In my run as a video game journalist I often just look out for really cool games or games that I really want to know more about and Skydrift fits into both those categories. So much effort and detail goes into making every game that it's good to get a point-of-view that really helps show how the project was realised. That point-of-view today is Tibor Pongracz, who is the lead designer on the Skydrift team. 

QJ: To familiarize our readers with who you are, who are you and how long have you been working in games?

TP: Hi, I’m Tibor Pongrácz, the Lead Designer of the team. During the development of SkyDrift, I had the opportunity to work with the best developers I have seen so far. It was a pleasure to co-ordinate the guys, to harmonize their ideas and possibilities, inspire and manage all the design related tasks that came up in-game. Even now, that the game is out, I can lose myself in the experience of flying and competing for the first place – and, of course, vaporizing my opponents.

QJ: And what have you made in the past?

TP: My former projects are all for game consoles as well: Creature Conflict (Xbox, PC) - Design Lead; Punisher: No Mercy (PSN) - Project Lead; ZEN Pinball (PSN) - QA Lead.

QJ: With most games I'm always trying to pull apart the threads and see where it all began. Where did the inspiration of SkyDrift come from?

TP: Many racing and flight games influenced SkyDrift. Many of our fans guessed it right when they mentioned Blur as a key inspiration – we really like that game! The desire to fly through spectacular and dangerous locations comes from Stunt Island, while Ace Combat was a source for our willingness to push visuals further. 

QJ: Stunt Island and Pilotwings come to mind when talking about air racing games but it seems like a really specific target market. Do you think your game fills the niché of competitive flight racing titles?

TP: The actual development of the game was preceded by extensive research. The whole team thrives on new challenges, and we hadn't encountered anything like this before. We wanted to make something new, something special.

QJ: What do you guys think you do differently?

TP: The greatest challenge was to find the right balance between arcade and simulation airplane controls, and of course to choose the really feasible ideas from the vast quantity available, different game varieties and power-ups. Putting all these elements together make SkyDrift a unique game.

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