Recently we had the chance to chat with Joe Fisher from Vicarious Visions about their upcoming game based on the movie Kung Fu Panda.

4 color rebellion: Please tell us your name and position within the team.
Joe Fisher – Producer

How closely did you work with Dreamworks while on the game?
Dreamworks was nice enough to invite us on site at the start of the project to get some early looks at the film and ask a bunch of questions. This upfront information in conjunction with the regular feedback they provided throughout the development cycle proved to be tremendously helpful for our team.

Does the DS version follow the same story as the movie? Will we see some extra places we didn’t see in the movie?
Yes, you’ll definitely see some unique elements to our game that aren’t found in the movie – or in versions of the game on other platforms.
For the most part Kung Fu Panda DS follows the movie storyline. When we first read the script we were very impressed and did not see a need to make significant changes because the story naturally lends itself to a game progression. However we did add some new environments and unique boss characters to the DS game to spice things up and enhance the gameplay experience.

How will you make use of the DS’s unique features?
Kung Fu Panda DS makes great use of the touch screen. In fact, 100% of our combat is done through different variations of two core stylus gestures, the stroke and the tap. Using different combinations of these gestures the player can trigger a wide range of basic (and more advanced) combat maneuvers. All of the action in Kung Fu Panda DS resides on the bottom screen which allows the user to connect all of the touch screen inputs directly to the game world. The top screen functions as a map which shows player position and directs the player to their objectives.

How will the DS version differ from the console version of the game?
We really strived to make the DS version a unique hand-held experience and not a scaled down version of the console version. The storyline, combat, abilities, boss characters, and several environments are all different in the DS version. In Kung Fu Panda DS, Po must rescue the Furious Five who have been captured by various gangs throughout the Valley of Peace. In return the Furious Five each teach Po a unique combat or traversal technique which aids Po on his journey and brings him one step closer to becoming the Dragon Warrior.

Will there be any co-op support on the DS?
We decided at the start of the project to focus our efforts on delivering highly polished combat and traversal systems for the single player experience rather than on a multiplayer game mode. This also allowed our artists to focus on a single game mode and deliver some really fantastic looking levels and environments.

What kind of gameplay can we expect?
It would have been easy to focus the gameplay of Kung Fu Panda strictly around…well, Kung Fu, but we felt it was important to give the player a balanced mix of combat and traversal puzzles. Adapt and overcome, observe your surroundings, use your enemies against one another, turn your weaknesses into strengths; these are the philosophies that went into the gameplay design of Kung Fu Panda DS.

Throughout the course of the game Po will acquire a wide variety of “Panda Style” Kung Fu abilities and character specific moves from the Furious Five. These moves typically are used to unlock future sections of gameplay. For example Po is unable defeat an armored enemy blocking his path until he learns the “Viper Crush Technique” from Master Viper. This mechanic provides purpose to learning new moves and gives the player an opportunity to practice and eventually master each new technique.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

Kung Fu Pandahits store shelves June 3rd.
Don’t forget to check out the movie, too!