Today, Ice Ace: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure launches on Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC digital.
This brand-new 3D action adventure set in the Ice Age universe sees Scrat, everyone’s favourite sabre-toothed squirrel, set out on a quest to recover his treasured crystal nuts!
Brought to you by Outright Games and developer Just Add Water, Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure is set to be an exciting romp through the world of Ice Age. Explore familiar locations, encounter new faces and unlock magical, extraordinary abilities for Scrat to conquer his nuttiest adventure yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZOu3Ca4w4c&t=1s
We caught up with Just Add Water’s founder Stewart Gilray ahead of the game’s release…
STEWART GILRAY: THE INTERVIEW
Were you as a studio, fans of the original movies?
STEWART GILRAY: Without a doubt. It’s one of the reasons we were so keen to work on this project with Outright Games.
Were other genres explored or was this Ice Age game always going to be a platformer?
STEWART GILRAY: No, it was always going to be a platformer, how could it not be ?
What other games have influenced the making of this title?
STEWART GILRAY: We looked at a tonne of comedic platforming games like, Spyro, Ratchet & Clank, Crash Bandicoot and others.
ICE AGE: SCRAT’S NUTTY ADVENTURE
How does the game differ on each system?
STEWART GILRAY: It doesn’t really. Certainly there are fewer visual effects in some cases on Switch, with the trade-off being of course the fantastic portability of that system. But besides that it’s identical across all systems.
The animation style is excellent, just like the movies. How much of a challenge was it replicating what we’ve seen on the silver screen?
STEWART GILRAY: Creating effective animation is always a challenge. Our animation lead has been working in the field since the 80s where he worked on animated TV shows and because of this his abilities and experience were excellently placed for us to accomplish the impressive animation style we have in the finished product.
ICE AGE – A MUCH LOVED MOVIES SERIES
Can we expect to see any other of our favourite characters making an appearance?
STEWART GILRAY: There might be a couple of easter eggs in there, in terms of the characters, but I’m not saying who or where…
How much input have the writers of the original films had on the game?
STEWART GILRAY: We worked closely on the story with Lori Forte over at BlueSky Studios who is the original movie’s producer. We’ve actually latched on to a story that was hinted at in the latter movies.
GOOD HUMOUR
The humour throughout the game looks fantastic, it must have been fun to work on, can you tell us more about this aspect of Scrat’s Nutty Adventure?
STEWART GILRAY: The humour in the Ice Age movies, and specifically related to Scrat is very physical. As such we’ve tried to get this across through the character animations and audio.
FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY
How did you ensure this will appeal to the whole family? It looks like the perfect game to introduce gaming to a younger audience.
STEWART GILRAY: I was extremely keen to make sure that this is a game designed primarily for “kids” up to the age of 12, but adults will certainly enjoy playing too. As such, the challenge levels are balanced to avoid any frustrating, punishing failures and the controls are straight forward and easily understandable. This is something I was keen to implement from day one.
CLIFF HANGER
What are the plans for the future, how about a sequel?
STEWART GILRAY: Right now we’re not working on a sequel, but the game does finish on somewhat of a cliff hanger, which consequently paves the way to a potential sequel. So who knows ?
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