Gaming
Games
Check out how Epic Loon takes indie party gaming back to the '90s
We chat with the developers of '90s-tinged couch co-op Epic Loon about what makes their game tick and how it's set for the Switch.
When talking to Maxence Devoghelaere, CEO and founder of the 3DDUO game studios, you can see he's an ambitious man. It was his ambition that saw Leelh, a "survival MMO in the world of 2087, set after a cataclysm", become the first game to arrive from the French developers in 2010.
Fast-forward to 2018, and he’s heading up an indie label within the company called Macrales Studio, soon to be putting out Epic Loon, a single player or couch multiplayer adventure that takes place inside old VHS movies and is coming to PC, Xbox One, PS4 and yes, the Nintendo Switch.
The premise of the game is intriguing and a bit mad, so we caught up with Devoghelaere to find out more. He started by telling us that despite years of co-produced work and contracted jobs, this is an indie game that's made with "our heart and guts." It's also a game he describes as "a neo-retro physics couch party platformer." Stick with us here.
Epic Loon isn't your typical indie game. It has a 1990s VHS aesthetic as a visual hook, and a rather oddly named protagonist, Joe Ernie Chips Douglas, who is, without knowing it, the main character of the game. "He's the guy with the biggest collection of VHS tapes in Wyoming and is a real cinemaniac," Devoghelaere informs us. "Unfortunately, one day his video recorder began messing up, glitching, and he had to find a solution, otherwise his life was ruined."
The premise is that a simple attempt to clean a VHS player escalates into aliens taking over and invading Joe's favourite movies. If that isn't strange enough, you actually take control of the aliens as they run amok through direct parodies of movies like Dracula, Godzilla, Alien, and Jurassic Park. "Their goal is simple: sabotage as much as possible while the movies are running", Devoghelaere explains. "But also, escape from the different scenes to avoid disappearing into nothingness."
One of the movies Epic Loon uses is Ridley Scott's Alien
© Macrales Studio
There are a lot of big indie games coming this year so to stand out, a game has to do something new or universally adored. Epic Loon is aiming for the new part of that formula, even as it tips its hat to past technology, and VHS recorders play an important part in the game.
"We wanted to create a tribute to old movies and also to this great period of our childhood: the '90s," Devoghelaere adds. "So when we speak about the '90s and movies, we speak about a VHS player. We put that stuff in a shaker, added a bit of South Park inspiration for the humour, sprinkled everything with a crazy rococore metal band, and we came up with Epic Loon."
All good, and slightly crazy ideas, have to start somewhere. In Epic Loon's case, it began with the gameplay. "It might be strange, but we didn't have the universe at the beginning," Devoghelaere tells us. There were lots of ideas, but nothing that was catching fire with the team’s imagination, until lead game designer Christophe Dasilva came up with an idea. "He proposed a couch co-op, quirky physics platformer and everybody loved it." One quick prototype later and the team decided there was plenty to work with and, most importantly, the fun was there.
As for how this plays, Devoghelaere was happy to explain. "You can't walk, you can only do small jumps or transform into a kind of puddle. When you're transformed, you have a sort of tentacle with an eye at the end, swinging automatically from left to right. When you press the jump button, you're catapulted in the direction of the eye and the alien sticks on the first thing it encounters."
There are over 200 levels, with a diverse number of ground-types. This means you have to change your approach based on whether you're on bouncy ground or not, with physics props that can cause havoc for the player. "The bigger the mess, the more fun it is," according to Devoghelaere.
Epic Loon is looking to hit all the major platforms this year, including the current indie darling, Switch. "The PC version was finished at the end of last year and we're currently working on the porting," Devoghelaere says, also adding that they don't yet know when the console versions will be ready. "We're in the first phase of porting so we're trying to see if there are issues or not, and how long it'll take to do everything." There might be a demo soon so keep your eyes peeled.
While Epic Loon is clearly unique, its interesting ideas are not just restricted to the gameplay and setting. In-fact, rather than releasing a PC version first and then console versions later, the hope is to launch on all platforms simultaneously. "We don't want to launch the PC version alone," Devoghelaere states. "It's a couch game so the audience is more on console as it's unusual to play local multiplayer on PC."
Not even Dracula is safe from Epic Loon's humour
© Macrales Studio
The game really does comes to life in multiplayer, we're told. "In multiplayer you have a special feature with the VHS player. When someone finishes a level, Joe rewinds the VHS and the level animations are reversed," Devoghelaere adds. "And when the timecode arrives at zero, Joe puts the VHS in fast-forward, where the timescale is multiplied by two, and death is instant." This mode is also available to play as a 'hardcore' version of the game, which we're told is very difficult.
Aside from 'story' and 'hardcore', there are two further modes in Epic Loon. 'Speedrun' is exactly as it sounds, asking you to complete an entire VHS, whereby your time is sent to a global leaderboard. 'Battle' mode has 40 levels per VHS that are all new designs, but in the environments of the story levels.
It might not have a firm release date yet, but after speaking with Devoghelaere, we're certainly excited to see how it turns out, if only to revisit the days of VHS and see the team's unique take on both the humour and aesthetic of the '90s.
