Nnooo is a Sydney based indie developer, famous for titles such as Pop and escapeVektor. Their latest game, Blast ‘em Bunnies is set to release in March and I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview Nic Watt to find out more about it.

Zach: So for those that don’t know, can you give us a rundown on what players can expect from Blast ‘em Bunnies?

Nic: Blast ‘Em Bunnies is an endless shooter. Players control a cute bunny who must defend their rabbit burrow against an onslaught of evil bunnies.

By shooting bunnies they will release coins which the player can shoot to collect. These coins can then be spent on purchasing new weapons, upgrades and ammo types. There are 4 weapons each with 4 different ammo types and a variety of upgrades.

The player can choose between Survival: Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard or Slaughter: Normal, Super and Ultra game modes each which unlocks as the player plays more of the game. There are also heaps of missions and medals to complete and collect, with some missions refreshing on completion and others refreshing daily.

We have also added a large amount of cosmetic DLC which the player can purchase individually or in bundles. We have chosen to keep the starting price low allowing for players to get the complete game play experience for a low price and then customise it with the purchasable DLC.

Zach: How did you come up with the concept for Blast ‘em Bunnies?

Nic: We had just finished Spirit Hunters Inc and escapeVektor both of which reviewed really well but for their own different reasons were hard to market. Spirit Hunters Inc was and AR (Augmented Reality) game which made it difficult to convey the gameplay through screenshots or video; while escapeVektor was a very abstract game making it also hard to understand through video or screenshots.

With this in mind we knew we wanted to utilise our skill in making cute, colourful characters like Spirit Hunters and we really liked the AR gameplay we had. So we set out to think of ways of using this learnings in a game we could market more effectively. The original concept was of you controlling an orbiting space station shooting cute aliens to stop them from attacking earth.

I decided that aliens and space might be a little too niche and set about thinking of a more popular creature which we could apply the same gameplay to. It was then that we came up with bunnies and really liked how you could use them for diverse range of enemies.

Runners, Burrowers, Flyers (bunnies with huge ears they have turned into hang gliders), Blockers, Bosses, Grenadiers (pop up and chuck turnip grenades at you) and so on.

The ideas really started flowing so we dived in and started prototyping.

Zach: The game is launching on four platforms, which is a new record for you. What was it like developing four different versions of the same game simultaneously?

Nic: Really hard! We had come off escapeVektor on PSVita and Nintendo 3DS and had spent time on that game making our engine more cross platform and integrating Nintendo and PlayStation middleware to make development easy. The great thing was that PlayStation middleware supported PC, PSVita and PS4 so when we got approval for PS4 it was something we felt we could support without a ridiculous amount of work. The same was when Xbox One approved us we figured we could take the PC middleware from PlayStation and adapt it to release on Xbox.

This all worked but maintaining and supporting all the quirks for each platform was really time consuming and adding 2 HD platforms to the mix increased the workload in terms of adding higher resolution graphics and rendering techniques.

Zach: You have already announced some DLC skins and arenas for the game, do you plan on adding more DLC later down the track?

Nic: We don’t currently have plans for more DLC post launch as we created a huge amount for release and as a team of 2 it was more practical to make sure it was supported well out of the box than have to potential deal with patching in DLC as we went on.

However if the game and the DLC prove popular we will definitely consider adding more!

Zach: What are your personal favourite bunnies and favourite weapons?

Nic: I love all of the bunnies and weapons as I think they are all unique and look amazing. If I had to pick one of each I think the Runner Bean Laser with the Leek bullets are awesome as you have an amazing beam weapon which releases these heat seeking shreds which chase the bunnies down; on the bunny front I think the Flyer is my favourite, they look so cool with their giant ears for wings especially when wearing the Urban Army DLC Skins!

Zach: Between the staff, who is the best Bunny Blaster?

Nic: I think Steven our programmer is probably the best! Out of Bruce and myself I think I probably could give Bruce a pretty good run for his money!!

Zach: If you had to guess, how many bunny related puns did you manage to fit into the finished product?

Nic: Actually I’m not sure we managed to get any bunny related puns into the final game! What a missed opportunity!!

Zach: What is next for Nnooo now that the game is done?

Nic: We have a lot of games we are publishing on console, many of which we just announced so please check out our website for more details on them. We have also started prototyping our next game but it might be a while before we are ready to say much about it!

Zach: Yes, you recently attended and sponsored GaymerX Australia where you showed off Blast’em Bunnies as well as a number of other titles you are publishing, how was that?

Nic: It was a great convention! We had a lot of people through the booth playing all of the games and it was a great chance to showcase a lot of the fantastic games we are publishing over the next year or two.

The crowd was really nice and friendly and it was great to support that side of the gaming community. We hope everyone who attended had a great time!

Zach: Any final comment for the readers?

Nic: Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy Blast ‘Em Bunnies when it launches. We have poured a lot of love into the game and DLC so it would be great to hear all of the comments from people who pick it up!

Blast ‘em Bunnies is launching this week between March 8th-11th on Playstation Vita, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo 3DS.