Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise Interview with Paul Machacek and Gary Richards

Eager for info? Read on. We’ve persuaded Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise producer Paul Machacek and designer Gary Richards to spill a few beans prior to VP: PP‘s release later in 2008.

1) Was it always the plan to transfer Viva Piñata across to the DS, or did it take some prompting? If so, who were the principal prompters?

PM: No, and yes, erm, in that order. In discussions for a follow-on project for DKR DS it became a greater focal point, and in hindsight, seeing what we came up with, it’s proven to be a complete no-brainer. We love it.

2) New Piñatas, new game modes, a new control interface: what, in your personal opinion, is the single best new feature of Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise?

GR: The control interface has got to be the highlight for me, even my wife can play it!

PM: Being able to draw funny pictures in the sand in the Playground mode, and then save them to impress your friends later 🙂

3) Pocket Paradise is presumably one of the less contentious/misconstruable titles you came up with: any highlights from the discard list?

PM: You’ve got the wrong end of the stick (or carrot). Project ‘Pocket’ was the original codename for the game that became Viva Piñata on Xbox 360. ‘Paradise’ because it is, and then we can call it VP: PP. Funnily enough, we didn’t spot anything contentious about it when we coined it. It was simply our favourite from a big long list of dross.

GR: My personal favourites were Viva Piñata: Donna Summer or even better, Viva Piñata: Dig & Sow.

4) Who was better, Mumm-Ra or Venger?

PM: 42.

GR: I have to go with Mumm-Ra, just because he surrounded himself with really crap sidekicks like Monkian and Slithe. Life for the Thundercats would have been much better if Safari Joe could have taken them all out.

5) How do you handle the ‘multiple gardens under one Profile’ angle of the original Xbox 360 version? Can crates be traded between gardens, and does that extend to wireless trading?

GR: We have multiple gardens and yes, you can transfer things between them. Even better than that, you can also send them to a friend via the DS’s Wireless trickery. (I suggest sending Sours to your friends, they’ll love it.)

PM: In VP: PP you have three save slots, each of which can hold a unique garden. These could be started and played by different people or just one. You can also copy a garden from one slot to another and then play them separately from that point, so that they wander off in different directions. A bit like the Piñatas in them. Your profile is attached to the garden in a particular slot, so if you start a garden in another slot from scratch then you get a fresh profile too. This allows different people to play the game in different slots without interference. You can post a crate containing Piñatas and other items to a garden in another slot, or to another local DS unit wirelessly. This means you can start separate gardens on your game card and swap things between them, or copy one garden to another slot and send things to it as a store to use later.

6) What did Leafos do to deserve relegation from the game, and why wasn’t it that weirdo Seedos?

GR: Leafos wanted a break, so you’ll have to make do with Seedos.

PM: We like weirdoes. It’s an important part of our employment policy.

7) Do you agree with the practice of putting hats on dogs and taking photos for the internet?

PM: It would be just plain wrong that a dog didn’t dress up properly for an official photograph. What would the world be coming to otherwise?

GR: Hats on dogs! No, that’s just wrong. Where will it end? Socks on cats, pants on birds? Just no!

8) What are some of the team’s favourite DS games with no suggestion of a Rare logo anywhere on the box?

GR: The Castlevania series are my personal faves, along with Advance Wars.

PM: Are we allowed to scribble the logos out before answering?

9) Now that VP: PP is in the bag and awaiting release, what project has the team moved on to? Any plans for Anticipation DS or Taboo DS?

PM: That’s a very good question, and no.

GR: Hell yes, can we please do Taboo DS next, start the petition…

10) Finally: give us three good reasons why DS owners and/or Viva Piñata veterans should be unhealthily excited about Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise.

GR: What could be better than fiddling with a pocket full of furry things?

PM: It’s Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant! Well, we like it 🙂