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Indie Dev Interview: Unichrome: A 1-Bit Unicorn Adventure
We caught up with Super8bitRafa, the solo dev behind Unichrome: A 1-Bit Unicorn Adventure, which lands on Steam on the 16th of September. He was kind enough to answer five questions about this awesome game and give us an insight into its development.
Please introduce yourself?
I’m Rafa, a solo dev releasing his first game Unichrome on all major consoles. My parents came from Mexico to the US, so I’ve always felt like I was part of two worlds – stuck in the middle of two cultures – and you’ll find a little of that in my work I think.
My background is in visual arts. Having worked on everything from murals to digital and traditional canvas for most of my life, I think many people might consider me a painter but in my heart and mind, I’m a storyteller. Unichrome is my first game and I hope that after it’s released people can see me as the game maker and storyteller I strive to be.
And could you introduce your studio?
I don’t have a studio, I’m not really an organization, I’m just one guy — a lone developer going by the name Super8bitRafa. Armed with a laptop and a passion for games I create interactive experiences by laboriously pushing them through the birth canal of my imagination.
Although I do most of it myself (the programming, the graphics, the animation, the music, the sound effects, the story, the user interface, hell — even the voice work) I find that it is best to work with others whenever possible and, although, Super8bitRafa (the developer) doesn’t have any employees I did get the opportunity to collaborate.
For example, Jaggy Fox lent their talents to flesh out the majority of the music, and actors like Olivia Vidas and Christina Costello brought life to the characters with their (stellar) voice-over work, not to mention the publishing help I got from Ternox (without him there would be no release). I’m not a studio, I’m a solo-dev, but I did not do it alone.
Can you tell us about your game?
“Unichrome: a 1-bit Unicorn Adventure” is a retro platforming escapade revolving around a gun-toting rainbow unicorn named Ichi. She is a legendary hero tasked with bringing color back into the world with Molotov cocktails and machine guns. It’s a cute but deadly adventure filled with sarcastic, eclectic characters and classic arcade action.
The mix of quick and challenging run and gun gameplay combined with an absurd fully-voiced story aims to thoroughly entertain. It’s just good fun. The story is told through chapters and I hope to extend the adventure with additional free chapters in the future, where players can further explore new mechanics and new characters. I just hope that people have fun with the story and the gameplay and laugh at how silly it all is.
Can you tell us about some of your creative decisions in development?
The decision to add fully voiced characters into a pixel art game was the defining moment in development. I think ultimately that’s one of the things that makes this game truly different. I could have just made the characters interact through text boxes but those are so boring and if I would have done that we would have missed out on the fantastic and hilarious voice actors that really made this game a blast to work on and play. I can’t even think of another platformer that does that.
When is it out and how can people stay updated?
Unichrome: a 1-bit unicorn adventure is out September 16th on all major consoles: PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.
You can take a look at the latest from Unichrome here on Steam. For more news, reviews and features on indie games, find us at Into Indie Games.