Intervju med Retro Sumus om det kommande Mega Drive-spelet Sovietborgs

Den spanska indiestudion Retro Sumus som gav oss det fantastiska Xenocider till Dreamcast och arbetar med ett nytt spel till Sega Mega Drive – Sovietborgs (även till Dreamcast).

Precis som med Xenocider rör det sig om ett actionspel i klassiskt och retrodoftande stuk, men istället för en Space Harrier-hyllning går de mer åt The Chaos Engine-hållet. Vi får en top-down-vy där vi hamnar i en västvärld som ödelagts av kärnvapen och fylls av muterade varelser som uppkommer ur den strålning som trängt sig in i alla skrymslen. I klassisk retrofuturistisk anda så har KGB:s elektroiska hjärna Tovarishch-Prime blivit självmedveten och tagit kontrollen över kärnvapensilos och helt enkelt sprängt de i luften. Mänsklighetens försvar? Sovietborgs – till hälften människa och till hälften maskin och mina tankar går osökt till RoboCop.

Screenshot from an early Pre-Alpa build of Sovietborgs.

Precis som jag så är utvecklarna på Retro Sumus stora fans av 90-talets Sega och detta lät oerhört intressant så undertecknad tog kontakt med studions Carlos Oliveros för att ta reda på mer om deras kommande spel.

The box art is an early concept (and it’s Mega Drive box behind the art is edited by me) and may not represent the final physical product.

PlayZine: How did the idea for Sovietborgs come about and who pitched it first?

Retro Sumus, Chui: I had the idea for Sovietborgs quite a while ago, the main concept anyway: uchrony,
what if the USSR won the Cold War, but at the same time throwing movies and shows from the 80s into the mix like, say, Rambo or Terminator. From there, we began to give shape to what we’re trying to do, using a comedic tone so no one takes it too seriously, basing the gameplay and overall feel on games we enjoyed like The Chaos Engine, or Cannon Fodder, and using pre-rendered graphics not unlike those seen on Donkey Kong Country or Vectorman, and so on.

And as a follow-up question, will Sovietborgs be as you envisioned from the beginning, or has it developed into something other than the first ideas?

Abel: I think it’s still pretty close to what we conceived, other than whatever technical limitations we may have found here and there, but we were mostly aware of them.

Chui: Perhaps little things like, there can’t be so many big enemies in this area of the stage due to memory / fps constraints, or we need to find an alternative for this or that animation that we thought would look better in motion, but nothing too far from what was planned.

Carlos: Don’t worry, since the game is still in the first stages (pun intended) of development, there’s plenty of time ahead for frustration and changes!

Sovietborgs is in development for the Sega Mega Drive and Dreamcast. How do the versions differ?

Carlos: As it can be expected, even if the Mega Drive is the “base” game, or the starting point, both programming and gameplay-wise, for the Dreamcast we don’t need to deal with, say, limited palettes. Also the full length, CD quality soundtrack will be featured, most likely with the option to switch between that and the original chiptune tracks. If things go well, there will be room for other extras, and why not Twin Stick compatibility?

I know you have hinted about releasing the game to more formats, can you mention anything about the other platforms?

Carlos: Well, we’ve been receiving some enquiries about the possibility of a Neo Geo release, while at the same time noticing (on X and YouTube and such) there may be a renewed interest in creating and -perhaps more importantly- collecting new titles for the platform, so that possibility is definitely there. Again, if things go well, we would love to port Sovietborgs to other retro platforms… yet to be revealed! We have no plans for modern ones, at least for the time being.

How do you work with the game’s music, what vibe are you looking for?

Abel: Our main idea for the game is a parody of what the USSR was supposed to be according to film and comic books and propaganda back then, and what the threat of the communist paradise would be had it become global.

Carlos: Military marches, national(istic) anthems and slavic folk music are a big inspiration, but at the same time, so are action movies from the 80’s and 90’s like, say, Universal Soldier and such.

Chui: It would be nice for the Sovietborgs soundtrack to express something similar to what the Command and Conquer: Red Alert series did back in the day, but with an over the top, absurd, probably cartoony feel to it.

Xenocider was packed with great gameplay, but I also liked the atmosphere you created. What kind of atmosphere do you want to instill in Sovietborgs?

Carlos: Nuclear wastelands! Ridiculous mutants! Big bosses! And settings that don’t need to actually
make sense, because you know, radiation has made everything a dangerous, probably funny-looking mess. The whole post Cold-War-the-soviets-won atmosphere of course has to be there, though.

Again, it’s important for us to make it clear that this is a parody, probably full of silly jokes and in no way meant as an endorsement of any authoritarian regime, of any kind.

You (Retro Sumus) started off by making the amazing Xenocider and have been working on Sovietborgs for a while now. Have there been any major differences between the way you work on the two games and has the
experience with Xenocider helped you in any way when it comes to the development of Sovietborgs?

Abel: It took us, what, 7 years? to finish Xenocider as real life issues kept getting in the way. During that time, mood and moral comes and goes, ideas and priorities change, and so on. We’d like to think we learned to be more practical and to keep things simple at first instead of setting a goal that’s too high only for development time to come slap you in the face and bring you back to reality.

Chui: Developing for the Mega Drive is a much bigger challenge, technically speaking. But on the other hand, things are easier on MD than other retro platforms thanks to SGDK. Anyway, everything feels more limited and time-consuming, but that bigger challenge is something that keeps us motivated, it’s a legendary machine. A dream to fulfill.

I know it’s still early, but do you guys have a release date you’re working towards?

Carlos: We don’t want to make promises we’re not sure we can deliver. I think we’ve all seen too much of that. So let’s see how development goes and how the Kickstarter goes, when and if we go that route.

So you may be starting a Kickstarter for Sovietborgs. Can you tell us anything about it, maybe some exciting tiers or rewards?

Carlos: Extra game modes and highly-collectible, over-the-top collectors editions will be among those tiers, for sure. Releases for those other retro platforms may be the main stretch goals. But we’ll see!

I know you love retro as much as we do, what’s your favorite game of all time?

This is a dangerous question. I don’t think we can’t choose just one, and if you ask again tomorrow, some other titles would come to mind…

Carlos: …but for me it’s the 16-bit Sonic games, the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, and pretty much any of the Virtua Fighter games.

Abel: It’s classic Sonic for me too, then Duke Nukem 3D, and Lands of Lore.

Chui: Super Mario World. I know, not a Sega game, nothing is perfect, but I really love it.

Thank you so much for your time and for making Sovietborgs. I’m really looking forward to it!

Thank you once again for spreading the word, Tommy. We hope you enjoyed the demo!

Och på tal om demo så har jag testat en tidig alpha-version av Sovietborgs och kommer att berätta mer om mina intryck av det retroinspirerade Sega Mega Drive-spelet inom kort.

Kika gärna på videon där jag unboxar tre olika versioner av Retro Sumus förra spel Xenocider på vår Youtube-kanal SpelPaus.