Continuing on the path we blazed last week, today we talk again with the mind behind the game, the one and only Danilo Barbosa, and take a look back in time to see where we've come from!
Hi Danilo! How you doing? Ready once again?
Danilo: Very good! Excited to talk a little bit more about the history of Retro Reactor Games!
Great, let's get started then; for those who don't know, Two Strikes is the sequel to Retro Reactor's previous game, One Strike, a game that was incredibly popular at the time especially on Nintendo Switch. Tell us, Danilo, what are the main differences between Two Strikes and One Strike?Danilo: Well, One Strike was where it all started. The idea for the game came after watching the movie 7 Samurai by Akira Kurosawa and it was an attempt to translate one of the scenes into a game, which wasn't easy at all, it took me 8 months of hard work at night, as I always made the games in my spare time, until today. It was also my first commercial game, and I did it completely on my own. Not because I liked working like that, but because I had no choice. Nobody believed in a kid who only had ideas. If I wanted to finish my game, I would have to do it myself. So, One Strike is an ultra-casual game with pixel art, 8-16bits, that only one hit finishes the fight. It was released with only 6 initial characters and later went up to 10.
Why did you decide to make these changes?Danilo: The success of One Strike was quite important for all the changes that were made in the second one, mainly because it allowed me to fund artists, musicians, testers, voice actors and so on, so the production level went up exponentially.
Also, speaking of gameplay, I already had the experience from the first game, so I knew more or less what would work and what wouldn't work, for example, characters with projectiles; in One Strike it was really hard for me to balance the only character that had those skills because, of course, in a game where you can kill with one hit, an infinite range attack is quite powerful.
Other important changes also happened because of the community that came from the first game and actively participated in the development of the second game, thanks to them, I was able to test ideas and make design changes more quickly.
And finally the main gameplay change: different from One Strike which was ultra-casual, to make Two Strikes a medium-casual game because important things of fighting game designs were lost with the simplicity of the first game like the backflips, and moments of tension that are built up little by little in each duel.
What can a One Strike veteran expect when playing Two Strikes for the first time?Danilo: They will be blown away by what they see at first glance, but after that, they will feel at home. Both games provide the same core gameplay which puts the players in a duel. Your life is at stake, the tension is the same when you are playing Street Fighter and both fighters can die with a single hit. In other words, the game starts, and the tension is already high. What changes is that to get that hit, there are other tools, and to avoid that hit, there are also other tools, so the game feels similar, but it's not, it's much more strategic but it stays fast and tense.
Are there any characters that travel from the first game to the second? Why those in particular and not the others?Danilo: Tomoe and Kenji are the only ones I decided to carry over from One Strike to the second game. The reason was because the lead artist wanted independence with the character designs and being a great artist, it seemed like a good idea. The second reason was because I wanted the freedom to create new types of characters without just copying the first game. But nothing prevents me from bringing more characters from the first game in the future, with their updated and unique design for Two Strikes.
One thing that really stands out about Two Strikes is the amazing artwork, what is the reason behind the evolution from pixel art to the hand drawn style?Danilo: Initially, I was looking for an artist to make the second game also in pixel art. My studio was always focused on making retro experiences, but as the graphic quality of the first game was a limiting factor for it to also be a success on consoles with more powerful graphics engines, I was open to try something in HD, that's when I met the lead artist, Gerson. I had the opportunity to work with him briefly on another project that I didn't finish, but I already admired his art. So, the decision was made to have the opportunity to work with someone like Gerson who would definitely do something special.
Is there anything from One Strike that you would have liked to include in Two Strikes, but it wasn't possible?Danilo: Mechanically nothing, but I would definitely like to bring more characters to Two Strikes in the future.
From the launch of One Strike until now it has been almost 6 years, what has been the most difficult thing you have encountered in the development of Two Strikes during these years?Danilo: Definitely running a team. Although they all worked as freelancers, organising their tasks, accompanying them, making changes, knowing how to interact with their problems and availability was quite difficult. It took me a long time to understand how to solve problems and how to improve our process. But there is no way to do a project like that, with that quality and the help of good people, so it was a process that even though it was very difficult, it was a great learning experience for me, and I would not go back.
It's probably too early to ask, but... seeing the evolution from One Strike to Two Strikes, what do you think you would add for a "Three Strikes"?Danilo: 3D hahaha. I wouldn't make another 2D fighting game. Animations are expensive, take a lot of time to make and once you have them, adjusting them to the game is often impossible without making more changes, meaning you have to be very creative with what you have to make it all work.
As always, thank you so much for your time, Danilo, and thank you so much to all of you who read all the way through!
Be sure to follow us on our social networks (@EntaltoStudios and @dmbarbosa1) to keep up with all the news related to Two Strikes, and we'll see you in the next installment of Road to Release: The DevLog Series; Part 3 - The Bloody Sengoku.
