SuperGaming, one of India’s leading game companies, has been on quite a roll as of late, with games like MaskGun and Silly World reaching all kinds of big milestones. Silly World is an extremely charming multiplayer title with a number of fun game modes such as Murder Mystery and Hide ad Seek. Recently, SuperGaming unveiled Squid Royale, a brand-new mode in Silly World fashioned after the zeitgeist-grabbing Netflix show – Squid Game. Fans of the show and Silly World were excited, to say the least, as is reflected in the 650,000+ pre-registrations.
We got in touch with CEO and Co-Founder of SuperGaming, Roby John, and discussed Silly World and the workings behind the scenes of the game as well as about what awaits players in Squid Royale.
Silly World – Squid Royale Games, the next big thing from SuperGaming
Despite the general whimsical nature of the game, there’s a ton of quasi occult-ish imagery like pentagrams and things of that sort in the game – were there any point during the development where Silly World straight up felt like a horror game?
Roby: Those elements you’re referring to are a part of the game’s first map called Haunted Mansion. The premise has one of the players possessed by a devil residing in the mansion to hunt down the others as they complete mini-tasks and solve a murder mystery. With that in mind, occult imagery did fit. However the look and feel we were going for was more towards being spooky than outright horror — more Luigi’s Mansion than Resident Evil. Coupled with social deduction gameplay and focus on player collaboration we never veered into the realm of outright horror.
Roblox recently learned the hard way that enabling voice chat, although fun – is akin to opening up Pandora’s Box. Has the team felt like they needed to regulate the voice chat and in-game communication or has the community been pretty responsible with it?
Roby: While we do have voice chat in Silly World, we’re also conscious of how it’s used and the possibility of it being abused. With that in mind, you can use voice chat to only talk with those you have added to your friend’s list in-game, not other players. It’s a feature that’s being regularly and rigorously tested to prevent any misuse all the same. In addition to this, players can report or block any other player that they find toxic.
I find myself laughing quite routinely while playing the game, and that’s possibly down to the Simlish-type language the Silly(s) are using. How much work went into developing those sounds and is there an actual language at work with what these guys are saying?
Roby: We’re glad you find Sillish amusing. Sillish is the language that exists in Silly World, spoken by the player’s avatars known as Sillys. It was created with the intent of invoking laughter and light-heartedness. To do this, we felt it made sense to go with a medley of sounds that one would make when they’re feeling happy or silly.
Our reference points included how children would behave when they’re playing. Moreover, a lot of research was done to figure out the pitch, style, tone, and language Sillys speak. Sillish is meant to be a whole complete language with its own lexicon. Sounds were more than enough to communicate the emotion people feel which is why most of the words spoken are simply cute sounds that convey what a Silly may feel at a given moment.
So now that you’ve announced Squid Royale – is there a possibility that there’s gonna be a lot more violence and darker imagery in the game, given the nature of the inspiration? What should fans of Silly World expect from Squid Royale?
Roby: Considering that Silly World is a game where you can hang out with your friends and play together, going in that direction from a visual perspective may not be appealing to our existing players or help get broader audiences in. This is doubly so given that Silly World’s current art direction and overall presentation skewed towards casual, colourful tastes. In addition to the game modes, fans of the game can expect some welcome nods to Netflix’s Squid Royale wrapped in Silly World’s unique flair.
What’s the most interesting piece of feedback you’ve gotten from the players? Has there been a stand-out comment or review that caught the team off-guard?
Roby: The general outpouring of positive, wholesome comments always stop us in our tracks. They’re usually about how they like playing the game with their friends or how excited they are for an upcoming mode like Squid Royale.
What’s been interesting from a development and player behaviour perspective has been feedback on how players play the Hide & Seek mode. Reviews give us a peek into player strategies to avoid being caught by the Devil in this mode — most of which we didn’t expect, like using intricate dead zones where they can’t be tracked. So when the Devil came close, they hid there till it was safe to come out and moved on to other such spots on in-game. These emergent gameplay experiences are welcome nuggets of insight that help us build a better game.
You recently shared that Squid Royale already has over 456,000 players pre-registered. Was the team expecting that kind of immediate positive fan reception or was it a pleasant surprise?
Roby: At the moment we have over 650,000 pre-registrations. To be honest, we weren’t expecting this kind of response. We were unsure how fans and newcomers would react and it’s encouraging that our audience — both old and new — want to try this out. The team is ecstatic and we hope Squid Royale lives up to player expectations.
Even while watching the show – gamers could immediately tell some of these twisted games will make for really cool game modes. Can fans expect favourites like Red Light-Green Light or Tug of War in Squid Royale, and is there a possibility of perhaps introducing new games that weren’t actually present in the show?
Roby: Squid Royale in Silly World will be available for a limited time and we’ll be adding new modes based on Squid Game in the weeks to come. At launch the ‘Red Light Green Light’ game will be available first with Tug of War, Marble Game, Dalgona Cookie, and Glass Bridge playable down the line. With Silly World we’re always experimenting with new game modes and while not all of them would be tied to Squid Royale, fans can definitely expect something different and fresh ever so often.
