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SpyParty update: 5 new characters, possible dog murder, no new launch date
Chris Hecker has something to say to everyone who thinks he's taking too long to develop SpyParty: "They're right. It's taking too long – but probably not for the reasons they think." SpyParty has been in development for five years. Hecker says part of the problem is that he just needs to type faster, but really, SpyParty is taking so long because he needs it to be perfect. That, and the development team is just him and artist John Cimino – no extra PR team, concept art division, website designer or programmers. Hecker and Cimino are all of these things, plus more roles, all of the time. "It's insane to do a competitive-level, multiplayer, 3D game with 20 custom-animated, high-end, AAA-quality chraracters – with two people," Hecker says. "That's bonkers. You just don't do that. So it just takes time. I'm slow anyway, but it just takes time, even if I were fast."
SpyParty redesign: The new art of espionage
Last year, animator John Cimino turned down a cushy position at Zynga, pre-IPO, to work out of Chris Hecker's garage redesigning Hecker's ambitious, notorious indie game SpyParty. Cimino worked in secret since September 2011 to transform the primary colors and block-based skeletons of SpyParty's characters into the artistic, realistic designs revealed today.Hecker calls the new style "illustrative," and he's extremely pleased with it."We spent a ton of time trying to figure out the best possible art style for the game," Hecker tells Joystiq. "We really wanted the art style to reflect the same level of subtlety that the gameplay has. I didn't want it to be too realistic or too exaggerated, and I think we hit it on this really nice, call it naturalistic or illustrative – they look like illustrations. I'm super excited."%Gallery-163415%
