Trifox is a twin-stick action-adventure inspired by the golden age of 3D platformers: Explore similarly rich, colorful environments but in a different type of game!
Glowfish Interactive is a 3 man independent game development studio founded in 2014 and located in Kortrijk, Belgium. With both a very strong technical and artistic background, the studio aims to create high quality games and interactive 3D experiences for both young and old while pushing the quality boundaries of what can be expected from a small development team. The Trifox demo is now available on steam.
Q: What is something that makes your game unique? We're creating a unique blend with twin-stick combat gameplay, yet it's set in a colourful world inspired by classic platformers. Where similar games will traditionally be set in dark and gloomy, often post apocalyptic or hellscape world, we went the opposite direction and chose a more colourful and stylized environment. Alongside that we feature 3 different playstyles that each have their own set of unique abilities that can be combined and experimented with by the player to create their own loadout that fits their needs. The players decides what they want to unlock in the order that they seem fit as there is no real hierarchy in the abilities and they are free to discover creative combinations.
Q: How did you design the gameplay mechanics of your game?
It's very much an evolutionary/experimental process. We build upon our mechanics layer by layer and add where we feel that things are still lacking. As we are a very small team (we started off with two and only recently hired a third developer) we try to keep things as modular as possible so that our systems and mechanics can build on top of each other, and so they can easily be combined and extended upon. Sometimes the gameplay mechanics come out of the need of the level design or the experience that we want the player to have. Variation is something that we want to strive for so we try to add in some unique mechanics from time to time to keep things fresh and engaging.
Q: What (indie?) games have acted as a source of inspiration for your project?
There are many. The obvious ones would be the classic platformers from the 90s/2000s such as the Crash Bandicoot series, Ratchet & Clank, Spyro, Mario and so forth but even games from the Zelda, Oddworld and various other franchises have been an inspiration. These games can be very different in genre (for instance even a game like Unreal Tournament has had some influence in Trifox). The main thing is that whatever can spark some ideas, creativity or motivation, is a good inspiration and can contribute to some evolution of the game and design in any way or form.
Q: What are some of the fondest gaming moments from your childhood? Where did this all start for you?
For me (Team member Brecht Lecluyse) personally, one of my earliest memories was playing Wolfenstein 3D, I was 3 at the time and in charge of the shooting action while my mom was driving the movement. It was that and DuckTales: The Quest for Gold for DOS that are imprinted on me as my first gaming memories. I've always been fascinated and in love with the medium. Games like Crash Bandicoot 2, Oddworld Abe's Oddysee and Metal Gear Solid, to name a few, were the first games that really sucked me in and left a very big mark and probably set me on the path to wanting to learn how to make these things myself. When I later came in contact with Half-Life and discovered that you could make your own levels I started learning how everything was put together and I've never looked back really! And here we are, roughly 20 years later...
Q: What do you do when run out of ideas or lose motivation?
Making games is hard and takes a lot of dedication, concentration and effort from the developers. Things might not always go as fast as you had hoped or as well as you had planned. So it's not that hard to lose motivation. Everyone has to find their own way to work around that but for me what works best is going outside and visiting inspiring places (cities, museums, awesome buildings, forests, etc ) not per se for direct inspiration but just for the mood and feeling that they can give you. And of course playing some video games. Although that last one can also work demotivating at times, especially when things are feeling as if they are going in the wrong direction. Playing video games can rekindle your fire and remind you what you love about the medium and spark new motivation and ideas to propel you forward.
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