Last week the Xbox Live Indie Game Soul was the fifth highest played Indie Game on Xbox Live. To find out a bit more about this recent release we have one of the two main developers Christophe Panattoni.
Question: How did the idea for Soul come about?
The idea came when we first saw Scary Maze, which is a very small maze kind of game with a scary face screaming at you at the end. We thought the principle pretty funny, and that was the beginning of our reflexion on Soul. After that, when visiting his brother at the hospital, Mathieu Akita, our lead artist, had the idea to mix the scarymaze gameplay to this murky and oppressing world .
Question: Could you describe Soul for anyone who hasn’t seen it?
Soul is a maze kind of game in a dark and creepy universe. Your goal is to bring the soul of a dead man to heaven throughout mazes that are going to test your dexterity.
Question: How large was the team that created Soul and how long did it take to develop?
We were mainly two developers working on it. I did most of the programming and Mathieu the graphical part. And with the help of Mathieu's brother and a couple of friends here and there, it took us a little bit more than a month to complete it.
Question: When you first set out to make Soul was it always planned to be a maze based game?
Yes, the principle of the gameplay, moving a character in mazes, was decided right away. We worked on the universe and we designed the levels with that in mind.
Question: Looking back on Soul what are the things that you are most proud of?
We are proud of the general atmosphere of the game. We also wanted to make the game hard enough to be challenging, so that the players feel they have accomplished something when they finish the game. And seeing the feedback we have had so far, we have pretty much managed to do that.
Question: Was there anything you were hoping to get into Soul that did not make it?
Not really, we actually put more into it that what we first planned. We have had a few new ideas while working on Soul, but we decided to keep them for Soul 2.
Question: Now that Soul has released are you planning another Xbox Live Indie game?
We have started developing a new original game on Xbox Live Indie game, but we are also working on other platforms as well, and our next release will probably be Soul on iPhone.
Question: Can you give us some tips or hints for Soul?
There isn't really any tips in Soul, just if your are stuck in a level, be patient and keep cool. Reaching heaven is not something that is simple, but with practice, every level becomes easy.
Question: If you could change one thing about Xbox Live Indie Games as a platform what would it be?
As probably most of the developers working on this platform, we would love to see more advertising, and to see more coverage in the video game media. Also being able to include achievements in our game would be great, I mean anyone who finishes Soul in Hardcore mode deserves some big points.
