Interview | Two Tribes on Swords & Soldiers HD for Wii U

Cubed3: Please introduce yourself and the team working on Two Tribes.
 
Collin: Collin van Ginkel, co-founder of Two Tribes and a game designer on most of our games.

Cubed3: Please explain the Swords & Soldiers concept for those unfamiliar with the series.
 
Collin: Swords & Soldiers is a crazy 2D side scrolling real time strategy game. Players get to manage a team of Viking, Aztec or Chinese warriors tasked with trashing the enemy base at the end of the map. There are three campaigns, skirmish and versus modes as well as bonus games and achievements.
 
Cubed3: It's great to see Swords & Soldiers reborn on Wii U, what made you decide to tackle the project?
 
Collin: We worked with Ronimo before to get the game ported to iOS. Especially the iPad version was a great fit for the game and it just made sense to recreate that experience with the Wii U GamePad.
 
Cubed3: What do you think makes the RTS genre so appealing, particularly with games like Swords & Soldiers?
 
Collin: I think the way you can develop and tweak your own strategy in these games makes it really compelling. You clearly see the results of your actions and you get to feel quite clever when you win.

Cubed3: The original graphical style looked great in the lower resolution - how do you go about reworking the design for HD 720p?
 
Collin: Game art is usually created at a higher resolution than what ends up in the game. Luckily most the artwork for Swords & Soldiers was already prepared for HD, we only had to redo some interface elements.
 
Cubed3: How are you aiming to use the GamePad for the Wii U version?
 
Collin: You can pick between touch controls on the GamePad or Wii Remote for play on the TV. In multiplayer mode, both displays and control methods are used. It feels really great to battle it out with someone on your own screen!

Cubed3: Will there be any specific asymmetric gameplay features in Swords & Soldiers HD?
 
Collin: In the multiplayer mode, both players get their own full game experience on their respective screens.

Cubed3: What's the process like when it comes to working on a project originally developed by another studio?
 
Collin: To be honest, there's usually a lot of cursing at the start. Game software is usually partly hacked together with little to no documentation on how things work. What we did for Swords & Soldiers is to move it to our own technology so we knew where to look if something went wrong.

Since we took the iPad version as the basis for the Wii U release, we could skip this part and focused mostly on improving controls and having a double screen multiplayer mode.

Cubed3: You mentioned that there wouldn't be online multiplayer - could this be an option for the future?
 
Collin: No, multiplayer in the living room is where it's at for this version.
 
Cubed3: Would you consider bringing out DLC options for the game eventually?
 
Collin: There's a slight possibility of the gamer receiving the Super Saucy Sausage Fest DLC later released by Ronimo, but we want to see how many people pick the game up before committing to it.

Cubed3: Are there any other classics you'd like to rework on Wii U?
 
Collin: I think this will be it for a while. The time has come to make something new, which is exactly what we're doing behind the scenes!

Cubed3: What hurdles have you had working with Wii U hardware?
 
Collin: It's been pretty straightforward actually. We had to get used to working with multi-core technology that took a while and still sometimes causes us headaches.
 
Cubed3: What are your thoughts on Nintendo's approach to indie developers in recent years?
 
Collin: We're happy with Nintendo's focus on indie developers; they've been very supportive of our efforts on their platforms. It's a shame the Wii U isn't selling better, otherwise it would have been even better for smaller indies like us.

Cubed3: If you could both work on any Nintendo franchise, what would it be any why?
 
Collin: I'd say I would like to make a new StarFox game!

Cubed3: When are you planning on releasing the game?
 
Collin: It'll be released on 15th May.

Cubed3: What are your plans for the future?
 
Collin: We're working on a 2D shooter game that we'll reveal later this year. Stay tuned!

Will you tap into the Wii U remake of Swords & Soldiers?