Victor Velasco: Existentialism and Platforming in -KLAUS-

Velasco: We didn’t have too much time to finish the game, and as this was our first published game for any of the team members. It was definitely scary because of the pacing of the story, the difficulty curve and a whole host of other design choices.

The solution was to just work as hard as we could while we played the entire game before any deadline. Some members only slept for four hours and during two of those deadlines, were awake for 24 hours straight. These were hard times.

SLUG: If you had the power of time-travel wizardry, what advice would you give to yourself 10 years ago, and would that younger you be receptive to future you as a traveler of both time and space?

Velasco: Any small change that you make to the game it can change the entire design of it—so be sure that the design is tight. I remember how we had to redesign all the levels in the game because we changed Klaus’ jump height.

SLUG: You guys credit PixKong as the composer for that lovely soundtrack. Who is PixKong? Is s/he a member of your team operating under a musical alias? If not, what lead to that collaboration?

Velasco: I’m PixKong.

SLUG: Well, you’re quite a talented composer—I hope to hear more of your work in a future project! What is it like to watch people around the world playing your game?

Velasco: It’s really satisfying, especially when we see the reactions of the players with a surprise moment in story or gameplay—we worked hard for the “WOW” moments.

SLUG: Some view video games simply as a form of escapism, and that you’re merely injecting something where it doesn’t belong. What would you say to those who feel that an “existential platformer” has no place in video games? To be clear, this isn’t a perspective I share, but I’m curious if you’ve encountered that mentality throughout this journey.

Velasco: Yeah, definitely. We think that video games can be an art form, and as every other art form it can have escapism, but it also should reflect something about us as human beings—something personal that people can relate with. We should be able to have conversations not only about gameplay issues, but also about their meaning and how we can relate as humans.

SLUG: So who set the “Boss” scores in Time Attack mode and where can I yell at him/her? I’m closing in on the platinum, but that mode is definitely challenging.

Velasco: It’s all my fault.

SLUG: I know it’s a little soon, but what’s next for La Cosa? Will it be another game? A film? A comic book? I’m excited to see what follows.

Velasco: We’re currently on Steam Greenlight (so feel free to vote!) and we recently got approved for Xbox One. However, the game won’t be a simple port because it was originally designed with the PS4 in mind, so it will take some time. We also have a couple of ideas for our next game.

SLUG: Thank you for your time and again to your team for everyone’s hard work. I really enjoyed my time with -KLAUS-.