We've been for some time thinking and planning this
debut
not really a debut but a comeback to the market with our own games
Aquiris was always known for making games in partnership with other companies
And Horizon Chase
was the first game 100% produced
and published by us. It was a game developed in
six months, counting the polishing
publishing and creation of promotional material
and we had this story,
many of the people involved in the creation process
of the game are from the generation that played
back in the 80s and 90s
those classic racing games like Top Gear, Out Run
and this was one of the ideas that always popped up during brainstorming
other ideas popped up but this one
survived, so in this sense we've
managed to choose the game's genre in a very organic manner
because this idea was already very mature
we just had to be careful
to create the game avoiding cliches. What do I mean by that?
We were careful to avoid making a game
that looked like a 16-bit game, you know? Pixellated, this kind of things.
I think that, first, it's not out style and second
and second, it was not what we were looking for
even if it were our style. So we've managed
to find thru an art style that our team created
this low-poly aesthetics
however with the cars being the most important member
up front, so we've kept them
with a higher poly count, and this high-poly / low-poly contrast
created a very nice effect, all the critics talked about it
but always praising it because, in a way, even for us
we weren't 100% sure if it would work.
Also I think all the process itself, of having very clear
references, like Top Gear and Out-Run
and up to a certain moment these references were fundamental
after that it was very clear to us that Horizon Chase already had
a personality of its own. And it was then that we've started
to abandon a little bit our references, and at this point
we've started to follow our own path, so to speak.
And one of the
coolest ideas we've had was
when we've decided to contact
the composer of Top Gear's soundtrack
which, especially to Brazil, was
something really overwhelming
the success achieved by these soundtracks
which if we go on YouTube today we see several
videos of musicians
playing those soundtracks due their complexity to be reproduced in instruments
so that by itself was a great idea
and Barry Leitch, the composer, was on Facebook
we've contacted him, talked about the project
he was doing different projects nowadays
in non-gaming related sound projects
and it was a redemption for him, it was really cool
he looked at the project and thought
"This is a once in a lifetime chance, actually,
a second chance that I'm having
to return making something that in the past
about 20, 30 years ago I did"
and he jumped head first in the project with us
and the coolest part was that I remember I've given him a
very vague briefing for him, the only thing I said was "Make a completely
contemporary soundtrack, a theme song, and I don't want to give you restrictions
just try doing something contemporary
avoid that 16-bit feeling, use your style
and you're totally free to do what you want", and the first track he sent us
became the game's main theme. He got it at the first try
and we were very happy with it. He did all other tracks
and we're still talking because
Horizon Chase will still evolve on consoles and PCs
and new tracks from Barry will be added to the game
we're talking about it, he helps
to give a soul to the project
and he validates the comeback of this lost genre
the 90s racers, being this more than legitimate symbol
that was part of tht generation and now is part
of this generation of super arcade racers like Horizon Chase.
Here at Aquiris we work with Unity almost ten years now
we've started in 2007
so we have a long time contact with the engine, we've started working on version 1.6
so our know-how acquired in the past ten years
made Unity an obvious choice. Aquiris have grown alongside with Unite, and Unity's growth
was also part of the reason Aquiris grew
and in this period we've mastered the techology
in a very deep way. And for a game of our own, where we were investing
our own money, where the result was critical
we needed to use a tool
that allowed us to be as assertive as possible, that allowed us to reach the result
both visual and techincal, performance-wise that we needed
our goal was that the game was universal, meaning
that it would run in older, low-end devices, our minimun target was an iPad 2
a four-year old device when we've started.
So the engine's accumulated knowledge plus the ease
in the asset pipeline that it brought allowed us
to create 80 tracks in five months
that was one of the main points that made us choose Unity.
After the release, we were impressed
with the good reception the game had.
We always pay attention in both the critics and the audience
and try to absorb both, there were cases where
our games were acclaimed by critics but not by the public, and vice-versa
but with Horizon Chase we've achieved both
the game was, first of all,
Editor's Choice in the US App Store
which is the App Store that is, so to speak,
the pulse of what's going to be
highlighted worldwide, it was
the first Brazilian game chose, so we made history in that sense
first Brazilian game that was Editor's Choice in the US App Store
And that by itself was an enormous recognition.
Post-launch was fantastic, players really liked the game, reception was
very good
it was cool to see the days after the release
people from all over the world, form Japan, India
enjoying the game, making gameplay videos
it was funny that we would reload
on Twitter, Google
and there was always something new popping up, and that reception
from the players, from people playing
what you've created, understand and like
what you did is very cool. It's out biggest reward
for making this game.
Today, the games are
much more simulators than straightforward games.
In terms of sheer fun, of picking up and play.
Horizon Chase offers that and I think it fulfills
it, and the public reception represents
this, on top of that, the game received
several awards and recognitions, both in Brazil
and worldwide. It was game of the year
by several specialized media outlets
in 2015, such as IGN Brazil,
UOL Jogos, Overloadr
Geração Gamer, several
other medias, we've received several videos
of people that went to Apple Stores worldwide, checked the iPads, iPhones
and among the apps available
to test the devices was Horizon Chase, that was
a very nice surprise, besides all that it achieved
in terms of awards
it's nice to talk about what's in the future
the future of Horizon Chase have several
plans for mobile platforms
but there is two great releases coming up
which are consoles
which have versions coming up and desktops
PCs and Macs will have its versions, the game will be available on Steam
we'll add content to it, so the game
will not be the exact same version
that we've released on mobile
the game will have extra content
and this will be very cool because there's stuff the players were asking
and other stuff that we think it would
be great to have in the game.