< Back | Sketches | Paint | Photo | Logos | Event Flyers | Writing | Other |

Interview With Konductra Developer - Published by N-Philes, Aug 10, 2006

Konductra for the Nintendo DS may look like a flashier rendition of Polarium at first glance, but don't let that color your opinion: the only similarity between the two titles is that you use your stylus to zap square tiles. Whereas Polarium focused on a challenging puzzle mode, oeFUn's inaugural game's main focus is about fast-paced puzzle action with a deep multi-player component.

"The basic idea is build lines or blocks of color and then destroy them," oeFun President Ian Dunlop told N-Philes. "You place pieces on the board using the DS stylus and then when you have enough pieces on the board you destroy them by creating a ‘line' from one conductor to another conductor. That is where the game takes its name from."

To play the game, you are first presented with a two-piece block that you place simply by touching a square on the game play grid, and dragging into the direction that you wish to place the piece. Rows of special plates called conductors border the playing field. Once you can create a line of a solid color on the grid, you drag the stylus from one conductor to another, thus eliminating it. This process is called a conduction. Konductra features a tutorial mode complete with voiced instructions to help newcomers adapt to the game's play style.

Of course, you only have a limited amount of time to place your piece. Dunlop explains, "you have a certain amount of time to place a piece. If you fail to place a piece within that time, it drops down onto the board from above into a random position. The 'blocks' that fall like that need two conductions to remove them." If there is no more room on the game field to place a block, it's game over.

Konductra Features several game modes that sound as if they'll deliver an addictive puzzle experience. Score mode allows players to play endlessly, trying to achieve a high score. If you eliminate multiple lines, you'll get combo scoring to multiply your score. At specific levels, more colored tokens are added to increase the difficulty. The more lines that you clear, the less time you get to place the next block. Task mode is a puzzle mode where you have to create a shape that appears on the top screen. Once made, you have to destroy it! This mode contains over 60 stages to complete.

On top of single player, Konductra contains multiple multiplayer modes. VS CPU allows you to play against a computer opponent, with 5 levels of difficulty. VS Human, not surprisingly, lets you play against another person. To beat your opponent, you must fill their board so that they can no longer drop any blocks. When you complete a conduction, parts of the opponent's board freezes, making them use their time to unfreeze blocks by tapping them with the stylus. If you create a horizontal or vertical conduction, blocks will begin to fall on the opponent's board! This mode can be played either locally or over Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service.

N-Philes managed to sit down with Ian Dunlop to learn more about the game and its development.

N-Philes: I just want to thank you for taking time to sit down with me today!

Dunlop: You're welcome. I appreciate the chance to talk about Konductra.

N-Philes: So, jumping right in... What is Konductra all about?

Dunlop: Konductra is at heart a puzzle game, but it is attempting to break out of the normal confines of that genre. I think it does that by leveraging the touch screen and other features of the DS like Wi-Fi, etc.

N-Philes: From where did the idea for this game come?

Dunlop: The basic idea came from my love of puzzle games. It was only during the development process and hands-on with the DS that it started to take shape and became Konductra. So it was really a fusion of my ideas and the inspiration that came from the DS itself. Konductra exists because of the touch screen on the DS.

N-Philes: This game was announced late last year, if I remember correctly... How has the game changed since it was shown, or even since the idea was conceived?

Dunlop: Yeah Craig Harris over at IGN did a piece on it, kind of an "upcoming game indie" piece. Technically it wasn't a proper announcement, as we did not have a publisher at that time.

The two most significant developments since that time and before O~3 Entertainment's involvement were the addition of supporting the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection feature and an overhaul on some of the art. We originally had gone with a monochromatic look to the front end, thinking we wanted to separate the colorful look of the game from the front end/menus. While interesting an idea that was on paper, it just didn't work in practice so we ended up adding a bunch more color to the menu system. The end result is more balanced look between game and menus. I think the final result that Marshal Hernandez (artist) achieved looks great.

More than anything though is that the game has had some serious play testing put into it. Many, many hours of polishing and tweaking it to get it playing "just right". It's very important to me that every oeFun game is fun and feels solid. I still have a lot of fun playing it... especially the VS. modes. Marshal and myself have been known to have matches that last over an hour! But that is with two very experienced players who are closely ranked.

N-Philes: Has the DS itself affected the game? How would it have been different (or would it exist at all) had Nintendo just released a more powerful Game Boy instead of a system with two screens, a touch screen, and all that?

Dunlop: Yeah, as I said earlier the touch screen is probably the single most important feature on the DS that made Konductra possible. Local wireless and Wi-Fi play are two powerful features that shape your game too. You could as a designer ignore them, but why would you want to?

I've been asked in the past stuff like "Can you put this game on platform X?" My response has always been no. If you removed the touch screen I'd need to add gravity back in and at that point you have a very different game dynamic.

N-Philes: Does online play differ at all from the local multiplayer mode? If so, in what way?

Dunlop: The actual game mechanics are identical. The biggest difference is the ranking system which only applies to Worldwide match-ups over Wi-Fi. The game tracks your rank and before every match, based on your opponent, your rank will change depending on the outcome from the match. Obviously, if you play someone who has a higher rank and lose it won't change your rank much.

Every new player is given an arbitrary rank to begin with. There will be an initial settling period before the rank reflects your "real" rank. This is also why the game does not allow you play in a ranked match and choose an opponent. That is open to abuse. ranked matches are always against randomly selected opponents.

Additionally, we are launching a web site to go with the game. Here, you can check out the leader boards, and our plan is to host competitions at some point after launch of the game.

N-Philes: So Konductra's ranking system is similar the one used at Yahoo Games...

Dunlop: I'm not familiar with that system. [Writer's note: they are similar systems]

N-Philes: So you can't play ranked games with people on a friends list? Is it to prevent cheating?

Dunlop: No, you can only play unranked matches with friends. I wanted to keep the system simple and easy to understand. If we allowed ranked matches via friends, there would be nothing stopping you from cheating and trivially increasing your rank.

Once you're in a game if you quit out it is an automatic loss. However, in terms of "other" types of disconnection it does not do anything. I did not want to create a system that would penalize people for issues outside of their control. How do you distinguish between someone who turns their DS off because they don't want to play VS. and legitimate issue with the internet or maybe even a DS that is low on battery power? It's a difficult problem to solve.

N-Philes: Does the game have single-cart multiplayer support?

Dunlop: The game does not support single-cart multiplayer. I felt adding Wi-Fi support was more important than adding download play. I think that component will go along way to helping creating a community of Konductra players. It makes it easier for people from all over the world to play together without knowing each other.

N-Philes: Was it hard to develop the online component to the game? Is it hard to developer for the DS in general?

Dunlop: No it wasn't hard at all. It was very easy to add Wi-Fi to the game. Without going into too much technical detail, clearly your game code has to be structured in such a way to facilitate play over the internet. Given that I had designed the game and written the code this way from the beginning it was really just a matter of adding all the required features that every Nintendo WFC game needs to have.

Nintendo offers great support for its developers. I can't complain. :-)

N-Philes: That's really good to hear (and makes me wonder why other developers are taking their time at jumping onto WFC). As a developer, is there any benefit for you to create an online game for the DS?

Dunlop: By adding support for Nintendo WFC, I'm hoping that we'll tap into that group of people who like to be competitive but usually don't have the time to actually physically go somewhere to play. Either way, we have both play styles covered. Ultimately, I think the benefit is a larger audience.

N-Philes: Over a million people have used Wi-Fi so far, with only a handful of compatible games, so for sure there's an audience!

Konductra strikes immediate comparison to Nintendo's Polarium, maybe even Meteos. How do you think Konductra stacks up to some of the other puzzle games on the DS?

Dunlop: Yes, that's a lot of people!

I think Konductra goes against those titles really well and holds it's own. Obviously the proof will be in the pudding (as they say). From a designer perspective it was important to analyze the competition and make sure that we were competing. I will leave the analysis to the critics, but suffice it to say I'm very confident Konductra will be a win with gamers.

N-Philes: Speaking of winning over gamers, Nintendo is big right now on promoting "Touch Generations" titles, especially to older players and non-game players. Is Konductra the type of game that would appeal to a wide audience, both in age and skill level?

Dunlop: Yes it is. Gamers and non-gamers alike have played Konductra and all come away wanting more. That is the nice thing about puzzle games is that they do have a universal appeal and that pick up and play anytime aspect to them. We've had people aged six to sixty playing this game. I won't say who performed better!

N-Philes: Haha! Do you know if Nintendo has a system in place for third parties to jump onto and benefit from the Touch Gen branding?

Dunlop: The game is not going to be under the Touch Generations branding. With respect to 3rd parties getting on board with that branding I honestly don't know.

N-Philes: Oh, all right... I was just wondering. We've seen in games like Lumines, the music in a puzzle game can be a huge component. What kind of feel does Konductra's music have?

Dunlop: From a game direction perspective it was important to me that the music supports the mood that I wanted to convey to the player. What we went with is a piece of music per game mode that drives that feeling home. Rick De Jonge wrote and implemented all the music for the game. For the VS. modes, I wanted an aggressive piece that really keeps you on edge. For modes like the Task mode, I wanted the player to get into a more "thinking" mood so the music reflects that. Similarly for the Score mode... We were kind of stuck on what to do for the menu music. What emotion do you want to convey when you're in menus? That was when Rick put together a thematic piece that was really a combination of all the separate pieces of music wrapped into one. In a lot of ways that is my favorite of the lot. But the VS. music really keeps the pressure going!

N-Philes: Good stuff! Does the game have any unlockable features?

Dunlop: There is a secret game mode waiting to be found that has not been discussed or mentioned before. I can't say anymore!

N-Philes: Fair enough - I do like surprises in the games that I play. You began the project without a publisher, but you eventually teamed up with O~3 Entertainment to distribute the title. Was finding a publisher for the game difficult? Did not having a publisher right away (or finding one) affect how the game progressed?

Dunlop: I wouldn't describe the process as a difficult one. It really didn't affect the development of the game as such. Finding a publisher was just another part of the process as I was determined to finish the game either way. At the start of development I knew it would (or at least I assumed it to) be impossible to secure funding from a publisher before building something so I just decided to skip that whole process. So once the game was finished I could confidently show off this finished hi-quality title. Having a finished product helps.

N-Philes: Well congrats on finding a publisher! Is the game itself finished? When does the game come out?

Dunlop: Thanks! The game is 100% done. At this point it's really just a question of getting approved. In terms of a release date... we want to set a locked date, and so we need to wait for approval.

N-Philes: Awesome! I can't wait to try the game. Moving to oeFun, the company was founded by you early last year. How many people work at creating games within the company? And does the "oe" stand for anything?

Dunlop: The Company is pretty small right now, only a handful of people work here. The "oe" stands for many things. Right now I don't have an official meaning. What you will see is that on specific games those letters will become words and have meaning and context to a specific game.

NP: Sort of like how many DS games play with those letters; for example, the star of Trauma Center is named Derek Styles, and the subtitle of the Advance Wars game is "Dual Strike"?

Dunlop: Yep, to be honest nothing is set in stone - other than the idea to exploit that aspect of the name.

N-Philes: does Konductra exploit the letters at all?

Dunlop: Nope.

N-Philes: What games have you and your staff worked on prior to Konductra at oeFun?

Dunlop: I have been in the industry since ‘87. I won't bore your readers with all the details, suffice it to say there is a partial list [here]. I think the most notable efforts being Turok (N64) and Thief: Deadly Shadows (xbox). Marshal and Rick have extensive experience in their respective backgrounds however this their first video game.

N-Philes: Your company bio says that you intend to work on a variety of platforms. Which other platforms do you have ideas for?

Dunlop: We're very excited to be working on the Nintendo Wii for our next project. We have ideas for many platforms, but are choosing to concentrate on the Wii for now.

N-Philes: How do you feel about the Wii and the direction that Nintendo is going with the home consoles? Do you have a development kit for the Wii yet?

Dunlop: I think the Wii is just what the industry needs and that is only just the beginning. It's no secret that I am a Nintendo fan. I will readily admit that. The reason is that they are pushing the boundaries and expanding what games can do. I will always follow whoever does that.

We are official developers, but we don't have a Wii dev kit yet. To be honest we don't need the hardware right now. We can prototype quite successfully for now.

N-Philes: Have you decided on your next project? Is there anything that you would like to tell me?!

Dunlop: I have a lot of ideas and I'm fairly confident on what it's going to be. Oh, and it was the cook, in the foyer with the steel pipe!

N-Philes: That cook I tell you... What do you think of Nintendo's Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade? Is there any chance that oeFun would create games and distribute them digitally through either of these platforms?

Dunlop: I think those are great features to have on this generation going forwards. I'm a big fan of the 360. I just broke 500,000 on Geometry wars the other day!

I don't really know enough about Nintendo's service at this point to comment. The Xbox Live Arcade is certainly interesting, but it seems to have a limit on volume of games that seems a little worrying... the number of games available through the service is low. I read recently (can't remember where), that Microsoft were unable to handle the number of requests from developers

N-Philes: Last question... it's probably the most important one! Which puzzle games do you, an avid puzzle gamer, love to play?

Dunlop: Ok, so I've played just about every puzzle game that I can get my hands on. It's impossible to say what my favorite is, but I regularly play the following: Capcom's puzzle fighter, Puzzle League (Tetris Attack), Tetris and Puyo pop.

N-Philes: Awesome! Well, that's everything from my end, is there anything else that you would like to add?

Dunlop: Thanks for the opportunity to discuss Konductra at length. I hope that your readers will get a chance to play Konductra for themselves fairly soon! Cheers.

N-Philes: Awesome, well thank you again so much for your time. I know it's precious, we I really appreciate it!

Dunlop: No problem, thanks again.

oeFun, Inc. is an independent game development studio and official Nintendo developer dedicated to making fun and innovative titles for a variety of platforms including Nintendo DS and Wii. oeFun's mission is to become synonymous with fun, quality and innovation while making some of the best games in the video game industry.

Austin-based oeFun was founded in January 2005 by Ian Dunlop, a career games developer with 18 years in the industry. Dunlop has a long resume, his talent having been integral in the development of several world-class titles.

Konductra is an original title for the Nintendo DS, being published by O~3 Entertainment. A release date is yet to be determined.

© 2004-2010 N-Philes. All text and images cannot be used, modified, or distributed without express permission.