23 Oct, 2011
Well, says creative lead Kim Swift, it’s supposed to be a game about puzzles and a lot of fun. In a recent interview with Joystiq, the creative lead of Airtight Games and ex-Valve developer talked about the unveiling of her latest creation, Quantum Conundrum, at the Pacific NW’s biggest nerdfest PAX.
“All I care about is, ‘Is the game fun? Are players gonna pick it up and have a good time?’ That, first and foremost, is my job,” said Swift at NYCC.
“Making first-person puzzle games is what I like to do,” Swift continued. “And there aren’t a whole lot of games…there’s Portal, and that’s about it. So, to me, this is the kind of game that I want to play myself.” Since Portal is really the only other title in the genre, then of course the comparisons are going to be there. Swift doesn’t seem too concerned with it, as she believes if gamers like it, they’ll play it, similar or not.
When she was given her own team at Airtight, Swift explained that Quantum Conundrum wasn’t a “you must do this or DIE” decision. A democratic process was started, where everyone on the team wrote out an idea, and the group in turn voted on them. It just so happened that the puzzler won out, due to ease of concept. “It just happens that this one came out on top just because it was really easy to implement right away and test,” said Swift.
So began the journey of this crazy game. The game features puzzles per room — that is, each room contains its own puzzle, and also contains elements that can be quickly taken out, added back in, and tested. It will make for fast development and tweaking, since the game hopes to ship early next year. It also makes the possibility of DLC all that much more real, and Airtight hopes that gamers will be asking for more once the title is completed.
Quantum Conundrum will be available early 2012. Until then, we’ll be plenty busy with the big titles releasing in November. Will you be trying to solve these puzzles?
For the full interview, head over here.
Via Joystiq.
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