Csharks has launched Kraken Attack gaming app as free on Android. Few years back, the studio had launched flash version of this game and seeing a good response decided to launch it for Android users.
AnimationXpress.com had a conversation with Juwal Bose, Creative Head and Director of Csharks to know about the making of ‘Kraken Attack’ which will be releasing for iOS version in March.
Hi Juwal, Please share about the game play of Kraken Attack?
The Kraken has been held prisoner in the dark depths for a long time. Now, it has been summoned to unleash its fury on this cursed world. The game allows you to play as the angry Kraken, destroying anything that comes in its way, be it the ship, plane or innocent dolphins.
The main character of the game is a fictional sea monster, KRAKEN. The objective of the game is to create maximum destruction using the kraken & hence the name. “Tap” controls the kraken’s movements. Fire blobs and Watermines can take kraken’s life. So in order to stay alive, avoid getting hit by one. Score by destroying ships & planes. Eat dolphins for additional points. The goal is to stay alive & score the maximum.
What kinds of gaming controls have been instilled?
The controls are tapping under water to move kraken, tapping above water to make kraken jump up. Dive to the very bottom & then jump to make the kraken jump higher, Jump & land on boats to destroy them. You will get COMBO points if you chain the destruction, Jump on to the planes & kraken will automatically bite on to them. Then, tap CONTINUOUSLY ABOVE WATER to pull down the plane & destroy them by crashing into water. While hanging, the planes can take up to 3 hits & after that, they will explode. Taping on water while hanging will make the kraken fall back into water Eat dolphins to gain additional points and if the Kraken gets hit by FIREBLOBS/WATERMINES, its LIFE will decrease. So, avoid getting hit by FIREBLOBS & WATERMINES.
Please share the research?
Artwise, our lead artist went through a lot of references about Roman architecture, sculptures, Kraken art conceptsin order to come up with the present game design. Since Kraken is a mythical creature, all the team members shared their ideas to come up with the storyline. With this game we are also experimenting with cross platformdevelopment using LibGDX & RoboVM. So we had to do a bit of work on that end.
We would like to know about the targeted audience, the look and feel of the game?
We aim to target the casual game audience who like to get instant action. This game is ideal as a stress buster & precisely helps when you are angry at someone.The art style is unique as we had to choose with ancient Greece / Rome like look & feel for the game. Also designing the Kraken was a challenge for the artist which really brought out his talent.
The animation medium is and how did you test the game?
This game was developed on ECLIPSE using LibGDX framework. We use Flash for animation as it comes naturally to our senior artists. We have been working with flash for almost 10 years now, so it becomes the default choice. We have 10 different Android devices which help with approximating the fragmented Android market.
Inform us about the challenges and what tweaks are you planning in the upcoming version?
Designing the lead character, the Kraken, was a huge task as it is mythical creature & the entire team had to brainstorm for a lot of time to come up with the unique new look. We are thinking of adding more items for destruction & more animations for the Kraken to execute. But it will depend on the response.
What else are you working on?
City Encounter, Mega Pocket Carrom are our upcoming games that will first launch for Android and then for iOS platform. We are investigating cross platform deployment of our Android games using a technology called RoboVM onto iOS. So soon our games will simultaneously release on both major platforms.