One of the most rewarding moments when you’re following the local industry is being able to see a game come full circle, and on display at the Perth Games Festival this year was the completed version of Rift Runner. I had the chance to play it last year, and it was awesome to see it on Google Play this past weekend. If you’d like to know a more about the core game, you can catch our interview from last year here. However, this year, with only a few updates to share, I thought it’d be a great to catch up with creator, Michael Mickie to ask some follow-up questions and a few just for fun!

 

It was an exciting day on Saturday, not only because of PGF but because Rift Runner officially launched on Google Play! How are you feeling now it’s finally out in the wild?

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A little mixed, to be honest. It’s a great feeling to see something that you have been working towards finally come to fruition. Mostly I’m just feeling a bit nervous as it’s the first tittle that I have released and it’s hard to say how well received it will be by the public, the festival did help alleviate some of the nervous.

Available for download here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.RiftRunner&hl=en

 

As this is the second time Rift Runner has appeared at PGF, I’d be interested to know whether feedback from last year’s festival influenced any aspect of the final build?

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To be honest, the feedback from last year’s festival didn’t really influence things too much as we already knew what we needed tweaking prior to showcasing at the festival last year.
 

 

Since we last played the game, have there been any significant changes or additions, or has the past year mostly been about polishing the game in time for release?

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There have been some minor changes since last year’s festival, mostly aesthetic changes to help unify the project as a whole. Probably the two biggest features that were missing at the festival last year that are now incorporated into the project was the audio and social media interactivity. Other than that most of the time has been spent polishing the game in preparation for the launch.

 

Game development has its share of difficulties, and being in Perth can add a few more to the pile. What has been your greatest challenge trying to complete the game?

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Probably the biggest challenge while completing the project would have to have been procrastination. With working full time to make ends meet, I quite often would come home and have no energy left to work on the game during my spare hours.

 

Is there anything about the game you wish you could have expanded upon given more time, and is there any one component of the game that you’re especially proud of?

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We could and had discussed the possibility of having some more enemies into the game to help create a bit of variation to what the player needs to avoid. Someone has also asked if we were looking at putting in any power ups or anything along those lines, but there aren’t really any that fit with the gameplay that we are going for, we were also looking at implementing additional social media features such as Twitter. As for features that I’m proud of I would have to say the Facebook functionality as that was somewhat hard to
implement and get working correctly.
 

 

Now that Rift Runner has been released, what are your plans as a studio moving forward, and do you have any hints about your next project that you can share with us?

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Moving forward from Rift Runner I have started doing some pre-production on the next project, which is a third-person action puzzle game. That draws inspiration from aspects of other games like The Binding of Isaac, Bastion, and the Final Fantasy series.

 

Let’s get hypothetical for a second. If you could develop any sort of game with unlimited funds and resources behind you, what sort of game would you want to create?

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I would love to make a role-playing game, something in the size and scope of Planescape Torment or one of the other great role-playing games. I have a half completed game design document for one that I was looking at making while at university, but the size and scope of the project became something that couldn’t be completed, so I guess I would work on that title.

 

Can we expect to see your games at local playtesting events such as Playup Perth in the future?

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It would be great to have the community more involved with your next project! It’s certainly something that I’m considering as I move into production on the new project; I think that was something that we didn’t necessarily get correct with Rift Runner.
 

 

Are there any ways that our readers can support your games and continue follow AltF4 Interactive’s progress? Social media, blogs, etc. would be great if you have something?

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So your readers can show their support and follow the progression of our next project via the following:

Website: http://altf4interactive.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/altf4interactive

I’m going to try to keep both updated as regularly as possible!

 

Finally, just for a bit of fun, could you tell us what you favourite game of all time is and why? – It’s always fascinating to hear about the games that inspire future creators.

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I don’t think I have any one favourite game, but probably my favourite game series would have to be the Final Fantasy series. And I guess if I had to pick one game out of that entire series it would have to be Final Fantasy 9. There’s just something about this games narrative that I found captivating when I was younger, and even now this game still inspires me to make something that I hope will someday inspire someone in a similar way.