Interview by Ninichi | Contact | Follow
I have had the great pleasure of connecting with Juergen (@gangof.one), the creator of gangof.one and the game Vito Jump 'n' Roll. I'm also delighted to have worked on some of the music to this beautifully put together game and to have had a go at playing the game myself. It is really well crafted and is great fun to play. I would highly recommend having a go and downloading it! For now, Juergen has kindly agreed to this exclusive interview and to tell us more about his game:
Where did the idea for Vito come from?
'Honestly, there was no completely refined idea at the beginning. I knew the protagonist’s name was going to be Vito as I have always been a big fan of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and I wanted the genre to be Jump’n’Run but even that eventually became some kind of Jump ’n’ Roll.
I started with defining Vito’s persona and character (my girlfriend insisted that he had to be fluffy) and built the rest of the world around him.
The ideas started developing step by step as the prototyping went on. So it was more an evolutionary process than the typical process of creating a game out of an initial idea.'
Tell us a bit about yourself
'I am Juergen Lang. My girlfriend and I live near Linz, Upper Austria. I have been a software engineer since the year 2001.'
How did you get into game development?
'I have been playing video games since … well since I was able to hold a
gamepad. So of course I wanted to become a game developer. Unfortunately the gaming industry in Austria was not well developed when it was time for me to get a job, so I went into software development in general, which I really enjoy since the start.
It is much easier for individuals like me to create and release a game in their spare time these days than it was back in the year 2001. The indie scene grew, so I started thinking of creating a game again. That was about 4 years ago.
I’ve tried some things, came up with a game idea that did not work out very well for me and took another pause from game development. Then back in 2015 I started with Vito.'
What have been the highlights in developing Vito?
'The moment when the texture mapping and the physics of Vito himself were completed and I started trying it out for the first time on my test device were incredible feelings. I just could not stop moving and jumping around with Vito for a long time. It was very satisfying that it all worked out in the end.'
Let's take a look at some clips from Vito Jump 'n' Roll
So, tell us about where the music came from...
'Sound effects and music were the only things I was not able to create by myself, simply because I do not have any skills in things like that. My budget was very limited, so I started browsing various websites that offer stock sounds and music and finally purchased the ones that were most fitting for the story and characters.
I knew that that approach would not work well for the opening and the ending scene because I needed a mix of different jingles for Vito’s different moods. I am really happy that we started to communicate and work together and thrilled with the final results you were able to come up with. I will definitely get back to you for my next projects so that I will not have to listen to thousands of jingles anymore..'
Have you & will you be creating any other games?
'I have created some flash games in the past and a remake of the classic Snake game for Android in order to get used to the framework I also used to develop Vito. Developing Vito was very exciting and satisfying to me, so yes, I will definitely continue on creating games!'
find out more about Vito jump 'n' roll at: http://gangof.one/games/vito & get the game now (FREE):
From the author Ninichi: Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! If you are looking for music for your game or project, I'd love to get involved. Contact me to explore working together or take a look at my bio: about me (ninichi) and game music.
Also feel free to read more articles and advice on game music, indie games and more on Ninichi's blog & to follow me @ninichimusic
