Developer Interview: Golgoth Studio
Golgoth Studios is a rising star in the game industry. They recently received approval to develop for Sony’s platforms, Xbox Live and Nintendo’s Wii and DS platforms. The company now has all three major consoles on its side. Their first test will be a remake of a classic Toki coming soon for WiiWare and currently awaiting approval by Sony for PSN distribution. The next game they have lined up after Toki is the revival of Joe And Mac.
TheGamersHub(Anthony DeCicco): Tell me a little about the studio and how you managed to catch the attention of all three major console manufacturers.
Golgoth Studios(Anthony De Sa Ferreira): Golgoth Studio is an independant video game studio founded in 2008 and based in France. The studio develops modern 2D Games only for All Digital Console Platforms. When we seen the success met by the Digital Platform, who allow small team to develop games , and the fact i lost my job during the crisis, I took the decision to work in the Game industry. i met our Art Director on Toki during a professional meeting and i fall in love of his work , so we decided to mount the studio and start to work currently our Studio Team is compose of 7 person , yeah before we was 6 but one girls just join us she take care of the special in game effects. About how i catch the Attention of the console manufacturers, first we tried to work only with Microsoft but after waiting to many time on the XBLA approval for finally get a negative answer, we start to contact all other console manufacturers. Of course before talking about licensed agreement from our side, we opened a dev blog , Facebook fan page, Twitter , and we contact all the press to manage interview or Article, the goal was to make some noise to show to the Console manufacture that our works is follow by many people who love like us the 2D.
Which system would you say is the easiest to work with and the hardest and why?
I’m not really sure that any system is easier than another in case of a multiplatform development, each one has its good and bad aspect. If you’d like a rank I would say.
1 Xbox 360
2 Wii
3 PS3
Although in the case of only one platform development, Xbox 360 through the XNA is the easiest way ! During The Development of Toki we met many problems in regards of the Multiplatform expectation release and the restriction on one or other platform.
Quick Exemple : A downloadable game size for a Wiiware tile is only 40Mo , it’s was a big problem for us in regards of the many HD sprite using traditional animation and the PNG picture weight. So it was necessary to find a solution to be able to provide almost the same game on Wii.
PS3, was also not a system really developed for 2D Games, so many improve on our Engine was necessary. It’s true that Xbox Is really something much more easy to use, on technical side and or for 2D Games.
Is Toki living up to your expectations?
I can say better than what we excepted at the beginning. We currently work on more interaction between all different game elements. We add many new animations to each enemy, rework the sound etc… I think maybe if we keep up in regards to our current planning, I can say honestly the final result will be great ! You know when your developing a game and take the pleasure to play with it you done half of the work ! 
Of all the games that could have been remade, why did you choose Toki as your first game?
Toki was one of my favorite Arcade Games when I was a little boy, and our Art Director was in charge of all the Design port on the Amiga Version. Also Toki’s got everything we like in the old school games, humorous, crazy character and rich level design. So for all these reasons we chose it naturally! I think Toki represents what the game was before.
Joe and Mac looks great from the concept art is there any new info you can tell us?
Currently no, because we have not really begun to start to work on it , we’ve only done the concept art. We will start to work on Joe and Mac once Toki is finished, it’s better to work like that when you are a small team. If not , often you start too many different things and finish nothing.
When should we expect more info/a release date on Joe And Mac?
I hope for the end of the year 2010 but it’s not confirmed. I think lets enjoy Toki first.
How long of a game is Toki in terms of levels and such?
In our Toki version, you’ll have 6 Different level , in Arcade mode the level will be short and you will have only one life , and in console mode all level will be really different and you’ll get 3 piece of heart before die.
Yeah you well heard 2 different mode ; Arcade and Console. In Arcade Mode to finish the game the first time around 1 hour will be need and in console around 3 hours. But you could re play the game several times to unlock everything.
Including something special, a guest star and why not a cheat menu, you remember this kind of menu in the old games right?
Can you shed some light on when the release date for Toki is?
I can’t confirm any date now. You know honestly the game will be finished when it is finished. ;) I hope soon, something sure tells me that it will be this year.
Are there any other games that you guys may have in mind?
Many, Wonderboy, Windjammer, and some other from old Capcom license, but for the moment we need to finish our work on Toki and I think Sega and Capcom could see what we could do!
Any word yet on the price point?
Not confirmed yet but around 12US$ or €.
Thanks for talking with us today. Anything you’d like to say to your fans?
It’s Golgoth who would like to thank you for allowing us to share our work with your reader!!! About our fans , I just like to say continue to support us like you have from the beginning, we will do our best to not disappoint you ! Thanks for all people who like 2D Games and who share the same opinion.
TheGamersHub would like to thank Golgoth for the amazing and insightful interview and wish them the best of luck on all their future games. Thanks for the exclusive concept art of Joe And Mac, keep it here for breaking news on Golgoth Studio and their games. Don’t hesitate to check out their site for more screens of Toki and more concept art from Joe And Mac. Feel free to comment in the forums and below.
Short URL: http://thegamershub.net/?p=2826
Posted by AnthonyD
on Feb 4 2010. Filed under News, Playstation 3, Xbox 360.
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