Ten Questions With… Dominique Lemire-Nault (Juicy Beast) Ten Questions With...
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Ten Questions With… Dominique Lemire-Nault (Juicy Beast)

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Knightmare Tower Website

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To say that Knigthmare Tower is an addictive title would be an understatement and we still find ourselves having another go every now and then despite completing it multiple times. To find out more about the four man team responsible for our lack or productivity we caught up with Dominique Lemire-Nault. Check out what the guys had to say below.

Can you give our readers a quick introduction of yourself and the studio?

Hi, we are Juicy Beast, a small studio that started as four guys in 2009, who were making free online games (or Flash games). Then, five years later, despite being the same four guys, we have much more experience and are slowly moving to the world of mobile, consoles and PC! So far, people know us for Burrito Bison, Knightmare Tower and for our very first immature and gross game, GOBTRON!

How did the idea for Knightmare Tower come about?

We first pitched the idea of a character bouncing on enemies to go higher and higher, performing combos and stunts, to some big client who wanted a game from us (something we rarely do as we pretty much always work on our own IPs). Unfortunately, the idea was rejected as it was not “viral” enough for them. Since we liked the prototype we made, we decided to take it further to see what could come out of it. We always wanted to do a medieval themed game in our own way and thought that it would be funny to have a knight climbing a tower by launching himself on a rocket, defying gravity and facing tons and tons of monsters mid-air!

What are the games that influenced you and how?

We all grew up surrounded by games so there’s literally a ton that influenced us, and there’s many reasons to it. Going through all of them could go on almost forever, but to name a few of them, just thinking about Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Sonic, Megaman, Castlevania, Donkey Kong, Star Fox and many more brings so many happy memories. There are so many masterpieces out there. Achieving that level of polish and entertainment is something that we respect a lot here at Juicy Beast and we try our best to create games that reflect it.

What features of Knightmare Tower are you the most proud of?

This will sound a bit weird, but we are somehow very proud of the lava. We know that technically it doesn’t make much sense that a 25 km tall tower is rapidly filling up with it, but it gives you this urgency to always be on your toes. The feeling you get when you think you will be swallowed then suddenly, you gain that speed boost to outpace it!

What was the biggest challenge while creating Knightmare Tower?

Make a game where you do not feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again, even though that’s exactly what you do haha! We do hope we made a good job at hiding that fact.

What aspect of creating the game was the most fun?

Slaying monsters in mid-air for way too much time even though the game was just in the stage of being a prototype? But seriously, creating all the monsters, power-ups, equipments, princesses and their rewards, and, of course, the lava! Everything we added to the game was really enjoyable!

The best part about creating a game though is probably when some unexpected bugs come up and give us a good laugh! You can see some of them in this video:

Knightmare Tower is your first Steam release. How did you find the experience?

We never actually thought that Knightmare Tower would ever be on Steam so it is a big accomplishment for us. To think that it first was a Flash game, then an OUYA game, then a mobile game, to finally get on PC! We think it’s amazing! We’ve been through a lot during that long process, but it was worth it all.

What are the future plans for Knightmare Tower/Juicy Beast?

Knightmare Tower has already been through a lot and we are very satisfied of what we’ve accomplished with it so far. It would definitely be great to see the game on more platforms such as the PS Vita, but working on that many versions of the game takes a lot of time for a small team like us. So, unfortunately, there’s no official plans for the future of Knightmare Tower yet :[ .

What is the most unusual thing on your desk right now?

I’d say maybe the goat on Mario’s head, next to Kratos on Yowan’s desk?

Or JP’s mouse pad?

Or all of Dom’s food?

Or a magic 8 ball on top of a USB fridge next to a mug full of pen and toothpaste on Alex’s desk?

Anything else you would like to add?

If you’ve just read this “Ten Questions With” but have no idea what Knightmare Tower is, go buy it unhesitatingly. If you are not sure whether we are trustful people or not, you can learn more about Juicy Beast’s four man team on the about page of our website: Juicy Beast About Page Thanks again for everything GAMERamble!

We would like to thank Ken and KJ for answering our questions, and wish them luck for future PD Design Studio projects. You can check out our review for Dusty Revenge: Co-op Edition HERE and buy a copy of the game on Steam or from the official website.

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