Stealth-driven gameplay is becoming a running theme on the Wii U eShop, particularly among Spanish developers. First, EnjoyUp Games with Spy Chameleon at the end of 2014, and more recently, OXiAB Game Studio with Canvaleon. While both games occupy a similar space by their design principles, each explores stealth in a different way. In the case of Canvaleon, this means blending with backgrounds by means of manually applied camouflage. With the GamePad as a palette and canvas, such mechanics make the game a right fit for the platform as a Wii U exclusive.
Considering what could have been, with colour changes being made automatically — which the team says would have been a "boring" alternative — the design choice to accord players greater control over the 'how' and 'when' is a refreshing take. Although as GameZone learned from OXiAB Game Studio's Angel Hidalgo, this also made Canvaleon a challenging undertaking for the team to develop.
"People see colors differently (the difference is even greater between men and women), and we had to adjust the formula to this as well as we could. We wanted to make all the pixels in the background to count."
When asked how the concept came about, Hidalgo shared that programmer Victor Pedreño first came up with the idea to draw from Metal Gear Solid for the creative concept. "Victor is a Metal Gear fan, and when explaining the idea of Canvaleon, he told us that the main character could use camouflage like Snake in MGS3. Once this basic idea was established, all of us started adding other ideas to Canvaleon."
At this point, there was still no fixed idea on what that "main character" would look like. But the answer to that came after the team finalized the game's structure.
"We wanted our first game to be based on something simple," Hidalgo said, "so we thought of platformer games. We thought of twisting this simple idea: In platformers you almost always have a mean of killing enemies, [so] what if this time you are a very fragile being and your only way of surviving was having to hide from your enemies?" Naturally, the idea of concealing yourself from enemies worked hand-in-hand with the chameleon protagonist they later decided on and named Canvas.
Hidalgo went on to describe how Metal Gear Solid 3 and other inspirations helped shape Canvaleon's creative and physical design. "We imagined the camouflage mechanic as similar to the one that Metal Gear Solid 3 uses," they shared, "but taking the real background into account (not just 'terrain IDs'). That's why when you move when camouflaged, you lose part of your camo percentage." Hidalgo continued: "For the platforming parts, we were inspired by classics like Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country, and there is also a little of Megaman and Metroid in the way you can choose your path and you obtain powers."
In keeping with their homages to the past, the team has designed Canvaleon in such a way that satisfying game design doesn't come secondary to creative execution. "It is an easy game to play, to move and understand how it works. But if you want to advance and see the end," Hidalgo said, "you must use your brain, look around and be careful of all you have on screen (and even on your speakers." The game bears an inviting appearance as a result of the central role that colour plays in the creative. And by their own admission, the team originally envisioned it as "a short and simple game." But Canvaleon is not to be seen as anything but the challenging adventure that it is, where considered actions are emphasized and the taking of liberties won't secure a hotshot's victory.
"Don't run like crazy; stop and think [about] your next movement, because that is how you play Canvaleon. Canvas dies when hit a single time and there are no checkpoints, so just advance carefully and look around to plan your movement," Hidalgo said. "That is our advice to players that have [an] interest in our game."
For existing players, the team sends advice their way via daily Miiverse communications, providing tips and sharing hidden gameplay features. Due to the nature of the game, the team hopes players will use Miiverse to share their custom designs, and that the community will become a hub for two-way communication. "We want them to feel that we are close to them." A great attitude to have as a new team that has already demonstrated their capability to see a challenging project through to the end.
