Interview: Geometry Wars Galaxies (Wii + DS)

There's a new war shaping up in the universe. Geometry Wars: Galaxies brings addictive, colourful and fast-paced arcade shooting to Wii and DS. Although similar in nature, the two games have a distinctly different flair. We recently sat down with Craig Howard, design manager at Geometry Wars' parent company Bizarre Creations, to find out what's in store

Nintendo of Europe: Why were Wii and DS chosen for the first full-length Geometry Wars games?

Craig Howard: Geometry Wars is kind of an arcade game. We didn't realise how much success we'd get with the game. The DS and Wii have a mixed demographic so it seemed like a logical fit to bring this game to those platforms so the most people can hopefully enjoy this style of gameplay.

NoE: What makes Geometry Wars: Galaxies a fun game?

CH: With Galaxies, we have loads of new features. It's like we have 60 versions of Geometry Wars within the game. You've got loads of new enemies, new level types, but you also have a long term strategy which is to develop your drone. It levels up and learns new abilities. You can nurture it - it's a persistent thing in the game. You can go back and revisit earlier levels. You can always develop your skills and, more importantly, score the highest score.

NoE: What is the role of the drone?

CH: Since there are so many new ways to play the game, we didn't want to alter the players' control by making [the controls] more complicated. The game is about reflex and motion in play. Before a battle, you decide what kind of drone you want, whether it's a heavy-attacking drone or one that's going to protect you. The drone gives you that secondary strategy to help you score more.

NoE: How do you make a game progressively difficult when your enemies don't actually shoot at you?

CH: We do it by altering the way they appear around you and the manner in which they appear around you, the AI, the way they play off each other. The whole game is about strong characters working together to beat you. Maybe the combination of two types of enemies that spawn create a more difficult emergent behaviour. That's how the game levels up. They don't need to shoot because they're relentlessly coming to get you. The game becomes very intense with lots of them coming to get you.

NoE: These characters basically work in combo with each other then?

CH: The enemies aren't developed in isolation. [As a developer] you maybe can come up with a high concept of what the behaviour of an enemy will be, but when you put it in the game, you find out that it can play off another character in an interesting way. Sometimes you'll come up with an enemy type that's a good idea, but when you put it in the game it doesn't flow with the game, and those don't make it into Geometry Wars.

NoE: How many rejects do you have?

CH: Oh, we've got loads. There are about 20 enemies that made it to the game; there are about 10 new ones for this game.

NoE: Why is there co-operative multiplayer in the Wii version and competitive multiplayer on DS?

CH: The different versions fit well to the attributes of each system. With the DS, it's all shared multiplayer so you can play from one Game Card, allowing you to have a rivalry in the office, for example. On Wii, the experience is more like a party get-together.

Also, the stylus works well for placing enemies. We just wanted it to feel right on the host machine, and it's nice because it makes both versions really valid in their own right.

Geometry Wars: Galaxies is coming to Wii on 30 November, and to Nintendo DS on 14 December.