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Exclusive Interview With Welsh Video Game Developers Cogg Games
Based in Pembrokeshire and Tonypandy, Cogg Games are local developers who have been busy toiling away on a 3D adventure game for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Luckily for us, Creative Director Will Morris-Julien took some time out of his busy work schedule to give us an interview and shed some light on their forthcoming video game Eekeemoo – Splinters of the Dark Shard.
Firstly, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Well, before we get into who I am I should say a little about Cogg Games. Cogg is a joining of two Welsh teams, Goldborough Studio (character design and visual development) and Cooply (game dev and programming). It was formed to make an Eekeemoo game.
I am the Creative Director at Goldborough Studio; the accidental creator of Eekeemoo; the artist/writer of his comic adventures and for the last three years the art director of Eekeemoo – Splinters of the Dark Shard at Cogg Games.
The bulk of my work on Eekeemoo was the initial visual development, world building and character design. Once I had done that the game dev and programming team — Nathan, Owen and Chris took over and did the really hard work of making a game and bringing it to life.
I’m the only one of the team who’s not in the Cogg offices. I’m in Pembrokeshire, and they’re in Tonypandy. So I saw things as the game took shape. The process during production was I got sent work in progress for feedback on look and feel. So even though I was 80 miles away, I saw stuff daily.
For those who aren’t familiar with Eekeemoo, how would you describe your game?
It’s a seven plus, cuteness and scary mash-up. In gaming terms an action-adventure game. On the same path as The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker or Bastion. In story terms, it’s a good old-fashioned zombie squashing, monster battle ‘n quest. A journey of super spooky magnitude undertaken by a small, star-powered ninja eskimo called Eekeemoo. His path will take him into the four deadly realms of the evil Dark Shard looking for his captured friends.
What would you say are your biggest influences on Eekeemoo?
Well, I didn’t design the gameplay, so I guess one the other members of the team would be able to answer gameplay inspiration better. However, I was definitely inspired by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker when I was thinking how Eekeemoo was going to work on screen. But in a non-game world I would say Jo Jo in the Stars (Studio AKA short film) and Ojingogo (comic by Matt Forsythe).
Eekeemoo is also the charismatic hero of a famous, critically acclaimed comic book series which you personally created. The art style and character designs are super cute. How did you get involved with developing a video game centred around this enigmatic hero?
I created him. To be honest, it was David from Cooply who pushed for him to become a console game. We initially started out with an idea for an iOS Minigore style game. But it seemed to grow organically, and before we knew it, he was charging around on the TV screen. I’m not sure how that happened… but it did!
If you could choose another comic book hero to create a video game for, who would you choose and why?
An open world version of Rocketo by Frank Espinosa would be awesome in a Flash Gordon kind of vibe. But it would have to be Spiralbound by Aaron Renier — that would be awesome. Sort of like Night in the Woods meets Animal Crossing. I would play that for days!
What were your favourite video game experiences of 2016?
The Last Guardian took four awesome vertigo driven days of my life over Christmas. Then Inside was pretty fantastic — that was an all day experience and when that girl with the long hair showed up, I nearly died. Unravel was pretty cute. Abzu was super pretty, though, it was hard for him to top Journey. Hyper Light Drifter was also epic.
What video games are you currently playing?
Firewatch, Gravity Rush with my daughter and the amazing Overland — that’s so cool. I’ll be playing Night in the Woods lots though.
What platforms will Eekeemoo be releasing on?
Xbox One first as its an ID@Xbox game. Then PS4 and Steam for PC.
Are there any platforms you’d like to bring Eekeemoo to in the future?
Steam for Mac more than likely. We’re looking at a Switch/Wii U release too.
Eekeemoo – Splinters of the Dark Shard releases on Xbox One in February, PC on March 20th and later in the year for PS4.
words DYLAN CHAUNDY