Ten Questions With… Paul Barnes (Kinelco) & Christian Holland (Lone Elk Creative)

Paul: We developed the first two Vertigolf games over 10 years ago and always loved the games and wanted to create a follow up. Using the Unity game engine we now could really do the game justice so felt this was the right time to develop the game.

Christian: We found ourselves in that great position of coming up with a project of our own so we decided to reboot an old creation of ours “Vertigolf” and bring it up to date.

Paul: I have to confess that I’m not a massive gamer so couldn’t reel off a list of influential games. As I’m a coder I tend to be more interested in the gameplay mechanics of games, so just end up studying how they physics works or how they’ve implemented the cameras. I did love Dear Esther though.

Christian: I think every single game I play whether I like it or not influences me. It’s hard to nail down exactly which games influenced Vertiginous Golf to be honest, but I’m sure lots do.

Paul: I like the after-touch “influenza bug”. It was a late addition to the gameplay, and though it’s very simple feature, it adds a great new dimension to gameplay and strategy for completing a course.

Christian: For me I think I’m most fond of the hummingbird that keeps you company and helps you navigate.

Paul: It’s been a challenge to get it to where it is now, but I think the biggest challenges are ahead.

Christian: It’s not so much the creation as the process of getting the game out there in front of people that has been the biggest challenge, which has been made so much easier since Surprise Attack came on board.

Paul: The past couple of weeks have been fun playing with the Oculus Rift and being completely immersed inside the game.

Christian: By far it’s the creation of the levels and play testing them.

Paul: It’s been great that the game has been so well received so far. The growing community is helping to shape the game and providing invaluable feedback to fix bugs and coming up with new ideas.

Christian: So far reactions have been great so we’re really happy with that. We seem to have a good core community developing around the game and since that’s not something that’s really in your control its good to know initial reactions have been positive and constructive.

Paul: It’s going to be community driven so it’s up to everyone who plays the game.

Christian: The future of Vertiginous Golf lies in the hands of our players, our plans are to take the game as far as we can but we can’t do that alone.

Paul: A warthog coaster.

Christian: Ha ha, errm.. I think it’d have to be my small dashboard Buddha wearing a Canucks helmet.

Paul: Just a thanks for everyone’s interest and enthusiasm for the game so far.

Christian: Thank you for your interest in our little game, I can’t wait to see where Vertiginous Golf goes with the added input from our players.