Hey everyone! You may remember that before the launch of the Runbow, Tom over at 13AM Games was kind enough to do an interview. Now that the Runbow DLC has been released, we decided to chat again! We talked about the DLC, what didn't make the cut, and what the future holds for Runbow and 13AM Games.

TorontoGameDevs: Congrats on the DLC launch! What was the motivation to do DLC instead of moving onto a new project? Was it something you knew would always be in store for Runbow?

Tom: From the get go we knew we wanted to release some form of additional content for Runbow, whether it be new guest characters, levels, or costumes. One of the main reasons was to create something that fans of Runbow would appreciate and bring people back to the game after some time had passed. It also allowed us, as game makers, to take all the experience and lessons we learned from creating the original game, and use them to create something even better within the same universe.

TorontoGameDevs: The DLC introduces some new concepts, like with portals, anti gravity spots, and floaty sections. Was there anything left on the chopping block?

Tom: To complement the ridiculous size of space, we came up with a ridiculous amount of concepts for new mechanics we could introduce with the DLC. We had to chop this list down to a more manageable size, here are some examples of things that got the axe:

Jet-packs: a simple pick up that would allow the player to float around at their leisure. It ended up getting the axe because of how our player and world physics work, and because it didn’t really seem to plug into the colour mechanic too well.
Wall Gravity: Similar to the upside down portions, we wanted the players to be able to walk up and down the walls of our levels as well. We actually got this working rather well but decided the clunkiness of the controls really broke up the flow and didn’t allow us to get the most out of the idea.
Space Radiation: We wanted a mechanic that would emulate the harshness of outer space and thought that having rays or beams of space radiation would work. It worked well with the colour mechanic but offered too many level design challenges and would require a new health system or at least a tweaking of the current one.

TorontoGameDevs: There are also some new mutliplayer maps, costumes, and a new character. How did you go about getting Lilac in the game? Was there anything (like other costumes) that didn't make the cut?

Tom: We met Stevie from GalaxyTrail at Pax Prime and approached him about the idea. He really liked it and after doing the same song and dance we did for the other characters, had Lilac ready to go. As for the other content, we did have some other ideas for costumes and even potential adventure themes, like Old West for example, but they never really made it beyond the concept phase. When it came to the DLC we wanted to be laser focused and adhere to some pretty tight scope constraints.

TorontoGameDevs: What's next for Runbow? Have you looked at porting it to other consoles? Amiibo? Or some new DLC?

Tom: All I can say is that we’re not done with Runbow yet. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, we hope to have some exciting announcements soon.

TorontoGameDevs: What's next for 13AM Games? Anything you can say about the next project, or what you have down the pipeline that's not Runbow related?

Tom: What do you mean not Runbow related? That’s a thing?

(No it's not). Thanks to Tom and 13AM Games for taking the time to do the interview. Remember to check out Runbow on Wii U.

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