Spiers also spoke on the industry resources from which the developer has learned from and been inspired by:
“There’s a lot of people here at the office that play Spelunky, put it that way! We’ve got a pretty varied set of tastes here in the studio – Metal Gear Solid is the most frequently talked about, but we all have our own niches. As a games studio you need to keep up with the competition and with the market as it changes, so conversations are always springing up about the latest title or an ancient title.
“In terms of inspiration, we looked far and wide at how platformers have changed since the original [Abe’s Oddysse]. Deadlight, Trine, the remade Flashback and the remade Strider – we put those through their paces for our research.
“It’s no secret that Valve is a big inspiration for JAW management – but then, who doesn’t want to be Valve!? Rockstar are also a focus of attention, as probably the biggest UK studio still going,” Spiers concluded.
From gaming favorites to project development and company functioning, Just Add Water looks beyond itself in order to grow stronger as a developer. From what we saw of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty at this E3, alongside its existing track record, Just Add Water certainly looks to be one of the strongest indie developers in the industry, and we can’t wait to play what their journey brings us.
In terms of lethality, Exploding bats < Vampire bats. Apparently.
Well, if they can explode without killing you, they can presumably blow you off cliffs, or into hazards. So there'll still be some one-hit-kill situations.
Stewart & Craig @ PSU - Just Add Water on its odd world and bringing NnT to PS4
