Exclusive: FDG's Thomas Kern talks Parachute Panic, wobbly lines and silly music
iAcapella group sings you to your death
For all the expansive, massively multiplayer, online, 3D extravaganzas that are appearing on the iPhone, the staple diet of the platform is still the casual, dexterous puzzler.
FDG Entertainment is about to drop a new contender for the top casual spot onto the App Store, Parachute Panic, in which you pull the chord for a screen full of falling stick figures and attempt to guide them to a safe landing on a boat.
Executive producer and project leader on Parachute Panic, Thomas Kern, took a few minutes out his freefalling time to chat with us about the purpose behind his new game.
Pocket Gamer: Where did the idea for Parachute Panic come from?Thomas Kern: The idea was born during a collective lunch, a few months ago. Piotr Marciniak, our QA manager all of a sudden (he wasn't even finished eating) came up with skydivers, sharks and boats. He had the idea to tap on the skydivers and draw wind to indirectly navigate them. Wow..!
To his surprise, I was immediately enthusiastic about his idea and set up a project team at the same day! Of course, Piotr was assigned to join that team.
Some at FDG have been skeptical about the gameplay (which existed only in theory at that moment) but in the end it turned out to be so much fun. Everyone at FDG is really excited about the final quality and fun factor of the game.
The game has a distinct graphical style. Can you tell us about that decision and whether any other styles were tested out?We knew we wanted to try something different, because with so many apps out on the market... I mean - how can you distinguish your game from 40,000 other apps on first sight?
It was really one of our first ideas to go with the hand-drawn scribble style. That kind of unique, naive and creative art we were all doing during our student time, right? Then the first test scribbles came in and we were all blown away.
Brett Archibald, the graphic designer, did a wonderful job and we knew this was the way to go. So the decision came really quick after that.
Besides the stylish graphics, Parachute Panic also has some fantastic music. Who wrote/recorded it?Luckily, at FDG there are lots of music and sound talents. For instance one of the company founders, Philipp Doeschl, is also running a small professional audio studio.
I was hanging out with him and another friend who is the lead singer of a relatively unknown band called 78-00. I had the idea to support the beautiful hand-drawn graphics of Parachute Panic with some acapella-like music.
I didn't want to have synthesizers this time. Know what? Half an hour later we all went to the studio and began recording some really silly stuff. You can hear the final result in Parachute Panic and we love it! We had a lot of fun that day!
What was the most difficult aspect of Parachute Panic's development?The hand drawn animations and wobbling effect have been a real challenge for the graphic artist but also for the programmer as they took a lot of RAM in the first versions. However, the final version of the game is one hundred per cent stable and the look is really unique.
What part of Parachute Panic are you most proud of?Besides the unique hand-made style it plays so well and fits 100 per cent the target device. I´m really proud of the whole team.
Are any updates to Parachute Panic in the works?We are planning an online scoreboard and some additional event-based music for 1.1. Anything else really depends on the success of the game. We’ll keep our fingers crossed
What advice do you have for players to get those top scores on Parachute Panic?Get the bonus points. Try opening the parachute very late (almost too late).
When you generate wind into a specific direction, the parachutist follows it a few seconds and any further wind in the same direction doesn´t have an effect. So during this time where you can´t push him further you can concentrate on another spot.
When you see that the ship leaves the screen on one side, don´t try to follow it. Move the parachutists into the other direction where the ship comes back in. You´ll find out it´s easier to catch them.
Thunder clouds are indestructible, but they have only one electric charge. In some situations you should sacrifice a parachutist to save a whole group of others if the action on the screen reaches a totally chaotic situation.
Slow down the falling speed by generating updrafts. To do this, swipe upwards.
Thanks for your time, Thomas.
