featured on the iTunes homepage worldwide, we are in top 25 arcade game charts in Japan and the video game press is really enthusiastic! But it’s hard to compare Cosmophony to our other titles like Surfing Beaver or SpaceTrooperUSA because each time we start a new project, we rebuild everything from scratch. For us the most important thing in each production is to be creative before everything else.
Let’s get an idea of how much work it takes to create a game on this level… Is it just the two of you on the team or do you hire more people during a big project? And how long have you all been working on it?
We began the creation process in 2011, but we haven’t worked on it full time. We spent approximately six month to create the base of the game and two months to tweak and polish it. Only two of us worked on the development for the mobile version and we received the wonderful support of another company called Moving Player to create the upcoming WiiU and PS3 version.
It’s great to see the game available across the different platforms – how long does it take to convert / optimise it for each platform?
We have used Unity3D to create this game that drastically simplifies the porting process. But it’s still very complex even if the technology is amazing. You have to think of a lot of aspects like the implementation of the iOS joysticks or Game Center or Game Circle devices.
What’s the most challenging aspect of creating a game such as this? And could you tell us about some elements of the process that fans and gamers would not expect?
Everything becomes a challenge when you are a two man team. From the starting idea to the final click to publish your game… Creating a game is a complete experience that involves a true devotion because it requires to mix every media inside and outside the project. You become the project. In a professional context when you are self-funded this represents a big challenge because you invest a big amount of time, knowledge, money, energy and passion for months and this is hard to understand for your entourage.
What is your personal favorite part of the process?
Everything is of interest to me. That’s why I do this job. I can’t imagine doing the same thing every day. You have to learn everyday in various domains and that’s the most satisfying part of the job, it’s never boring! But if I had to choose, for me it would be starting the project, when everything is possible when you have no limits except the time to dream to the perfect game…
What’s your personal high score?
It’s really a hard game, I’m personally stuck at the third level.
What else can you tell us about the game and its construction?
We have based each level on the soundtrack to make you feel a various set of emotions. The relation between the music and the game mechanics are at the heart of our concerns so we sincerely hope our game could match the expectations of various type of players from gamers to D&B lovers. Our greatest wish is to deliver a new and special experience…