Small Interview
Interview added: 05-08-2022
STDB!: First thing. I want to thank you for porting this game to Stadia, it gives to me a smell from the past porting me to the time when I played with my MSX!! So a big thank you First!
Fabien (Game Atelier): Thanks to you for playing to Monster Boy on Stadia! Side note: I personnally love the MSX, great childhood memories :)
STDB!: And now the questions. And the first question is the common question. Can you tell us something about Game Atelier?
Fabien: David (CTO) and I (CEO) started Game Atelier in 2010 working on our own IPs for handheld consoles (PSP/PS Vita) and Smartphones, with our own home-made framework and tools. In 2013 we decided make something bigger than what we did before, that’s how we started the Monster Boy project.
STDB!: Can you tell us something about Monster Boy? What players can expect from the game?
Fabien: If you played one of the titles from the Wonder Boy or Monster World franchise, then you’ll feel just at home with Monster Boy, an official sequel from these legendary 80s-90s games. If not, expect a modern action platformer with fun gameplay, memorable music and gorgeous hand drawn animations, filled with adventure and exploration.
STDB!: What's the path the game followed to arrive to the platform? Was an idea coming directly from the studio or some people at Stadia contacted?
Fabien: Our publisher FDG Entertainment had a good contact with Google from the start and suggested us to do a port of Monster Boy on Stadia. They put us in contact with the Google team very quickly after they publicly announced their platform.
STDB!: How is developing for Stadia? What kind of support did you receive from Google?
David (Game Atelier): Stadia SDK is pretty easy to install, and within a few minutes you can run simple programs after having our attributed server setup.
The main programming APIs are commonly found on PC so you can find help or tutorials on the Internet.
Plus our technical contact at Stadia was always quick to respond to our queries when we had issues; so kudos to them.
All in all, the port work was a smooth one.
STDB!: How did Monster Boy become a free Pro member game? If you can tell us something about it.
Fabien: Actually it’s more a question for our publisher FDG Entertainment who managed this directly with Google, so I have no idea. But I’m happy that Pro members can benefit from playing to Monster Boy immediately.
STDB!: For what I read on Twitter and some forums the game is very well received. Are you pleased with how is developing the game on the platform?
Fabien: Absolutely, it’s always very pleasant to get some very positive feedback from the players on Stadia, not only for its content and gameplay, but also for its technical aspect: the game runs smoothly at 4K60fps and players experience super fast loadings compared to consoles.
STDB!: Are you planning to bring more games to Stadia?
Fabien: Maybe, and that’s definitely possible. We just started to work on a new project with FDG Entertainment. While I can confirm that it’s not a sequel to Monster Boy, this new game would certainly be a nice addition to the Stadia catalog.
