It’s always nice to sit down and find out more about a game from those who developed it.  That’s one of the really cool things U360 allows and one I always enjoy.  I had the opportunity to find out more about NinjaBee’s Band of Bugs from Lead Designer, Jeremy Throckmorton.  The guys and girls at Wahoo Studios are always a pleasure to work with.  You all should be fans after the Bug Out giveaway here on U360. 

Band of Bugs is available now in the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points.  If you  haven’t purchased the game and you want to know more about it, here’s your chance.  U360 presents the Band of Bugs Q&A.

The Players

Jeremy Throckmorton, Lead Designer, Band of Bugs, NinjaBee

The Interview

Thanks for taking some time to visit with Unscripted 360 again.  I’ll get right to it.  Outpost Kaloki X = hit. Cloning Clyde = hit.  Band of Bugs seems to be continuing that trend.  How has NinjaBee managed to create successful original titles on the Xbox Live Arcade?

It’s always a pleasure.

We’ve been very fortunate in the people we have working on the games, and the reception of those games.  I wish we could say we’ve stumbled on to that magical formula for making a hit game, and are using it to complete our fiendish plans of world domination, but the truth of it is that we have simply been very lucky.  We make games we think other people will like, as so far that’s worked.

Each of your titles so far has had humor and a personality of their own.  Band of Bugs appears to be no exception.  Are these things on some checklist at NinjaBee when developing titles?

It’s largely a reflection of who we are as a team.  It just comes out in our titles.  We don’t want our games to all be the same, so we do consciously work to make them different, but they will always be a reflection of our team.

How long was the development process for Band of Bugs and how much easier was it to develop considering your knowledge from the other titles?  Was the increase in XBLA title size any factor?

Development for Band of Bugs took roughly 11 months, which was much longer than our other titles.  We had a lot of experience to draw up on from our previous titles, and some established technology.  We certainly wouldn’t have been able to pull off what we did without those benefits, but over all development for Band of Bugs wasn’t easier.  We took advantage or our position to push what we were doing that much more beyond our previous games.

Why decide to take Band of Bugs down the path that no other XBLA title has gone with this particular style of gameplay?  And especially the level editor?

We really wanted to make a turn based strategy game, and seeing as there wasn’t one already on Live Arcade, it seemed like the right time to do one.  Seeing as how we wanted to support multiplayer, and we wanted players to get a lot of bang for their buck, the level editor became a must have for us very early on.

I know there had to be a lot of laughs during development.  What kind of fun “bug pranks” went on during development of this title?

Well, there was the time Steve thought it would be funny to spit formic acid in Kevin’s eyes…that wasn’t so good. 

Steve and his tricks.  Are there any interesting stories behing the names of the bugs, naming the Achievements or coming up with the dialogue?

For the most part, the bug names come from a combination of Gaelic and African names kinda just mixed together.  I wanted to start with a somewhat real-world base, and mixing elements from the two cultural backgrounds gave a unique and interesting feel.  From there I just started throwing a lot of emphasis on hard consonants, particularly C and K, to make the ’sound’ of the names feel what I imagined was more insecty, what with the multipart mandibles and all.

Then there are other characters whose names have specific meanings, like Yegg, the little rouge. His name is actually a term for a safecracker, and even though it wasn’t generated like the other names, it fits.

I’m sure you guys played this game night in and night out.  Who ended up being the Band of Bugs champion when all was said and done?

I think the title is still up for debate, but if I was a betting man, my money would go on Kevin Heap, the Lead programmer.  If I was the guy facing him, I’d throw the match, what with the bet and all.  That’s what I’d say, anyway, to sooth my wounded pride when he mopped the floor with my pool little buggy minions.

What was the most rewarding experience during development?

During development we would bring in people who had never seen the game before to try it out.  Some of these guys would stick around for a long time, long after we had received their feedback, still playing the game because they didn’t want to put it down and walk a way.  That was awesome.

It can be addictive for sure.  Well, thanks for visiting with U360 again!  It’s always a pleasure mixing it up with NinjaBee here.

Stay tuned to U360 as I’ll have a nice surprise for you NinjaBee fans!