Kung Fu Kickball- Q&A with Developer Whalefood Games

To celebrate the release of Kung Fu Kickball, We at Lords of Gaming did a Q & A session with the man behind Whalefood Games, Jonah Wallerstein.

Let’s get right into it.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your studio?

I’m Jonah and I run WhaleFood Games, a one person game studio based in Brooklyn, NY. But although my studio is only me, I work next to a bunch of other amazing indie devs in a collective called Gumbo. Which is a non-profit coworking space in Dumbo, Brooklyn. I was a web developer for many years while working on games on the side. But I recently made the switch to full time indie-dev. So crossing my fingers that all works out…

2. What is Kung Fu Kickball? What can players expect from the game?

KungFu Kickball is a team-based fighting sports game where the best ball-kicker wins! You need to punch, kick and headbutt your way across the field to smash the ball into your opponents bell to rack up points. Players can expect a cross between rocket league and smash bros with a dash of crouching tiger hidden dragon.

3. How did you come up with the idea for it? Did you draw inspiration from anything in particular?

The idea came from a number of things. I knew I wanted to make a competitive multiplayer game to recapture some of the fun I had back in college, playing Smash 64 with my roommates and friends. So I drew on that, plus I had been playing and admiring rocket league, so I took key elements of that game too. And then I was also inspired by a lot of the kung fu movies I watched when I was younger. Specifically there’s a movie called Shaolin Soccer by Stephen Chow, which is hilarious and basically my whole game.

4. What are your favorite aspects of the game/ what do you think players will enjoy the most?

I think my favorite aspect of my game is how easy it is to pick up and understand, but how hard it is to get really good at. It’s very approachable, but there’s a real depth to the gameplay that can be learned.

5. Anything else you want to share that you think we should know about the game or your studio?

Another cool thing I’m working on with the game is getting arcade cabinets made for it. I think it fits arcades perfectly and they are making somewhat of a comeback with the new arcade/bar places that are popping up. Right now there are two cabinets out in the wild, one at a bar in Bushwick called Wonderville and one up in an arcade bar in Beacon NY called Happy Valley Arcade

Thanks to Jonah for his time, be sure to check the game out! You can catch our full review of it here.

Check out the LOGNET video interview with Whale Food Games from Play NYC right here.