Gunman Clive 2, a sequel to the popular surprise hit on the 3DS eShop, was revealed during Nintendo’s E3 announcements this past June. During the furor of the show, not many details were revealed about the game, so Nintendo Enthusiast got in touch with one-man development team, Bertil Hörberg, to find out about his plans for this anticipated sequel.
Who are Hörberg Productions and what makes you special?
It’s just me, Bertil Hörberg. I’m based in Skövde, Sweden. I do pretty much everything, from engine code to game design and art and animation. My brother, Arne, however, does compose the music for Gunman Clive and Gunman Clive 2, though he’s not technically part of the company. He started writing music for the first game on his own accord in his free time without any real previous experience as a composer and it turned out pretty good. Now, he has set up his own company for it, but is still only doing it on his spare time.
My first console was a Game Boy, so I’ve always had a special love for Nintendo handhelds. My favorite console would probably have to be SNES, though.
What games have you created, both in the past and since going solo?
I worked as a gameplay programmer at various studios for a few years and worked on games like Bionic Commando Rearmed, the other Bionic Commando game, and Pid. In 2011, I started my own solo indie company Hörberg Productions. I started with some smaller smart phone games and then most recently, Gunman Clive.
What is new in Gunman Clive 2 and how long has it been in development?
I started development in November last year, which may not seem very long ago, but I’ve already spent more time on it than I did on the first game. I don’t have the patience or the stamina to work on massive projects that takes several years, so the fatigue is really starting to set in and I’m hoping to be able to finish the game somewhat soon.
Overall, it’s a fairly straight forward sequel. The first game was rather short and people were asking for more levels, so that’s basically what I’m giving them, but at the same time, I’m trying to bring it up a notch and deliver a more exiting product with its own identity. The most obvious change is probably the color palette and there’s a bit more graphical detail as well. The controls is a bit faster and the jump a bit less floaty.
Just how varied will this new identity be? Will there be a lot more content for instance?
It will still be a rather short game. A bit longer than the first one, but not by much. But there will be a lot of variation packed in. Lots of new enemies and obstacles, more different environments, and more special levels, like the horse level and the panda level shown in the trailer.
Will boss fights return, and if so, will they change at all? What do you consider to be your favorite addition?
Yes, of course. There will be a bit more bosses this time around — one boss after every three levels instead of four levels per boss — and most of them have a bit more intricate behaviours than in the last game. Some of them also have different forms now.
My favorite addition is a kind of technical thing and I haven’t really shown it yet, but my new collision system makes it possible to walk on fully animated objects with soft skinning, which is kind of cool.
Are there any plans to make use of any of the Nintendo 3DS’s unique abilities, such as StreetPass?
I’m generally very bad at designing around modern features. I tend to design my games as if they were being released on a Game Boy in 92, apart from the tech and distribution method.
I think StreetPass is pretty hard to utilize for an indie game. Unless you’re going to sell millions, it will be extremely unlikely for people to get any meaningful numbers of StreetPasses for the game. I feel it’s hard enough to get StreetPasses for Mii Plaza in many regions, let alone for individual games. Miiverse won’t be integrated into the game, but there will be a Miiverse community for the game. I’ve been meaning to get one for the first game, but keep forgetting to send in the forms.
How have you found developing on the 3DS and is there a tentative release date?
I’m currently aiming for a release sometime this fall.
I love the hardware and it’s actually quite capable. Originally, I was a bit skeptical about bringing Gunman Clive to the 3DS, because I didn’t think the art style would work very well in such low resolution, but the GPU was powerful enough the render the game in 4x the screen resolution at 60 fps, so it still looks great.
Why did you decide to bring your game to the 3DS in the first place?
I kind of submitted the application on a whim. I had just released Gunman Clive on smartphones and PC and had had somewhat decent sales, so I wanted to try something else and release it on a dedicated gaming platform, and the 3DS seemed like the easiest platform to get in on at the time. I’ve always loved Nintendo consoles and really like the 3DS, but I had no idea if I’d be able become a licensed developer or if it would be profitable.
It wasn’t really a problem though for me and it was a pretty quick procedure, though it may have helped that I had had a little bit of contact with NOE before at my previous job. I really wish it would be possible for western indies to self-publish in the Japanese eShop as well. I’m not even 100% sure what the requirements are for publishing in Japan, but currently, I have to go via a Japanese publisher. Luckily, I’ve had a good experience with Circle, but it’s still a decent chunk of the profits that I have to give up.
Do you have regular contact with them and have you found them supportive?
Honestly, I didn’t had much contact with them before I released Gunman Clive. I’ve mostly been doing my thing and then, when I’ve submitted stuff, there has been some emails back and forth and they’ve been helpful enough, but there hasn’t been a lot of dialogue. Now, I know a few Nintendo guys that I meet every now and then at industry events, and they’re lovely chaps, but that’s not really related to process of releasing of my games.
How did you find being featured in Nintendo’s E3 campaign and how has the feedback been from gamers?
The feedback so far has been really positive. I was worried that people would just see it as a cash-in and just more of the same, but so far, it seem that I’ve been able to communicate what has been improved and expanded upon in the sequel. And of course, being featured in Nintendo’s E3 presentation is a huge privilege and honour. I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t show the eShop reel in the main Digital Event, though, but I can see that it didn’t really fit into the format they were going for.
Gunman Clive reportedly performed very well when it launched on the 3DS as opposed to other platforms. Why do you think this is?
It’s a much less crowded market and the game really fits the platform much better. I’m continuously amazed by the continuous stability of the sales on the eShop.
Will the sequel have a similar price at launch and do you have plans for your next game?
I haven’t decided on the final price yet, but it will be within the same range. The low price point worked out great for the first game and the sequel will undoubtedly be judged against that. If I can’t increase the amount of content sufficiently, people might be a bit disappointed if I raise the price, but on the other hand, I wouldn’t have priced the first game as low if it hadn’t originally been a smart phone game and I’m spending more time on this one. I want to try more platforms as well, but for now, the 3DS represents roughly 80% of my sales, so I’m not going to give up on that platform any time soon. Being a big Nintendo fan and doesn’t hurt the odds, either.
I still don’t want to promise anything regarding Wii U. My first priority once the game is out on 3DS is to bring it to all the other platform that the first game was on and then, I’ll look into other platforms. We’ll see how many versions I’ll be able to make before I want to move on to something new. But yes, if I do bring it to Wii U or other new platforms, my current plan is do a release with both games. They use the same engine and share a lot of code, so it shouldn’t be a lot of extra work to do both.
Originally I was planning to do something else before Gunman Clive 2, but that project didn’t work out, so I took the somewhat safe route with doing a sequel. But now, I really want to do something new. I don’t have a solid plan for what that will be yet, though. I’m planning to spend some more time working on prototypes this time to avoid the problems I ran into with my last project. If I ever do a Gunman Clive 3, it will probably be a bigger departure from the formula of the first games.
Thanks to Bertil for spending the time with Nintendo Enthusiast to talk about his games and experiences with Nintendo. We will be looking forward to Gunman Clive 2 releasing on the eShop towards the end of the year. In the meantime, if you’d like to keep up-to-date with all of the latest news from Hörberg Productions, you can follow Bertil on Twitter, Website, or his Developer Diary.
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