INTERVIEW: Pixelbomb Games on Going Beyond Flesh and Blood

Robots. Guns. Dystopia. Three simple words they perfectly sum up one of the most interesting games to come out this year: Beyond Flesh and Blood.

I am always on the lookout for games that go against the grain and aren’t comfortable with just sticking to the same old formula. From what I played of the demo for this post-apocalyptic actioner set in a ravaged Manchester, the team at Pixelbomb Games have accomplished just that.

Assuming control of a Tactical Combat Frame (TCF, but just “big bastard robot” to me and you), your mission is to battle your way through a hostile and derelict Earth to restore signal to The Tree of Life: a space station housing the last of civilisation. No pressure.

After receiving backing from the Steam community, Beyond Flesh and Blood should be landing on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC in the near future. I spoke to Phil Muwanga (Project Lead on code), Lee Blacklock (Project Lead on design) and Jane McConnell (Community Manager).

Hi there, how are you?

Phil: Very well, thank you.
Lee: Better after a bank holiday!
Jane: Good ta.

For the unfamiliar, tell us all about Beyond Flesh and Blood.

Phil: Beyond Flesh and Blood takes Manchester by the horns and turns it into a dystopian, science-fiction wonderland filled with mechs, more mechs and remnant societies… Gothic and Victorian architecture turned into grand 22nd century mega-structures… Unlike a lot of other third-person shooters, you’ve got these big open environments in Beyond which aren’t littered with a load of conveniently-placed thigh-high walls to hide behind for cover, plus you can actually improvise and arrange your own cover using the items in the environment.

Lee: The game is a shooter, which features mechs, so while everyone has been calling it a mech shooter, it isn’t. It’s an action game that takes place in Manchester.

Jane: I guess it’s quite difficult to explain that actually, the game is story driven – even though the demos that have been released are horde mode ‘levels’ and akin to tower defense play more than anything else.

How are you shaping up for release, is it going to be a mad scramble?

Phil: Kind of. We are working hard to ensure we can release this year, and there are more hands on deck than ever before.

Lee: We have some strict targets to meet in order to make sure the game is ready to release on Steam and a few other platforms you may have heard of.

Jane: Making sure content arrives.

What are the origins of the game, how did you go about getting it into production?

Lee: We’ve got a big love of anime and mechs, and being a dev company in Manchester, we wanted to set the game in a post-apocalyptic version of our city. We thought that a combination of these two things would be quite a playful scenario. Interestingly, when people ask us what the genre of the game is, we say that it’s a third-person action shooter, which is different from your typical mech shooter. It’s a third-person game, you just happen to be controlling mechs. We absolutely love robots and all forms of them, from the Japanese ones to the big stomping western mechs, so things like Steel Battalion were a big influence.

What’s been the best feedback you’ve received for it so far? We loved what we played.

Phil: That’s always great to hear.

Jane: For me it’s been the reaction from YouTubers. A lad called Jay has a YouTube channel called ‘ShotsFired’ who said that ‘it’s surprising how much concentration you have to put into this game!’ – that’s amazing feedback, I think to have an tough indie game experience that at the same time makes you conscious as a gamer of your own skills while being immersed – that’s very cool. He’s an entertaining gamer to watch:

There are also two Manchester YouTubers called MenOverBeard who really loved the fact that the game was set in Manchester and really got the 90s gore references. You can check out their videos here

Which feature of Beyond Flesh and Blood would you say you were most proud of?

Phil: The interesting thing is that you can’t die in this game. You’re in a space station in orbit, so if your suit is killed then they just send in another suit from orbit. It is not a big deal for them (The United Global Remnant, the in-game faction you play for). We try to tie this mechanic into the gameplay of the world – these soldiers on the ground, because they can die, they will comment on the fact that you’re not really there or that it all feels like a game to you. These are some of the areas that we wanted to explore in this.

Congratulations on getting Greenlit on Steam! What do you think drew so many people to the project?

Phil: We basically contacted everyone that we could about the game. It was a hard slog as we just emailed all the journalists we could, and luckily Total Xbox and Kotaku picked it up at the time. After that, we made it into Greenlit.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to become a games developer? I hear it’s not as fun as it looks…

Phil: It is hard, especially if you’re alone. I’ve done it for a few years, and it never gets easier. If you have the skillset and are willing to go out and do the work, whether that’s grafting and finding someone who can support a company you’re creating; or creating mods of games and getting feedback from those to practice – or just biting the bullet and making it whenever you can… if you’re quitting something to follow your dream, make sure you’re not starving yourself to do it. Sounds romantic, actually isn’t.

Which other game series would you like to give the Pixel Bomb polish to?

Phil: It pains me that I never got to play Steel Battalion on the big forty-button controller. I like the idea of a game where when you die, if you don’t press the eject button, you lose your save file. That’s a wonderful thing!

And finally, why should we all rush out and buy the game?

Lee: Beyond Flesh and Blood is a refreshing and tough indie game where you can play with lots of mechs, and charge around a UK city.

Jane: If you want to see a really unique take on what happens when you cross British sci-fi with gratuitous gore, play Beyond Flesh and Blood.

Phil: I’m an old-school gamer – I like games that are hard, that you actually have to think about them and learn the gameplay mechanics, and we know there are gamers out there who feel the same way.

One of the things that I don’t like is when people take a dislike to a certain game because it doesn’t feel like a game that they already know. If you don’t like a shooter because it doesn’t play like Call of Duty, then fair enough that’s your personal choice, but perhaps you should try and learn that game’s own gameplay mechanics. The configuration of the pad doesn’t have to be locked, I’d much rather a game dev did different things with it.

Visit Pixelbomb Games on the Beyond Flesh and Blood website or catch them on their Facebook. All media courtesy of the subject.