Review Fix Exclusive: Q & A With Cliff Hicks, Product Manager for Spellgun and Spellgun East

December 15, 2012 Patrick Hickey Jr. Video Games 0

Review Fix chats with Spellgun and Spellgun East Product Manager Cliff Hicks, who discusses the company’s new iOS game, puzzlePunch.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for the game?

Cliff Hicks: We started early on with wanting to have a game that was a good mix of puzzle elements and fighting game elements, but I think the very first thing we did on the game was the character design for Spinach, our main character. We loved the super-deformed style that our artist came up with, and from there, we started putting the game together. We wanted something that was easy to pick up, but had a good deal of depth to it.

Review Fix: Who do you think will get the most out of it?

Hicks: I think it appeals to both puzzle game players and people who love fighting games. We wanted the game to be easy for anyone to pick up and play in just a few seconds.

Review Fix: How would you describe the gameplay to someone who hasn’t played it yet?

Hicks: It’s a puzzle game that happens to have a fighting game that ran into it. The point of the game is to trace connected blocks of three or more of the same kind of block to make your fighter punch, kick, move, shoot or special attack your opponent.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part of the title?

Hicks: Roger, the detective. When we start putting additional character ideas together, I knew I wanted a 1950s style gumshoe. His special attack is an attack with a magnifying glass. Either that or playing in Bluetooth – it’s like the old days of fighting games, except all it takes is me and a friend and our iPhones, and we’ve got an arcade, wherever we are.

Review Fix: What was the development process like?

Hicks: iOS development is very fast, with a lot of quick iteration. We had the base game down very early, then added on things like additional characters.

Review Fix: Are you planning any updates?

Hicks: All sort of depends on how the game does, really.

Review Fix: How do you want the game to be remembered?

Hicks: As a great little puzzle game to play with your friends when you’ve got a bit of time.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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