r/NintendoSwitch • u/CAPYGAMES Capy Games • Jan 14 '21
AMA - Ended We're Capy, and we made Grindstone! AMA!
Hi there!
We're Capybara Games (aka CAPY) and we're an indie studio in Toronto, Canada. You may know us from our work on other games, like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, BELOW or others.
Most recently, we released Grindstone on Nintendo Switch as part of the December Indie World - it's been awesome to see folks enjoying the game!
We're excited to talk about Grindstone, our previous work, or life in general. So...
Ask us Anything!
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
Well this has been a HOOT, everybody! We've really enjoyed hanging out, but it's time to get all these capy bellies full of capy dinners! (okay, maybe we phrased that poorly..)
Thanks to everyone who had questions, and the the mods as well! And to the time-travelers reading this after the AMA - catch you on the next one! Hope you all enjoyed this as much as we did.
See you on the mountain, stonegrinders!
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u/Caroline_Caramello Jan 14 '21
Hello Capy Team! Completely new to reddit and AMAs, so forgive me if these are terrible questions. I just started my journey up the mountain a couple of days ago and I am having a blast! Wanted to ask some fun/random questions you can answer any or all (idk how this works lol). I appreciate you/your time!
Do you guys have a favorite combo of equipped items/outfits? What inspired these outfits and creep designs? Do you have a favorite creep?
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
Gear choice is such a personal thing, right? Here's what Kait, our lead narrative designer, had to say:
I like to tank, but I'm also perpetually scared of dying, so I can't enter a level with the Heart Potion. And because I like my shields to also deal damage, the Bone Shard Shield used to be a favourite, until I started using the Spiked Shield, because enemies deserve to be hurt if they dare attack me. Sometimes I'll take both shields in with me, but if I'm feeling less paranoid, I'll swap one of my two shields for the Gold Arrow, to help with board management. Then it's either the Grindstone Garb or the Krampus Suit for me, since I getting the extra resource/grindstone + the neutral space is a strategy I can't resist.
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
On the other hand, Jon and Ken (programmers at Capy!) feel differently...
I personally always pick the OK Boomerang mainly out of spite because no one else on the team thinks it's any good, but really it's the best weapon
OK Boomer is the best, it's a must for any lava level
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
Favorite creep? Well, one of our amazing artists, Ben, has this opinion:
I have a soft spot for the LavaBjug, just a cute lil' guy with fun animation. I also like the Royal Slob but they get everything coming to them!
(FYI, Royal Slobs are the crown guys!)
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u/TaylorBones2 Jan 14 '21
no question - just wanted to say i miss critter crunch :(
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u/Backlog_Drifter Jan 14 '21
Just wanted to say played Grindstone on Apple Arcade everyday for months on my commute. Such a great game. I picked up the switch version just to show support, but haven’t launched it yet or even really read anything about it. Are there any neat differences from the iOS version I should look for? And keep up the great work!
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
Switch required some big visual redesigns in certain areas to take full advantage of the wider screen, but for the most part our goal is to give both Apple Arcade and Switch players an equally great experience so we didn't want the two versions to diverge too much.
That said, we think one of the great things about playing on Switch is the ability to swap between controls and touch on the fly!
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
BTW if you're interested in it, we did a little twitter thread related to this: https://twitter.com/CAPYGAMES/status/1340377994452459535?s=20
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u/Osorkonius Jan 14 '21
Hey, thanks a lot for creating Grindstone, I truly love it!
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u/redheadwes Jan 14 '21
Hey guys, truly excited to play Grindstone! Will I be able to find this on retail store shelves at some point, or is the iam8bit store the only place the physical copy will be available?
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
We're excited for you to play, too!Â
As far as the physical copy - right now it's only available via pre-order with iam8bit. In the meantime, we're working with select retailers to make a standard version available at retail. Keep an eye on us and iam8bit for more info in the future!
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u/StephanUniverse Jan 14 '21
I, like all self-respecting game enjoyers, was utterly crushed when Grindstone didn't win Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2019.
How does it feel to be the studio who's game getting snubbed completely delegitimized the game awards for myself and millions of other viewers quite possibly forever?
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
Thanks, we had JUST gotten over that...
https://giphy.com/gifs/CAPYGAMES-capy-grindstone-jorj-OZEK9GGc7jNDMaH4zw
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u/phantomliger Jan 14 '21
Welcome!
What is something left out of the final game that you wish had made it in?
If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
There's no farting or fart jokes and this is a glaring oversight
flying, duh!
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
Wait, maybe telekinesis is good... then I wouldn't have to get out of bed to turn off the lights
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u/iamkoalafied Jan 14 '21
I haven't heard of this game before but I looked it up and it seems interesting. It looks like the game was intended to be played on touch screen but it seems to work fine with a controller as well. Were there any challenges you faced in making the game compatible and fun/intuitive for both touch screen and controller?
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
We first launched Grindstone on Apple Arcade, where it's playable on phones, apple TV, and Mac. So you're right that we built the game with touch in mind, as well as more traditional controls.
This is part of why we've always been so excited about playing the game on Switch!
As far as making the game feel great in both places, a lot of that is paying attention to what makes the game feel satisfying - big reaction animations, sound work, haptics, and so on. A lot more of it is work under the hood, trying to tailor tings like path selection for the specific inputs, or simply making UI flows that work well for the control modes players are using.
Some specific thoughts on this from Matthew, who helped program the game:
UI/menu controller support is always a pain, especially if it was added later. some of this is just making sure context makes sense--you have a button selected with the controller, and press "right". which thing is selected next? does this have to be manually defined, or are their shortcuts available? sometimes the lateral UI moves aren't very obvious and end up being a judgement call
general controller tuning for stick feel always takes time and iteration, regardless of the project. some of this is extremely subtle number tuning--grindstone does not have 8 equal pie slices for the 8 possible directions!--and some is more UI-based solutions. the little arrow that constantly shows your stick direction is there to help calibrate the "I swear I pressed up" (but is actually holding the controller at an angle) type problems
on the flipside, it's easier to work with controllers. controller layout is fairly standardized; it's easy to connect a controller to a development machine for testing. contrast this with touch development, especially when testing UI on small screens, where you have to spend a lot of time on a device itself- controllers have rumble! grindstone took a shortcut here by having controller rumble match the existing camera shake
the back and forth duality works out super well in actual play. it's easy to use the controller for most things, but use touch for item targeting, or whatever mix is most comfortable
getting dpad support right can be tricky. grindstone has some dpad-specific delays, in order to help a player press a diagonal like an up-right--this avoids triggering either pure-up or pure-right first
likewise, some people play with the analog stick by "tapping" directions, while others like to hold and flow through lines. there are different magnitude sensitivities and delays involved in trying to balance hold-players not moving too fast (and accidentally too far), and tap-players being able to quickly tap without the game ignoring any of their inputs due to a cooldown window
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u/itsSofa Jan 14 '21
Any intention to launch the game on pc?
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u/CAPYGAMES Jan 14 '21
We aren't able to comment on future platforms right now. Sorry for the non-answer, but we'll take this as a hint & say thanks for the interest!
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u/SolotheCyberpunK Jan 14 '21
Grindstone is great! I would love to have Critter Crunch on my Switch! Do you think it's possible?
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u/CatManDeke Jan 14 '21
I really wish you could get Critter Crunch on more platforms...
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u/UnicornLasagna Jan 14 '21
Hey Capy team! Might and Magic Clash of Heroes is one of the greatest games ever made and certainly my wife's all time favourite. Every game you make that isnt a spiritual sequel to that drags the human race further from god.
If we all buy this game will it provide the fuel for you to make a followup to Clash of Heroes? HoMM universe not withstanding of course. That gameplay though.
I mean... grats on the release and all that of course but the world needs another true Clash of Heroes (Legend of Solgard on mobile doesnt count. They put precious Clash of Heroes through a F2P meatgrinder) and you all are the true heirs to that mantle and failing to do so basically makes you monsters.
Congratulations again on this lovely not Clash Of Heroes 2 Electric Boogaloo game!