Nintendo Life: How was the idea of Loco Motive born? What about this particular setting interests you?
Adam’s Wealth: Our childhood was filled with memories of point and click games, and as we grow older, the passion for these games stays with us! It was a shared dream between my brother and I to create the kind of game we loved to play as children.
I’ve been talking about doing a point-and-click adventure with Joseph for a while, but didn’t know where to start. When the pandemic hit the UK a few months in 2020, it wasn’t long before everyone had to work and live at home in lockdown. At first, I enjoyed the novelty of working from home without having to travel far, but it quickly became isolating. Additionally, Adventure X, an annual narrative gaming conference in London, has announced that it will be canceling its event that year and will instead host their first gaming competition, named AdvXJam.
it feels motivated and achievable to create something in two weeks.
I got to admire the beautiful environmental art of in the Alpsa narrative adventure game set in 1930s Switzerland. I was daydreaming and remember seeing a clear image of a character on a train, it was cut out so you could see the interior. as they move through the carriages.
Recalling that image, I began to think about how we could make a short, content story set on a train. I still carry that image in my back pocket when the game gets stuck, so it makes sense to use that idea. When I presented the idea of joining the game to Joseph, he immediately agreed. We got together on a Discord call and started brainstorming, feeling motivated and achievable to create something in two weeks.
When we released the jam game, the reception was immediately positive, with press coverage and many people asking for more. It made us consider introducing a full sized game based on the same concept. With Loco Motive, we wanted to simultaneously pay homage to the LucasArts point-and-click experience of young pixel art, but with a modern twist.
Can you guide us on how you got the Chucklefish publisher’s attention?
Adam: At the time, I was working for Chucklefish as part of their internal development team. After receiving a warm reception for the jamming game, I wanted to show it in the company’s demonstration and introduction. It went well and especially the marketing team was very supportive. I feel comfortable approaching them later with questions about pitching, as that’s not something I have experience with. Luckily, they had a lot of good advice to share.
It took me a few months to put some things together, which I then submitted through the official submission form. I think the first time most people know I’m recommending the game is when it hits their inbox for review. Finally, I was able to start my own indie studio, Robust Games, set up a small team, and we’ve been working on the game ever since!
How is the Nintendo Switch evolving? What challenges have you faced?
Rich Joseph: The ‘chunky’ pixel art style scales well, so I find it perfect for the Switch’s various display modes. The game looks great whether you’re playing in portable or docked.
since we’ve been able to specifically focus on the Nintendo Switch platform from the very beginning of development, we’re very pleased with the results so far.
When it comes to playing point-and-click adventure games on consoles, it’s important to us that controller support is at its best. This is a challenge we want to tackle first-hand, and since we’ve been able to focus specifically on the Nintendo Switch platform from the very beginning of development, we’re very pleased with the results so far.
Thanks to live character controls and hotspot selection, players can easily navigate their way through the game without emulating a cursor. We were also able to implement Nintendo Switch-specific features like HD Rumble!
One of the obvious comparisons to Loco Motive is Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ – was this the main influencing factor for your coming to this game? What do you think is different about Loco Motive?
Adam: To be fair, Agatha Christie’s work was a huge inspiration for our game. I usually describe it as a blend of Monkey island and Murder on the Orient Express.
We drew a lot of visual inspiration and references from the real-life passenger train itself, but I also researched a lot of behind-the-scenes photos from the various movie adaptations of Murder On The Orient Express.
Our goal was to create a humorous take on the classic murder mystery recipe. For example, what if the famous detective in the story is not Agatha Christie’s famous Poirot, but actually a clumsy idiot who tries to solve the case but in fact they are flying over the sky. his pants seat?
Loco Motive seems to be inspired by classic point-and-click adventure games, but it also showcases modern sensibilities. Is there a specific game you want to find inspiration for?
Adam: Loco Motive is inspired by classic point-and-click adventure games, such as Monkey Island and Day of Tentacles. While certain gameplay elements remain at the core of the genre, they have continued to evolve over time. To make sure the game feels fresh, we’ve researched other games and incorporated modern improvements where they make sense.
On the visual side, we leveraged modern lighting and shading techniques to complement the pixel art. We also used particle effects and shaders to create weather effects and even implemented border lighting on the characters to help them stand out in the environment. While these effects are a bit subtle in some places, they all work together to create a great aesthetic for the game.
Another modern feature in the game is the in-game hint line. While its purpose is to assist players who may be struggling or need help, we designed it to be a mechanic in the universe. Hopefully this will be a fun and engaging feature to interact with, even if you don’t necessarily need to solve puzzles.
We are also directly inspired by Back to Monkey Island, which recently introduced great accessibility and modernization features. Hopefully it will be considered the new standard for point-and-click adventure games in the future. I played this game on Nintendo Switch and it feels really natural.
Can you give any indication of when we might see a Loco Motive release for Switch?
Adam: All we can say right now is that we’re aiming for a 2023 release, but we’ve got a demo on Steam this weekend (until May 8th) that everyone has. can be viewed. We’d love to get some feedback from the community!
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
We would like to thank Adam and Joseph Riches for taking the time to answer our questions. If you want to see Loco Motive, then you will be happy to know that Robust Games is currently participating in the digital event. LudoNarraCon on Steam, will run until May 8, 2023. As Adam says, you can try out the free demo during the event while we patiently await the release date on Switch. Needless to say, the game looks excellent so far and we can’t wait to play the final product!
