A chat with ‘JoyJoy’ creator Luke Schneider

Earlier this week, ex-Volition vet Luke Schneider of indie studio Radiangames announced his first game: Radiangames JoyJoy, a dual-stick shooter set for release over Xbox LIVE Indie Games. It’s the first in a series of unique games Schneider hopes to hopes to bring to the platform. Schneider took some to talk to us during his busy week and gave us a good idea of what to expect from his shooter.

What is the big idea behind Radiangames? How will it approach it games?

The big idea is to make lots of very fun but very small games as quickly as possible. I also want to establish Radiangames as a brand in videogames that pretty much means that.  Only one studio, Arkedo, has tried this strategy before that I know of, and I think it’s one that suits my strengths and abilities very well.

I think when people play my games, they’ll come appreciate that what I’m also presenting is a unique “flavor” of action games.  That flavor will be fluid and very satisfying action with a unique visual/audio style.

JoyJoy seems like a fun twin-stick shooter, but will it be a unique one? How does it differ from, say, Geometry Wars 2 or Death by Cube? What does it do that you believe will “click” with gamers the most?

I’ll start with the easier comparison: Death by Cube is the complete opposite of Radiangames JoyJoy in terms of approach to making a fun twin-stick shooter. Death by Cube is punishing, stiff, and a little hard to look at and listen to. JoyJoy is player-friendly, fluid, and very easy on the eyes and ears.

As for Geometry Wars 2, I love that game! But my favorite submode of GW2 was actually Pacifism. The rest of the game is great, but it’s also a pretty specific style of gameplay. I think there’s plenty of room for both Geometry Wars 2 and JoyJoy in the twin-stick genre, just like there’s room for Halo and Call of Duty in the first-person shooter genre.  And really, if GW2 was the last great twin-stick shooter, I think it’s about time for another one.

In terms of gameplay features though, the differences are easy to describe: 6 upgradeable weapons, charge attacks, multiple difficulty levels and modifiers to alter gameplay, and bosses. There are also differences in overall structure and gameplay feel that aren’t as easy to summarize.

How will this “series” work? Will you re-release the game every month with new levels and music? Or will we be seeing different shades of JoyJoy and new approaches?

There will actually be one other color scheme in JoyJoy, and I may add a little more color to the rest of the game as well, but it’s just one game in the series.

Additional games in the Radiangames series will all be separate from JoyJoy, though there will be stylistic similarities. They’ll all be 2D action games for the foreseeable future.  My goal is to release one new game a month, but until I get a couple games out the door I won’t know for sure how realistic that is.

Can you tell me about the advantages of going indie and using Xbox LIVE Indie Games?

Xbox LIVE Indie Games has a few great attributes that really drew me to it: I get to develop console games for my favorite platform.  There’s no concept approval process or finding a publisher.  The payment system is done and reliable.  And the XNA development environment is very easy to use.  Basically I get to spend the majority of my time making games.

While the iPhone has lots of similar advantages, including a reliance on charts to achieve sales success, I’m just not a big fan of playing games on the iPhone.  I think by doing what I’m passionate about, I’ll be much more successful.

Why did you leave Volition?

I really enjoyed my time at Volition, particularly at the end of Red Faction Guerrilla and on RFG DLC.  Volition is geared towards building large, awesome games, and they do it very well in my opinion.  It’s a much more difficult task than what I’m doing, if you ask me.  I left on great terms with them, and I wouldn’t rule out returning there far in the future.

But there are so many small games I want to make, and that just wasn’t possible while at Volition.  I’ve never been more excited about the future.  I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I’m in complete control of it.  It’s a weirdly awesome feeling.