We have a special interview for WiiWare fans…
Name: Collin van Ginkel
Position: Creative Director (Lead Designer on RUSH)
1). Rubik’s Puzzle Galaxy RUSH is obviously based and inspired by the original Rublik’s Cube that was launched in the 1980’s, can you please tell us why and how you secured the license?
We were approached by The Game Factory with the request to come up with something to use the license for. We decided that we needed to take a fresh approach and be inspired by the original Rubik’s Cube instead of basing the game directly on it. The Game Factory agreed with our approach and off we went!
2). Can you please tell us what games the team has worked on before, the size of the development team on RUSH and how long the game has been in development from initial planning to launch?
Recent Two Tribes games include Toki Tori for WiiWare and Worms Open Warfare 2 for Nintendo DS. For RUSH we had a team of roughly nine people working on it during development. I think we started work on RUSH early on in the year, but development had been stalled a few times.
3). Apart from the original Cube, what other puzzle games (video and puzzle games) do you feel have influenced the development of Rush?
Basically any puzzle game you play, inspires you to come up with something equally, if not more devious When you look at the finished product there is more than a hint of Chu Chu Rocket in RUSH, but oddly enough it did not start out this way. Originally the idea was to have highways with cubes being stuck in traffic jams, that you had to safely guide around, but we ended up with a much tighter and abstract design you see today.
4). What are the main features of RUSH? What should gamers be getting most excited about?
We’ve created a three-dimensional puzzle game that works really well. RUSH is an original game that is a complete and polished package. We’ve got more than 70 RUSH levels, the original Rubik’s Cube as a bonus, a tutorial on how to solve one, online leaderboards to compare scores and a really polished audio-visual presentation.
5). How will RUSH stand out from other competitive puzzle games on WiiWare?
There are a lot of two dimensional puzzle games that are based on the match-three style of gameplay made popular by Bejeweled. RUSH stands out because it is a three dimensional puzzle game which uses the Wii Remote that would not be possible on competing consoles.
6). Please tell our readers what feature of RUSH you are most excited back?
I really like the look and feel of the game helps out in the gameplay department. The game has a minimalistic look that helps communicate the basic information while looking stylish.
7). How will the two player mode work?
The two player mode works with a split-screen setup, competing for the best time or the best score. Two players can compete in any of the five Rubik’s Cube modes. By far the most interesting is the score based mode, which requires no previous knowledge of how to solve one, that asks the player to create patterns on the front of a solved cube.
8). The visual style of the game looks very fresh and inviting – what can gamers expect when the progress through RUSH?
The menu is presented in the metaphor of a star system, with a bright star in the middle where the gameplay takes place and planets orbiting the star that house the different difficulty levels. We use this to unlock planets as players get further into the game, presenting players with increasingly complex levels and situations.
9). Can you tell us about your plans for releasing future Rubik’s games – will they all be released on WiiWare or do you also plan to release on other digital platforms such as XBLA and PSN?
We have enough ideas to continue the series for quite some time and most do involve the Wii Remote in some way. So I’d say it is exclusive to WiiWare for the time being!