A fresh Knockout City dev diary reveals the origins of combat bouncers
After 4 years of development, on May 21, the premiere of Knockout City was about combat bouncers from the Velan studio. On this occasion, the developers, together with publishing house EA, decided to lift the veil of secrecy, share the details of the creation process and demonstrate the influence of a retro aesthetic and its fusion with futuristic technology Knockout City.
In this video, the Velan staff describe the “Tech Deco” style they invented, around which the artistic vision of the game was formed, and the origins of some of the Knockout City characters.
The idea of the game began with grabbing and throwing balls, then rolling and rolling appeared, and later the ability to throw not only balls but also teammates was added. Now, this seems like a natural mechanic, but at an early stage of creation, the developers racked their brains over inventing a context where this would look organic.
The world of Knockout City allows you to experiment with the most incredible mechanics. This is a city obsessed with the game of bouncers, and people live in it and resolve disputes in one way. It’s natural here to curl up in a ball and be thrown halfway across the map. The very existence of such a city answered all the questions. Why are there trampolines around? Why are there pipes that suck in the player and carry them from one end of the block to the other? It’s just a city of bouncers.
In addition to the idea of the city, it was necessary to define its appearance, and creative director Ben Greene created a retro-futuristic concept, which the team then called “Tech Deco.” It concerns everything – the appearance of bouncers, the relationship between them, urban architecture, the use of light, and holograms.
All the heroes in Knockout City are cool, athletic, and rebellious, but each of them is unique. Some rely on brute force, some on cunning, some ridiculous, and some are insolent. All this is reflected in the appearance. The first concepts of the heroes are very different from the final result.
Knockout City will premiere with a free trial of the full version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC (Origin, Epic Games Store, and Steam), as noted on May 21st. Knockout City is rated 12+.
