We here at Cliqist recently had the privilege to interview the esteemed Nick Pasto, developer of the upcoming Super Chibi Knight, an action RPG programmed by 33-year-old Nick and written by his 8-year-old daughter. Here’s what he had to say…
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Cliqist : Hello, Nick, why don’t you introduce yourself to the readers and let us know a little bit about yourself and your experience as a game maker?
Nick Pasto : Hi there! My name is Nick Pasto, also known as “PestoForce.” I’ve been making games for the past 10 years. My most popular game is Abobo’s Big Adventure that I made along with Roger from i-mockery.com and Poxpower from thepoxbox.com. Abobo won Newgrounds.com’s “Game of the Year” in 2012 and JayIsGames.com’s “Best Action/Adventure Game” of 2012.
Close in popularity to Abobo’s Big Adventure was the original Chibi Knight flash game, that I made with my daughter Bella and which is the pre-cursor to the project we’re working on now “Super Chibi Knight.”
Cliqist : What exactly is Super Chibi Knight, and what are a few of the features we’ll be able to expect from this?
Nick Pasto : Super Chibi Knight is a classic-style platforming hack n’ slash RPG along the lines of Zelda 2, Ghouls n’ Ghosts, and Castlevania for the NES. It features a little, cute knight that gets caught up in a big adventure to save her kingdom from the evil sorcerer “General Tso.” As you play, you’ll collect experience coins which allow you to level up your character in 3 areas: Armor, Special, and Attack. As you level up, you’ll not only get stronger, but your appearance changes to show which level you’re at. So level 7 armor and level 5 sword look a whole lot more menacing than level 2 armor and level 1 sword.
Additionally, as you progress through the game you’ll have to make a decision between 2 custom specialization paths: Sorcerer or Beast-Master. As you would suspect, the sorcerer path has you finding and learning cool spells to help you defeat the bad guys, while the Beast-Master path has you finding and taming different “beast-mounts” that you can ride around and chomp on enemies with.
Each path significantly effects how the remainder of the game plays out, so you’ll probably want to play through the game a few times just to see the full story-arc.
Cliqist : How has it been working with your daughter on the game? Have any particularly funny or interesting conversations or story arcs come out of the experience yet?
Nick Pasto : It’s been a lot of fun! In the original Chibi Knight webgame, she just did the voices, but in this one she’s helped with concept art, story line, voice acting, and play-testing. I like to consult with her because her ideas are always so fresh and un-fettered by traditional gaming tropes.
For example, one of the boss battles she came up with involves a Panda (her favorite animal) who was hit in the head and developed a cartoon-like “Looney Tunes” bump on its head. The lump was possessed by the spirit of a dead witch and subsequently took control of the Panda’s brain, turning it evil…. your job in the boss battle is to subdue the innocent panda, without injuring it, and remove the ghostly witch-lump from its head. If you are successful you will be rewarded with the ability to ride the panda into future battles!
Cliqist : Is it just you and your daughter, or is there a small development team?
Nick Pasto : It is only us, plus we are working with the talented Brian Holmes for the game music.
Cliqist : Can we expect any kind of branching character development or customization?
Nick Pasto : (See the magician/beastmaster stuff above) If we can raise enough money through Kickstarter, it would be fun to add a 3rd specialization story arc.
Cliqist : How can fans help to make Super Chibi Knight a reality?
Nick Pasto : Please support our Kickstarter Campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pestoforce/super-chibi-knight-a-cute-spicy-rpg-adventure
Please give us a “Yes” vote on Steam Greenlight or become a Beta Tester on our website. We’re really excited to make Super Chibi Knight a game filled with love and attention to the small charming details.
[divider]Thanks to Nick for taking the time to answer our questions. You can learn more about Super Chibi Knight on it’s Kickstarter page where it’s seeking $6,000 in backing before its March 24th campaign deadline.
