Igrorama in English

Today, we will be talking to people from Different Pixel, the studio behind Vizati. You had the chance to read a review of the game, and now you will find out something more about it's authors.

Different Pixel: Hello, we are a very small team, composed by David Amador and Rita Silva, a programmer and a graphic artist. We joined forces for making websites back in 2006 but we recently decided to start game development and Vizati is our first game.

Rita: When we decided the concept of the game, I ended up drawing what I felt, what I would love to see in this type of game. If this game is challenging and if there’s a chance of making someone nervous or angry, so the environment should cause the opposite effect. It would help to keep the balance. The music came up to help and to give life to the rest of the environment.

When the first scenario was finished and we started to play the first 15 levels, we thought that we could do a little more besides a static environment, so I created night, day, Ben, Julie and all the other characters. All the scenarios of the arcade mode are related to the scenarios and story of story mode, it´s like the beginning of what happened to the cube. Everything may be a little abstract but with a meaning and a combination of love, art and of course, a puzzle game.

DP: When the idea for the core game play of Vizati came up to our heads we decided to go to a more artistic path instead of making it a traditional puzzle game.

Our main goal was to experiment art with a simple game, something that everyone could immediately understand backed up with beautiful art. The idea was to create a relaxing environment for every player. We tried to avoid the most common features in traditional puzzle games as much as possible; the idea wasn't to create another “bejeweled” but something with a personal touch.

DP: Game design is an important and present part in both narratives as visual expression. I don’t think one of them is more important than the other, it’s important to have a well-designed narrative and game progress but sound expression is also a key part. Most games rely on sound and visual feedback to give some information to the player; together they are a powerful tool.

DP: Most games tend to compensate a slowed paced game-play with rich art, this helps creating an immersive experience, when the action is more fast-paced small details tend to not matter much. We think most artful games tend to go the least interactivity possible to give you the same feeling that you can have by looking at a painting, you can watch it but don’t move anything, you’ll ruin it.

On Vizati we give some interactivity to the player but not too much, just the essential so they can have the experience we intend, in this case operating the cube. Depending on the type of game it may be hard to balance what the user can do, they might feel cheated or the game may come up too complicated. In the end it’s all about how much love you put in making the game, I think that’s way there are very beautiful games in the indie scene, most do it out of the love of making games, like Braid, Ancient Trader, Aquaria, Machinarium.

David: We were unfamiliar with that concept but it’s a good movement, people tend to put labels like geek just because of gaming on technology which is a wrong thing. Gadgets like PSP, and mostly iPhones/iPads are closing the gap a little, it’s not geek to play on an iPhone, or read a book on an iPad. Many consider reading a book in public socially wrong; most people will watch and go “he has no friends”. So in this case geek gadgets are helping non-geek ones. There’s a revolution happening.

DP: The Indie scene in Portugal and the gaming scene in general are staggered. There are only a few companies that invest in gaming, and even fewer that see it as something else that just a business and invest in something fresh and original. When the iPhone explosion happened, many saw the opportunity to make money, and although investment must start from somewhere, most just want to copycat what’s making success. They may still make money but no one is coming out of the shade. We have some groups working on PS3 and XBOX360 games so hopefully then can bring some coverage to Portugal.

It’s almost impossible to find investment for the PC market and most people don’t consider this as a job but as kid’s play.

DP: Culture is all around us. We have movies, TV, art books, games, we can travel all around the world, and we can get an amount of experiences that can be helpful for developing our creativity. Being or not Portuguese is part of our culture too. In order to create and share we need to have an open mind, and every work that involves creativity requires people who are able to learn and develop their skills.

Everywhere we go, every experience and decision that we make, people we meet, makes us grow and make us be who we are, and all our experiences and culture will be reflected in the way we act, interact, in our work, and in our life.

When we create something, we create based in something we really want, and when we want something we fight for it and, for that culture and experience is never enough.