[Interview] Behind the Switch Scenes of Tanzia

Yesterday Arcanity Inc. came out with the news that Tanzia is coming to Nintendo Switch later this year and while it was a surprise for most of the world, it wasn’t one for Miketendo64!

@PlayTanzia needs to be on Switch! https://t.co/YrZt1KrpOQ

— Miketendo64: 🔜 EGX 2023 | 🎮 (@miketendo64) September 20, 2017

Having recently expressed a desire for Tanzia come to Switch, just days before the announcement came, the game’s developers actually clued us in and gave us the chan ce to ask a couple of question and now that the cat is out of the bag, it’s time to do the same with the answers they provide us with:

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When we last talked, (an interview we conducted last year with Jason Jacobitz) Tanzia wasn’t planned for a Nintendo platform at the time, but it is now as Tanzia is coming to the Nintendo Switch. How long did it take you to get Nintendo on board and how long have you been working on the Switch version?

Matias Kindermann: Nintendo was very supportive since the first moment we contacted them, everything was very fast and they’ve been helping helping us every step. It took around a week from the moment we pitched Tanzia to them to the moment they accepted and started the whole process. We’ve been working on the Switch build for around a month now.

The answer is probably obvious, but why is Tanzia coming to Switch first instead of to Switch and Steam at the same time?

Matias Kindermann: Being such a small team, we can only focus on one build at a time. So since we feel like the Switch is the perfect home for Tanzia, we decided to focus on that build and make it perfect. Also, Nintendo is giving a lot of visibility to indie games right now, so we feel like the extra effort is worth it.

Since it has been nearly a year since we last talked, how much has Tanzia grown/changed in the last year?

Matias Kindermann: Since we last talked Tanzia has really grown, we added many sidequests and everything has been polished a lot, many of the main quests have also changed based on feedback by the Early Access players. We also added details like actual bags for Erudi’s quest (they used to be generic chests) and other little flourishes here and there.

Well, since Tanzia is confirmed for Switch, are there any plans to give it any Switch specific features, or at least some kind of a co-op play so the Tanzia experience can be shared, even if it’s just for 2 player focused multiplayer games?

Matias Kindermann: For the Switch build we’re adding optional touch controls for handheld mode (select enemies, NPCs, loot & spells just by touching them). No co-op play for now, but if the game does well enough we’re considering having DLC packs with extra functionality.

How does it feel to finally break the silence and admit the Switch version is a reality?

Matias Kindermann: It feels great! I personally wanted to start screaming about the Switch build the moment Nintendo accepted us, but Jason is more conservative and wanted to wait until we had a working build on the Dev Kit (boss always wins!)

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To Matias and Jason, I wish you both the best of luck as Tanzia is a great looking game and I can’t wait to go hands on with the Steam version you guys were able to provide me with. I may have not played it yet, but I have nothing but good vibes for this game and hope it brings the whole Arcanity team the success they deserve!