PSLS Presents – The Making of Polar Panic
With a limited budget to work to we decided to use 2D illustrations for the story mode and instruction panels — see images for a sequence of the double trapper squash. These also create a great storybook style and add a real warmth and character to the game.
The environments were sized out, filled with props, tested, played on, tweaked, changed, then when we were happy with them, we modeled them up to the detail you will see in the screenshots.
The level progressions are similar to those in the early Super Mario and Sonic games, starting out at a nice easy pace and then becoming both more hectic and industrialized as the game progresses. Every tenth level is then a boss battle against Mr. Big himself.
We introduced the IceTruck and the Boat to vary the pace and the settings on the game. The boat rocks as it bounces over the waves – again this was a feature we were unsure of until we prototyped it (see image). The rocking action coupled with the rolling oil barrels makes it one of the most popular (and tricky) levels in the game.
The puzzle levels are a blend of Sokoban block pushing, logic puzzles and a few things unique to Polar.
Polar Panic hits the PSN Store next week.
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4 Responses to “PSLS Presents – The Making of Polar Panic”
Excellent information here! I hope there’s a demo for this title, since I usually skip out on sokoban-like games…Hoping this one is different enough from the normal attributes of this genre!
Ditto on the demo – these PSN games are great when I need a break from the huge deeply involved games I have, and are great for puzzle elements, which I enjoy a lot. I like what he said about them play testing it as soon as possible, I have found a number of games where as I’m playing I wonder, “did these guys ever play this crap?!” (like Bionic Commando, the new one).
BigWoopMagazine don’t get me started with Bionic Commando. I keep thinking to myself “maybe one day I will pop it back in and the controls will back a little bit of damn sense” Anyway Polar Panic looks like good potential. I had made it a habit to buy every game on PSN to support new devs and had to fall back with so many releases as the PS3 has grown in popularity and content. I look forward to picking this one up from the looks of it though! And great article PSLS. Your interview scoops are were it is at!!
Just to let you guys know, Polar Panic is out on the 22nd of December on PSN and there will be a demo. We hope you enjoy it!