Interview with Twisted Pixel Games (Comic Jumper)

Twisted Pixel Games Level Designer Sean Conway, took the time out of his busy day to answer some key questions about COMIC JUMPER.

CT: Custard Trout (Addict of Fiction)

SC: Sean Conway (Twisted Pixel Games)

CT: First off, we’d all like to say thank you very much for your time.

SC: My time is very valuable to me so let’s make this quick. I have an anger management class that I need to get to. They say they are making breakthroughs with me so I don’t want to be late.

CT: Games from Twisted Pixel are renown for having free things- we got themes, pictures, avatar awards, and now you’re even giving the first DLC as an unlockable. Why is it Twisted Pixel does this? Not that I am complaining!

SC: The way we look at it is if someone takes the time to purchase and play one of our games we want to give them all of the content that we can. We appreciate our fans and want to offer them the best experience that we can.

CT: Comic Jumper is coming along great. From the trailer we’ve seen all sorts of humor and a multitude of game play. Can you give us a closer look into the inspiration of the game? After all, it’s not every day we see a hero jump from Silver Age comics to manga.

SC: The idea of the game came from a young Joshua Bear (our CCO) when he was in Jr. High. Captain Smiley was the main character in his comic. He made it because he was clueless about women and thought that if he drew little comics he would get a girlfriend. One of the characters in his comic was actually based on a girl he used to talk to. Alas, it didn’t work out, he never scored with her.

SC: Guess who did though! Hahahaha. No, it wasn’t me either. Now I am sad. Thanks a lot!

SC: The changing art style was very important to us. We wanted to try making a game with distinct art changes so we picked comic genres that had drastic art style differences.

CT:In the hit game ‘Splosion Man, we saw the beloved hero “The Maw.” Any chance of seeing him or ‘Splosion Man in Comic Jumper?

SC: Any chance of you being patient and finding out for yourself!?!?!

SC: Sorry, I don’t know what came over me….ignore that last part.

SC: What I meant to say was I don’t want to ruin the surprise of any guest appearances just yet. There may or may not be Splosion Man or Maw references in the game.

CT: We’ve heard there are literally hundreds of things to unlock in Comic Jumper. What kind of things will there be- art work and such, or something a little different?

SC: Who have you been talking to? Was it Alex, our former loud mouthed intern and my arch nemesis? Alex…. now he is a designer for us.

SC: They said they hired him because he was the only one that was willing to work with me!

SC: To answer your question….Yes, there are hundreds of things to unlock in the game including levels for Splosion Man, videos, art, and other surprises. We tried to jam pack as much content as could into the game.

CT: You’re clearly very strong in your art of games. How do you feel that the art style impacts a game?

SC: Art is very important because it give the characters and the worlds personality. We also place a strong emphasis on animations because these really make the characters memorable and add to their personalities.

SC: We have some artists and animators. We actually have only had one animator up to this point (Dave Leung). We just hired a new animator that we are very excited about that we will have working on a new project.

CT: Twisted Pixel has a great website and an even better store- any chance of you expanding? I’m sure a lot of people would love to see you reaching other parts of the world, as well as having more things on sale.

SC: Thank you. John Bodek and Mandy Henry have done a great job with the website and store. I am not savvy to that part of the business but I believe they are slowly starting to expand. I have a great idea for a new product after Comic Jumper comes out.

SC: Spoiler alert! John Bodek makes his topless debut in Comic Jumper. I think demand for John Bodek blow dolls is going to reach an all time high after people see him so it would be nice if they listen to my suggestion and put one up for sale on the website.

CT: Twisted Pixel has made nothing but great games, from Blitz the League 2 to ‘Splosion Man, and even now Comic Jumper has me on the edge on my seat waiting to enjoy it. So why haven’t we seen a full, on disc Xbox game? You seem to push the limits of the Xbox Live arcade.

SC: What do you mean “Twisted Pixel has made nothing”!?!? I AM GOING TO…… oh wait… I didn’t see the “great games” part until just now. Sorry once again my friend.

SC: For now we are concentrating on making the best quality downloadable games that we can. We are still a very small company. I wouldn’t rule out putting a game on disc sometime.

SC: The only problem with that is that our CCO Josh would have a hard time handling it. When he worked for another company after his first game came out in stores he walked through a mall in Chicago and held the game in every hot girls’ face that he saw. He would yell “I made this game! Me! I did! Me!” Mall security wasn’t very happy with that. Since comic books didn’t get him a girlfriend maybe he thought games would? HAHAHAHA!

CT: Great titles like The Maw and ‘Splosion Man have pushed their way onto the PC and the Xbox 360. Any chance of them reaching, say, the DS or PS3?

SC: We have a great relationship with Microsoft. They have treated us very well. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility though.

CT: What was the whole meat idea in ‘Splosion Man? It came out of nowhere and it was amazingly genius!

SC: I can’t remember who specifically came up with the meat thing. It might have been our lead designer Sean Riley.

SC: He is one of those…ummm, what do you call someone that denies themselves of one of life’s greatest pleasures?

SC: Eunuch?… no….
Crazy?….no….
Oh yeah, a vegetarian. Yeah, he is one of those dirty vegetarians so I think he fantasizes about meat all of the time. It was probably him. Or maybe it was our former artist Jerome Crackersack.

CT: The fans love the credits at the end of your games, and I know I speak for thousands when I ask, is there any chance a fan (such as us) could get into the credits, be it someone who gets blown up or just a “special thanks”?

SC: You really have been talking to Alex the Betrayer haven’t you!?!?! Funny you should mention that because in Splosion Man we wanted to have fans send in pictures of them and their families and then we were going to SPLODE them in the credits.

CT: A big thank-you from myself, the readers, and the fans of your games. I know we speak for everyone when we say we’re looking forward to your upcoming title, Comic Jumper.

SC: You are very welcome. Just try not to be so abusive to me next time. There were a few times that you hurt me. We appreciate your support. Thank you for playing our games and thank you for the interview. I love you.

For more information about Twisted Pixel Games: Click Here

Games: Comic Jumper, Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, Genres: Platformer, Publishers: Twisted Pixel Games, Developers: Twisted Pixel Games