You may remember that about a year ago, we had the pleasure of being one of the first websites to interview the very first dedicated WiiWare developers, Bplus. Bplus are responsible for the charming puzzle-shooter PLÄTTCHEN, which has been in development for over a year and is packed with more fantastic content than a planetary proportioned pinata handcrafted by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. Bplus very kindly agreed to another interview about their soon to launch debut game, PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint.

Q: It's been almost a year since we last spoke. Has PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint seen any major changes during its development? And is it almost complete?

A: We began the development on PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint in February 2007 with a planned release in Q3 2007, but WiiWare's release has been delayed to Q2 2008. At that moment it was just a simple puzzle game. We still had a lot of time so we decided to make the game more interesting for 'hardcore' Nintendo fans. We added the whole shooter part including the FantasyMEs and the story about our hero ZeLeLi to the game concept.

A few days ago, we finished our work on PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint and sent it to Nintendo's check.

Q: Would you be able to explain how the controls will work with the 'puzzle-shooting' gameplay?

A: PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint is a very demanding game but the controls are quite simple to understand. You tilt the Wii Remote to select a color on the Color Wheel and paint any Plättchen on the play field in the color you want. These color twists need energy. If you run out of energy the game is lost. To twist the Plättchen to other colors you need your FantasyME. This avatar follows the cursor and should not be harmed. Depending on the Fantasy World, you have to shoot different obstacles to get score and protect your FantasyME. You win if you fill up the Energy Tube by destroying more Plättchen together. Try to use as few twists as possible to accomplish a level.

Q: What inspired you to create PLÄTTCHEN? Some recent screenshots reminded us of the Kirby games...

A: I really liked the idea of tilting the Wii Remote. I found this to be a funny way to control the main feature in a game. The Color Wheel was born. I love the Kirby games, however in the puzzle genre I prefer action based titles like Meteos for Nintendo DS. In PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint we tried to combine different styles, from colorful fantasies to photo-realistic art styles.

The butterflies are moving against us, but everything is falling into place.

Q: PLÄTTCHEN is Bplus' first title, and we have to say that the graphics are looking pretty damn good. How long did it take to create the engines for PLÄTTCHEN (perhaps you could detail them too)?

A: About the half of the development time has been spent to create all the engines used in PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint. These engines include physics, sound, camera, explosions, particle effects and 3D-graphics with loads of animations and many Wii effects.

Q: There was a bit of confusion regarding the information you released to us a few months ago. Could you explain to our readers what a FantasyME is and what its purpose is in PLÄTTCHEN?

A: A FantasyME is your avatar in the Fantasy Worlds. It follows your cursor and has to be protected from different obstacles in the various fantasies. Each FantasyME behaves differently and has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some of them have special advantages, like the pocket lamp that lights up the Haunted Wood.

Q: Could you detail all of the modes available in PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint?

A: Classic Mode: Burst Plättchen to fill up the Energy Tube with as few twists as possible and place yourself in the high scores. Use various items and avoid letting in too many black Shadow Plättchen.

Copycat Mode: Copy a series of given pictures to the Plättchen Field within the time limit.

Mission Mode: Accomplish the different missions within the time limit. Each mission level provides its own unique challenge.

There are also a number of Party Modes which can be combined with each other: Classic Versus, Destruction Mode, Split Mode, Out of Control and Bomb Rain.

Q: We know that in multiplayer, eight players will share four Wii Remotes and Nunchuks. How will these control teams work together? What is the job of the person in the charge of the Wii Remote, and the person using the Nunchuk?

A: The two players who share one Wii Remote and one Nunchuck play together as a team. They have one Color Tube and one Color Wheel which is controlled by the player with the Wii Remote, but both of them can twist Plättchen, have a FantasyME and can activate Plättchen reactions. However, the challenge is that the Nunchuck player is unable to shoot at obstacles, so his partner has to protect both FantasyMEs.

Q: What bonuses will the player receive if they play with the Wii Zapper?

A: When you play with the Wii Zapper, you can activate the special pump action shot which has a greater spread and does not twist Plättchen. Additionally, you can control your FantasyME seperately using the Control Stick on the Nunchuck. The Zapper is detected automatically.

Somewhere, beyond the sea, the Underwater Fantasy World is waiting for me...

Q: Are there any other hidden control schemes tucked away in PLÄTTCHEN, or any that you would have liked to take advantage of?

A: There are many hidden things in PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint but control schemes are not one of them. If we would have had more time we would have used the Balance Board to take influence on the gravity in PLÄTTCHEN by shifting the weight.

Q: A few games have been confirmed to support Nintendo's Pay & Play service on WiiWare. Can we expect any future downloadable puzzle packs for PLÄTTCHEN?

A: We decided not to offer any expensive downloadable content for PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint but instead we were determined to include everything a gamer could dream of from the start. There are more than 300 levels and so much you can do with the Plättchen, but if that still is not enough we will have to create PLÄTTCHEN 2! ;-)

Q: Does PLÄTTCHEN make any use of WiiConnect24 or compatibility with the Wii Message Board?

A: PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint is our very first game and we simply did not have the time to include this kind of features. However, we plan to include these things in our next games.

Q: When will PLÄTTCHEN be released in America and Europe?

A: We have no fixed date right now but we will let you know when PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint passes the Nintendo check and get a release date. We hope for a release within the next few weeks.

Q: Are there any potential plans for a sequel to PLÄTTCHEN on either WiiWare or another platform, or are you hoping to make each new game fresh and completely different?

A: Bplus is a developer that is focused exclusively on Nintendo, so there are no plans for platforms other than Nintendo's systems. We have some ideas for sequels to our first game, but they will play differently than PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint. Nonetheless, there is nothing planned for the next year in this direction.

Q: Speaking of which, what's next for Bplus on the WiiWare front?

A: We have many new and crazy game ideas in different genres. However, we want to let the Nintendo fans decide what they want next from Bplus. We will have an eye what they have to say in the N-Europe forums.

Q: In our last interview you mentioned plans for a possible DS project. Can you shed any light on this?

A: It is so much fun to develop for WiiWare that we decided to move our DS plans to Nintendo's next handheld system. That means that we go on telling the story of our new hero ZeLeLi on Wii.

Q: Would you ever consider developing a piece of software with Wii Fit's Balance Board in mind?

A: The Wii Balance Board is a very interesting piece of hardware. You can bet you will find it used in some of the next Bplus projects. Maybe we will decide to create a game which exclusively works with the Wii Balance Board as the main controller.

Swiss army knives wished they had this many multiplayer options. That is, if a swiss army knife had multiplayer options.

Q: Whilst on the subject of peripherals, you included DK Bongo controls in a previous build of PLÄTTCHEN. Was this fan service (considering Paon didn't even include them in DK: Jet Race)? Do you feel that Nintendo neglect them nowadays?

A: Drumming on the DK Bongos is fun and we created PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint to be a pure fun game. We had a hard fight for the DK Bongos, and it was really much work to include them in a fun way, but in the end Nintendo of Japan decided not to allow the use of the DK Bongos for Wii software.

[Click here to read more about the omitted DK Bongo multiplayer mode and the Bomb Rain mode which is set to replace it - Ed]

Q: There have been complaints about the quality of games for the Wii, both graphically and in terms of quality. Do you feel that the standards of games have slipped since the days of Nintendo's Seal of Quality, and do you think that Nintendo shouldn't be so lenient with Wii releases?

A: Nintendo is very strict in quality checks, but only on the technical side of the game. That means: no errors, no long loading times, no problems with the Wii Remote or the Home Menu and much more. The quality of the gameplay and the graphics itself depends on the development team and the publisher. Nintendo's own games are great and there are also a lot of great third-party games for Wii in stores. It depends on us all if the publishers create games with low quality. Just don't buy bad games. If the publishers do not earn money with crap games, they have to create better software.

Q: We know that Nintendo aren't too fond of the idea of releasing an external hard drive for the Wii, but as it stands we're going to have to keep deleting all of our WiiWare purchases every week to download new titles as they're released. How do you feel about the fact that PLÄTTCHEN may have to be deleted after only a week or so if users want to play new games?

A: If my Wii memory gets filled up, I delete the games I have already completed. If you do the same, I think PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint will be on your Wii Memory for a very long time until it is 100% completed. ;-)

Nintendo will deliver a solution for the memory problem in time, I am sure! I would guess that they will offer some kind of USB device or a new Wii in another color and with much more memory.

Q: What would you say you've learned from playing videogames all these years?

A: I learned that there are many different forms of entertainment out there. To really find out what a game offers, you have to play it. If you play a game and you have fun with it then it is a good game! Don't just watch game videos on the web, play the games! "It's fun to play" - that is the motto of Bplus.

Q: What were the chicken's true motivations for crossing the road?

A: The brave chicken just wanted to protect its planet from the invasion of some crazy french rabbids, that's for sure!

Many thanks for this great interview. I hope you and your readers will enjoy PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint.

We would like to thank Bernd Geiblinger, Bplus' art director, for participating in this interview. PLÄTTCHEN - twist 'n' paint is set to launch very soon on WiiWare in Europe and the US for 1,500 Wii Points.

Comments

Hellfire Says:
June 24th, 2008 at 20:09 || Total Comments: 822

I am very interested in this game, specially the multiplayer, WiiWare really is providing great games for Wii.

Nintendo-master2 Says:
June 25th, 2008 at 06:37 || Total Comments: 1533

chicken? xD

Login to leave a message

• Register for a comment account
• Forgot password / Change password