XBLA & XBLIG Ratings

Once again the fine folks over at NinjaBee have taken time out of their busy schedules to answer a few questions for us.  Thanks to Kevin, Lead Programmer for A Kingdom for Keflings Heap for taking time out of his schedule for us. Personally, I'm quickly getting addicted to A Kingdom for Keflings and I'm looking forward to learning more about it.

Question: How did the idea for A Kingdom for Keflings come about?

Kevin: Good question. Steve and Jeremy came up with the original concept of a giant making a city for little people but really the actual game design came from a small group of us over a long period of time.  We had a few ideas and elements to include from other games but didn't want to just remake something that's already been done.  Over weeks and months the game sort of just evolved into what it is now, which is hopefully a unique experience that's fun to play and is accessible to different types and experience levels of gamers.




Question: Did you always intend to support Avatars or was that added after Microsoft announced them for the New Xbox Experience?

Kevin: The avatar support was something that definitely came along later.  The game was basically done before adding Avatar support was even on the radar.  The stars just all seemed to align though for the Avatars to fit in the game.  I think we were all a bit skeptical that the visual styles of the Avatars and our Kefling world would clash but when we saw them in the game it looked great and seemed perfect.  Not only did they look great, but they fit into the gameplay since we were already using different avatars to do the same thing.

Question: Was it difficult to add support for Avatars when the New Xbox Experience was still being developed?

Kevin: The short answer is yes.  We had to quite often get creative in solving problems simply because not many people had done Avatar support and the kinks were still being worked out on Microsoft's end.  There were also still features being changed/dropped which made it difficult at times to deal with between system updates.  Microsoft was very supportive though and we were able to do it with a bit of sweat and hard work.

Question: Looking back on the creation of A Kingdom for Keflings what are the things that you are most proud of?

Kevin: I think I'm most proud of the fact that we accomplished what we set out to, which was to make a unique and interesting game that reminds you of some of your favorite games but is still its own.  We wanted a happy game that just felt good to play with nothing to take you away from that.  Also, there were a lot of technical issues that came up during development but we were able to tackle each and I'm very happy with and proud of the end result.

Question: Is there anything you were hoping to get into A Kingdom for Keflings that did not make the cut?

Kevin: Absolutely.  There are so many, it's hard to count!  We really wanted to have roaming herds of sheep that you could kick around but had to compromise with stationary sheep that you could kick in place.  Things like local multiplayer, which would be awesome from a feature standpoint but it was going to be a killer on the schedule.  We originally had an intricate interaction system in mind for avatars and Keflings which involved lifting roofs and throwing Keflings in and having them roll out the front door, etc.

Question: If so, should we keep a look out for some DLC for A Kingdom for Keflings?

Kevin: Yes.

Question: So the main goal in the game is to build a castle?

Kevin: Yep!




Question: Once the castle is built does the game end or can one keep going and build on to their town?

Kevin: You can keep going and customize your town, decorating it with statues, trees and topiaries and paint your buildings too.

Question: What is the strangest thing you've seen someone build in their town?

Kevin: We had a multiplayer game once that had two hard-working giants building and decorating our little town and a third guy who wasn't working so hard.  It turns out that he had ripped apart a section of town and built a gigantic wall that blocked off a huge section of map.  He was hiding in a corner just waiting for us to find him and get through his wall, if we dared!

Question: Can you give us a few tips, tricks, or hints for A Kingdom for Keflings?

Kevin: Plan where you're going to build your buildings ahead of time, placing processing buildings like Lumbermills and Stone Cutters near their mines and try to place workshops nearby to minimize travel time.  Also, Keflings are faster harvesters than transporters so try to get them to spend most of their time doing that instead of walking across the entire map.