Clan N Interview – Blending Classic and Modern

There’s nothing quite so satisfying as a good, solid beat ’em up, and with the upcoming Clan N, developers Creamative are looking to deliver just that. Looking to blend the arcade bet ’em ups of old with modern day brawlers, Clan N is promising a fast paced experience, all in the backdrop of an ancient Far East theme. It certainly looks and sounds promising- to find out more about the game and what’s going to make it tick, we recently sent across a few of our questions to the team at Creamative. Read our conversation below.

"We’re 80s kids where ninjas were everywhere and pretty big, including video games. Once the opportunity came to create a beat ’em up game, it was an obvious choice to make it based on Ninjas and their origin, ancient Far East."

Why did you choose to go with an ancient Far East theme?

We’re 80s kids where ninjas were everywhere and pretty big, including video games. Once the opportunity came to create a beat ’em up game, it was an obvious choice to make it based on Ninjas and their origin, ancient Far East.

Can you speak to us a bit about the game’s mini-games and how these will be integrated with Clan N’s beat-em-up action?

Ah, of course! From the beginning, we thought we should give some small gaps to the action in order to provide variety and break the repetitive feeling of beat em up genre. Remembering our mobile game background, we thought we should explore the well known casual game mechanics and see whether we can bake them into the overall game. As it turns out, we could! All the minigames have a seamless transition from the main gameplay to their own mechanics and complete the overall main story.

For example- at a point you reach an edge of a cliff with no visible path to walk. As a coincidence, you come across sleeping dragons on the same place where you hop on them to flap into the next walk point while dodging the hill blocks. Another thing worth to mention is that all these minigames will support multiple players as well as the ability to play separately from the main gameplay when wanted.

Are there any classic beat em ups that you looked at in particular for inspiration?

Not any particular one but as a whole, late 80s / early 90s beat em ups were a huge inspiration for us, like Final Fight, TMNT, The Punisher, etc. On the other hand, we didn’t refrain from referencing some of them in Clan N!

Can we expect to see much variety in boss and mini boss encounters?

Each boss will be quite different with it’s own character and will also reflect the theme of the level. I believe there’ll be some surprises in there the players are going to like a lot.

"We are a little off from our initial target date but it won’t be long to deliver the game into the gamers hands and we’ll provide the exact release date soon."

Similarly, how much will the game’s levels differ from each other? Are these going to be aesthetic changes, or can we expect elements to change and affect gameplay as well?

The additional features you see from the beginning, compared to the traditional beat em up games, won’t change in a revolutionary way in the later levels but you’ll see a big transition in enemy types and even specific enemies on specific levels. Each level has it’s own unique theme and this will also reflect the design of the levels as well ranging from horizontal to four way. We even have some small platforming sections as well!

Is Clan N still scheduled for a 2019 launch- do you have any updates on that front?

Yes, indeed. We are a little off from our initial target date but it won’t be long to deliver the game into the gamers hands and we’ll provide the exact release date soon.

As an indie developer, what is your take on the Nintendo Switch, which seems to have become a haven for ambitious indie titles?

As you said, it’s a haven for indies, especially when you look at the sale numbers of titles on the platform. It’s such a good fit for indie games, which targets to a medium gameplay-session in between the mobile and AAA console titles. Especially it’s mobility fits to that purpose very well and this is noticed but other as well where you can see from Apple’s latest Arcade lineup. We believe that it’ll continue to rise as the kingdom of indies in the following days.

Will the game will feature Xbox One X specific and PS4 Pro specific enhancements? What can players expect if they are playing the game on those systems? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

We’ll support 4K/60 fps on both.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?

Again a solid 60 fps, but with 1080p this time.

"The Switch is a haven for indies, especially when you look at the sale numbers of titles on the platform. It’s such a good fit for indie games, which targets to a medium gameplay-session in between the mobile and AAA console titles."

What resolution and frame rate does the game run in docked and undocked modes on the Switch?

For docked we have 60 fps/1080p, where on undocked mode we have again 60 fps, but with 720p as the resolution.

What is your take on Sony’s reluctant policy on cross-play with Xbox and Nintendo?

We can understand that from a platform owner’s perspective, this is a threat for the exclusivity of that platform but the trends shows that this will become a norm in the near future and we believe all platforms will meet on common ground, similar to the support of indie games on consoles which was nearly non-existent a few years back.

Do you think cross platform will be one of the defining features of next-gen consoles?

Yes, with the ongoing transition from product to services, it seems that the platform experience will matter rather than the hardware itself in the foreseeable future.