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Lost in Discussion: An Interview With Chris Iacobucci

Chris Iacobucci discusses with us how PixelNAUTS came to be, a bit about Lost Orbit, and their ultimate goal to take over the world.



Valenka: Tell me about the team at PixelNAUTS – how did the company form?



Chris: Alex and I met in college. He sat next to this strange hippie of a man and I thought they were best friends. We didn’t even talk to for the first semester. Once we actually spoke, we became good friends. After school, we both worked at Silicon Knights on Too Human, Darksiders, and X-Men Destiny.



We had a sort of dream team at SK, but we felt that the games never quite reached their potential. A lot of good ideas and work went to waste, and the polish level wasn’t there. Alex and I wanted more control over what we were making. We wanted to work on projects that didn’t take themselves so seriously.



We left SK in the summer of 2010 and formed PixelNAUTS with the intention of making games that stress interesting mechanics, good control feedback, and smooth feel of play.



Valenka: What are your ultimate goals as an indie development team?



Chris: We want to entertain you. We want to make you laugh, cry, and challenge your abilities. We want to show you something new, and present old things you may have loved in a new and fresh manner.



The greatest feeling for us is to watch someone play one of our games, and draw enjoyment from it. To beat a challenge, laugh at a joke, or be taken off guard by a plot development, to fail and want to try again.



As a company, our goal is to build a team of likeminded multi-talented people with mutual respect for one another. A collaborative team of multiple disciplines where input is always considered and valued. We all play games, and we all struggle together to produce the best content we can.



Valenka: Is Lost Orbit the first project with PixelNAUTS as the sole developer?



Chris: Yes. We’ve helped out on several titles, and co-developed a few as well. We worked on Eden’s “Waveform” and “Citizens of Earth”, Compulsion’s “Contrast”, “Dodgebots”, “Raccoon Rising”, and a few others. Our contracting has helped us to build our team, make new contacts, gain some experience about different platforms, and learn more about the independent games business.



LOST ORBIT is the first game we made entirely ourselves. It’s a really difficult thing to ship a game, and we’re really happy with how LOST ORBIT turned out. It’s small, but I’m proud of what we were able to achieve given such a limited budget and team size.



http://i.imgur.com/msM2cLN....



Valenka: Could you tell us a little about Lost Orbit – the inspiration behind it?



Chris: Sure. It came from several places really. I was inspired by a weird little artillery game called “Gravitational Combat” that I used to play with my Brother in-law. It was your standard artillery game except you could arc around planets to try and eliminate your opponent. Phil and I became obsessed with trying to orbit planets several times before killing the other guy. Other inspirations included Trials, Mario Kart, Sonic, and fl0w among others.



Our inspiration turned into a game idea when we were talking about an intro slate for PixelNAUTS. Our logo is an astronaut helmet, and we talked about having a short animation where the astronaut would jump off a small planet, orbit it, and then rocket out into space. After a little while, the idea of swimming through space with a jet pack, and using the gravitational pull of planets seemed like a really interesting game idea.



Valenka: Were there any behind the scenes influences?



Chris: Well, what I mentioned earlier sums up most of the gameplay inspirations, but there definitely are other bits of inspiration that made it into the game. The Rocketeer/Ironman/Astroboy all played a bit of a role in influencing the flight. Terminator 2, and a TNG episode called “Data’s Day” had some influence on the Atley character. The idea of an advanced AI that can’t seem to properly categorize or understand human motivations was definitely inspired by those two.



Valenka: What was the development process like for Lost Orbit? Were there any significant changes or sacrifices during the early stage?



Chris: When we first developed the game, it was more focused on timing; you were a slave to gravity for the most part. When we realized that going fast was the fun part, we gave Harrison a lot more control. The game became more flowing, flight focused, and a lot faster.



Because we were always increasing the speed and intensity of the game, it was a production long joke that once every couple of weeks one of us would ask everyone in the room “Does the game feel slow to you guys?”



http://i.imgur.com/SJnUiHJ....



Valenka: How has Lost Orbit’s reception affected PixelNAUTS?



Chris: Well, unfortunately it hasn’t propelled us into “Phase Three” of the business plan, the doomsday weapon phase, but it has been great for the most part.



The reception has been fantastic. Most of the reviews have been glowing, with a clear sense that the reviewers are really getting something out of their time with the game. It’s been incredibly rewarding getting that positive feedback from respected critics in the industry, especially on our first game.



The main challenge we’ve been dealing with has been echoed by many of our reviewers: “This game is great! Why aren’t more people talking about it?” When we started LOST ORBIT, we were largely unknown, and with such a low budget, we really had to prioritize what we spent our money on. Though we made an effort to get out to shows, and speak with the press, and fans, we spent most of our time and money on the game itself. As a result, we haven’t gotten quite the reach that we would have hoped for.



Valenka: What’s next for PixelNAUTS?



Chris: ...The WORLD! Achem.



We always have a few irons in the fire. We want to continue to produce original games. That’s been our goal since we started. We have some ideas on expanding the LOST ORBIT universe. It’s somewhat dependant on the breadth of the LOST ORBIT audience that we’re able to establish.



Additionally, we have another project in an early prototype phase that we won’t be announcing for a while yet. I will say that players can expect the same fast paced action and responsive controls that we delivered in LOST ORBIT, but it is a very different game. We’re really excited building something new that will further define the style of our studio.



Day 8 | PixelNAUTS