* Designer Interview: Anatomy of an Enemy Character

How’s it going? Yours Truly here.

Here’s another guest post from Designers Fujita and Hara. Today’s topic: the enemy.

One of the later levels features an enemy called “q”.

They are quite nasty. They exist in two forms, one with bombs, the other with lasers. Both attacks can take you out in one shot, so as you can see, they are  tough opponents.

During the initial design phase, this character was intended to be a sidekick character for the good guys.

It would navigate the players through the unlocking of new stages, character upgrades and the game’s tutorial.

Yet here it is, turned to the “Dark Side”, and now one of the toughest baddies in the game!

We pictured it moving around in a cute and cuddly way when it was designed as a buddy, but now that it’s gone renegade, its moves are evil and foreboding.

Here’s a fun fact: The initial design for the “Jedi” version of “q” is used as an icon for the menu on the left side of this blog.

And here’s the initial design for this infamous “q”...

Propeller-propelled, onboard speakers, colorful cube...

Pretty varied, when you have them all in front of you.