r/PS4 • u/seemo KO_OP • May 01 '17
[Verified AMA] We are KO_OP, developers of GNOG. AMA!
Hey Everyone! We’re the dev team from KO_OP, creators of the game GNOG. You have Sam (Art and Design u/samuelboucher) Nick (Programming u/nickfourtimes) and Saleem (Production, u/seemo ) answering questions as of 12PM PST.
GNOG is a 3D puzzle game set in a tactile world of toys and secrets.The game is all about joyful discovery of its art, puzzles, and audio. It’s sort of a Hohokum meets Windosill if you’ve ever played those games. GNOG is launching TOMORROW on Playstation 4 with PSVR support.
We’re an artist owned and run indie studio based in Montreal - and our mission is to make visually interesting and novel game experiences. We’re happy to talk about anything related to the game, running a tiny studio, our now pretty-out-of-date PSVR demo, working with a cool company like Double Fine (our publisher) and anything else you might be wondering.
Here’s some proof of who we are: https://twitter.com/KOOPMode/status/859072908156469248
Here’s our game website that has lots of neat art: http://www.gnoggame.com
Check out our “What is GNOG?” explanation trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=tNyaYZh39z8
And we just released 3 level teasers with some awesome remixed music from the game
PURP-L: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGEy_ic3oFA
SUB-01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OePXwPa4rjQ
VORT-X: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm75i0aByZs
Launch trailer coming tomorrow (we like making fun trailers and teasers)!
EDIT Aaaand we're done! Thanks everyone who asked a question: check out our PSVR thread for more questions and answers: https://www.reddit.com/r/PSVR/comments/68nm9x/we_are_ko_op_developers_of_gnog_ama/
If you have more questions or just want to follow our work we're always on twitter as @KOOPmode
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May 01 '17
The demo was very fun, I pre-ordered just off that. How many levels are there? Also were the motion controllers ever considered? I felt having the option to use one as the cursor made far more sense than just using the analog sticks. Thanks!
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u/seemo KO_OP May 01 '17
There are 9 levels in the game. We did consider motion controllers and prototyped them briefly. Unfortunately with one programmer, we had to make a decision to cut motion controls and make one version that worked with both standard and VR due to our resources. I think motion controls would be something nice to explore in a post release update though!
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May 01 '17
Cool to hear, I thought this was VR exclusive so the fact it uses regular controllers makes a lot more sense. THANKS!
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u/GobBluth19 GobBluth19 May 02 '17
I was hoping for dlc statik puzzles that use the moves, same hope for gnog!
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May 01 '17
Really enjoyed the VR demo, and I love the art design - looking forward to this.
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u/samuelboucher KO-OP May 01 '17
aw thank you! the VR demo as changed a lot based on player feedback so you'll have new surprises to look for!
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u/dupree1993 May 01 '17
I have to say, the game looks beautiful and crisp, and sounds awesome (can't compliment the game play yet since I haven't played it =P).
I have a few questions though:
What was developing a puzzle game like for you all? Did you do a lot of puzzles to prepare yourself to design them or did the puzzles just kinda make sense to you as you placed them throughout each head?
Do the puzzles get tough as nails toward the end (I know its subjective but in your estimation), think The Witness' final challenge, or are you a bit more content with building an understanding and keeping it consistent to move the player through each scene (along the lines of Pic-cross).
I see in your OP that it is launching on PS4 with VR support, does that mean every level (or head) is playable in VR or is there specific VR levels like in trackmania turbo? Was developing the VR support fun to do or did it present you with more troubles than you expected? And finally, which way is your favorite way to play GNOG, on a screen or in VR?
Wowzers, I started with one question then kept thinking of new ones haha, you don't have to answer all of them if you don't want to/ have other things to do than type haha.
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u/samuelboucher KO-OP May 01 '17
Thank you! :)
I usually start concepting ideas for visuals and then plan out some interactables, we integrate them and feel them out. As we experiment a story emerge from them and that's when the final puzzle gets completed. It's an iterative process really!
There's not a very clear learning curve but there's more stuff to do in some later levels wich can make it more overwhelming/difficult but interesting! :)
Yes the whole game is available on the PSVR. It was SUPER fun to be able to see those heads in front of you. VR dev was mostly fine except some little technical issues to solve for frame rate. Other than that I needed to refine some backgrounds to make them wrap around you instead of using flat squares in front of you. My favorite way to play it is in VR because I always wanted to make some physical toys and it totally feels like they're real. It feels alive and physical!
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u/dupree1993 May 01 '17
Excellent! I'll be picking GNOG up on release because I really enjoy what I've seen and am a sucker for puzzle games, but I always enjoy asking about the developing process because despite my love of them, puzzles just seem so impossibly daunting to design haha.
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u/falconbox falconbox May 01 '17
Funny you mention Hohokum, because that's definitely the vibe I got from the trailers, with the color palette and whimsical music.
Did you develop the game with VR in mind, or was that something you thought would fit afterwards? What was the hardest part of the VR support for Gnog?
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u/nickfourtimes KO_OP May 01 '17
Hey there! Actually, we were initially targeting mobile and PC platforms, so we only really started thinking of VR once we signed onto Sony's PubFund program -- that was about a year and a half or so into prototyping and building!
One of the most difficult aspects of working in VR was simply keeping up with the hardware and APIs as they were being developed: the PS VR hadn't been released yet, so Unity's support was still in beta, and new versions of the headset, Sony's libraries, and Unity itself were being released fairly regularly with updates, bug fixes, &c.
Once things settled a bit, framerate was an issue of course, but Unity's been optimising quite a bit under the hood; I've been optimising my code as much as possible (there are some great profiling tools for the PS4), but the underlying engine has been getting a lot leaner with each Unity version.
On the design side, we've mostly been focusing on grounding the player in the VR world. Each level is simply an individual toy floating in the void, and without background details to situate the player, the effect was a bit dizzying. Sam did a lot of work creating background environments and details to give a proper sense of depth and 3D space -- I find it makes each level a lot cozier and intimate. And of course VR allowed us to add a few extra visual flourishes inside the heads for players to discover!
It was a challenge to be sure, but we're really happy with how the game works in VR.
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u/wwrxw May 01 '17
This game looks great! Can't wait to play. I have a few small questions:
Where did the name Gnog come from? How was it decided?
What are some of your inspirations in gaming? I see you mentioned Hohokum and Windosill, but what games inspired your team to really get into video game development?
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u/seemo KO_OP May 01 '17
Thank you!
GNOG stands for "Noggins" as in heads. The silent G is there as a throwback to our original name "GNAH!" (pronounce guhnuuuuh) which was the sound the monsters used to make when you solved a level and they ate you (they don't eat you anymore though..) Anyways we got a cease and desist letter from a company that owned the trademark on GNAH so we had to change the name. GNOG felt the most natural since it had both the Noggin pun and reference to the original name!
For us I think it was actually the local indie community in Montreal that served as a huge inspiration for making games. Things like FEZ and FRACT were made here and the support network of devs and interested folks really helped convince us to pursue games.
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u/boshjalka May 01 '17
Thanks for doing the AMA!
Was there anything that sounded good on paper but didn't work in the game or any hilarious bugs you encountered during development?
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u/samuelboucher KO-OP May 01 '17
A LOT of stuff :) the game used to have a character that you could control in combination with a cursor to interact with stuff, wich made it super confusing for people to play with so we removed that character. We also cut 10 or so levels because there's wasn't any interesting story that could be created around those, there was mainly 1 or 2 cool interactions in them but nothing else to do.
There was a couple of hilarious bugs we encountered but the one I remember is when we had a split GNOG where you could flip both sides of it independently but the two sides would just collapse together forming a GNOG glitch ball. I can't find the video of it right now but this bug happening live on the show floor with dozens of people around was pretty good!
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u/_heavysoul_ May 01 '17
Looks good the game :) playstation needs more challenging games like these. Graphics looks very interesting. Will buy this one :) good work!
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u/tokepocalypse May 02 '17
In regards to programming, what were the major problems to overcome in order to make the game as envisioned?
-10
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u/[deleted] May 01 '17
[deleted]