Interview with Tim Veletta

Day two of PAX Australia was a hectic day, and we were lucky enough to get an opportunity to speak to some fantastic indie developers. One that we’d like to highlight is Tim Veletta, as we talked about his new game Teleblast.

Check out the video below for the interview, or if you’re unable to watch it, you can read the transcript further down…

Alex: Hey, Alex from Switchaboo here and I’m here with Tim talking about his new game Teleblast. So, what can you tell us about it?

Tim: So Teleblast is a four-player couch multiplayer game with a retro feel where you blow up your friends with teleporters.

Alex: Congratulations as well on the Early Access launch on Steam, are you excited about that?

Tim: Yeah absolutely! I haven’t looked at the numbers yet but –

Alex: It’s a bit nerve-wracking?

Tim: Yeah, so who knows how we’ve gone. It’s out there in the world and people can get it.

Alex: Cool! So what gameplay modes can we expect in TeleBlast?

Tim: So currently we have just the regular TeleBlast which is like the Deathmatch and we also have Capture the Flag. We’re also looking at a couple different modes such as King of the Hill and other such multiplayer stages that people can enjoy.

Alex: Yeah, I got a chance to play the TeleBlast mode and Capture the Flag. I loved Capture the Flag, that was so much fun! But the dynamics and everyone coming together to play it… I found I was yelling at the game a lot and I was really communicating with everyone. Was that the intended response that you were hoping for with TeleBlast?

Tim: Absolutely! TeleBlast was originally so I could get my friends together on a couch and we’d play multiplayer games, and we can kill each other, and we can yell at each other and it’s just a lot of fun. I’m hoping from what I’ve seen at PAX, other people have really got that too and done the same, they’ve brought their friends back to play it and it’s amazing to see.

Alex: Awesome! So tell us a little bit more about the gameplay variations that you can find in TeleBlast and what you plan on bringing to it.

Tim: Within TeleBlast we have a couple different variations to keep it replayable and keep it fresh. I guess some of my favourites are Black Wall Teleporters which brings everyone in and also the Phase Dash teleporters that allow you to go through walls and go from one side of the room to the other Pac-Man style.

Alex: And you said in the trailer that there was more on the way. You touched upon that a little with King of the Hill but can you go into that a little bit more?

Tim: So there are a couple that are currently in development. There was one that was originally in the build for PAX where it was more of a Splatoon mode –

Alex: We all love Splatoon here (laughs)

Tim: But it wasn’t quite polished enough and it wasn’t as enjoyable, so we decided to keep it out of this particular version but it’s definitely something that’s coming in the future.

Alex: And that’s a free update?

Tim: Yeah, it’ll be a free update. Free updates for the duration of early access.

Alex: So when can we expect that or is it a TBA at the moment?

Tim: I’ll definitely put together a road map within the next week for what people can expect from early access and we’ll publish that on social media.

Alex: What was the most important aspect when developing the game? What was the key feature that you wanted to get across?

Tim: From a development point of view, it’s just sort of really quickly iterating. Whether it’s a new game mode or it’s a new variation, just being able to develop it really quickly, getting my friends over to test it, get it in the hands of players as soon as possible and have them tell me whether it’s enjoyable or not. I don’t want to spend a week on a game mode and have people not enjoy it and then it’d be like I’d have to throw that out, so being able to quickly iterate and test out new ideas has been a really important part of developing Teleblast.

Alex: Yeah and it’s all about keeping it fun and fresh.

Tim: Exactly!

Alex: So you plan on bringing TeleBlast to the Switch later on; did you have the Switch in mind from the beginning having an emphasis on multiplayer?

Tim: It wasn’t something that I thought I have to get this on Switch when I first started developing it but as it came through, that sort of platform just made sense.

Alex: What with the Joy-Con splitting…

Tim: Yeah, the Joy-Cons! I’ve got a couple of Joy-Cons myself and started testing the game on it and it was just brilliant. Being able to get four people together at a social event and being like, “hey here’s a controller, come play my game!”

Alex: I guess it would be the best feeling ever if you’re at a cafe or something and you just see people sitting around and playing your game. That’s the dream!

Tim: Absolutely!

Alex: What would you say is TeleBlast’s biggest draw is? For instance, what brings people in to play TeleBlast?

Tim: Just the simplicity of it, I think. Just seeing people play two or three short rounds and then just having that moment of, “Yeah, I get this, I get what I can do. Now I’m just going to go blow up my friends.” That’s the biggest thing.

Alex: Yeah, and I noticed that when I was playing as well that as soon as I got into it, I started figuring things out like the more your missile is bouncing around, the bigger the explosion is going to be which you can use as a strategy. Also where you choose to detonate your missile, that’s where you’ll teleport. So there’s really cool features in TeleBlast and something I’ve never really seen in a party game before. So hats off to you on the unique ideas, really fantastic and unique.

Tim: Thank you!

Alex: What other party games have you been inspired by?

Tim: We play a lot of Towerfall and Gang Beasts but I think you can see a lot of elements from Towerfall in this particular game, such as a couple different game modes, particularly the variations. There was definitely a lot of inspiration drawn from Towerfall particularly.

Alex: Absolutely! And I know that it’s TBA at the moment but when are you hoping to launch TeleBlast on Nintendo Switch?

Tim: Within the next six months hopefully, depending on dev kits and whatnot.

Alex: And lastly, where can people find you if they’d like to follow your game and learn more about it?

Tim: So we are TeleBlast on Steam, TeleBlast on Instagram and Twitter, and TeleBlast Game on Facebook.

Alex: Easy to remember. Thank you very much!

Tim: Thank you!

What do you think of TeleBlast? Will you be checking it out when it comes to Nintendo Switch? Let us know in the Comments section below.

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