The rhythm genre has been in a bit of a funk lately. For awhile it was arguably the biggest genre in gaming before it got over saturated and fizzled out. So much so that it might now be one of the most overlooked genre in gaming. Enter Mad Fellows Games and their Aaero franchise.

Founded in 2013 by two friends, Paul Norris & Dan Horbury, the 2 man studio based out of the UK set out to make their own unique take on the rhythm genre. Both men had extensive experience in the genre having worked on the likes of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero and knew there was still room in the industry for rhythm games if they had the right hook.

Their debut game, Aaero, released in 2017 to pretty high praise for taking the genre to a new level. The hook was certainly unique, especially at the time, mixing the ribbon riding to the music with a shooting mechanic to thwart off enemies.

With the sequel due out tomorrow, exclusively, for now, on Xbox Series S/X, Paul and Dan look to bring the franchise to new heights with Aaero2. As I talked about in my review, it definitely feels like they have. The shooting mechanics have more depth to them and the addition of co-op really makes the game come to life that much more.

Recently I had a chance to chat with Paul and discuss the release of Aaero2 with a variety of topics including the big changes made to the sequel, the music, a potential level editor, why they chose to be an Xbox exclusive to start and much more.

Hey Paul, first off thanks for taking the time to spend a bit of time with me here and discuss Aaero2, it must be an exciting time anytime you release a game, let alone a sequel.

It's been a long time since we released anything. I'm terrified!

It’s been quite a few years since the first Aaero game released and this sequel has certainly kicked it up a notch in many ways. What were you guys aiming to do with the sequel to a game that really came out of no where to give the rhythm genre a much needed boost. We’re you looking to just stick to the formula that made the first so good or try and push the boundaries of what it could be?

The first game was made with hard deadlines and this one wasn't (hence the 7 year development). Some things really worked well in the first Aaero and others didn't land as well. Also, the first game wasn't as flexible and adaptable as we would've liked. Code and assets wise, there's nothing from Aaero in Aaero2. It was a fresh project. We wanted to make a more stable platform on which to build. It was a choice between fighting with the first game to get things like multiplayer in or cutting our losses and starting again with these things planned from the start.

The 2 biggest additions in my opinion to the game are the co-op and multiplayer modes. What was that like trying to implement those modes into a game like Aaero2?

Local co-op came together fairly painlessly. As soon as there were two sets of ribbons, the potential for weaving in and out of each other was obvious. It felt more balanced, both visually and from a gameplay point-of-view. PvP was a bit more challenging as we wanted to ensure it was totally fair. That each player had the same opportunities and it would be decided on skill. The tug-of-war mechanic felt great and really helped to pit the players against each other as they battle for crowns.

Obviously a big part of Aaero2 is the music. You’ve got a lot of great tracks in the game. How do you go about choosing the music. Do you just have some favourite artists and go to them, do artists come to you? Is there any music thats made specifically for Aaero2?

Choosing tracks takes a long time. I learned from working on Guitar Hero that engaging gameplay could get you to really enjoy music you might not have chosen to listen to otherwise, but choosing songs based on their popularity and "˜clout' and hoping they were fun to play often doesn't end well. I always bias towards the gameplay. After a while I found myself imagining ribbons on everything I heard.

Monstercat have an immense catalogue of music that is suitable for Aaero gameplay. It also helps that they truly understand the game and what makes a good track. Between us we just narrow choices down based on what scope there is for good ribbon gameplay. Once it's whittled down to some good potentials, we make a prototype of the track with just the ribbons.
We have talked about artists making some song specifically for Aaero2 but as there was enough there for the initial release already, it's something we put on the back burner for now.
The ultimate goal is to find those tracks that are both stunning musically as well as great fun to play. I think we've nailed that with Aaero2.

You’ve talked about how important it was for you to listen to the community from the first game and take their praise and criticism with open ears when it came to the sequel. Is there perhaps 1 thing you wanted to add to the game based off feedback but simply couldn’t for some reason, and how important is it as a developer to listen to the fans? We know fans can get crazy sometimes with their ideas.

We went out of our way to find and properly consider every piece of feedback anyone had posted anywhere on the internet. If someone thinks something and feels strongly enough to post it online, the chances are there are lots of people who also thought the same but didn't say it.

I don't think there's anything we wanted in there that isn't. The plan is still to get a level editor into the hands of the community as soon as we can. That's something that is often asked for.
The challenge comes when people want different things. Some people want a relaxing, passive experience with no distractions or consequences, others want it to be hard as nails so you earn and appreciate the experience more. We try to lean as far to each of these directions as we can with different difficulties and modes without making compromises on the core gameplay.

I’d be remiss to not ask a bit about the Xbox decision. There’s been a fair bit of chatter in the gaming sphere about it being extra tough for indies on the Xbox platform these days without a Game Pass deal. I’ve spoken to other developers who say that’s a bit overblown in their experiences, while others say its reality. You’ve decided to make Aaero2 Xbox exclusive (disclaimer: it's coming to Steam soon as well) and you are doing so without a Game Pass deal. I know you can’t speak for others, but in your experience what made you go that route?

Being totally frank, Xbox was by far the most successful platform for Aaero. I'm not sure why. It may have been that they supported us a lot, gave us booths on the ID@Xbox stand at events and did things like press days where ID@Xbox developers could show their games, hands on to press invited there by Xbox. Now I've said that, I suppose that is very likely the reason (for the success).

When it came to deciding on platforms and release order this time, we knew that the inclusion of online play might complicate things. We chose to release one platform at a time because, as a team of just two people, we wanted to be able to iron out potential issues effectively rather than having multiple platforms all on fire at the same time.
We then ordered the platforms based on how the first game performed on them. Xbox, then Steam.

Speaking of Xbox, these achievements! All 100 of them. The first game is pretty well known in the achievement community for having so many achievements as well. What made you want to have so many in the game. Was it always just as simple as you wanted an achievement for each track on each difficulty and went from there?

I'm addicted to Achievements myself. I think when Achievements are used properly, they can add a lot to the experience. I think I said this in interviews when the first Aaero released, but Crackdown was the game that really demonstrated this to me. That game's campaign progression, as good as it was, wasn't as much fun as going through and ticking off the achievements. As a designer, they can help you show people different ways to play the game.

The only thing I find more disappointing than games with 10 poorly thought-out Achievements for 100GS each is when DLC for a game I love comes out with no achievements at all. I'm looking at you, Apex, Destiny 2 and Call of Duty to name just a few.

Lastly, what can we expect from Mad Fellows and Aaero2 after the release? Are you planning dlc with more tracks or is it just focusing on the pc port and potentially moving on to the next game?

We intend to keep listening to the feedback and fine-tuning the game as we work on the Steam release and updates for the Xbox version. We don't plan DLC until the base games are released and we get a feel for what people might want. Otherwise, it feels a bit like leaving something out so we can save it for DLC.