It was only just a couple of weeks ago that we learned the launch date for Knocktwice Games upcoming arcade-style virtual reality title Good Goliath, but there is still so much left to know about this game. With a team led by co-owners who are comprised of a Disney veteran and a Sony veteran, it is no wonder that we got something a little different from them. Lately, VR has been used for various titles in the range of puzzles, horror, wildly imaginative atmospheres, and other more serious subjects, but now we are getting a sillier title.
Good Goliath is set to launch on both PSVR and PCVR via Steam with the Oculus and HTC Vive head gears compatibility in just a few days! Luckily, I was given the opportunity to interview the Knocktwice Games co-owners Donny Hamilton, the Disney veteran, and Christoph Biehn, the Sony veteran. Let’s see what they had to say about their game and future plans.
Interview with Knocktwice Games
Q: What were the main inspirations behind Good Goliath?
A: “It was a few years ago. The Oculus Rift was just launching. We were very excited about the possibilities of VR. We loved that you could hold things and play with toys in the virtual world. We thought, “How cool would it be to play with living action figures?'' Once we had the prototype and we were holding a living moving person in our hands we knew we were onto something.
While at Sony we were hearing of some severe reactions to movement in VR, so we decided to keep the player steady and have the game come to the player. The fantasy of a ‘Gulliver's Travels’-type setup, where a giant has been tied up by little people, was a perfect backstory to help the player understand and accept that they’re stationary.”
Q: Is this collaboration between you two going to continue into more titles or just a one-game run?
A: “We certainly hope so. We have a ton of concepts just waiting to be brought to life. We’re hoping for at least moderate success on Good Goliath so we can move onto the next project.”
Q: If you two go on to make more games, what genre and game types can we expect next?
A: “It will most likely be whimsical. An adventure game with some off the wall element in there maybe. We’ll see.”
Q: Were the initial designs for the game always set up to be an arcade-style VR title?
A: “Yes. We’re a very small team so we knew we couldn’t do something on a grand scale. The idea was to keep it simple. We were aware of the cumbersome nature of putting a VR headset on your head. Let’s make it so players can jump in for a short time, have some fun and then jump out. We wanted the levels to be self-contained chunks where at the end of a session you felt like you’ve completed something.
Initially, we did a prototype where we focused a bit more on the interactions with characters in the player’s hands. We explored silly ideas like being able to punch out the NPC (which you can still do) or even light their hair on fire (in a silly, cartoony way, of course) which was promising! However, it quickly became clear that the core fun was in the mechanic of catching and throwing characters and creating mayhem. We had lots of ideas for more complex interactions like holding a different NPC in each hand and have them start fighting each other in unique ways, for example. Ultimately, we focused on what we thought was the core, the arcade action.”
Q: Coming from a Disney background, which projects that you worked on would you say influenced you to work on your own titles under Knocktwice Games?
Donny: “I worked on Epic Mickey 1 & 2. Working at Disney has definitely had an impact on how I develop characters and worlds. When you work on a Disney property you have to learn the history and creation processes. I think players might get a slight Disney or Pixar vibe from our game.”
Q: Coming from a Playstation background, what experience influenced you to start working on your own titles under Knocktwice Games?
Christoph: “We’ve always wanted to do our own project. To us, it felt like VR sort of evened the playing field. Nobody really knew how to develop for VR and that gave small developers an opportunity to jump in. The timing was perfect for us. We pitched our Giant game concept to the higher-ups at Sony. They liked what they saw and signed us as a first-party development studio to create VR games exclusively. Since then we have gone fully independent but we are so grateful to them for getting this ball rolling.”
Q: What do you believe players will get out of the experience when playing Good Goliath?
A: “The intent was to make a game that was truly fun and approachable to anyone. You only have to remember one button. You catch things and let go of them, simple. Even people who have never played video games could jump in and play immediately.
The rhythm of catching things and hitting targets just feels good. An important gameplay mechanic here is "Uptrading", which means hitting a target that will gift you a better weapon in return, so the player is constantly on the lookout for trade-up opportunities. That ”dance” of catching and throwing can be quite addicting, I think we especially nailed it in some of the dinghy boat waves in the pirate world or the big sacrificial head waves in the underworld levels.
We believe for a small team we have delivered a quality game with decent production values. We’re hoping people will want more of this universe. We would love to add more themed worlds, mechanics and come up with more outrageous giant bosses. Picture little ninjas flipping around you. Catch one and fling him like a shuriken!”
After hearing the ambitions for future game developments and the passion that drove Good Goliath to be the first title of this indie development team, I have to say that I have high hopes. It definitely seems like these two work well together and are bringing different enough backgrounds to mold some concepts that players of all kinds can enjoy!
