Right now the folks behind SUPERHOT are waist deep in development of their FPS puzzle title, which you can find some of our previous coverage on here and here. Though the team is busy working on the game we managed to nab Luke Spierewka for an interview. A man wearing many hats, Luke manages both social media relations for the game and works as one of its lead programmers. Before SUPERHOT he worked for Wastelands Interactive, responsible for Worlds of Magic. You can find more of Luke’s portfolio at his website. Don’t forget to visit the SUPERHOT website while you’re at it.
Let’s start with a brief introduction. Can you tell us a little bit about your role on the project?
My name is Luke, and I’m one of the programmers working on SUPERHOT; however, I’m also handling the social relations / community management part of the project, so if you write us an e-mail or a tweet there’s a pretty high chance that I’ll be the guy that replies to you.
How did you all come together to work on SUPERHOT?
While the 7DFPS challenge was the first time we worked together, our team first met during another game jam. It was the 26th edition of Ludum Dare where we spent a weekend having fun and making games.
Can you go a bit more into detail about the development process so far?
Since the original prototype we’ve spent a lot of time fixing stuff that didn’t work and figuring out a pipeline for minimizing the time it takes to get things done. Initially we designed entire levels in SketchUp, imported them into Unity, checked whether there’s something that needs to be fixed (and there was always something that needed tweaking) and repeated that process until it was alright. Right now we do this in a much smarter and faster way.
Were you inspired by any non-FPS games when creating SUPERHOT?
Actually, yes! One of the main sources of inspiration for our creative director, Piotr, was a small, 2D Flash game called Time4Cat. The gameplay works like this – you’re controlling a cat walking around a busy crosswalk, collecting food and avoiding people that could accidentally stomp on you. Whenever the cat moves, the commuters also move. So the longer you play, the more difficult and puzzle-like it becomes.
What are some of the team’s favorite games? (Besides SUPERHOT of course.)
One of my favorites are The World Ends With You, 999 and Journey; Piotr is a big fan of Quake and Nidhogg; Jakub’s all-time favorites are Dark Souls and Unreal Tournament; while Mark and Tom are really into Spelunky.
What are some of the unexpected challenges you’ve already faced while developing SUPERHOT?
The biggest challenges that we’re facing right now are finding other mechanics that compliment the core gameplay of “time moves only when you move” really well. We want to explore that base mechanic and see what other cool stuff can we do with it.
What goals do you have for the future of SUPERHOT with the Kickstarter in place?
After the Kickstarter we’re planning to work on the game really hard, while keeping our backers and fans informed about the progress and our future goals. We’d like to let their feedback help us out and shape SUPERHOT into an even better game.
Can you give us some SUPERHOT highlights? Something fun each of you has experienced in playing or developing the games yourselves?
During these eight months of development we’ve seen a lot of strange, amusing things. For example, at some point we had levitating enemies, infinitely respawning guns, and more weird bugs. But it’s like that with every game that’s still in progress. One of the best things about developing SUPERHOT is showing off the game at gaming events like A. MAZE Berlin or WGK. Being able to see other people playing your game, talking to them afterwards and hearing that they really liked it is always something great.
You said on your kickstarter page you were experimenting with new scenarios for players, such as a subway shootout or rooftop showdown, can you tell us a little more about that?
I could, but then I’d be spoiling stuff! Let us keep it under wraps until we’re ready to show it.
Any other projects in the works or pursuits after SUPERHOT?
Sometimes I’m writing down concepts that I’d like to prototype in the future, but right now I’m not working on any project besides SUPERHOT. However, I’d love to make a nice, big local multiplayer game one day, because right now I’m really into these titles.
So the latest footage in the Kickstarter shows off a sword. How awesome are swords?!
Swords > guns. Knives are also cool, just ask this guy:
