In an interview with Windows Central, Philip Tibitoski from Young Horses Inc spoke on several topics including the inspiration for Octodad, exclusive Xbox content, the parity clause, ID@Xbox and more. Check out some of the notable questions and answers below.
Windows Central – For those that are new to the game, how would you sum up Octodad?
Young Horses Inc – Octodad: Dadliest Catch is a game about destruction, deception, and fatherhood. The player controls Octodad, a dapper octopus masquerading as a human, as he goes about his life. Octodad’s existence is a constant struggle, as he must master mundane tasks with his unwieldy boneless tentacles while simultaneously keeping his cephalopodan nature a secret from his human family.
WC – Will Octodad make use of any of the unique Xbox One features? I envisage some sort of insane body contorting controls using Kinect (that would probably cause injuries however…)
YHI – We are looking into Kinect controls, but as cool as you might think they’d be for Octodad it’s very difficult to figure out an intuitive way to control him using your body. Otherwise one thing setting it apart from the PS4/PC versions is that it will come with the extra ‘Shorts’ levels from the start.
WC – The wider gaming media have frequently criticised ID@Xbox’s ‘parity clause’, but Octodad seems to contravene that to a fairly large degree – is the policy as rigid as some worry? How have you found dealing with ID@Xbox in general?
YHI – I think we’re in a unique position with Octodad because we started working with Sony and PS4 about 3 months before the ID@Xbox program was announced. This gave us some leeway when it comes to the parity stuff since we didn’t know it existed until we’d already made plans for other platforms.
Another thing is that when speaking with platform-holders almost everything is negotiable if you’ve got some sort of leverage. Whether you’ve got exclusive content per platform or previous accolades to lean on it seems there are multiple ways to get around or bend policy in general. I think the best advice I can give for independents looking to put their game on consoles, if it’s their first go ’round, is to build the reputation of their game and studio through showing it at public events like PAX.
It comes down to the fact that if a lot of people want your game on their platform of choice then the platform-holders will be more motivated to make that happen. This is a business after all.
WC – I saw on your website that Octodad started as a university project. The themes reminded me of Disney’s Ratatouille and similar cartoons where an animal is masquerading in a human role. Did you draw on inspiration from any particular movies/media/other games when coming up with the concept?
YHI – The initial concept for the game was born out of the ideas in the film Being John Malkovich which deals with living within another person’s mind, sometimes controlling them. We also drew influence from the game Jurassic Park Trespasser for the mechanics of micro-managing the movement of Octodad. Things like Animaniacs, Rocko’s Modern Life, and Ren & Stimpy also influenced the visual aesthetics of the game.
WC – Finally, can you tell us when gamers can expect to get their tentacles on Octodad for Xbox One?
YHI – I can’t get into specific dates yet, but Summer 2015 is our current release window for Xbox One.
Check out the full interview by Jez Corden from Windows Central here! We will certainly be covering all things Octodad: Dadliest Catch as the release date approaches. Are any of you excited to play Octodad on Xbox finally? I know I am! Sound off below.
^Aaron (@PxDIZZLE)
Source: Windows Central
Aaron Perreault (PxDIZZLE) contributed 8 articles to ICXM in 2015, covering Windows and PC, and Xbox news with a focus on hands-on impressions and verified-source reporting. Their bylines on the site span the Xbox One’s first full year of post-launch coverage, including the early days of Backwards Compatibility and Windows 10 gaming. They post on X as @PxDIZZLE.