Interview by Ninichi | Contact | Follow
If you are looking for a game with a difference - take a look at Scape-IT's Super Trump Wall. My Ninichi blog was created to highlight and showcase interesting games, and this one is certainly unique and topical right now given that the star of the game is Donald Trump! Here is the interview with the maker of this game...
Please introduce yourself...
'Scape-It is a one-man studio based in the north of Norway (like waaay north). Basically it's sort of a side gig for me that I currently have the time to pursue parallel to my 9-to-5 job and working on my computer science degree. That's really a huge privilege for me as I originally did my degree within a completely different sector and still have a day job which isn't IT-related.'
Ok, so how did you get into game development?
'Well actually, I didn't get into coding before I was in my mid-twenties. I was having second-thoughts about my career choice and decided to check out programming. This was around 2012 so indie-games were huge at the time with Minecraft really taking off and Indie Game: The movie releasing that year. That and the fact that I had always been into both video- and tabletop gaming made video game development my gateway into I.T.'
What happened after that and where did the idea for your game Super Trump Wall come from?
'The past year I had been programming a lot of non game related stuff and I needed a break. Since I love NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) games and political satire I came up with the idea of making games that would essentially work like interactive, 8-bit, newspaper cartoons.
The first installment was «Super Trump Wall»: It's an arcade style game with 8-bit graphics and sounds, featuring Donald Trump as he tries to build a wall to protect America from Mexicans, Canadians and democrats.
Satire was more of a challenge than I expected since it requires you to walk a fine line between being witty and being overly offensive! Especially since, with political satire, you're bound to get a lot more trolling than usual since you're, more or less explicitly, making fun of things like peoples political view.
However, I found that combining an 8-bit style and controversial subjects was a great match. First of all the cutesy pixel art and music makes everything a lot less threatening and confrontational. Secondly there's also an element of how juxtaposing the naiveté and innocence of 8-bit esthetics with these complex and almost frightening political realities adds a new level of commentary.'
What part does music it play in your game?
'In all my games, music plays a huge part. In part because the games are so minimalist that playing them without music becomes a very bleak experience. But also because I put a lot of thought into my choice of music. For my series of 8-bit satire I chose traditional American tunes in 8-bit style. First of all, these melodies lend themselves very well to the NES style of the games. Secondly, going back to the subject of juxtapositioning, the up-beat style of the songs goes very well with the darker thematic meaning of the music.
As a case in point 'Super Trump Wall' uses an 8-bit version of 'Hail to the Chief' to reinforce an idea of - 'The thought of Donald Trump becoming the most powerful man in the world is so frightening that it's ridiculous.'
Where can we play your game and find out more?
'If you want to check out 'Super Trump Wall' or any of my other titles, Scape-It host all of it's games on gamejolt. They're all free and playable in the browser or as downloads! For links to all our games and more info on Scape-It check out www.scapeit.no. Also: Please follow Scape-It on twitter at @Scape-It_no!'
From the author & composer Ninichi: If you enjoyed this interview article and are looking for music for your game or project, I'd love to get involved: contact me.
Learn more about me and listen to some of my game music. Discover more articles on Ninichi's music blog & follow @ninichimusic
