The latest print issue of Game Informer was released with a fantastic interview with Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante, and boy, is it the bomb. Galante has given plenty of interviews in the past about his surprise hit game that spawned a sea of “survivor” games, but his chat with Game Informer tells us a bit more about the tools and techniques that brought the game to life.
Speaking with Pao Yumol, Galante told again family stories from the development, that his background in gambling app programming didn't really influence the overall game design, just the treasure chest openings, and that he was initially inspired by LEME's mobile game Magical Survival—but there are some new details that tell us how the game was made.
For example, the proliferation of open source tools and free resources is what inspired Galante to embark on the journey to create his own games. Galante specifically used the open source HTML5 game engine Phaserand built the foundations of Vampire Survivors with default engine resources.
The game’s wonky graphics that spiral out of control as hundreds of sprites flood onto the screen were there from the start, when he picked up a Castlevania-themed sprite pack. He told Game Informer that the sprites “didn’t render at the right size,” and he fell in love with the imperfections.
“They were all very chaotic. [and] messy. There was a lot of green on the screen, with a giant mantis and grass on the floor.”
With open source game engines, you can do a lot with a little.
Galante's “fire and forget” development process apparently took off when he began designing playable characters and weapons, which is still his “favorite part” of the development process. He explained that his approach to design was “mercenary,” taking individual assets from the sprite pack and coding attack patterns on the spot, with little regard for character, feel, or consistency.
This… er, “methodology” manifested itself strangely in 2023, when he opened the game and discovered a character that Game Informer says he “didn't recognize.” At some point during development he “passed out” (his words) and forgot he'd created the character before going to sleep.
Stories of game development blackouts may evoke nervous memories of crunch and overwork for many developers, but Galante seems to see it more as a matter of familiarity with his toolkit. “Sometimes that comes from knowing your tools very well: the programming language, the game framework, and all that.”
The story ends with the tale of Peppino, a Christmas tree character whose ability is simply to stand still and let enemies rain down on him. Galante created him as a tribute to a Christmas tree he was chopping down on January 7, 2022, when a friend texted him to let him know that sales of the game were exploding after YouTuber SplatterCat posted a review of the game.
According to Galante, he forgot to take down the tree and decided to leave it there forever.
But there's more. The “still” Peppino trick was born from Galante who discovered players facing self-imposed “no movement” challenges. Galante told Game Informer that he still has an unused pine tree sprite on hand and the Christmas tree still standing in his apartment.
“The name Peppino in Italian basically means a pine tree,” he told the outlet. “And so my incredibly stupid brain just put all those pieces together.”
We would like normally I refer you to the Game Informer website to read the rest of Yumol's interview with Galante, but the interview was never published online following GameStop's decision to shut down the site and delete its online archives.
We encourage you to pick up a print edition of the latest issue of Game Informer to read it and other great stories firsthand.