Interview mit den Entwicklern von Crush

Deutsch | English

We talked to Paul Mottram from Zoë Mode about their mind-flipping PSP game Crush. What can you expect and why is this game so addictive? Find out all you need to know and have fun with this interview

PlaystationPortable.de: First of all can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Zoë Mode, who is behind the project and what did you do before this game?

Paul Mottram: I am Paul Mottram from Zoë Mode and I’m the Producer on Crush, which is being released on the PSP by SEGA this summer. Zoë Mode specialises in fresh new genres for new audiences and tries to offer unique imaginative games for all ages.

As well as Crush, Zoë Mode specialises in music and party games, to date EyeToy: Play games and SingStar in collaboration with Sony London Studio.



PlaystationPortable.de: Can you tell us more about your decision and why you wanted to develop for the PSP?

Paul Mottram: Crush was a game that originated through a desire to combine both 3D and 2D gaming into a single title. Using the different perspectives of the cameras, we could provide a unique method of movement around a 2D world, which opened up a myriad of possibilities for puzzle and platforming gameplay.

The PSP is the most powerful handheld console around and we saw a gap in the market for original content on the platform. The puzzle structure of the game is ideal for handhelds. Whilst the PSP is the first platform for the title, we believe the gameplay and experience will be just as good on a home console, which is something we are looking into.

PlaystationPortable.de: Crush comes up with an innovative concept including 2D and 3D puzzle. Can you tell us a little bit more about the gameplay and features of the game?

Paul Mottram: The gameplay is puzzle focused but with a strong platform influence. The aim of each level is to work your way around various obstacles to reach the exit, but along the way you must find enough marbles to unlock the exit, which gives a real emphasis to exploration too.

Each level presents a spatial conundrum, which you can only pass with clever use of crushing to move in between 2D and 3D. The elements in the game are often reminiscent of common puzzle and platformer elements, but each has a crush twist, for instance cogs that only link when crushed together and portraits whose contents jump out of the frame and come to life in 2D.

PlaystationPortable.de: How will the switching between 2D and 3D environments take place? Are there any limitations how often or how at all the levels can be "crushed"?

Paul Mottram: The transition between 2D and 3D is very smooth, giving the player a good chance to see how the different dimensions relate to one another. When the player enters 2D, the artistic treatment of the game changes. The lighting becomes flat to emphasise the 2D but also recreating the look and feel of old 2D platform games. Levels can only be crushed along the cardinal axes and top-down, but these five angles offer a wealth of freedom to the player. When playing through levels in story mode, there is no limit to how often the player can crush or uncrush a level, but hardcore players can replay levels in trophy mode with a fixed time and crush limit.



PlaystationPortable.de: Why do you think remakes are so common on the PSP, rather then producing innovative new concepts based on the features of the handheld system?

Paul Mottram: It takes a while to learn how to create content for a new platform which is why many people have probably gone the easy route with a port first. This was not something we wanted to do as people either already have the games on another platform or they were poor conversions of old titles.

We decided to try something much more innovative and original for our first PSP title because we believed that was what the PSP desperately needed. The PSP owner has just as much right to new and exclusive content as other console owners.

That being said the second wave of titles now coming out for the PSP are a league ahead of the early titles and developers are seeing that you can produce unique content for the platform and still get a return.



PlaystationPortable.de: How easy was it to develop for the PSP? What problems did you face during the development?

Paul Mottram: PSP development has been one of the smoothest I have ever encountered, especially when you consider the early years of the PS2. Sony seemed to listen to developers’ feedback and getting a game up and running is pretty easy. The important thing is not to be complacent and ensure you are fully utilising the hardware.

The major problems on Crush not platform dependent but design based. Such a simple concept suddenly expanded to become one of the hardest things we have ever had to understand, especially from a level design point of view.

The ability to crush an environment into 2D and travel large distances instantly meant that the level designers had have a perfect understanding of how the 3D world would behave and how they could create fun gameplay whilst not creating massive shortcuts across a level.



PlaystationPortable.de: What are your future plans? Which new handheld game will follow for 2007?

Paul Mottram: We will be making more AAA music and party games in the future with announcements to follow in due course on various platforms.

We are never ruling out any specific platforms and we would love to see Crush go down well since we have hundreds of new levels we are aching to build and a long list of ideas that we just could not fit into the first game.

PlaystationPortable.de: What are your favourite handheld games, aside from the ones that are your own developments?

Paul Mottram: I always have Virtua Tennis 3, Football Manager, Everybody Golf and Lumines everywhere I go. The line up for the next few months for the PSP is looking excellent as well with Ratchet & Clank, D&D Tactics and God of War all on the horizon.

PlaystationPortable.de: Is there anything you would like to tell our readers?

Paul Mottram: Buy Crush when it comes out, as you will never have experienced anything like it before. :)

The interview was held for PlaystationPortable.de by Kevin Jensen

Thanks to Paul Mottram for his support.