I feel as if I speak for a majority of people when I say that platformers hold a special place in our hearts. Whether it be the music of level 1-1 on Super Mario Bros., the first time we experienced 16 bit graphics with Sonic the Hedgehog, or the original mascot of Sega Alex Kidd, we all have fond memories of the genre. Now Quad Games are here with a platformer that by the looks of it will remind you how much games like Mega Man and Ninja Gaiden kicked your ass and sharpened your senses. We recently sat down with Quad Games CEO and Lead Designer Vincenzo Ravo to discuss their upcoming platformer Ninja’s Bo.
GC: What are some of the inspirations behind Ninja’s Bo?
QG: The inspirations of ninja’s bo are the arcade platform games from the 80 and 90, to name some: Ninja Gaiden, Megaman, Super Contra, those games have provided a lot of hours of fun !
GC: What was the inspiration behind the game’s art style?
QG: The ninjas, the japan style and comics, we are trying to get the game over all audience with the fresh 2D comic art
GC: Tell us a little bit about the main character Tsuo Yoki San
QG: Tsuo Yoki San is the best ninja of the Larai Ninja’s clan, he is a master in sword combat, throwing shurikens, casting magic powers and is a deadly human weapon when he has a target, that’s why the Master of the Larai’s Ninja Clan has gave to him the task to retrieve the stolen Mystical Bo.
GC: How will player level upgrades affect the player’s progression through the game?
QG: Through the game the player will find upgrades and powers, the difference between these is simple: the power will add some abilities to the player for a period of time; the upgrade will add more damage, power, health … to the player, the upgrade is permanent, if the player dies he keeps the upgrade, the only way that the player can loose an upgrade is if the player dies before any save point (end or start of the level, this is if the player gets an upgrade for killing a boss and the player dies before he leaves the level, the player lost the upgrade because the game was not saved).
GC: What are some of those player level upgrades we will see?
QG: The player will find shuriken upgrades (increase its damage), sword upgrades (increase the sword’s damage), health upgrade (increase player’s health) also the player will find some object that will increase the base damage of the player, we are planing to add some kind of armor, but we are not clear at all if the armor will be a power to collect or will be a basic item for the player to let him upgrade with some item through the levels.
GC: Can you give us a small sneak peak on some of the bosses we will encounter?
QG: The first boss is a rock golem, the player will face him at the end of the level 2; at the end of the level four the player will face another rock golem but his rocks are on fire, maybe we can call him Rock-Fire Golem; on level 6 the player will face the best ninja from Shiri’s Ninja Clan; on level 8 the player will fight a ninja mechanic robot; the last
boss is on level 10 where the player will fight the master of the Shiri’s Ninja Clan to recover the mystical Bo.
GC: Will Ninja’s Bo be single player only, or will it have some form of co-op play?
QG: At this moment we are planing only the single player campaign, but if the game is a success and the users want multiplayer modes, we can add that options later with a game update.
https://youtu.be/pinI-csokW8
GC: Ninja’s Bo will be released on Windows, Linux, and Mac. If it goes well is there any chance we might see the game being ported over to consoles?
QG: We are hoping that, first release on desktop platform (windows, linux and mac) and then porting the game over to consoles.
GC: What kind of emotions do you hope players will feel while they progress through Ninja’s Bo?
QG: We want the player feel lots of fun and challenge to reach the end of the
level and beat the level’s boss. Also with Ninja’s Bo we want to send a message to all of gamers from the 80 and 90 that the old school platform games is still alive.
GC: When can we expect the game to be released?
QG: We are working hard to release the game on July 2016, but we don’t want to rush the release of the game to avoid bugs and issues in the final release; this mean that if we need to move forward a little the release date to ensure a stable release, we will do it.
GC: Where can our readers keep up with the development of Ninja’s Bo?
QG: the users can follow the news of Ninja’s Bo on http://ninja.quad-games.com.ve and follow Ninja’s Bo on twitter:
@ninjabogame
