Sponsored Feature: OneEyeAnt talks to us about Kill the Clowns, its alternative approach to tower defence

Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, is not an uncommon affliction.

And developer OneEyeAnt clearly empathises with all the clown discomfort out there. It has created a whole game around ridding the world of those uncanny valley jokers.

Mel Teruz and Fede Puopolo, developers at OneEyeAnt, talked to us about their kooky tower defence game Kill The Clowns.

Pocket Gamer: First of all, could you summarise the mechanics involved in Kill the Clowns?

Mel Teruz (MT): Kill the Clowns is a tower defence game with an intuitive interface designed even for people who have never played a tower defence game before.

The aim is to stop the invading 'alien clowns' from stealing five vulnerable babies by placing different circus performers along the enemy's route. Success or failure depends on a well-defined strategy for each wave of attacks, considering that every defender and every enemy has different abilities.

Fede Puopolo (FP): Well, I think that all tower defence lovers, including me, are a little bit tired of wars between armies of futuristic soldiers, barbarians, or wizards.

But, in Kill the Clowns, the characters really stand out and have strong personalities. In addition, this game has a unique and ridiculous story that both kids and adults will enjoy. It was very important for us to involve gamers with the story from the beginning.

MT: The most important thing about the game is that it has a steady difficulty curve. The first levels are very easy and are used as a way to learn about the game's mechanics. But as you progress, there are some significant gameplay mechanics that force you to rethink your strategy, making Kill the Clowns more fun each time you play it.

FP: Another aspect that keeps things fresh is that every level is entirely different and only lasts a few minutes each. This means Kill the Clowns can be enjoyed in short bursts in your spare time.

MT: And, of course, the artwork is beautiful, it has stunning music and sound design, and each character has unique functionality. All of this makes Kill the Clowns really addictive.

Are there any unlockables, or customisable elements?

FP: On each chapter of the story, you'll discover new characters, such as The Old-Strongman, The Fire-Blower, The Magician, or The Bearded Lady, who will present new challenges by adding new defence strategies to defeat those nasty alien-clowns.

MT: These new characters not only unlock their own skills, but can also be mixed and matched with other defending units to create effective combinations. For example, The Bearded Lady makes human defenders near her fall in love, improving their attack range and damage per shot.

On the other hand, The Mime can hypnotize groups of enemies for a few seconds, giving you extra time to kill them with another defender. It’s up to you how to join different characters together to make more powerful attacks.

What was the hardest part of developing Kill the Clowns?

FP: Without a doubt, the hardest part of the process was to create something unique.

We are big tower defence lovers, so from the beginning we wanted to make a game that we have never played before. This made us work really hard to stand out from the rest with the story, the art, the fully animated characters, and the specific strategies needed to succeed on each level.

Now that the game is on the App Store, we're excited to look at the reviews and see if we achieved our goal!

Of which part of the game are you personally the most proud and why?

MT: I'm very proud to be part of this project. Kill the Clowns took us more than a year to create, and I've had the luck to work with some of my best friends and some great professionals.

Each one gave his best to make the illustrations, UI design, animations, music, programming, copywriting, and gameplay engineering to the high standards of any successful game. I'm proud to think that we accomplished that.

Are there any plans for updates in Kill the Clowns - and if so, can you tell us what they'll include?

FP: Our idea is to release regular updates so as not to let down the people that downloaded the game. The first update is coming in a few weeks, and we will include better integration with Game Center, adding more hidden cheats to unlock achievements, and the possibility to see what your position is on the Global Ranking of each chapter in the story.

MT: We are also working on the creation of new levels and new characters to continue with the story.

The only thing I can tell you right now is that all of the updates will be free and we won't be adding in-app purchases in Kill the Clowns. Anyone who bought the game will be able to enjoy all the updates we will make in the future. We will also keeping a close eye on any suggestions that players make in their reviews.

Will you port the game to Android or any other formats?

FP: It's a possibility. For now, we are thinking about making Kill the Clowns available for Android, but we don't want to rush the process because our main priority is making Kill the Clowns better for the iOS users who bought it.

You can download Kill the Clowns now for iPhone and iPad for $2.99 / £2.49 on iTunes.

You can check out a trailer for the game below.

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