Transistor Interview

Considering Transistor is releasing later this month, I’m a bit surprised we aren’t seeing more previews and interviews like this GamesBeat piece with co-founder Amir Rao, but then again, I suppose most publications are preparing for E3 in June and focusing on the big releases. Either way, here’s a snippet:

GamesBeat: What was the idea behind it?

Rao: Transistor is a science-fiction action-RPG. We were interested in exploring the action-RPG genre more. We felt like there was a lot of richness there. The place we wanted to take it was to take the real, immediate feel of a real-time game and combine that with some of the strategic and tactical sensibilities that we got from old isometric games. When you’re playing Transistor, you can go in and fight in real time, but you can also pause at any time, try out your actions, dial them in, and see how it all turns out.

GamesBeat: Can you point at any particular games that influenced you?

Rao: For every different piece of it, it’s a different influence. For me personally, at least, on the gameplay side, Fallout and Fallout 2 were a big inspiration. A lot of people on the team have turn-based games that they love. They love Final Fantasy Tactics and a lot of other games. All of that is fueling some of the strategic stuff, but put into a more immediate, reactive context.

It’s still made by the same team as Bastion, and I think it bears our signature. We have the hand-painted art style. We’re using voice-over in the game in a different way, too. It’s pervasive, throughout the game.

GamesBeat: Did you decide not to do the same kind of narration?

Rao: It’s not narrated like Bastion, but there is a voice that comes from the Transistor that you hear from the start of the game. It’s a big part of what’s going on.