From the manic masterminds that brought you Castle Crashers and BattleBlock Theater comes the sequel to the title that kicked them off: Alien Hominid Invasion. Back in 2004, The Behemoth brought the simple, yet colorful and chaotic Alien Hominid. Four years later, the indie hit Castle Crashers debuted. Now, with Alien Hominid Invasion on the horizon, we managed to secure an interview with Erin Jungjohann, the project’s Game Designer. Here’s what she has to say about the upcoming title!
The Interview
Why did you settle on this art style? It’s been a recurring, borderline iconic theme with your works, all the way back to Castle Crashers (loads of fun, btw) and the original Alien Hominid. Have you ever considered changing it?
Erin: Every Behemoth game has showcased the signature art style of Dan Paladin (our co-founder/Art Director). 
There has been a gradual evolution of Dan’s art over the Behemoth’s life span. Additionally, there are stylistic nuances between games on a contextual level, like the Pit People dialogue portraits versus, say, the Alien Hominid Invasion city map. We shape different visual themes while still staying true to our known and loved art style; it’s something that we’ve refined over many years.
What about this game will make it stand out from the original? The graphics and fluidity seem to be ramped up, but what about mechanics?
Erin: There are tons of things in Alien Hominid Invasion that are extremely different from the original — in fact, we’ve been hesitant to even refer to the game as a sequel to Alien Hominid HD due to how different the gameplay is. In Alien Hominid HD, you’d play through each level and you could learn the attack patterns of the bosses to master the game. Invasion is all chaos and mayhem. You can move left, right, up, down, and the enemies you face in any level will always be varied in some way. The game is all about movement, and players can take advantage of different weapons and mutations to create and master their own play style.
How did you decide upon jumping onto people and riding them to cause more havoc?
Erin: With how fast-moving everything in Alien Hominid Invasion is, we decided it would be a lot more fun to let players ride on the Agents for extra mobility and as a way to take a quick break from the chaos.
What feedback have you received from players about your particle and after-effects? The great plumes of smoke and toxic gas make the scene hectic and fun, but I can also imagine that it makes keeping track of the action difficult.
Erin: We knew that clarity was going to be tricky with four players as mobile as the aliens and all sorts of emergent situations depending on what enemies were spawning and where. Even with their huge heads and bright, primary color bodies, we decided to add an intense glow to the aliens to help cut through a lot of the noise, as well as a full-color silhouette when you’re standing behind things like smoke or clouds.
Still, we’re always trying to get the perspective of new players, so each of our external play tests has made attempts to gauge how easy it is to keep track of the action, from eye-tracking software to survey questions.
How will the levels and challenges change as the game progresses? Aside from more or tougher enemies, that is.
Erin: Each level has its own unique challenges and elements, which [are] sometimes indicated by the icons on the map. These could include enemy swarms of a certain type, or bonuses like extra lunch money or better loot. Of course, in the actual game you’ll also find new bosses and mini-bosses (some of which might be familiar faces!)
Your fact sheet says that the levels are randomly generated, but that each block is handcrafted by your designers. Does this mean that any assortment of neighborhoods could be mashed together block by random block? How would this change the game’s replay experience?
Erin: The hands-on design has meant [that] each block has its own theme and platforming flavor, which leaves the randomizer to assemble levels with a ton of gameplay variety without losing a sense of place. You might have a park level, dense with trees, where that horde of robot attack dogs is less of a threat, or you could be stuck running/rolling for your life through that same park, which is now made up of only rivers and open fields.
Are there other games that you are taking cues from, in terms of design or mechanics? What predecessors can you cite and just how did they affect you?
Erin: During the years of development leading up to Alien Hominid Invasion, we definitely spent a lot of time during our lunches playing other cooperative games, especially procedurally generated games like Deep Rock Galactic and Risk of Rain; games that were light, but with surprising depth that felt fresh no matter how many times we dipped back into them.
That said, each of our past games has hugely informed our design for Alien Hominid Invasion, now that we’re rebuilding it from scratch 16(?!) years later. Whether it’s the cooperative interaction of BattleBlock Theater, the deceptively deep customization options from Pit People or the streamlined 4p action of Castle Crashers, we’re taking our favorite bits to make an Alien Hominid game that is approachable enough to play with just about anyone, but flexible enough to offer a serious challenge to die-hard fans of the original.
In the demo trailer, why focus on the derpy guy eating mint chocolate chip ice cream? It just seems so incongruous that I have to ask. Why not focus on literally anything or anyone else?
Erin: Aside from being a friendly face [that] fans of the original Alien Hominid HD will recognize, it seems only natural that ice-cream loving kids would take the side of the aliens over a bunch of adults. So, now that there’s a whole bunch of aliens invading the earth, the kids have an even bigger role to play in Alien Hominid Invasion.
Where can our readers find out more about the game and Behemoth and where can they find your social media outlets?
Erin: The easiest way to stay up to date on all things Alien Hominid Invasion is to wishlist the game on Steam! Of course, you can always find us on Twitter or Discord at “TheBehemoth,” or on Instagram and YouTube at “TheBehemothGames”.
