Its latest title, Blast ‘Em Bunnies appears to be no exception to this, with the two man development team deciding to have a shot at the tower defense/ endless shooter genre. With the launch of Blast ‘Em Bunnies imminent, Analog Addiction had a chance to speak to one of the creative minds behind these games, Nnooo Creative Director and Founder Nic Watt.

Blast ‘Em Bunnies is a wave-based shooter that tasks the player with fighting off an army of evil bunnies using a range of weaponry like carrot rifles and watermelon machine guns.

“I first came up with an idea about looking around and shooting things and we wanted to include cute, colourful characters,” says Watt, speaking of how the premise for the game was formulated. “The first idea was a space defence shooter where you were some form of orbiting space station which could move in 360 degrees looking through its sights. I felt that shooting aliens in space might be a little too niche and alienating for some users so I tried to think of a character type that would appeal to all users.”

“This is where the ideas of bunnies came from. Once we had that, we started to think of all the cool things both the player could do in the form of crazy types of weapons (exploding, heat-seeking pepper bombs!), and enemies (burrowers, blockers, throatslitters for example)!”

My first experience with Blast ‘Em Bunnies was back in 2013, at the EB Games Expo in Sydney, Australia. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One had just been announced, and Blast ‘Em Bunnies was being used to showcase the gyroscope in the PlayStation 4 controller.

“At the EB Expo in 2013 we were showing an early build on PlayStation 4 and we actually hadn’t been approved for Xbox at that time,” reflected Watt. “We still had a lot to add in the form of different arenas, bunny skins and even weapon and enemy types. We also added refreshable missions which renew on completion and daily, as well as lots of medals to complete too.”

Blast ‘Em Bunnies will be a strictly single player experience. “There isn’t multiplayer as mainly it would have required online play. The game is designed to be a first person shooter and the gameplay we went for really suits single player,” comments Watt. “Multiplayer would be a very different mode and, on at least PSVita and Nintendo 3DS, would have had to support either local or online multiplayer. This was too big an undertaking and something we hadn’t done before so we decided to focus our efforts on making sure the single player was the best it could be.”

Nnooo has been focused on Blast ‘Em Bunnies for quite some time. It’s been a little over two years since I first saw Blast ‘Em Bunnies in action, and several factors have played a part in the long development time frame. Largely, Watt tells me, it was because of the number of platforms the game was being developed for.

“We were always planning on PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS and added PlayStation 4 when we received development approval. Xbox One we added when we got approval to develop. We mainly wanted to release on multiple devices to reach more people and make the game as successful as we can.”

“When we finally got Xbox One approval we decided we wanted to aim for a simultaneous release, so it took a fair bit of time adding all of the support for each platform’s idiosyncrasies.”

Not only is a simultaneous release on this many platforms something new for the small developer, it also made the quality assurance testing a much longer process. “Given that there are only 3 of us and we are supporting 4 platforms, it took a big chunk of time to get it all super polished and bug free. The EB Expo 2013 build had a lot of crashes and other issues we were quite skilled at hiding!”

Another challenge the team faced was utilising each platform’s unique features in the game. The PlayStation and 3DS versions of the game make use of each platform’s gyroscope as an alternative control method to move the gun turret, but the Xbox presented more of a challenge that could not be overcome.

“We would have loved to support Kinect but it is such a different user interface we were concerned about how well we could give the feeling of controlling a gun turret and how much code would be shared between [the different platforms].”

Having absolutely no knowledge of developing games for different platforms, I was intrigued as to which platform Watt preferred.

“I really enjoy making games full stop. I think Nintendo probably provide the most interesting hardware in terms of things you can do with it, but for me working on PSVita, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo 3DS is super exciting. It has been challenging trying to get the game working on such different hardware, particularly from the power of the PS4 and Xbox One down to the relatively lesser power of the Nintendo 3DS. Nevertheless, I think the game shines and has been tailored to work well on them all.”

“In terms of development ease I wouldn’t say any are much easier than the others, other than (because they are more recent) that the PS4 and Xbox One have got more modern tools and systems. Each generation the hardware manufacturers learn from the things they liked and disliked the generation before and make adjustments accordingly. With PS4 and Xbox One being the newest they have a lot more prior learnings to draw on.”

If you hadn’t picked it up by now, Nnooo has a development team of just two people. “The benefits are we can make the games we want, how we want and to the quality we want,” says Watt. “The challenges are we can only work so many hours and because we like to really polish our games they can end up taking a lot longer than we expect. Balancing the time, budget and quality is always very hard.”

It’s no secret that the current Australian government has not been very supportive of local video game development, but Screen Australia’s limited funding went a long way in helping the development of Nnooo’s latest title. “To be honest Blast ‘Em Bunnies would not have been completed without their support,” reflects Watt. “Screen NSW have been amazing, particularly given the tough times they have faced with their budgets being cut. They have really supported everything we have done and we are really glad they can still help out developers!”

Blast ‘Em Bunnies, the latest game from Nnooo, is available digitally this week for $4.99 USD (or regional equivalent). The PlayStation 4 and Vita versions of the game are available on March 8 in North America (March 9 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand). The Nintendo 3DS version launches on March 10 in the Americas, Europe and Australia and New Zealand, and the Xbox One version will be available on March 11 in the Americas, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Recently, Analog Addiction has had the pleasure to talk with Futurlab founder and managing director, James Marsden. In this interview, we speak about the currently-in-development title Velocity 2X, Furtulab’s support of Sony, and the PlayStation brand, alongside getting an interesting look at how this studio came to be.

Analog Addiction How did FuturLab begin? And how has your studio changed over the past 2 years with the success your team has had?

James Marsden FuturLab began when the CEO of a start-up I joined in 2002 decided to emigrate with my wages and the wages of a colleague. I had the option of either getting another job or starting a company with the client relationships we’d built together during the previous year. We chose the latter with just a year’s experience of rudimentary web development. I’ve since been on a 90 degree learning curve.

Analog Addiction Velocity 2X was announced last year, and we were recently treated to some beautiful screenshots from the PlayStation 4 Alpha version. Is the PlayStation 4 allowing you to truly emphasise the vibrant visuals that were in-place in Velocity Ultra?

James Marsden Velocity 2X is a PS Vita game that is also being released on PS4, so it’s the PS Vita that has allowed us to achieve the vibrant visuals, not PS4. Remember that Ultra was PSP code visually upgraded, so our codebase for V2X is much more refined and mature having been written from scratch to target PS4 and Vita.

Analog Addiction How has developing for the PlayStation 4 differed from previous development? Has the transition to new hardware been smooth and simple?

James Marsden It’s easier to develop for across the board, from the hardware architecture to the tools support and package creation processes.

Analog Addiction Velocity 2X will have a female lead character named Kai Tana. How does Kai find herself in this situation? And what is her end-goal throughout Velocity 2X?

James Marsden If I answered this question it would be a spoiler.

Analog Addiction Velocity 2X alters the formula of the original release quite significantly, with the inclusion of new on foot puzzle platforming sections. What inspired your team consider to add these mechanics? Lots of sequels these days stick to the same formula without many new features. Was it simply the fact the team wanted to try something new?

James Marsden We wanted to keep surprising our players. That’s how good review scores and loyalty amongst players is earned and maintained.

Analog Addiction After looking throughout some of the previously released screenshots of the puzzle-platforming sections, I get reminded of DrinkBox Studios’ Guacamelee. Were there any titles that inspired these sections? Or perhaps any game that may mirror how Kai herself will control during these moments

James Marsden Turrican 2 is the main inspiration, but V2X controls very differently to other platformers. Kai is incredibly nimble.

Analog Addiction I noticed Velocity 2X will feature “dual format bosses,”which will include puzzle-platforming and ship combat. Can we get a little more insight into how these bosses will take place? How difficult has it been to include both formats into these boss encounters?

James Marsden Shoot a boss in your ship to disable shields, then teleport inside the boss to wreak havoc to its insides, before teleporting back outside to finish it off.

Analog Addiction One of the most impressive aspects of Velocity Ultra was the amazing soundtrack. Joris de Man will be returning for Velocity 2X; can we aspect to encounter as many addictive tracks as we did in the original release? What is your personal view on the soundtrack? Can it top Velocity Ultra?

James Marsden There’s a lot more music, with better production, more musical variety and more emotive, energetic & engaging themes. It’s far far better than Ultra’s soundtrack. If Joris doesn’t win an award for it I will be very disappointed.

Analog Addiction FuturLab has clearly aligned itself with Sony over the past few years, but still released titles to iOS and PC. How did this strong partnership with Sony begin? And would you ever consider releasing your titles to other handhelds/consoles?

James Marsden I’m a genuine fan of Sony’s ethos. Did you watch Kaz Hirai’s CES keynote? That perfectly illustrated why I love Sony. It’s not a business governed by profits alone. There is a joyful passion and curiosity for innovation that is carried through the company by its staff.

Analog Addiction Some have said the PlayStation Vita has been unsuccessful due to lack of sales, though the attach rate for the system is over 10 games per console. That being said FuturLab is one of the most supportive developers of the handheld console, what is pushing your studio to develop for the handheld and has this high attach rate been financially beneficial for your studio?

James Marsden We make games for PlayStation platforms because of what I said above, and because Sony supports our creativity. The important thing to understand about FuturLab is that whilst we care a great deal about our players, our business priority is helping to uphold PlayStation’s incredibly strong brand and ethos. That is something we have taken upon ourselves from the beginning, and I suppose that must be quite flattering to the people that work at PlayStation. Those are good conditions for a relationship to blossom.

Analog Addiction FuturLab has had a few games involved in the Instant Game Collection for PS Plus members; how has providing these games for the service treated the studio? Did you see a strong increase in sales numbers when these games were involved? And are there any benefits depending on the number of times your title is downloaded?

James Marsden PS+ is a fair deal, and provides great exposure.

Analog Addiction When can we expect to see the release of Velocity 2X? At the moment it is scheduled for 2014, but is there a particular month your studio is aiming for?

James Marsden Sorry, we don’t know yet.

Analog Addiction Finally, is FuturLab in the process of creating any other unannounced titles? Perhaps even bringing more titles from your PS Mobile/Mini releases to handhelds/consoles?

James Marsden We’re always working on something. It’s the Futur part of FuturLab that I’m most interested in.

Analog Addiction would like to thank James Marsden for taking the time to answer these questions. For more interviews regarding some of the other independent studios working with Sony, check out our interview with Curve Studios and Housemarque.

Jamie Briggs manages Analog Addiction and you can like them on Facebook, follow his daily life on Twitter @JamieAA, his personal blog and his videos on YouTube.