Interview: Steel Penny Games discusses upcoming WiiWare title

After Jason Hughes announced that Steel Penny Games will be joining the ranks of WiiWare developers working to bring innovative and unique titles for the Wii, he discussed some of the details of Bruiser and Scratch, their first game on the platform. In an interview conducted by VC Reviews, he also discusses the company’s take on the game development scene as well as some insightful comments for developers in general. More about this in the full article after the jump!

So what’s next for Steel Penny Games after breaking off from video game company Naughty Dog? In an interview with the president of Steel Penny Games, VC Reviews chats up Jason Hughes on the company’s upcoming WiiWare title Bruiser and Scratch and its take on the WiiWare development scene.

While Hughes didn’t freely give out details regarding their upcoming title, he did mention that the game’s level of involvement will definitely get players hooked. It was also revealed that Bruiser and Scratch will mostly be a single player game based on the puzzle genre.

According to Hughes, Bruiser and Scratch is essentially a puzzle game which is “in the same league as Mahjongg in terms of complexity, but substantially easier than chess”. The game is expected to come out by mid-2008, although that’s still a rough estimate.

He also discussed the potential of the budding WiiWare development platform in relation to the more established XBLA and PSN games. Although the budget given to WiiWare developers is quite small, it does give a lot of room for innovative and unique games with a lot of experimental gameplay. Hughes said that he remains hopeful that Steel Penny can leave a good impression with its upcoming title.

Hughes ended the interview with a very insightful comment on the development of console games in general:

All good games take time, patience, and skill to make a serious effort at entertaining people, and the development kit involved frequently is not the obstacle. When developers complain about the difficulty in using a platform, I chuckle. Many times, these are people who have not created a game for a platform, but chosen a platform for their game. The difference in focus is subtle, but important.