Developer Fire Hose Games have nothing but love for publisher Sony Online Entertainment, telling PlayStation LifeStyle in an exclusive interview that SOE “was just the ideal partner”, allowing them them to “do whatever crazy stuff” they wanted with the rather awesome looking PlayStation Network exclusive Slam Bolt Scrappers.
As part of our week long feature celebrating the PlayStation Network, Eitan Glinert, fire chief at Fire Hose Games had glowing words for SOE, praising how they supported them, without trying to influence their development:
It’s really hard to come up with something very new, and risky, and outgoing, and get it right, and do it well. Basically you have to be willing to put everything on the line. And you have to be willing to experiment in ways that people aren’t willing to experiment with. That’s the fun of being an indie, right? When we have this game, we wanted to find someone we could work with that would respect our status as an indie studio and really not just let us do what we need to do but give us the support to do what we need to do. Sony Online Entertainment was just the ideal partner for this. They totally got out of our way when it came to design. They said “you guys go do whatever crazy stuff you want, we’re right behind you”. Then when we needed help with something, for instance, we’re bringing the game to Europe, and we’re like, “Okay, how are we going to get this game translated into all these different languages?”. They said “Hey, we can help with that, we’ll take care of that part and you just focus on making the game.” So, Sony Online Entertainment has just been hugely helpful with that. They basically allowed us to stay indie, more or less, even though you know, we’re working with a publisher, we get to stay indie by doing what we want to do creatively and get the support that we need to get this game out.
He continued:
In terms of only going to one platform, I don’t really think it’s a problem. There are a couple of platforms you can go to with games nowadays. Between XBLA, PSN, WiiWare, Steam, those choices, I think PSN is really the best place for this game. PlayStation Network customers really get the idea of new and exciting games. If you go and look at the other channels, they definitely do have games that are new and different, but PSN really pushes the boundaries in my opinion. The games that you see on there are just totally new, and different, and interesting and so, we just thought that would be a good place for us because our game is unique. And we thought that would be a very good channel for it. On top of that, I don’t know, we think the PS3 is an absolutely terrific system, we want our game on there, so we thought that would be a great home for it.
Stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for the full exclusive interview, covering everything from the game’s power ups (with us revealing an entirely new power up for the first time), to the title’s love for hats, later in the day.
Check out all our other exclusive interviews right here.
