Equilibrio Preview

The advent of digital distribution services for home consoles has brought about a return of the bedroom coder. Whereas your average big budget spectacular will have a staff of 100 or more, games for WiiWare, PSN and Xbox LIVE Arcade (and Community Games) are made with far fewer. We caught up with Christophe Kohler from DK Games to talk about his upcoming WiiWare title Equilibrio, what it's like being an independent developer and why he chose WiiWare.

VideoGamer.com: First off, could you explain a little about DK Games and how the studio was formed?

Christophe Kohler: My name is Christophe Kohler. "DK Games" is the commercial name behind my work. I'm an experienced independent video game developer and I share my time between building and developing my own games and working as a consultant for other studios (like "Virtuos games" in China). For my DK Games productions, I have hired additional staff to enable me to complete different projects. During the development of Equilibrio we had an overall "team" of around 13 staff covering everything from programming to translating.

VideoGamer.com: What are the core ideas behind Equilibrio?

Christophe Kohler: Equilibrio tests not only your reflexes but the old gray matter and is in perfect synergy with Wii. The basic concept of getting your ball to the exit pod to finish the level is turned upside down, literally, as you use your Wii Remote or Wii Balance Board to rotate the play area varying degrees in either direction. Players carefully, skilfully, move the spinning ball through corridors, along ledges to complete levels that are fraught with dangers. Move the ball too fast and it can shatter, leaving you to pick up the pieces and restart the level. Go too slow and the 'equilibrio' of the ball will not be powerful enough to spring to the desired spot!

VideoGamer.com: How did you come up with the idea for the game?

Christophe Kohler: Whilst browsing some independent games forums - I came across a small shareware title called 'fragile ball'. The concept was great and I felt that this style of game would be a perfect fit for Wiiware and its audience. I then contacted the designer of 'fragile ball' and purchased the code and data from him. This was really the start of what you see before you today, although we have changed every aspect of the game that is now known as Equilibrio.

VideoGamer.com: Has balance board support always been part of the game design?

Christophe Kohler: The Wii Balance Board was not released in Europe when I first had the idea of creating equilibrio on Wii (in April 2008), so it was not part of the game design at first. But when I learnt that all developers were allowed to use the Balance Board, I was then sure that it would be nice to use it in Equilibrio.

VideoGamer.com: Is there an ideal control system for the game? Many Wii games that support the balance board, in our opinion, work better with a standard Wii Remote and Nunchuck set-up.

Christophe Kohler: The Wii Remote is the ultimate controller to play Equilibrio. Some levels required speed and accuracy and it is a hard challenge to go through the 64 levels.

But the game has also been adapted FOR the Wii Balance Board. When using the Balance Board, players will get to play "alternative" and simpler levels so that it is possible to finish the game with only the balance (moreover, this is necessary to win one of the 25 prizes).

The Balance is a very interesting controller because it required synchronisation between brain and body. The game takes its full sense playing with it ("Equilibrio" means "Balance" in Spanish). You'll have the same sensations playing the "board and balls" mini game in Wii Fit.