It’s actually a puzzle game. You’ll want to read more about this, trust us.
You remember Plants vs Zombies, right? Of course you do. Well that game’s creator, George Fan, has a new game in the works and it involves square shaped excrement.
Despite this unusual gameplay feature, the game Hardhat Wombat is actually a puzzle game with a wide appeal. You play as a construction worker who happens to be a wombat. A wombat who navigates 2D stages primarily via his own square shaped poops.
Watch the trailer below, and then read all about why Fan developed the game, his thoughts on the indie gaming scene, and working with Spelunky dev Andy Hull.
Gamezebo: It’s been 5 years since Octogeddon – how does it feel to have a new game out?
George Fan: Wow, has it really been five years? It feels great to have another game under my belt, and another one that I’m proud of to boot. There’s always a lot of anticipation when I’m about to launch a new game. Something I’m really looking forward to this time is watching people play the game through streaming and youtube during launch week and seeing how they react.
What have been some of the challenges getting this game over the line?
All in all, this game has been a joy to work on with minimal challenges. It’s a smaller project than my other games, and my attitude towards this game was looking at it as a creative outlet more than a commercial project. This has made it a lot less stressful to work on as I could just say “How do I make this a game I’m proud of?” vs. “How do I make a game that will sell the most copies?”.
If I had to volunteer something, one small challenge we did face is Andy Hull, who is the artist and programmer on the project, is on the east coast and I’m on the west coast. So not only did we have to work remotely, but also work around time differences. More than once, has Andy said “Can we meet at 4 today?” and I didn’t know whether he meant 1pm or 4pm. Also, Andy will often end our daily call with “Have a good night!” and I’ll look out my window where it’s still bright and sunny at 2pm and nowhere near night time. It takes some getting used to.
What would you say has made Hardhat Wombat worth the 5 year wait – in terms of a new game from you?
First, if you’re a fan of my work and how I make games, you’re in for a treat because you’ll get to see how George Fan tackles some different genres. It’s been forever since I’ve made a puzzle game and this will be the first game I’ve released with platforming elements and actual level design.
Secondly, what I love about this game, which I’m hoping others will too, is that it doesn’t play quite like anything I’ve experienced before. It’s part puzzle game, part platformer, but it’s more than just the combination of the two. In playing this game you’re going to have to think like a builder, you’ll be doing things like putting up and tearing down scaffolding, which is really unique and cool.
And finally, it’s a game about the wonderful animal that is the wombat. A REAL animal that exists and somehow has poop that is shaped like little cubes. When are you ever going to play another game about this?
How much has indie development changed since you left PopCap in 2012?
When I left PopCap back then I still had the belief that all you had to do is make a great game and the rest would just fall into place. I have become the hardened, grizzled, pessimistic indie dev I am today and I no longer believe that. I now think you have to make an AMAZING game, and you need a lot of luck on top of that. Or, you can make a great game and do a bunch of work on promoting and marketing your game. This side of things that does not involve just making a great game, unfortunately for me, is not something I’m all that good at. Indie game dev has just become so saturated, there are so many games coming out now that you have to put that much more effort into having your game seen.
What lessons have you learnt from Octogeddon when it comes to developing and releasing Hardhat Wombat?
In making Octogeddon I had to learn that it was inevitably going to have a smaller audience than Plants vs. Zombies, which was for EVERYONE. This was hard because I pride myself on making games that a wide audience can play. But intrinsic to Octogeddon was it required some quick reflexes and precise control as you aimed your weapons. This, and the fact that Octogeddon could be a somewhat challenging game, limited a portion of the audience. With Hardhat Wombat, it’s a platformer with platformer controls. There’s almost a language that develops once you’ve played enough of these. But for people that are unfamiliar, it can be a lot to overcome. My mom played through all of PvZ. I don’t expect that she will get through Hardhat Wombat. I just had to accept that this was the game I was making and it just wasn’t going to have as wide an audience as PvZ did.
How important are Game Jams nowadays when it comes to the indie dev scene?
Pretty important I imagine. I see them being important for 2 reasons: One as a way to generate fresh new game ideas to work on. A lot of indie games are small to medium scale, something which is perfect for using a game jam idea as a starting point. Just take my last 2 games for example, both of them came from Game Jams. The other is using a game jam as a refreshing palate cleanser and the opportunity to work on something else for a bit when you’ve been mired in an indie project for a long time.
What do you think is the best thing Andy Hull (Programmer on Spelunky) contributed to the game – and then what do you think he would say was your greatest contribution?
I could name so many things but I’m going to go with what’s on the top of my head: I think the ice cubes in our game look amazing. As far as what Andy would say I really don’t know. I know he had a lot of fun playing through some of the more difficult levels I designed for the set of Challenge Levels you unlock after you beat the game so I’m going to go with that. The level design of the Challenge Levels.
What made your working relationship with Andy for this game special?
I’ve been friends with Andy for a long time, and he is always a delight to be around. So I’ve wanted to work with Andy for quite some time. I’ve always admired Andy for his ability to art and programming and to do both really well. I feel a kinship to Andy in this way because I’m similarly interested in a lot of different disciplines, be it art, music, programming, or game design. I sometimes think of game making as these 4 elements, almost like fire, air, water, and earth from Avatar: the Last Airbender. And what’s special about this game is that between me and Andy we’ve split these 4 elements amongst just 2 people with Andy doing the art and programming and me doing the design and music.
Hardhat Wombat basically came about because Andy and I were talking a couple of years ago and he was saying that he was kind of burnt out on developing games, so I said why don’t we make a game together, we can keep it relatively small and simple in scope and it’ll be fun just collaborating. So I gave him four or five different game prototypes I’d done at past Game Jams and told him to pick the one he thought would be the most fun to work on, and he picked the ‘construction worker puzzle platformer” prototype that eventually became Hardhat Wombat.
Any plans to release the game on other formats moving forward?
We’re starting on PC, and no other plans yet, but I think this game would be a great fit for something like the Nintendo Switch. So depending on the reception, we’ll look at other formats down the road.
And what projects are next for you?
I’ve got an idea for my next game bouncing around in my head that I’m excited to get started on now that Hardhat Wombat has wrapped up. Not much more to say other than I’ve been playing a whole lot of auto battlers these past few years.
Our thanks to George for his time. Hardhat Wombat launches on Steam October 24th.
