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Interview with James Justin (Gameplay & AI Programmer) Discussing The Arcslinger

What did you work on for The Arcslinger?

James: I'm a gameplay & AI programmer, but on Arcslinger I also did audio programming. I wrote the behavior for many of the enemies and I created the flight mechanics of almost all of the enemy projectiles. 

  What was the hardest challenge you faced when working on The Arcslinger and how did you overcome it?

James: The greatest challenge was on the audio side. Phones only have a limited number of sounds they can play at once.  That meant that we had sounds cutting out when the player would fire rapidly. I improved the audio priority system so that fewer sounds would be cut out and instead we would not play sounds that were quieter or less important when loud rapid gunshots were taking place. Choosing which sounds to play or not in such a situation was a balancing act that took a lot of work to get right.

  What was your favorite element you worked on in the game?

James: Enemy evasion is my favorite of the AI elements that I worked on. Melee enemies that only run to attack the player and ranged enemies that run to cover points to shoot the player don't look particularly intelligent. However, when you aim at an enemy and they jump or tumble to dodge the attack, it makes it clear to the player that the enemies are aware of their own mortality and they're paying attention to where the player is aiming. It's a pretty simple game mechanic but it makes the enemies appear far more intelligent and interesting.

What did you have the most fun working on?

James: I had a lot of fun working on the boomerang.  We couldn't use realistic boomerang flight behavior because boomerangs are designed for use in large open areas and our levels are filled with obstacles and other enemies. Instead we went with a side to side motion that might not be realistic but is what the player could expect to see from an alien version of this exotic weapon. This motion made it hard to for the player to shoot but it kept it in the player's field of view and made it feel dangerous. It feels very satisfying to shoot it and reflect it back to the thrower.

  What was your favorite feature that was added to the game during production?

James: The release date for the Daydream was pushed back and that extra time allowed us to add a greater variety of enemies. My favorite of these was the exploding barrel bot.  It was by far the simplest enemy to implement but it's my favorite because sticking legs on an exploding barrel with a lit fuse and having it run at the player is hilarious.

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Interview with Sean Wissler (Game Designer) Discussing The Arcslinger

What did you work on for The Arcslinger?  

Sean: I was one of the design leads for The Arcslinger.  I focused on slings, the game economy and difficulty tuning.  I also created half of the levels in the game.

What was your favorite element or feature you got to work on for the game? 

Sean: I'm very happy with Arcs and slinging. We managed to refine the controls into a system that works well with the Daydream controller, and we created a number of powerful, diverse effects that dramatically change the way a player approaches each level. Believe it or not, we almost replaced our slinging controls near the end of production with a very simple "press and hold" system. During play testing too many people were having a hard time successfully slinging. Thankfully, one of our engineers figured out the real problem - we had made some incorrect assumptions about how the Daydream controller functioned under the hood. Once we corrected that issue player success rates went through the roof and we regained confidence in the "Street Fighter" style of slinging controls you see in the final game.

                        From concept to final product, a lot of things change. In what ways did The Arcslinger we see today change from the initial concept?

Sean: Originally The Arcslinger was pitched a 1 vs 1 dueling game, as if the game consisted entirely of boss fights in the vein of the Gold Smoke encounters. We quickly realized we didn't have the time or resources to craft that many specialized encounters and pivoted into the "shooting gallery" style you see in the finished product.

What was your favorite design feature that was added to the game?

Sean: Originally, Arc upgrading didn't exist. The player would randomly find higher level Arcs as he or she progressed further into the game. I'm glad we replaced it with what you see in the final game - spending coins to upgrade Arcs you already have. It gave back some player agency in a progression system that was a little too random.

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Interview with Richard Robledo (Senior Producer) Discussing The Arcslinger

I’m proud of the game we created. Rarely does a small studio have the opportunity to develop an original IP. - Richard Robledo

  What parts of The Arcslinger did you work on?

Richard: I wrote the initial concept for The Arcslinger and pitched it to the team. During the project’s development, I had my hand in almost all aspects of the game’s production.

  In what ways did The Arcslinger change from the initial concept?

Richard: From concept to the final product, there were quite a few changes. My initial pitch had a much more serious tone; a stylized Red Dead in a sense. I envisioned characters decked out in long coats of varying colors, lots of leather and dust, but super stylish like Final Fantasy character designs – gold-tipped boots, dangling chains from their hips, silver-plated gang insignias on their hats, and custom weapons so cool that players would want them in real life. I also wanted an elegant gesturing system when slinging, as if you were drawing shapes in midair to activate your arcs while your guns are spinning, which seemed like a perfect fit for Vive, Oculus, and PSVR.

As production began, we realized that going with a more fun and cartoon-style look and feel was a better fit for the fiction on Daydream. All of the ultra-detailed, high-res, high-poly character designs that I originally envisioned didn’t make sense for mobile VR. We needed to ensure the game ran at 60-90 frames per second. Once we had the Daydream hardware, we needed to adjust the sling system to fit with the controller’s capabilities, which led to the thumbpad swiping system. I firmly believe the swipe we used for the sling system remains one of the better uses of the Daydream controller.

   What concept or design feature do you wish could have been kept in the game?

Richard: I wish we could have kept the additional gangs we had designed. There just wasn’t enough time to create the models, design their unique abilities, and create their unique animations. It’s a shame, because we had some really awesome themes for our gangs. I’m hoping they’ll appear in the future.

Early concept art by John Pearson.

What was your favorite design feature that was added to The Arcslinger during production?

Richard: My favorite feature added to the game was the human, robot, and anthropomorphic character classes.

   Was there anything that got cut during production that you feel improved the gameplay?

Richard: Definitely the super long thumb-swiping combos in my initial design. I originally wanted some slings to have up to ten directional gestures. The designers put me in check on that, and I’m glad they did.

   What was the hardest challenge you faced when working on The Arcslinger and how did you overcome it?

Richard: The hardest challenge was developing the game while the hardware was being developed. Specifically with the controller, we didn’t get the final design until a few months into production. Up until that point, we had no idea if our control system was going to feel good. We pulled it off by trusting in our development experience, and having great communication with Google about the evolution of the controller.

   What did you have the most fun working on?

Richard: I loved working with the lead designers to establish the sling mechanics and arc abilities. At the same time, working with Bob Rafei (Founder, CEO, and Creative/Visual Director) on finding the game’s art style, as well as writing the story and dialog.

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Meet the team in this behind the scenes look at the development of The Arcslinger for Daydream.

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Check out The Arcslinger exclusively on Daydream.

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Check out the first look for The Arcslinger only on Daydream.

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We are pleased to be one of the first developers committed to making Daydream apps!