PS Vita Lumines developer takes series “back to its roots”

We had an exclusive chat with Lumines: Electronic Symphony producer James Mielke recently to chat about the upcoming PS Vita launch title and its various improvements, as well as how to develop for a brand new platform and how to choose a block-rocking soundtrack.

OPM: The Lumines series is pretty unique – how would you explain Electronic Symphony’s gameplay to the uninitiated?

James Mielke: The easiest way to describe it, I think, would be to say it’s a fast-paced block-dropping puzzle game with high-quality audio/visual production values and a vibrant, electronic soundtrack.

OPM: Lumines was a big success for the PSP early in its life cycle – how does Electronic Symphony aim to take on that mantle?

JM: In two ways. The first and most obvious way is to increase the visual and audio fidelity of all its parts. Everything is 3D now –as in blocks are rendered as 3D objects, and not 2D sprites any more—which allows us to do light sourcing, use video textures, physics, perspective shifts, block animation. The second way is by returning Lumines to its roots, and by that I mean back to the focus on electronic music and sounds. That’s what the fans really loved about the first game; the hybridization of puzzle action and background visuals and electronic grooves. So we went back to basics, but with a next-gen polish.

OPM: What new opportunities do the Vita controls give to the game?

JM: Besides touchscreen controls, which may appeal to gamers used to playing games on an iPhone or iPad, the rear touchpad lets us give people a percussive surface upon which to drum their fingers to the beat and slowly refill their Avatar meter, which in turn gives players a helpful power-up when it’s 100% full.

OPM: Is that experience with the PSP development a big advantage moving forwards to the Vita title, or did you approach Electronic Symphony like a blank canvas (or unwritten score sheet, as the case may be)?

JM: I’d say it was the latter. Besides keeping things within the same proportions as the past games, working on PSP didn’t really offer us any advantages in developing for Vita. Vita is an all-new hardware system, so we had to learn the rules of developing a game for it from scratch. Fortunately it’s pretty smooth sailing working with Vita, so our programmers had the game up and running quickly.

OPM: How do the alternate control methods work?

JM: The touchscreen lets you drag and drop blocks by moving your fingers across the screen wherever you want the blocks to go. The rear touchpad quantizes your finger taps and adds synchronized percussive sound effects to the soundtrack, while filling your Avatar meter.

OPM: Are the series’ playlists compiled purely to suit the gameplay, or does personal taste creep in a little? Is there a song you always wished you could include, but couldn’t?

JM: Personal taste doesn’t creep in a little; it creeps in a lot. I’m a devourer of music and have been DJing for over 20 years, so it was my personal mission to assemble some of the most significant electronic tracks of the last 30 years and arrange them in a way that defies classification. There’s a lot of snobbery in the various fanbases of each electronic sub-genre. When I DJ I don’t limit myself by sticking to genre-specific sounds. That’s so limiting. Instead, I try to find a way to make disparate genres work in harmony. Nowadays, with mash-ups kicking down all those preconceptions, it’s a lot easier.

There were quite a few songs I wanted to include, but couldn’t because of timing or an artist not generally licensing his songs out to games, but we had plenty of songs to choose from (our list was over 250 strong). Anything we couldn’t include was immediately replaced by something we could.

Lumines: Electronic Symphony is out on 22 February for PS Vita.