After recently getting hands on with Ra Ra Boom, we were afforded the chance to ask developer Gylee Games a few question about their upcoming cheerleading-beat-em-up. Below, Founder and CEO Chris Bergman details more on this upcoming game!
XT: Please can you give us a brief introduction to who Gylee Games are?
Chris Bergman: Gylee Games is a studio based in Cincinnati, OH, and was started by myself and industry vet Denver Coulson. The name Gylee is taken from my two kids names: Guy and Lee. We focus on character-driven action games for PC and Console.
XT: What was the thinking behind having a set of protagonists who are cheerleaders in outer space!? And can you give us a brief background on where we pick up with the girls and the story?
CB: Ra Ra BOOM is essentially a coming of age story that deals with grief, and the emotional support that friends can carry. I bought the domain RaRaBoom.com in 2008, and then let it sit in my brain for a decade. The name of the game came before anything else! It drove the initial concept: cheerleaders and explosions. But I also had been feeling that tickle of fear from AI emerging. What would happen if we let AI fix climate change? Logically, it’d solve the biggest problem creating it: humans. So, it made sense to have humanity leave earth to flee a rogue AI. Thus, outer space.
XT: Each one of the characters has a unique feel to them in their special attacks. How tricky has it been to give them enough to differentiate them, especially once we begin to unlock upgrades?
CB: Super tricky! It’s a balance. They can’t feel too different, because players could get bummed if they can’t be their favorite character. But we wanted them all to feel unique. It took a ton of playtesting to walk that tightrope well. Thankfully, I think we achieved it.
XT: Levels can be replayed with several ‘homework assignments’ once cleared, can you explain what differences we might see in these, and what benefit they will have for the player to complete them?
CB: Homework assignments are extra missions per level that will increase your score and level grade, which allows for a ton of replayability. There are some fun missions in there! For example, beating the whole level with only melee attacks.
XT: Levels also feel quite varied, from straight up brawls to dashing through a corridor while dodging obstacles and a giant robot trying to kill us. Can you tease what to expect in this regard later in the game?
CB: We’re huge fans of beat ‘em ups, so you’ll definitely see our take on many of the tropes in the genre. Also, we’re a goofy team and we had a ton of fun coming up with all the settings and environments. Each level is a playground for the characters. You also might find some sly love to our hometown of Cincinnati.
XT: When did you settle on the ‘lane system’? It’s something we don’t recall seeing specifically in titles such as these and it certainly makes it easier to line up attacks (even if in the heat of the moment we might still slip up).
CB: This was VERY early on. It’s one of the problems in the genre that we wanted to solve. We’d always get frustrated by not landing hits. We also wanted to allow for significant ranged combat. It’s as much a shoot ‘em up as a beat ‘em up. So, for players to clearly know what they’re shooting, we needed a way to line up those shots consistently. Lanes made the most sense by far, and I think solves a big challenge in the genre.
XT: The music is excellent from our time with the game (both my daughter and I were enjoying the menu selection music a lot). Any plans for a soundtrack release?
CB: Hey thanks! That was created by myself and my music partner, Drew Marcum. We’ll be releasing the soundtrack under our producer duo “Toy District.”
XT: When can we look forward to the full game, and will we see it on all consoles and PC?
CB: August 12th! It’ll be available for PC, Xbox and PlayStation!
Thanks to Chris for taking the time to answer our questions here, and we look forward to seeing more of the game next month!
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