Recently, I have been able to interview Joe Albrethsen, director of DubWars from MURA Interactive LLC. It reached $34, 509 by the end of its funding period on July 21, 2013, gathering 358 backers. They got DubWars Greenlit through steam, and are in the middle of finishing up the beta. Here is what he had to say..
Cliqist : For the readers that don’t know much about DubWars, could you tell us a little about it? How did the idea come up?
Joe Albrethsen : DubWars is a classic arcade shooter where your weapons are controlled by the music. It started as “lets make a game to Dubstep music”. Little did we know what we were about to unleash. Dubstep is full of high energy and hard hitting bass that lends itself very well to the sounds of weapons. It is a lot of fun creating giant lasers and explosions to the different beats. There is such a wide variety and amazingly talented artists. We have the opportunity to help visualize their audible creativity.
Cliqist : Why specifically was the OUYA a console of interest for DubWars in particular?
Joe Albrethsen : Before the company was even officially formed, I invested in the OUYA Kickstarter. The passion from Julie and the OUYA team could really be felt. It was a chance to test new game ideas on a small audience that would be much more forgiving as you work out the kinks. Our success on the platform has lead to many great relationships and opportunities within the industry. The OUYA team is still very supportive and have been great to work with.
Cliqist : Despite not reaching stretch goals, in time does MURA Interactive LLC intend to expand to other consoles?
Joe Albrethsen : We intend to bring DubWars to as many platforms as we can. Development is being done with Unity3d which helps with porting to the different platforms. Summer will include Mobile Tablet devices, Steam (PC, Mac, Linux), OUYA, and the Leap Motion. Then the plan is to release on all major game consoles in the Fall. We have commitments for most of them and are in the application process for the remainder.
Cliqist : When the team was planning out and developing the game idea, why particularly did Dubstep stand out and seem like a good choice? Why not Drum and Bass, Speedcore, Industrial Music, etc.?
Joe Albrethsen : Dubstep is where we started our search, but has led to some great finds. Some of the songs might be classified as Trap or Metalstep. We have a set of criteria that each song must meet. As the game expands there will definitely be more exploration of the different genres.
Cliqist : A lot of research and internet exploration was required to find the right tunes for DubWars. Did this expand anyone’s music taste? Did it change yours or any of the other staff’s opinion of Dubstep in any way? Or was there a pre-existing liking for it?
Joe Albrethsen : Absolutely, there is so much great music being created. Then there are all the remixes on top of that. Celldweller – Tough Guy was remixed by Tim Ismag to make it a perfect candidate for the game. Just thinking about it makes my head start to bob. I have some days where the repeat button gets pressed over and over again.
Cliqist : Prior to trying out the demo, I disliked Dubstep. But after giving it a go, I find some of it pretty awesome. Have you noticed a trend like this in community following Dubwars? Or rather, would you say the community is mainly composed of people who liked it to begin with?
Joe Albrethsen : That is actually pretty common. One of my favorite comments was someone who had his girlfriend complain about him downloading the game because of the Dubstep, then hours later exclaiming a new found love. We have received videos of 3 year olds dancing around while mom is blasting away at a new high score. There is a lot of satisfaction that comes from disrupting preconceived notions about the genre.
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liqist : Speaking of disliking Dubstep, for those who dislike it or either aren’t too familiar with it, is there anything about Dubwars that can still appeal to them? Would you recommend it to them?
Joe Albrethsen : Dubstep is used a lot more than people might think. Some of the powerful movie trailers you watch that really get your attention, advertising campaigns, and recently its inclusion into other genres of music. While DubWars is a single player game, many are just mesmerized and enjoy watching others play. It is a lot of fun and offers simple controls.
Cliqist : The design in the demo was absolutely stunning. You had mentioned a new art direction for the game, what changes should we expect to see? Why the change?
Joe Albrethsen : Part of the feedback we have received has been an appreciation for the visuals, but that things are very chaotic. In changing the art direction to include more depth with a 3d look, it also allows for more structure in the gameplay design. Before everything was procedural and random. The new changes will allow for players to compete and show off their level of mastery. One area where DubWars excels is the level of customization for each song. Expect to see some crazy and abstract ideas as each level is custom built to correlate with the music.
Cliqist : Other than the BETA release, what is the current status of DubWars and is there a release date in mind? Are there any more levels or additions to look forward to?
Joe Albrethsen : We are in the process of overhauling everything to include the new art style and gameplay features. For those that get in on the BETA they will have first access to all the changes. We are working towards a Summer release and will continue to refine the game until then. Each level will have a Boss Mode, it is what I look forward to the most. Visit www.dubwarsgame.com to stay up to date on the latest.
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[follow id=”Cliqist” size=”large” count=”true” ] [author image=”http://cliqist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/julie.jpg” ]Julie Morley is a freelance writer and comic artist from Spring, Texas. She attended the Academy of Art University for two years, studying Animation and Illustration. Whilst here, she learned about writing comic scripts, storyboards, and general storytelling. Since leaving college, she has been working on personal comic projects, stories, and illustrations. She aspires to release a self published comic within two years. For the majority of her life, she has been playing console games, typically being third-person shooters and sandboxes. Her favorite game of existence is Dark Cloud II (Dark Chronicle) and her favorite Indie game is Gone Home.[/author]
