Interviews

Interview: We shine a light in Glu's eyes, and it confesses all about Cops & Robbers

Free running felonious fun

Interview: We shine a light in Glu's eyes, and it confesses all about Cops & Robbers
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| Cops & Robbers

Tracy took a look at Glu’s forthcoming iPhone parkour extravaganza Cops & Robbers a little while back, and we were intrigued enough to look into its unusual free-running gameplay.

So we took a few minutes to visit Glu’s executive producer at the Moscow studio, Alex Hannay, in jail (not really) to quiz him about the game’s development.

Pocket Gamer: Can you give us a few details on the gameplay of Cops & Robbers?

Alex Hannay: Cops & Robbers is a parkour game - it borrows elements from both racing games and platform games. It combines both these genres into something a little different, a light and accessible action game where you are rewarded for stylish moves and there is a really rich environment to explore.

Multiple routes, different modes and various different challenges on each level also mean that this game has depth - there are some secrets to find!

Where did the idea for the game come from?

The inspiration came from a bunch of different sources and it is hard to say which were the most influential. Of course, parkour is an increasingly popular sport, especially in Russia where the team is based.

The original name of the game came from a completely different concept inside the company, but we loved it so much we had to steal it. When you have a really great name, features sometimes suggest themselves.

All the team have a great love for cartoons and slapstick humour and I think you will see this come through in the cut-scenes and the animations in the game.

Cops & Robbers allows you to essentially play against yourself, is that right? How does this aspect of the game work?

In the game you start playing as the Robber, but whenever you complete a level you unlock that level for play as the Cop, too. When you choose to play as a Cop you chase a ghosted out Robber - yourself in fact!

The game records your movements through each level so when you play as a Cop you chase your own best time. If you get to the end before the Robber then you bust their partner in crime and prepare a nasty surprise for the Robber when they show up.

Now, if you bust the Robber that means you have beaten their best time, so a new time is set and if you were to replay that level as a Robber you would find that the time you were chasing would now be the Cop’s time. So it is similar to shadow or ghost racing but with cross-dressing (sic - ed).

Are we likely to see a similar system introduced as a multiplayer game?

It is a really great idea and we would love to do that in future. The great thing about the iPhone is that it lets us update games with new features after they have been launched.

What was the hardest part about bringing Cops & Robbers to the iPhone?

The simplest and at the same time the hardest task was making the game work well with the touch and tilt interface. It was very easy to get something running, but it took a huge number of iterations before we were comfortable with it and we felt it was natural and direct enough.

The other great challenge was to make the orientation changes work well. You can play the game in landscape or portrait - the display adjusts automatically as you move the phone.

However, when you have a mix of 2D and 3D elements on the screen it is quite tricky to get everything to end up in the right place!

Which aspects of the Cops & Robbers are you particularly proud of?

This has been a real labour of love for the team so it's hard to pick out individual aspects. Everyone has worked very hard on maintaining a consistent tone through the game, a humorous and slightly quirky feeling that is communicated through so many of the game’s details - the adaptive music, the interface, the composition of the cut scenes and the art style.

Everyone in the team is happy with the way character design and animation has worked out - we think they are interesting characters, they have moves we wish we had and it's fun to be able to change the way they look throughout the game.

Are we looking at a racing game here, would you say, or more of a parkour style of gameplay? Cops & Robbers seems to be compared to Mirror’s Edge quite a lot - is that a reasonable comparison?

It's a fair comparison - we definitely want people to think of this as a parkour game rather than a racing game. There is so much interaction with the environment that it becomes a very different experience from racing.

Although hitting a target time is a part of the game (and it is what Cop mode is all about), there are two other challenges in each level (find the diamond and grab all the loot) that you can complete to progress.

So you don’t have to get involved in beating a time at all if you don’t want to - you will still get to have fun fooling around on all the levels.

Are there any updates or sequels planned for Cops & Robbers?

It’s a little too early to say, but we are open to what the community has to say and welcome any feedback for towards possible future instalments.

What’s you next project going to be after Cops & Robbers? Anything you can tell us about?

As a company we have a strong commitment to publishing original games and there are several ideas we are kicking around at the moment.

Some of them are pretty small and toy-like; some of them are larger and more comparable to console titles. In terms of scope, this is a really exciting time to be in games and we hope to share some details of our next title with you soon!

What aspects of Cops & Robbers do you think will make the game stand out of the crowd on the App Store?

The music and sound effects for the game were specially commissioned from a composer who works a great deal in TV and film.

As you play through the levels the tempo and tone of the music becomes more intense as you get closer to the finish. A lot of people play iPhone games listening to their own music but the game music really adds to the atmosphere and it's worth checking out.

There's a feedback feature in the game so anyone who plays it can let us know what they think. Please send in comments, we will take a good look at them all, and since we can update the game after launch, you never know: one of your suggestions might make it into the game!

Thanks very much to Alex and the team at Glu for taking time away from breaking rocks to talk to us.
Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.