The design process was often like steering an unpredictable tidal wave for an inadequate surfer.įree of any rigid tile-based system, I was able to take that wave wherever it wanted to go. With frequent time challenges as the scenery cracked, crumbled, rolled, folded, melted, and so on. With no enemies or varied abilities for the character, the level design relied entirely on the scenery being a dynamic and highly bespoke enemy itself. The development of Icycle, however, was a very different process and presented a different set of challenges. This gave the game a lot of scope for unique puzzles and control mechanics. Odyssey was a joystick-controlled platformer where your unique abilities were those of various animals into which you morphed.Ĭhanging into the spider let you crawl around walls the rock monster let you roll over enemies and smash down walls the grasshopper let you jump vast distances the eagle let you swoop though the sky. Could you tell me about the differences between working on Odyssey and Icycle?
It was just a shame we hit the market in 1995 while it was on its way out and the home PC was coming to the fore. And after two years, we had our very own game on the Amiga shelves across Europe while we were still at college. Sadly, they didn't.įortunately, though, one publisher did. I was just a kid walking into these places we practically worshipped on the slim chance they'd take us on. I remember touting the game to companies in London like Psygnosis and The Bitmap Brothers's own publisher Renegade Software. It was a spare time indie project I took on with a school friend Chris Mullender (who later went on to work as a lead coder at VIS and 4JStudios in Scotland). Going back 19 years is scaring the hell out of me, but I've very fond memories of our first platform game. You also worked on a game for the Amiga called Odyssey. The way he made it work still baffles me, but it runs beautifully. He took on the task of converting my primitive ActionScript 2.0 Flash game (that relied extensively on vector graphics) and made it all run natively and smoothly on most iOS devices.Īdobe's AIR just wasn't an option without ActionScript 2 and tessellated vector support.
Porting was a convoluted and manual affair only made possible by coding wizard Richard Reavy of 4JStudios. What was the biggest challenge you faced while making the game? Et voilà, I was left with a very acceptable three-button UI that only required finger positioning on a single axis. So, I ditched the 'down' button, which served little function in the game anyway. When it came to approaching the sequel for mobile / tablet, the first thing I wanted to avoid was the analogue thumbstick UI, which I felt never worked without physical feedback. So, it was never intended for a touchscreen device - the smartphone was barely associated with games back then. Icycle: On Thin Ice is the sequel to the original web browser game I started 8-9 years ago, with basic platformer controls. Pocket Gamer: First up, could you tell me about your experience working on touchscreen platformers?
But I'm a forgetful berk, so it's been expanded and tweaked into the full-blown interview you see here today. This interview was originally going to be included in my Genre Moves piece about touchscreen platformers.
I caught up with Millidge recently to talk about platformers, touchscreens, pitching games to your heroes, and why Icycle: On Thin Ice is better without a 'down' button. Might as well jumpĪt the end of the Amiga era, you see, he worked on Odyssey, a side-scrolling adventure that saw you utilising the power of a variety of animals to solve puzzles and jump over things.
He should know his stuff about this subject, by the way, for he only went and made a Silver Award-winning touchscreen platformer, didn't he.īut it's not just modern platformers that sit proudly on Millidge's CV. And he's got a thing or two to say about touchscreen platformers. Reece Millidge is the man behind the really rather sublime Icycle: On Thin Ice.