Interview with Rainy Night Creations

This time, I interviewed Rainy Night Creations, the developer behind FreezeME, a 3D platformer that is on Kickstarter. I was happy to talk with the game designer, Walfrido. Its funding goal is $15K, and as of writing this article and interview, it is currently a little over $5K. If you like what you see, then I would highly recommend you look them up. They also have a Steam Greenlight profile, where they have been successfully greenlit.

Cam's Eye View: Where did the inspiration for the characters of FreezeMe come from?

Rainy Night Creations: My girlfriend is a photographer enthusiast, the idea came up one day while I watching her taking pictures, and then we always wanted to do a 3d platformer.

Cam's Eye View: Were there other mechanics being considered before the time-stopping mechanic was implemented?

Rainy Night Creations: As the main mechanic no, as mentioned earlier all the game was developed around the idea of the camera taking pictures. There are some other minor gimmicks, but they are mainly used to solve some puzzle or some specific missions. All of them were pretty much conceived at the beginning.

Cam's Eye View: Was making FreezeME a 3D platformer the original plan, or did it start out as something else?

Rainy Night Creations: At the beginning we considered the possibility of doing a 2D platformer just because it would be simpler, but this idea was soon disregarded.

Cam's Eye View: Were you honestly concerned at all about launching this 3D platformer game on Kickstarter, when there was the recent success of Spooky Poo’s Happy Hell and the failed Kickstarter for Clive ‘n’ Wrench?

Rainy Night Creations: Not really, and there is also Project Ukelele coming soon! The money we ask for would speed up things a bit, but is not a must for us. The project will be completed either way. Raising money is not the only thing you can use a Kickstarter campaign for, you can use it to get some exposure, and just for that we are happy with the results we´ve gotten so far.

Cam's Eye View: As an indie developer tackling Kickstarter, were there some guidelines that your team put upon themselves before launching the project, like asking for as much as you need and not less, not promising gimmicks that you can’t deliver on, and etc.?

Rainy Night Creations: Yes, there is only a few months of development left. And even though we still would like to get some input from the players during the beta testing round, pretty much all the levels and missions are already defined. Also, as you can see, we don´t have any stretch goals for the campaign, so we would not add any uncertainties for the remainder of the development.

Cam's Eye View: You don’t have to name any particular examples for this, but is there something that you would like to see change on Kickstarter? Like would you want to see certain genres of video game Kickstarters pop up less?

Rainy Night Creations: Nah, there are always trends that will come or fade away. Overall, I´m just happy people can express themselves through games, so the more the merrier.

Cam's Eye View: Was there any concern of the game not getting funded due to the recent controversies brought up by Kickstarter flops, The Stomping Land and Godus?

Rainy Night Creations: We knew it would be more difficult. People are now more skeptical, so you have to offer more for less. But as mentioned earlier, funding wasn´t the only thing that we were looking for on Kickstarter.

Cam's Eye View: Are there any Kickstarters you guys are excited about?

Rainy Night Creations: Past ones. I´ve been personally following A Hat in Time that looks gorgeous. As for future ones, Project Ukelele?