A Hole New World (By Mad Gear Games) – Indie Feature

We’ve seen a lot of 16-bit-inspired IndieDev projects before but never an 8-bit one, until now!  We’re so excited about this one that the AA crew have already backed it on Humble.  Mad Gear Games are Miguel, Daniel and JJ and I managed to catch up with them for a quick Q&A about “A Hole New World” – an 8-bit platformer where you play (partially) upside down – whaaaaaat?

 

A-Hole-New-World-Mad-Gear-Games-1Guys!  Congrats on getting “A Hole New World” greenlit and kickstarted – please tell us a bit about the title and the inspiration behind it.

 

MGG crew – Thank you!  It all started at Ludum Dare 30, Daniel wanted to make a Megaman-like game (hooray! – Ed) and the “theme” we had to follow was “Connected Worlds”.  From there the idea of the two worlds was born. The game was well received, people liked it, we liked it, and so decided to make it bigger and better.  And we can certainly say that all classic games we love like Mega Man, Castlevania, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and others serve as an inspiration.

 

Are you all big NES fans?

 

Daniel – I’m a big NES fan yep.  I like NES games since I was a kid but actually I couldn’t finish most of them. It was in my university period when I replayed all the classics and I really understood why they are so good.  I’m trying to finish Castlevania for the NES now, it’s taking a bit of time and I’m dying a lot…

 

Miguel – When I was a kid we had an Spectrum at home so I had to go to schoolmate’s place to be able to play Super Mario, Duck Hunt… and would say that not being able to play just whenever you like makes it even more valuable to you.

 

JJ – I love 8 and 16 bit consoles. My favourite is the SNES but I really like its predecessor.  I enjoy crispy pixels, and I get goose bumps when I listen good old NES music 🙂

 

A-Hole-New-World-Mad-Gear-Games-2We really love the style of the game, apart from the NES, what inspires you to create such great graphics?

 

MGG crew – We wanted to imitate the style and graphics of those games we liked in the early 90s. Probably other games like Shovel Knight and Oniken doing the same thing had an influence. If they do it, we do it too! 😀 We like manga and anime, so these things undoubtedly influenced us too.

 

What will set “A Hole New World” apart from other indie arcade games available?

 

MGG crew – Its NES graphics and its two worlds mechanics together with a high difficulty and today’s playability will be the things that will make it bright. When you jump into a hole,  it would normally kill you, however in this game what happens is that you appear in another world, upside down. And playing upside down is not as easy as it may seem. 😉 (we’re dying to give this a go… – Ed)

 

Martha!!! The gravity's gone off again!
Martha!!! The gravity’s gone off again!

When are you hoping to release the game and how can our readers get a copy?

 

MGG crew – We want to release it in December. At first it will be available on Steam, and a little bit later we want to launch it on as many platforms as possible. Even though the Kickstarter is over, we are giving an opportunity to those who didn’t make it on time so that they can back us through Humble Bundles here: http://www.madgeargames.com/aholenewworld/paypal.html

 

These will be available until September 15th.

 

Also lots of our backers are currently enjoying our beta :).

 

On your twitter page it says your location is Spain/Austria – tell us a bit more about Mead Gear Games and how this split between locations works.

 

MGG crew – The lead programmer (Daniel) lives in Austria and works from there, the game designer (Miguel) and the pixel artist (JJ) live in Spain (although Miguel moves a lot!). We communicate on a daily basis using hangouts, so is not much of a problem.

 

Do you have any other retro-style projects in the pipeline?

 

MGG crew – Yes. The next game is going to be a 16-bit project. We cannot reveal anything else yet 😉 But please follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/madgeargames) and Facebook (facebook.com/madgeargames) and we’ll keep you updated!

 

A-Hole-New-World-Mad-Gear-Games-3What was your first console?

 

Daniel – My first console was a family computer. It was probably a copy of the family computer in japan but I’m not sure. The games were in japanese at least…

 

Miguel – If we forget about the Spectrum and the 286 PC, I would say the Donkey Kong II Game & Watch :D. As for home console, the Sega Megadrive (it was my brother’s but still… ^^’) .

 

JJ – Atari 2600 (yes, I’m that old!).

 

If you could go for a few drinks with any video game character – who would you choose and why?

 

Daniel – This was a surprising question. I like it. It took me some time to formulate an answer. I assume Samus Aran from Metroid would be very interesting to talk to.  I would also be curious to hear what Ark from Terranigma (SNES) would tell me 🙂

 

Miguel – Hanging out with FFIX troop sounds like a super fun idea.

 

JJ – I am a teetotaler, so no drinks for me 🙂  Anyway I wouldn’t mind to have some sodas with Kirby, I’d like to ask him what is his secret for transforming himself into what he eats… I always wanted to have the powers of a potato! That and to make the Kirby dance properly ^(^_^)^ <(^_^<) ^(^_^)^ (>^_^)> <(^_^)>

 

Thanks so much guys – we can’t wait for the game’s release in December!

 

http://www.madgeargames.com/

 

Dylan

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