A portion of a WiiWare World interview with Nicholas Trahan, owner of development house Studio Walljump...
"WW: What projects were you involved with in your former life working as an artist for Nintendo?
NT: My first project at Nintendo was 1080: Avalanche on Gamecube. After that I was loaned out to Retro for a while and I worked on the new visors for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. When I got back, Nintendo of Japan suggested I continue to work on Metroid HUD whenever I could, and I did all the menus and player huds in Metroid Prime Hunters for DS. I did some very early work on the MP3: Corruption visors, and then moved on to Project H.A.M.M.E.R. on Wii for a long, long time…
WW: What aspect of Liight do you think sets it apart from other puzzlers available or coming to the WiiWare service?
NT: That's an important question. There are some things that set it apart that are more subtle than others, so I'll try to cover as many as I can. Of course, the lack of 'falling blocks' or really blocks of any kind is one thing people notice right away, but there's a lot more to it than that. Being more of a 'brain teaser' style game than an action puzzler is another one, but there are other brain teaser games, too. The musical aspect of the game, where a different song is randomly generated as you solve each puzzle, gives Liight much of its unique personality and feel. Liight is also very relaxing to play since there is no time element (with the exception of Nonstop and contests). It has the ability to make your own puzzles and share them, so there's replay there if you've got friends. Nonstop mode is very unique and deep, and hard, and I doubt you've played anything like it. More than anything else though, the color-blending and shadow-casting type solving is pretty fresh, and that's something you'll have to play yourself to understand. Despite at first looking similar to something like, say Prism: Light the Way, it's actually a completely different way of solving puzzles.
WW: Does Studio Walljump have any other WiiWare projects in development or possibly in the planning stages?
NT: We have two other WiiWare projects in the early planning stages. At our size, we can't really afford to throw away everything we've learned about WiiWare while making Liight, and move to some other platform and start over again. That said, after we release Liight in as many regions as possible, our next project will be something totally different. I wish I could say more, but I don't want to spoil anything!"
SBG: "Looking for a good game for yourself or someone else this holiday season? We’ve got you covered. The Wii may have had a rough year, but there are some titles you definitely shouldn’t miss."
"Although I was a bit skeptical about whether or not Liight would truly leave a mark, I was so pleased to see that it successfully rises above many of the puzzle games we've seen on the service." -- Wiiloveit.com
Destructoid:
We first heard about Liight at PAX Prime 2009, where it was one of the PAX 10 featured independent games. Other games from that group include critical successes such as CarneyVale: Showtime, Osmos, and Machinarium. Certainly, it was in good company. After an exceptionally long time spent in development, Liight finally released with little fanfare on WiiWare last month. Did the extra development time allow Studio Walljump to create something extraordinary?
Perhaps a more fitting question would be, "did Liight deserve to be in the company of such fantastic games in the first place?"
