Back in the second week of July, we reviewed Teleportals. I Swear It's A Nice Game and turns out it's really a nice game.
The title remains Very Positive till this day, with over 60 Steam user reviews since its launch. Worth of every single one, Teleportals. I Swear It's A Nice Game stands as an example of how indie developers can reach a considerable audience, and still provide something new into a classic genre!
We were extremely curious about the whole universe, so we had to speak with the man himself!
Today we had the opportunity to interview PixelGreeds, and get to know a little more behind Teleportals, and the previously released title, Yissa Deep Realms!
This is the interview conducted during the month of July, in 2018, and it’s a direct transcription of the conversation between myself representing Sinical Anime Network (SAN) and PixelGreeds.
SAN: First of all, I would like to thank you for your time in the name of our community for your availability, and granting us the pleasure of this interview.
First, can you tell our readers a little bit of the universe of your both released games and how they are tangled?
PixelGreeds: Hi and thank you. I'm very happy to be interviewed.
It's difficult to answer this question without going into the spoiler territory, but I'll try. As you correctly noticed, both games take place in the same "universe" so there's no way they are not connected to each other. But every game tells its own separate story and you don't have to play one game to understand what's happening in the other. Knowing the plot of both games however, can clarify certain things like the place where the games take place. But when telling the story of a game, I focused primarily on the characters so by beating one game you get the full understanding of the main character.
SAN: Both Yissa Deep Realms and Teleportals are 2D platform games, we take it you're a fan of the genre. What were your biggest influences when creating both games?
PixelGreeds: Being the fan of the 2D action genre, I played a lot of big and small titles (classic Castlevanias, Koumajou Densetsu, Megaman official and fan-made titles like MegaMari and many others), but although they are great at what they're doing, there were always small subjective things that I didn't like and wanted to improve them. Dissatisfaction is the fuel for creativity. So I took what I loved about these games and tried to add those personal things that I thought could make the original formula better. As for Teleportals and puzzle genre, I was influenced by "Portal" obviously and especially by "Lost Vikings". Making little decisions that can always lead you to a dead end and slowly progressing through dangerous levels is what captivated me in this game.
SAN: Teleportals have a peculiar unlockble gallerie, with adult themes if the patch is installed. Do you feel having nudity in video-games is a plus now a days? Or it's just an extra you never though much of it?
PixelGreeds: I think the main issue is whether nudity is appropriate or not. On one hand, nudity as a reward can be an additional incentive for a player (like me), on the other hand, nudity can break the immersion if it's put in the place it doesn't belong. There are a lot of factors and it's up for personal taste, whether you need that element in the game or not. In Teleportals I tried to make a flexible system of preferences. So if you don't like the gallery you can disable it and spend points on skipping difficult levels instead (while not skipping the story). If you're not a fan of story in games you can turn if off so nothing would distract you from solving the puzzles.
SAN: Teleportals have beautiful backgrounds, sometimes, I personally feel like breaking loose and explore those forests and mountains... Do you think you'll ever explore something towards a Metrovanian style?
PixelGreeds: Good thing you asked, as my next game will be in a Metroidvania genre!
SAN: Something we can't really escape discussing it, movies! Teleportals has a lot of movie references, is there any particular reason why you included them?
PixelGreeds: I just love movies, especially thoughts and feelings they can evoke in people. As a character from Teleportals said: "You can learn a lot about a person if you know what movies he likes, and even more if you know the reason he likes them".
SAN: PixelGreeds developed and published two games, based on your personal experience, what do you think is the hardest; Creating a game or the publishing process?
PixelGreeds: There are hardships on every step of development. It's really disappointing when your game is complete and you think the development is over, but in reality it's only half the battle, and you have to face a lot of bureaucratic and boring things, some of which are not even that important. Some people start making games to avoid all this, but if you're making a game alone, you'll run into the fact that you must be a developer, the accountand and even your own lawyer.
Escapism wasn't my main goal, so I can endure all the paperwork. And I should in particular say thanks to Steam. Despite all its shortcomings, it provides one the most friendly ways of game publishing.
SAN: We know it's been kind of a struggle to have Steam Trading Cards available for Teleportals, how do you feel about this steam new rule? Do you see it changing anytime soon?
PixelGreeds: I started publishing the games when Steam had already stopped giving trading cards to everyone. As I understood this hit the small indie developers hard, as trading cards were a big incentive to buy the games.
Because of the frauds who grinded for trading cards using bot nets and then sold them, Steam blocked trading cards on all unverified games. It's a controversial decision that is still provokes the intensive discussions in the community. Again, I don't have a lot of claims to Steam as it provides a great platform for people like me. But I would strongly recommend to leave Steam reviews on the games you liked as in the new environment it's highly important for the developer.
I think Steam would soon allow Teleportals to have trading cards, but I'm glad that there are a lot of people who bought it just because they got interested in the game itself.
SAN: I know you're already scratching some ideas for your next game. Are you able to give us some details about it, in terms of gameplay and characters?
PixelGreeds: Right now I'm making a Metroidvania action game: melee and ranged combat, acrobatic moves, dashes, flying in spirit form, wall jumping, different weapons and bosses. I also tried to cut as many backtracking as possible comparing to other Metroidvanias while retaining the feeling of adventure and exploration.
The game tells the story of two sisters searching for their long lost mother who had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. I can't say more at the moment.
SAN: To wrap it up, I always ask this... What are your favorite games? Personally!
PixelGreeds: Favorite games are definitely Oni, Devil May Cry 3-4, Black and White 1-2, Celeste, Movies, Furi, Fable, Age of Empires, Shadow of the Colossus, Hollow Knight, Rayman 1999, Vanquish, Ragnarok Battle Offline, Hyper Light Drifter, SMT series.
Sinical Anime Network would like to thank PixelGreeds for their time, availability, and for providing us with details and extra info on the upcoming title.
We recommend our readers to visit and follow Steam Creator PixelGreeds, and get the latest updates on upcoming games!
Don't lose a single update;
Follow PixelGreeds on Twitter
Purchase PixelGreeds published games;