Axiom Verge 2 Interview – Axiomvania

Prime Directive is a role-playing game embeded in the Celebrity Trek-derived Star Fleet Cosmos. The game has gone via 2 different manifestations.

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Axiom Verge 2 developer Thomas Happ talks to Axiom Verge about the upcoming continuation of Metroidvania.

Axiom Verge is perhaps the purest of the purest when it comes to modern metroidvanias, and it's a game that is still one of the best that this genre has to offer, even if several other indie masterpieces have come and around this throne fought. With axiom verge 2 fans of the genre - and the first game - come out later this year and have reason enough to be excited. We belong to these fans and have recently been hoping to learn more about this sequel, some of our most burning questions sent to developers Thomas Happ. You can read our conversation below.

It's still just me myself, although I have committed a singer for some of the soundtrack tracks. In the previous game, the singing came from a royalty free floppy disk with vocal samples.

How long have you been working on it? Axiom verge 2? Have you started? Development immediately after the first game?

I officially started development in November 2015, although I had previously developed concepts and ideas.

The development of axiom Verge was primarily a one-man show - this continued or has the scope of development expanded?

It's still just me myself, although I have committed a singer for some of the soundtrack tracks. In the previous game, the vocals came from a royalty free disc with voice examples.

_ Axiom Verge_ was one of the most famous and best assumed games in the first wave of resurgence of metroidvanias. Since then, many other games have come to his footsteps to deliver some really outstanding experiences. Did you look at one of these games and be inspired by them?

I looked at many of them and it's exciting for me that they perform so well, but it's hard for me to play them once again because they remember me so much to the work. It's more like buying one or watching a longplay and try to find out how to solve certain problems, such as: As the user interface or the inventory management or controls or the accessibility. It also helps to follow other developers on Twitter and talk to them. Often they say: Hey, did you know that I have discovered this cool thing in the development of X? And it becomes a thread.

Speaking inspirations: You have games like zelda, horizon, shadow of the colossus, prey, _ and _Grabräuber as a bigger influence on axiom verge 2 - you can talk more in more detail? Relate yourself to narrative and thematic similarities or on mechanical and gameplay functions or a combination of both?

I meant more game design elements. One thing that these games have in common is that the player can determine his own progress. It is less about controlling segments of the game between Big Boss fighting than rather about hiking and takeover when they are ready.

Hopefully we publish on all systems. We have not announced no other yet.

About how long does an average playing of axiom verge 2 be?

I go to about 10 hours. About the same as axiom verge 1.

Do you have plans to start on other systems after the switch publication of the game?

Hopefully we publish on all systems. We have not announced no other yet. You have to be careful with these things, because if I think: Oh yes, I definitely want to publish on platform X, could turn out that platform Y really wanted to make a big promotion, and now they made them madly. Besides, I can only work as much ... If I posted 5 platforms at the same time, I would have to postpone the release date and may not give every platform the devotion I want. On the other hand, I could publish on a platform, but the platforms on which I first do not publish can violate their feelings. I know many of these people personally and it's terrible to decide.

What is the docked and non-docked resolution and frame rate of the switch version?

432 x 240 at 60 fps for both.

Much has been talked about SSDs whose function was confirmed for both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. What is the greatest impact on development?

Basically nothing. I redesigned the engine so that you take the largest part of the store when booting the game. Even if I did not do it, pixel-art games like this generally need not be nearly as much time to load like games of type AAA.

Speaking hardware next generation: The PS5 and the Xbox Series X will both have a Zen 2-CPU - how big is the jump over the hardware of the current generation from your point of view and how will it continue help with development?

This is hardly important for this type of game. If it runs well on Switch, it runs well on everything else. For AAA, this simply means more stuff - larger worlds, more stuff in these worlds, more special effects on this stuff.

Culturally, I think it's important if games should not be lost in history. For consumers, downward compatibility definitely means added value for the platforms on which they are available. For developers, this saves us the problem to gather again and again.

Downward compatibility is something else, whereupon both new consoles are pretty strong. Which influence will this in your opinion have both from the perspective of developers and consumers?

Culturally, I think it's important if we do not want games in history. For consumers, this is definitely a added value for the platforms on which it is available. For developers, the problem saves us to gather again and again. I know that there are some companies who want to get a boost every time a game is released for the next generation, but overall, I think that the costs of this directive are that many games will be forgotten. The Microsoft Directive to be backward to the first generation is in my opinion the best, and I hope to find Sony and Nintendo ways to do so.

The Xbox Series X has 12 Tflops GPU. How will this affect the graphics of video games?

It only means more details and better lighting through raytracing. Of course, the frame rates are still at 30 fps, as developers want to bring the hardware to their limits.

How do you see the Haptic Activated Controller of the PS5? Do you think it's something that can contribute significantly to an experience, or will it only be a novelty?

I think it could be neat to enhance dipping. It could be really good for racing games without steering wheel control. However, it could also be frustrating if you are used to having precise and consistent controls, and these controls change now, depending on which surface is a character running.