Emo Ray: Interview With Heavy Water’s Stephen Grose
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
Although Heavy Water has its fingerprints on a considerable amount of Home content, most of it was done under contract for someone else — and thus the public perception of D2O’s “footprint” in Home is much smaller than it truly is.
That just changed.
Avalon Keep, their remarkable personal estate, was only an opening salvo in a much grander enfilade; Heavy Water just jumped into the Home gaming market with both feet by producing Emo Ray Vs. The Intergalactic Teddy Bears, as well as two new public areas (with a third soon to be released). I was privileged to be able to ask their producer, Stephen Grose, a few questions about this new direction.
HSM: You have never had a big presence in Home in the way of games and public spaces like some of the other developers, yet this year you are introducing three public spaces and a great new game. Why now?
HW: After four-plus years of making other people’s content, we decided it’s high time we create big spaces from our own passion — and so far, everyone loves it. It’s a large undertaking to create these public spaces as well as the personal spaces and games, but we are glad to finally see our creative ideas realized in Home.
HSM: Emo Ray vs. The Intergalactic Teddy Bears looks to be a very imaginative game and a first for Home in many ways. What inspired you to create such a unique new gaming style for Home?
HW: Heavy Water is a game developer, first and foremost. The company has been making titles for over 16 years and Matt has personally been making games for over 20! So it is in Heavy Water’s nature to create a full-fledged game instead of little one-offs, mini-games or one-trick pony-bots. The game’s initial premise was brainstormed with Matt, Tammy and Sony. The art style, game play and fleshed out story all came from our team. Matt was the creative director for the entire game and made sure the style held true throughout the game, storyline, levels and spaces. Matt really focused on the details of the game’s visuals to bring so much more out of the Home engine than anyone thought possible, all the while balancing the design and game play. That, combined with a killer game engine that we developed, makes Emo Ray a landmark title for Home as a platform.
HSM: The comic book styling of the game is very different than anything else in Home; you could have chosen to do it in a full color spectrum but you chose to use only shades of black, white and red. What made you decide to go with this color scheme?
HW: Red, Black, Gray and White are mood colors chosen to represent the “Emo” persona and overall vibe of his character. Matt was passionate about the aesthetics of the title and wanted it to stand out with the palate, character designs, and overall look and feel of the property. It will take all of one second to know you are looking at Emo Ray in Home.
HSM: The pricing structure of the game seems to be very balanced and not too heavy-handed. How did you come up with it?
HW: We looked at all the game had to offer and made it fair across the board. For those who want a legitimate gaming experience, the asking price is well worth it. For those who like virtual items and personal apartments, the product over-delivers for the price point. For those who like to rank on the leaderboards, we have those up in the public space with Weekly, Monthly and All Time. And for those who like music, we hope the Emo Ray Boom-Box item with original music by a local San Diego band [www.solongdavey.com] will satiate some of the need for music in personal spaces and clubhouses. And if you are a normal person and love ALL of those things, it’s pretty much a steal!
HSM: When you first purchase the game, you receive the Emo Ray character as an avatar full-body costume. Will there be other costumes included as you play the game?
HW: There will be more male and female full-body outfits as you progress through the game and rescue more characters. Not all characters will stay in the Garage as NPCs, but you can show off whichever character you like best with their outfit anywhere in Home, but when you are in the game you will always be our hero, Emo Ray!
HSM: The idea of bundling a personal space into a game’s original purchase is a new one. What made you decide to do this with Emo Ray and what kinds of items come with the purchase?
HW: We wanted a place to showcase the Emo Ray Introduction video as well as get the players more into the universe of Emo Ray. Since you are becoming Raymond Radd in the game, with the body outfit and all, it only made sense to give the player his personal loft to rest in, have friends over, and decorate any way they want!
The first purchase of Emo Ray: Volume One also gives you the opportunity to earn a lot of furniture for your space themed to Emo Ray’s universe. You will need to earn most of your reward items through playing Emo Ray Vs. The Intergalactic Teddy Bears and purchasing them with earned or purchased ModPoints. The initial purchase also gifts you the unique Boom-Box active item with music from the game, which includes both instrumental and vocal tracks.
HSM: Will the game be able to be launched from the personal space as well as the new public space? Can you tell us what kinds of rewards will be given in the game?
HW: Yes, you can load into the game via Emo’s Garage Loft personal space or Radd & Son Garage Rooftop public space via the Garage door in the alley. Launching through the alley’s Garage door will send you to your own game space to play Emo Ray Vs. The Intergalactic Teddy Bears.
You will automatically be gifted full-body outfits after completing each chapter that corresponds to a rescue that happened in said chapter. All other full-body suits, furniture, and companions will need to be purchased with ModPoints earned in the game or purchased through the store. We wanted users to have the option of first gifting themselves the rewards they wanted most and work on other rewards at a later time if they don’t get them all right away!
HSM: The game is structured to have either new volumes or side quests made available every month or so. Why did you decide to release it in this manner?
HW: We wanted the content to be episodic to help support the comic-book style as well as give users something to look forward to, not to mention you need to earn quite a few ModPoints to earn all the items and upgrade your weapons so it gives everyone time to achieve those goals and gear up for more!
I want to thank Stephen Grose, and Matt and Tammy McDonald, for their valuable time. They have been extremely busy over at Heavy Water, as you can see, and I look forward to what they have in store for us in 2013 and beyond.
December 1st, 2012 by Burbie52 | 1 comment
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
Great interview, Burbie! As an all-around geek who loves gaming and comics, I really love the style of the Emo Ray game, and although I’ve just started to play it, I’m enjoying it so far. I also love the new public Heavy Water space. I think it was a brilliant idea to highlight the older items as well as the new ones, and I have to admit that I have been enticed into purchasing a couple of the older items that I had never noticed before. Kudos to the Heavy Water team!