XENO RUNNERS (INTERVIEW)
1. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAME THAT YOU PLAYED THAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH GAMING? I can't exactly remember the first game I played as I was about 5 years old. It was on an Amstrad CPC 6128. However, I remember very vividly some of the games I played on that machine: Hunchback, Harrier Attack, Enduro Racer, Punchy! Fruity Frank, Boulder Dash... And later on, Barbarian (best OST in a videogame EVER), Target Renegade, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Saboteur, "Le 5ème Axe" (with a cool soundtrack too), to name but a few, as I must have played hundreds of games in that computer... I haven't stopped playing games ever since. But answering your question, the game that probably marked the "point of no return" was Super Mario Bros on the NES. I had to save for an entire year to buy a NES with that game. I was 9. Even though Mario came first, Golden Axe from the arcade made a bigger impact... Too many games to count them, really.
2. HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAME DEVELOPMENT? After 20 years in the industry as a professional 3D artist (creature designer and digital sculptor, mainly) and having worked on films (mostly) and a few video games along the way, I decided to become a game designer/developer about a couple of years ago. I was collaborating with a friend on a game prototype and then I realized how much fun it was to create something in 3D and be able to "play it" and tweak it and evolve it... I got hooked right there and then.
3. TELL US ABOUT HOW YOUR TEAM ATCHIO GAMES CAME TOGETHER.
Atchio Games is a very small team of two people (mainly): Angel Guirao and Abner Marin (myself). Angel is taking care of the coding part (even though he's a very talented 3D artist too) and I'm doing the graphics, for the most part. When it comes to ideas and decision making I like to think it's a 50/50 partnership and I wouldn't envision it otherwise. We discuss pretty much every move, especially if it's an important one, and I believe Xeno Runners has benefited greatly from lengthy discussions about decision making. I would also like to mention the invaluable input from David Muñoz Velazquez who's offering moral support and suggestions on a daily basis.
4. THERE WAS A CONTEST THAT YOU WERE A PART OF SO TELL US ABOUT IT?
There's been a couple of Game Jams I entered this year. One of them was Epic's MEGA JAM 2023, with Unreal Engine (the engine we're using for Xeno Runners) and we ended up snatching a second place in the general category, so that turned out to be a huge surprise, participating alongside so many great projects...
We were a team of three: Oleg Klaus, Michael Pitkin and me. We met through Twitter (X) and they invited me to their team a week before the event started, so I was very lucky I could even participate in the jam.
The game (Neo Siege) is unpolished, of course, but the experience was great. I remember we had a 3 hour conversation the night they announced the theme of the jam and then 5 hours straight the day after, just to come up with the game idea and mechanics. It was tough, but I believe planning ahead is what made our entry a success.
We were a team of three: Oleg Klaus, Michael Pitkin and me. We met through Twitter (X) and they invited me to their team a week before the event started, so I was very lucky I could even participate in the jam.
The game (Neo Siege) is unpolished, of course, but the experience was great. I remember we had a 3 hour conversation the night they announced the theme of the jam and then 5 hours straight the day after, just to come up with the game idea and mechanics. It was tough, but I believe planning ahead is what made our entry a success.
5. WHAT GAMES HAVE YOU WORKED ON BEFORE XENO RUNNERS?
My professional relationship with games is a bit odd as I have worked on a few cancelled games ("Totems" and "Elveon") where I had poured a fair amount of effort into (this is a fairly common situation in the industry, sadly) and then some other games I just didn't feel very strongly about (a casino game that scored 1/10 and "Overlord" adaptation for the Nintendo Wii). In recent years I have been involved in "Outcast: Second Contact" ("Outcast" remake, from 1999) and right after, "Outcast: A New Beginning" (a sequel, coming out in March 2024 that Angel and David are also part of). Now, this year, I have been briefly involved in three triple AAA games that I can't really talk about because of NDAs and stuff.
6. GIVE US A HISTORY LESSON ON THE NAME OF XENO RUNNERS.
XENO RUNNERS is a name that we liked the sound of. The game is a high-speed aerial racing game that takes place on an alien planet... So we've got the "Runners" (playable characters, even though they don't run...) that implies "speed", competing on a "Xeno" (alien, foreign) planet... We thought it was cool and decided to go with it.
7. WHO IS THE MAIN PROTAGONIST OF XENO RUNNERS?
The protagonist is the player, of course! :). It's a skill based game where you need to be very precise in your movements. The more you play, the better you get. Because there's no story, there's no particular protagonist. In the final version of the game, there will be different "Runners" to choose from but the choice will be purely cosmetic aside from two difficulty levels based on variants of the same character (an "easy" and a faster, "harder", visually similar variant). In any case, when flying at high speeds and trying not to crash, I assure you, the player will forget about the looks very quickly.
8. WHERE DO XENO RUNNERS TAKE PLACE?
It's an imaginary sci-fi environment on an unknown alien planet, somewhat minimalistic/deserted, made of water (mostly) and organic structures and shapes that the player will have to skillfully navigate through-
Surely there's a mega corporation behind the organization of this racing event in this particular planet, but we don't have all the details right now.
Surely there's a mega corporation behind the organization of this racing event in this particular planet, but we don't have all the details right now.
9. I SEE THERE IS A LOT OF FLYING IN THIS GAME SO TELL US ABOUT THE PLACES YOU CAN EXPLORE IN THE GAME?
The game is mostly about racing against the clock (no multiplayer, unfortunately) but in the final version there will be a "game mode" where the player can freely fly (no time pressure) and explore the world in order to find the scattered remains of a "legendary runner": A playable character only for the most hardcore players.
10. TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE CORE GAMEPLAY MACHINCS THAT ARE IN THIS GAME?
The game mechanics are really very simple. You can fly very fast, or you can stop and catch your breath. If you decide to fly (why play the game otherwise?), then you'll be able to control the direction of your character with the mouse or gamepad. Very simple and very challenging.
11. WHAT TYPE OF RACES THAT YOU DO IN THE GAME?
The racing will be against the clock, time attack or time trial (pick a name). The objective is to traverse and complete a track made out of "energy rings" recording the lowest time possible (that will be stored on a global leaderboard online). There will be speed multipliers that will stack up when flying through the center of the rings sequentially. This also means, the faster you go, the more difficult it gets... It's lots of fun and crashing in equal parts.
12. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY XENO RUNNERS DAY ONE?
First and foremost because the core mechanic of the game (high speed flying) is a very cool and powerful one. People will surely be thrilled to experience that alone (especially if they can't fly in real life... If they can, then this might not cut it for them, I'm afraid).
Equally important is the fact that Xeno Runners will come out as "Early Access" on Steam, as it is a very humble project and it's being made with a total budget of 0 "Zeni". So it's crucial for us that people start playing the game as soon as possible so we can get feedback and funds to finish the game as best as we can.
That's why we need players to be there on day one :).
Equally important is the fact that Xeno Runners will come out as "Early Access" on Steam, as it is a very humble project and it's being made with a total budget of 0 "Zeni". So it's crucial for us that people start playing the game as soon as possible so we can get feedback and funds to finish the game as best as we can.
That's why we need players to be there on day one :).
13. WHEN WILL XENO RUNNERS RELEASE AND WHAT PLATFORMS WILL IT BE ON?
We have planned its Early Access release on Steam very soon: First quarter of 2024. For now it will only be available on PC (Steam). No budget for porting to consoles, sadly.
Having said this, keep an eye out for The Steam Next Fest in February as you'll be able to play a demo.
Sure, we're in many places, but "Xeno Runners" Steam page is a good starting point, so players can learn more about it and wishlist the game to be notified when released. https://store.steampowered.
Xeno Runners Discord: https://discord.gg/
Twitter Atchio Games: https://twitter.com/
Twitter Abner M: https://twitter.com/
Twitter Angel G: https://twitter.com/
Artstation Angel G: https://www.artstation.com/
Artstation David Muñoz: https://www.artstation.
Instagram Abner M: https://www.instagram.com/
Instagram Angel G: https://www.instagram.com/
Youtube Abner M: https://www.youtube.com/@
Youtube Abner M: https://www.youtube.com/@
15. YOU MENTION YOU'VE WORKED ON FILMS. WHY CHANGE TO GAMES?
I have worked on a bunch of film projects (https://www.imdb.com/name/
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