Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘oQo’

Review Fix chats with studio 3-50’s Grhyll, who discusses his upcoming game, “oQo,” which was developed alongside programmer Maxime Vican and artist/LD Florent Réfrégé. A member of the awesome indie team the Game Bakers as well, Grhyll brings a high-quality approach to table.

Review Fix: How was this game born?

Grhyll: The first version of the game was created at the Global Game Jam 2017! The theme was “Waves,” and initially I imagined a 3D FPS game where you would shoot on bells, which would generate waves that you could then jump on and ride, something very fast-paced. Then Florent and Maxime joined me, and since Florent, our only artist, is more on the 2D side, we refined the idea until we settled on something very close to the current oQo. Maxime threw some code together and quickly we had something running and fun.

The final product, at the end of the game jam, was quite clean and we were surprised how it had turned out. From there, we decided to try to improve the jam version to a more polished prototype, and if players seemed to be interested, to work on a full (although short) game; and here we are today!

Review Fix: What has development been like?

Grhyll: We are only three people, with quite distinct skills, so it has been pretty great so far! We work on this project during our free time, and refuse for now to set up strict deadlines or objectives. It might come later, but it seems more important for us to deliver a quality product, entirely polished, which makes us proud, than to deliver quickly. What is more, it turns out we’re having a great time just hanging out, so when we meet to speak about the game, it always ends with some beers, and sometimes pizzas, so yeah, development is quite fine for us!

Review Fix: Any fun stories or wild moments?

Grhyll: Despite the serious look of the game, we are not serious people ourselves, and discussions often take curious turns, however, I’m bound by politeness and cannot really repeat any of that in case underages would be reading. And I guess you have to be in the business in order to find a circle shader rendering ovals hilarious, so I’m affraid I have nothing to share…

Review Fix: What are your goals for the game??

Grhyll: The main goal is to offer a nice and relaxing experience to the players. We are trying our best to give every aspect of the game a role in the soothing ways of oQo. Nothing’s really settled yet, but we think the final game should last something between 1h30 and 2h (or more if the player takes its time or tries to resolve side puzzles), and we would love it if players finish it in one session. It would be a sign we managed to create an atmosphere strong enough to make the time fly by, in which the user feels comfortable.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Grhyll: Well, we still have a few months ahead of us working on oQo, if not a year or two! Beside that, Maxime and Florent are working on another project of theirs, not announced yet, and I have myself too many ideas (and one or two prototypes) to achieve them in a lifetime.

Review Fix: Anything else you’d like to add?

Grhyll: Nothing special! Don’t hesitate to subscribe to our Newsletter if you’re interested in the game, we won’t spam

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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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