We chat with Àngel Beltrán, one of the four members of Talpa Games, to tell us how they turned their project into a real video game.
“In a team of four we all do a little of everything,” laughs Àngel Beltrán, producer and programmer at Talpa Games, when asked about the internal management of his project, Mail Mole, a tribute to the school of games of three-dimensional platforms. Carrotland, the world where this adventure full of jumps and speed takes place, was not initially going to be a commercial video game, but the final project of a university internship.
Something caught the attention of this project at ENTI (Escola de Noves Tecnologies Interactives; attached to the University of Barcelona); had something different. It may be potential, it may just be talent. It does not matter too much: they were given an opportunity, one of those that you do not know how many times you can have with just 22-23 years, in an industry without patience and full of intangibles. Talpa Games, before forming as a studio, convinced herself to give it a try. What were they going to lose?
Albert Nieves in design and programming work; Roger Sala in design and programming; Òscar Masferrer in art and, finally, Àngel as a producer and also a programmer, because there was a lot to program and very little budget involved. Both share a general hobby, videogames, but also a particular one, three-dimensional platforms. With everything learned since childhood, courage and desire, Mail Mole has gone from being an academic desire to become a sponsored by the Catalan publisher Undercoders (SuperEpic, Conga Master). From having among its objectives to see the light on Steam and Nintendo Switch to also do it on Xbox and PS4.
After playing it at the Steam Game Festival and being pleasantly convinced by the quality of its execution, we interviewed Àngel to tell us how it all started and the reason for the creative decisions that make up Carrotland.
How Talpa Games was born
“The project began as a university project at the University of Barcelona, as part of the projects course when we were in third grade,” he begins by telling FreeGameTips. “It is an annual subject in which the idea is to live a little, on a small scale, which is a development to gain experience. It was there that we started with the idea of the platform game that mixes Mario with Splatoon. Let’s say that was the internal description for us. That sum ”. It is something that is palpable from the first moment. Both from the perspective of the camera and the movement of the character, who dives underground, he can gain momentum and execute mechanics that directly impact the environment.
“We developed it and we were lucky that David Jaumandreu, from Undercoders, was the mentor for this course. He helped us during that year, the project was taking shape and, as a result of the fact that in the end we won the award for the best game of the course and that there was a very good relationship with David, he suggested we do the fourth-year practices at Undercoders. But instead of working on projects for his company, it was to finish Mail Mole and publish it originally on Switch and PC. ” And that’s how, in essence, this potential video game was born.
“We worked in his offices in the practices and he played the role of publisher and executive producer. In fact, if it weren’t for your help and Undercoders’ expertise, the project wouldn’t have turned out the way it did; everything would have been much more complicated ”, he adds.
With the support of JanduSoft, a Barcelona company specialized in publishing and co-producing projects related to the video game, they will also be able to launch it on PS4 and Xbox, not only on PC and Nintendo Switch.
“We think that it is more important to have a game whose core of the game feels good on which you then generate a game around it, than to attempt a very complicated and ambitious project —something very common for developers like us, who are just starting—; and with Mail Mole we made the strategy that is always commented on by Miyamoto of creating a white room with Mario, messing with the mechanics until everything works, and from there generate the rest of the game ”, he adds. “Indeed, we had many references that we could look at. Mainly, Super Mario 3D World, both because of some of the challenges it poses as a platform game and also because of the structure of the scenarios and others. Also Super Lucky’s Tale, which is a game with which we are compared a lot; although when we started development we hadn’t played it yet. Then it was an inspiration. […] On the team, the designers have always been huge fans of A Hat in Time and other 3D platformer games. They have been our childhood games, we thought we could make an interesting game ”, he reasons. “We started from college with the main core of the game, trying to make the control feel good, to be fluid. That it was fun at all times ”, he infers in this regard. They are three names whose inspirations really feel at the helm at Mail Mole.
Mail Mole | Talpa games
The importance of being accessible, valid for all audiences
“Our goal was that it could appeal to an audience that hadn’t necessarily played a platformer before, or just a 3D game; and that’s where ideas come from like the camera being a fixed camera that you don’t control, in the style of Super Mario 3D World. Something that prevents people who have not played 3D video games from having to be aware of the camera and the player at the same time, which is somewhat more complicated, ”explains Beltrán.
The other pillar was speed. “This part of accessibility also affects a bit the visual section, the tone of the game, which seeks to be for all audiences. And then there is the branch that we were discovering as we were testing and testing with users to be able to play it very quickly; go almost on the line of speedrun in the sense of taking advantage of the speed lines, getting the best times … And that is where the idea of adding medals to the levels came from for players who, perhaps, the fact of passing the level itself is not a challenge, but find the challenge in exceeding your marks. Those are, let’s say, the two audiences we’ve been to. In our Discord community those two profiles are brought together, in fact; those who are more casual and those who want to get all the collectibles, get the best time… ”. Not limiting himself, opening up to everyone, he confesses, was a clear goal.
The menu layout when choosing levels is inspired by Super Mario Galaxy. For this election “there were a couple of reasons”, he goes on. “On the one hand, by taking inspiration from a Mario game, although Super Mario 3D World is the direct inspiration that we see in the levels, we have also taken other elements from Super Mario Galaxy, such as that central HUB. It seemed very interesting to us because it divides the most standard gameplay of the level very well, the collectibles, etc; and then from the HUB we could develop a little more the story, the characters that guide you, include the store … So that they were not scattered aspects or simply menus, we liked the idea that everything was concentrated in a small city. That Carrotland had a little more life ”, he continues in his presentation.
“On the other hand, we really liked the idea of offering the player various options, like in Mario Galaxy. As with Mail Mole we wanted it to also be aimed at a more casual audience, having this HUB to choose where to go allowed us to ensure that the player always had several options ”, he argues. If, for example, a level or world is holding you back, the Talpa Games team wants to avoid frustration being translated into putting the game aside. Problems with a specific phase? Have another pair of them so you don’t stop playing.
The budget available to make the game has been very limited, almost non-existent. “Nothing,” he laughs. “Since we started working at Undercoders, our goal was to train as a studio; We were aware that Mail Mole was going to be complicated, but as the game grew and progressed, we said to ourselves: let’s try to do everything we can. In this case, as it all started as an internship and then we lengthened it, we said: “Well, this is our entry into the industry, we are going to try to do the best we can in the shortest term.” What we have had is the support of Undercoders as an experienced publisher. When you leave university, it is very difficult for you to understand well how to manage a development. I am in charge of being the team’s producer, I am in charge of the organization, but when I think about the day we entered Undercoders… we didn’t know anything! There, the support of David to direct us and tell us the steps to follow has allowed us to get in touch with people with a lot of experience who have been able to give us a hand ”, he relates with sincerity.
Imagine creating your first video game during a pandemic
They say that undesirable situations come out one stronger. Unexpected experience. Talpa Games ran into, like everyone else, COVID-19 at the beginning of last year. That implied changes, both structural and methodological. The four-component core that was seen face to face every day in the Undercoders offices was now going to have to turn on a webcam, check if the microphone they had at home gave them good audio quality and use video calls as the main communication tool .
Mail Mole | Talpa games
“I think this year we are going to see a lot of games that are going to be delayed. In fact, Mail Mole is one of them. Our initial plan was to have it released last summer; then that date happened to September, it happened to December and… finally March. We have been fortunate that we never got to say a specific date, we did say 2020, but nothing more. And until we have known for sure we have preferred not to say anything. But yes, 2020 has affected us a lot, “he says, and continues:” At the beginning of the year we were working in person and, like everyone else, we had to make the switch to teleworking. You are never as productive as when you have a place where you work and a place where you rest. We took it for what it was. Undercoders never put pressure on us of any kind because they knew deadlines were tough. Thinking about it, most of Mail Mole’s development has been during the pandemic, ”he adds. In September, they were only able to return for a month and a half. Then came the second wave and… everyone for home again. “We have always tried to make the production plan as complete as possible to avoid too many problems with this situation.”
And the day came when the game reached the gold stage, when everything is apparently finished and the copies are sent for certification in the relevant distribution portals. The time comes when they go from seeing Mail Mole on their computer to doing it on the list of upcoming releases on Steam or the eShop. “It’s very stressful,” he adds with a laugh. “There are several phases. The public does not come to imagine that this type of procedure is complicated. On the one hand, you must pass the control of the game. You send it and, if they find a mistake, they tell you ”. They got through that process quickly, he says, thanks in part to the support of Undercoders, who saw how to clean up as many bugs as possible. Then comes the most complex part: digital stores. “There you have to prepare the trailers, which pass their own individual control, in each language …”. To get an idea, the gold version of Mail Mole has been ready since the beginning of January, but they knew they were going to have to wait until at least March. “But it is exciting when you receive an email from Nintendo telling you that you have been accepted. You are one step closer to launch, ”he adds. Unavoidable formalities.
“Events like the Steam Festival are … like Christmas for us”
500 demos available can be very many or very few, it depends on how you look at it. If you publish a video game in the middle of nowhere, you compete against thousands (many thousands) without a showcase of any kind. The more that figure is narrowed down, the more likely it is that someone will hit your game. 500 demos are few, in this context, and the Steam Game Festival has been a ball of oxygen for Talpa Games. “Events like the Steam Festival are… like Christmas for us. Because it is a moment in which you have the opportunity for many people from many places to get to know you ”.
Thanks to the Valve digital store event, many people have arrived, new followers, who must be answered through their communication channels and support. For Beltrán, this is vital. “It is important to try to keep in touch with your audience.” Twitter or Discord are its main pillars.
Before ending the conversation, we asked Àngel about his opinion of Xbox Game Pass. If before we were talking about 500 games, large or small number depending on where and how, in the case of Xbox Game Pass we can talk about between 150 and 200 games with the status of privileged. They are the chosen ones. What if Microsoft knocked on the doors of Talpa Games to bring its game to Xbox Game Pass with financial support in between? “It would be as if we won the lottery.” If they were offered to anticipate an economic amount and forget about the number of units sold, Beltrán believes that he would choose that option because it would be “practically financing the next project.” The difficulty in accessing these video game on demand services as developers, such as Xbox Game Pass, is that it is “very difficult” to establish contact. They would not think of such an opportunity “not only for sales, but for visibility”. We are talking about a showcase of 18 million players.
Mail Mole has left a great taste in our mouths after playing their demo; now we just have to wait until March to see if these sensations also translate into the first of many video games. Let’s remember its name: Talpa Games.
