I’ve been obsessed with poncle’s Vampire Survivors since I first played it during Early Access on Steam Deck a few years ago. It launched on Xbox Game Pass, was ported to Xbox, came to mobile, came to Nintendo Switch, and most recently, came to PS5 on Apple Arcade. With so many platforms, DLC releases, collaborations, and free updates, I’ve been meaning to chat with the poncle team for a while now. I finally got the chance to chat with Geo Morgan (Senior Partnerships Manager) and the poncle team about their work across platforms, how Xbox Game Pass has helped the game, Apple’s support, a potential physical release, and my favorite, coffee reaction.
Touch Arcade (TA): Since its Early Access launch on PC, Vampire Survivors and Poncle have gone through a lot of changes. How has the team grown?
Geo Morgan and Ponkle (GM): The team has grown a lot since launch! We are now over 25 people, and we span a variety of disciplines. We cross over a lot, but we don’t get stuck watching what each other is doing. We have channels in the workspace that keep everyone up to date with all the fun things we’re doing. It’s been really exciting to see the team grow (for example, I joined when we were about 12 people), and it’s inspiring to see everything everyone’s doing every day.
Flag: Since its PC launch, Vampire Survivors has been released on Xbox, mobile, Switch, and will soon be coming to PlayStation. How has it been working on the game across all platforms?
GM: The team has learned a lot from working on all the platforms we’ve been on, and it’s all valuable knowledge. Each system has its own unique characteristics and needs, so it’s been great to learn how to best implement everything into Vampire Survivors, and it’s also been great to bring the game to new audiences on different platforms. I think it’s important to take the time to port internally, so that we can ensure parity of content and experience for players.
Flag: Vampire Survivors is on Xbox Game Pass and coming soon to Apple Arcade. It’s too early to tell what it’ll be like on the latter, but how has Xbox Game Pass impacted the game?
GM: The partnership with Xbox has always been fantastic. Game Pass provides a great service to people who want to play games in general, and it does a great job of removing the barrier to entry for hundreds of games. Ours is one of them. It was great for Vampire Survivors, because it’s a game that you “get” once you play it.
Flag: Having played the game since its Early Access launch on Steam Deck, through updates, Xbox, Switch, iPhone and iPad, it’s been great to see how much performance has improved while things get more complex. What can we expect from the Apple Arcade version in terms of updates?
GM: First of all, thank you for playing all versions! All content updates (Whiteout, Astral Stair, Tiny Bridge, Space-54, Laboratory, etc.) are available in the Apple Arcade version of Vampire Survivors+, as well as all future free content updates. There may be content that is currently being worked on alongside other work. As long as we provide free content updates to all formats, they will reach Apple Arcade players. However, any DLC we make will be added to the Apple Arcade version.
Flag: You previously mentioned that Among Us and Contra DLC were not included in Apple Arcade due to licensing issues. Does this mean that cross-save won’t be available on Apple Arcade when they release on other platforms?
GM: Cross-save functionality between the Apple Arcade and App Store versions will not be available at launch, but we are currently investigating this internally.
Flag: How was it working with Apple on Vampire Survivors+?
GM: It’s really great! The Apple staff was clear, very friendly, and easy to work with. They answered every question we had and helped us with every challenge we faced during development.
Flag: Poncle has been incredibly responsive to player feedback across the platform. Is there anything players have asked for that you haven’t implemented yet?
GM: We literally read and consider everything. Sometimes we address feedback directly, sometimes we just let it simmer and it eventually influences future decisions. A big problem we’ve been trying to solve for years is how to manage platform achievements to make both players who want them and those who don’t! We haven’t found a solution yet, but we’re still talking to various platforms and testing weird things.
Flag: If there were no restrictions and no budget, what game or IP would you like to include in Vampire Survivor?
GM: Our initial dream collaboration list had about 30 IPs. We won’t go into that list, but we hope to add more IPs as the game progresses!
Flag: Given the low price of the game and DLC, do you think in retrospect that you charged too little for the game? Considering how much you got out of it on all platforms, I think so.
GM: Not at all! We often hear people say, “We’re charging too little,” but given the production value of the game, we think it’s worth it.
Flag: Can we expect content that’s exclusive to the Apple Arcade release, without all the DLC available on other platforms?
GM: We don’t like exclusive content, we’d rather focus on providing the same content to everyone.
Flag: Are you planning on allowing players to play as vampires?
GM: What is a vampire?
Flag: Are you planning on implementing DualSense haptics into the upcoming PS5?
GM: When it launches on PlayStation 5, there will unfortunately be no haptic support for DualSense, and Active Triggers will not be a part of it either. Traditional rumble will still be present, however. That doesn’t mean we won’t add more in the future, but we’re always looking at new features on all platforms and seeing how we can implement them into Vampire Survivors.
Flag: Can I transfer my saved data from Apple Arcade to the standalone App Store, and vice versa?
GM: We’ll be looking into this, but cross-save between the Apple Arcade and App Store versions won’t be enabled at launch.
Flag: Has the dev team ever considered creating a soundtrack DLC with a new composer who would reinterpret classic Vampire Survivor music in their own style?
GM: Interesting question, but the logistics would be scary.
Flag: What is your favorite part of the game right now, and what would you like to improve on?
GM: My favorite aspect is still the reason the game was created in the first place, providing a simple gameplay platform that makes it easy to create content. What needs to be improved is how the vast amount of content is managed and how it affects platforming achievements.
Flag: Do you have any plans to actually publish or produce an art book?
GM: Physical and other media is definitely something we’ve been thinking about for a while, and we’re always actively talking about it. As a group of people who collect vinyl, retro video games, books, etc., it would be great to see our games incorporated into their collections in some way! We already have merchandise available in various parts of the web, and growing this is a project that’s constantly in the works.
Flag: I think Vampire Survivors and Balatro are two of the most played indie games I’ve played in years. Is there any chance of a crossover between the two?
GM: Since many of us are deeply immersed in the LocalThunks world with Jimbo and his multi-building joker friends (as seen below), it wouldn’t have been out of the cards (we couldn’t have left the card jokes out). Because we like to keep ideas open and open to the outlets where they can become real. Nothing is truly impossible for us.
Flag: What have you and the Pongkle team enjoyed doing this year?
GM: There are so many answers to this question! My favorite game of the year is probably Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but I know some of the team have been playing a lot of Balatro, Shadow of the Erdtree, Chained Together, Dave the Diver, Helldivers 2, and Animal. Well, some have been watching SaGa: Emerald Beyond, and Flintlock. We have a Final Fantasy XIV Online player on the team who is playing the new expansions with a variety of characters, and Lethal Company has been a team favorite for a while.
Flag: What does coffee taste like?
Phonec: So I thought this was the perfect question for our entire team, and I tried to get as many answers from them as possible.
- Matte – black.
- This one is also black.
- Kerry – The milkiest and sweetest coffee in the world
- David – Outing – Caramel iced latte with cream. Morning coffee – black from Cafetiere (can add sugar on weekends)
- Zak – Black filter coffee, ideally Hermanos Yellow Fruits, which tastes like a mix of Um Bongo and unleaded gasoline.
- Guru – Chamomile Tea
- Geo – Black, no sugar, no milk, a little cold water (any kind, instant, cafetière, filter, I’m an animal, sorry)
- Nikki – Green Tea
- Adam – Flat White
- Owen – I love mocha and I love chocolate. If my coffee is too bitter, I just die. I grind my beans fresh and just before I drink it, so it gives me a really great taste. excited Life. I use the reverse Aeropress technique because I can barely fit into a T-shirt every day, but I also want to look like a cultured person. If you don’t buy a cheap £3.50 coffee from an independent shop with minimalist furniture and a lo-fi remix of Charli XCX on repeat, what’s the point? Sometimes I have a Frappuccino.
- Lucy – Herbal tea!
- Julie – A delicious oat milk latte from a pink Nespresso machine
- Aran – Very black. Filter, espresso or Americano.
- Luca – In the tiramisu
I would like to thank Geo Morgan and the poncle team for their help with this article, as well as Jennifer Tam and Peter Nguyen at Apple.
You can see all of our interviews here, including our recent interview with Capcom’s Shuhei Matsumoto about Marvel Vs Capcom, Santa Ragione here, Peter ‘Durante’ Thoman on PH3 and Falcom here, M2 discussing shooters here, and Digital Extremes and Team NINJA on Warframe Mobile here. sonic dream team, Hifi Rush, PentimentAnd many more. As usual, thanks for reading.
