February 2012
5 posts
14 tags
..art games and experimental games are important, but they are each only small niches within the indie game development community.
Brian Soulliard, putting art and experimental videogames into perspective. [November 18th, 2010] (via TIGSource forums).
15 tags
The Last and Final Word: Jesse Venbrux
Jesse Venbrux first came to the attention of the independent gaming community with Frozzd, which took 1st place in the YoYoGames Winter competition. He cemented his status as a independent developer to keep your eye on with his Karoshi series of games, which not only became his most popular release but garnered much critical acclaim.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Name?
Jesse...
12 tags
One of the lesser appreciated motivations for indie game creation is to preserve game mechanics from older games that have vanished into history!
Leon Arnott on motivations behind independent videogame development. [Date unknown] (via his website).
13 tags
The Last and Final Word: Pippin Barr
After teaching videogame-design-related subjects for a year at the IT University of Copenhagen, Pippin Barr felt a duty to actually learn the ropes himself and make some games. And it hasn’t taken him long to find some success with releases such as The Artist Is Present and Let’s Play: Ancient Greek Punishment (both of which can be found here). Both managed to get a bunch of...
15 tags
The Last and Final Word: Terry Cavanagh
Terry Cavanagh has slowly but surely paved a way for himself to become a successful and well known full-time independent videogame developer. From Self Destruct to Pathways to his collaborations, Xoldiers (with cactus) and Judith (with Stephen Lavelle) and finally his break through shareware hit, VVVVVV (which was become both a huge critical and commercial success), Terry has always managed to...
January 2012
4 posts
17 tags
The Last and Final Word: Radstronomical
Radstronomical has just begun his journey into independent videogame development. He scored something of a hit with his first release, Ultimate Flirt-Off. It was a game that he wanted to expand upon but he worried that the complexity of his vision might take away from the bare-bones concept.
Name?
Diego E. Garcia.
Age?
24.
Location?
Brooklyn, New York.
Development tool(s) of...
16 tags
The Last and Final Word: Kenta Cho
Kenta Cho is a Japanese independent videogame developer. He became wildly popular and is considered influential for releases such as rRootage, TUMIKI Fighters and Torus Trooper. In fact, TUMIKI Fighters became so popular that a game called Blast Works (which was directly based on it) was released for the Wii.
What is your age?
39.
What is your location?
I’m living in a Kanagawa...
16 tags
The Last and Final Word: Craig Forrester
Craig Forrester first became recognised for his remakes of older videogames such as Pushover and Clockwiser. He has since been using his own ideas and has received favourable coverage for such releases as Treasure Treasure, a puzzler designed for 2 players, and Johnny Platform Saves Christmas!, which he recently ported to PC and released for free. Most recently Craig released Split Party!, a game...
12 tags
Frankly, I’m very, very bad at accepting ideas from others – it makes me tense just thinking about it.
Pippin Barr on the subject of receiving suggestions on how to improve his videogames from others. [Jan 6th, 2012] (via his blog).
December 2011
3 posts
10 tags
The Last and Final Word: Kyle Reimergartin
Kyle Reimergartin is an independent videogame developer. Kyle Reimergartin is in love with game development. Game development would swallow Kyle Reimergartin whole if he let it. Kyle Reimergartin’s most recent release is Shoot the Butts.
Bonus pages x 2 at the bottom of the interview.
Age?
27.
Location?
Seattle, Washington.
Development tool(s) of choice?
I...
15 tags
The Last and Final Word: Alillm
Alillm has made a name for himself as a independent videogame developer, making browser games. Even as a part-time, hobbyist developer, he seems to have struck the right balance between living off the cash he gets from sponsorship and being able to experiment. First impressions might give you a clue that has has been quite strongly influenced by the likes of cactus, Terry Cavanagh and Loren...
20 tags
The Last and Final Word: Johan Peitz
Johan Peitz used to run independent videogame studio, Free Lunch Design. His most notable success to date is the creation of Icy Tower, a tower climbing platformer that can be played in quick bursts. It has been downloaded and played millions of times. He now co-owns Muskedunder Interactive (the company that bought Free Lunch Design).
Bonus link at the bottom of the interview.
Age?
34.
...
November 2011
4 posts
12 tags
The Last and Final Word: Andy Wolff
In August of 2010, Andy Wolff joined Connor Kimbrough to form a two man independent videogame development team called Super Ghosts. Over a year later and after some sponsorship struggles with the release of Space Parasite, Andy is still working out on more clearly defining his aspirations as an independent videogame developer.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Age?
19 years old.
...
16 tags
The Last and Final Word: Scattle
Scattle first received attention from the GameMaker community for his game, Xycle. Since then, he has released a variety of games including Mouse No. Probably A Rat (a parody of a game by Rob Fearon) and Constellation Chaos, which received a flash port in a collaboration with Andy Wolff.
Bonus link at the bottom of the interview.
Name?
David Scatliffe.
Age?
17.
Location?
The US of A.
...
7 tags
THE INTERVIEWS // INTENT
12 tags
The Last and Final Word: cactus
cactus is an independent videogame developer from Sweden. He is what you might call royalty within the independent gaming community. He made a name for himself by releasing many small, surreal, play-against-expectation, experimental videogames.
Some of cactus’ more publicised efforts include Psychosomnium, Mondo Medicals, Xoldiers, Precision, Ad Nauseam 2, Shotgun Ninja and Clean Asia! His...
October 2011
5 posts
16 tags
If I had $1 for every game of mine that’s broken inexplicably the second I tested it on another computer… well, I’d have $2.
Sergio Cornaga, somewhat humorously commenting on the subject of project compatibility, from one computer to the next, after release. [31st October, 2011] (via his Twitter).
17 tags
The Last and Final Word: Hayo van Reek
Hayo Van Reek is an independent videogame developer, who passionately teaches a Multimedia Fusion 2 game development class, while attempting to hone his own game design methods.
Check the bottom of the interview for a bonus content link.
See full picture.
Name?
Hayo van Reek.
Age?
28.
Location?
Oostvoorne, a little town by the sea in the Netherlands.
Development tool(s) of...
24 tags
The Last and Final Word: Frankie Smile Show
Frankie Smile Show is an independent game developer that adores using pixel art in his videogames. He is a member of The Poppenkast and earlier this year, his quit his job to see if he could survive with his pixel art and game development skills.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Name?
Francis Coulombe.
Age?
24.
Location?
I live in Québec, Canada. Right next to super hip...
17 tags
The Last and Final Word: Noonat
After some convincing from his friends, Noonat quit his job to join GameClay. Now he faces another challenge: how do you keep the fun in and the grind out of game development when you can’t choose your own hours.
Name?
Nathan Ostgard.
Age?
29.
Location?
Eugene, OR.
Development tool(s) of choice?
HaXe, TextMate, Pixelmator, GraphicsGale, and sfxr.
What do you do?
...
14 tags
The Last and Final Word: Christoffer Hedborg
Christoffer Hedborg one of the many talented independent videogame developers that come from Sweden. While he feels that he has not made much of an impact, he keeps good company. His game releases so far include Toys (an IGF 2011 Student Showcase finalist) and Cathode Rays.
Name?
Christoffer Hedborg.
Age?
22.
Location?
Stockholm, Sweden.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Unity,...
September 2011
8 posts
18 tags
The Last and Final Word: David Shute
David Shute showed his immense promise as an independent videogame developer by winning the JayisGames Casual Gameplay Design Competition #6 with Small Worlds.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Age?
33 and counting.
Where are you from?
I live in England - um, nowhere fixed at the moment. I was based in Southampton for ages, but I’m midway through an incredibly protracted...
17 tags
The Last and Final Word: Connor Ullmann
Connor Ullmann is an independent videogame developer that has now learnt a lesson in the ups and downs videogame development with his latest release, Hollow.
Name?
Connor Ullmann.
Age?
18.
Location?
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Flash with Flashpunk / FlashDevelop / Flex / everything else that starts with an “F,” SFXR, GameMaker sprite editor, and Audacity.
What...
15 tags
I’m generally not very fond of the idea of competition, of judging games against one another. With an artform this radically varied, that just feels like the wrong way of approaching the subject, and one that imposes false criteria of excellence.
Jonas Kyratzes on the subject of videogame competitions. [September 7th, 2011] (via his blog).
14 tags
The Last and Final Word: Bean
Bean is a competition winning, critically acclaimed independent videogame developer who enjoys experimentation within the medium of videogames. It seems he’s had some success.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Name?
Michael Molinari, though I more often go by Bean.
Age?
24.
Location?
San Jose, CA.
Development tool(s) of choice?
For the most part, Flash and...
14 tags
The Last and Final Word: John Baker
John Baker is a relatively obscure game developer and one in an ocean of developers that continue to make the most of GameMaker. His releases include Cruser, Bomb Detective, Dungeon of EEEvil and more recently, Super Cave. As with so many other developers, he is very critical of his own game development.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Name?
John Baker.
Age?
16.
Location?
...
11 tags
For indies, trading some performance for ease of development makes sense since they often aren’t trying to compete on performance in the first place.
Jimmy Andrews on the subject of choosing your videogame development tools. [November 27th, 2010] (via TIGSource forums).
13 tags
The Last and Final Word: Bennett Foddy
Bennett Foddy created QWOP. Due to a chaotic viral outbreak, its popularity skyrocketed outside of the usual independent circles. More recently, he released GIRP, which he calls “very loosely a spiritual successor to QWOP”.
Age?
33⅓
Location?
Oxford, UK
Development tool(s) of choice?
I use Xcode with Cocos2D when I’m making iPhone games. Otherwise it’s Flex /...
19 tags
As an artist, user interface designer and game designer, I like putting together mock screens of the game I have in mind as early as possible. These fake screens make me ask myself a few questions. Does this look like a game I would play? Would a player understand the game right away? Is there a major design problem that couldn’t be seen in a design document, maybe with space, clutter, or...
August 2011
8 posts
14 tags
The Last and Final Word: Gregory Weir
Gregory Weir was sick of his regular day job. He quit, knuckled down and launched himself into the world of independent game development (and sponsored browser games) with The Majesty of Colors.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Age?
26.
Location?
Charlotte, NC.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Most of my recent work has been in Flash using the FlashDevelop IDE and the...
16 tags
The Last and Final Word: Jan Willem Nijman
Like so many others, Jan Willem Nijman learnt his craft as a game developer via Game Maker. He built his reputation by releasing many small videogames, before deciding to form Vlambeer with Rami Ismail. After the release of Super Crate Box, it quickly became apparent that things were going to go well.
Age?
20.
Location?
Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Game...
12 tags
..when I first actively started to develop games I talked about it a lot and most of my friends got really tired of it. So now I just do it and don’t bring it up with them unless they ask about it.
Christoffer Hedborg speaking of the effect that game development has on real life friendships. [July 18th, 2011] (via TIGSource forums).
13 tags
Clones do not iterate. They do not bring progress or new insights.
Rami Ismail speaking of his feelings towards videogame clones. [August 15th, 2011] (via his twitter).
17 tags
The Last and Final Word: Alastair John Jack
Alastair John Jack is a small independent videogame developer that sets high standards for himself and comes to dislike all his previous releases. However, the fact that he has been covered on TIGSource no less than four times would suggest that he might just be doing something right.
Age?
21.
Location?
Melbourne, Australia.
Development tool(s) of choice?
At the moment Construct, Graphics...
11 tags
I haven’t managed to make a game that my wife wants to play.
Bennett Foddy speaking about the appeal of his videogames. [July 26, 2011] (via Wired).
19 tags
The Last and Final Word: Paul Hubans
Paul Hubans is an independent videogame developer with an outspoken attitude and brash sense of humour that have possibly given people an incorrect impression of who he really is.
See full picture here. Check the end of the interview for a bonus link.
Name?
Paul Hubans, or phubans.
Age?
30.
Location?
Currently living in San Francisco, CA.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Game...
15 tags
i tend to get sick of my work quickly and even start to hate my previous projects..
Edmund McMillen speaking of the feelings for his previous videogame projects. [January 2nd, 2010] (via his blog).
July 2011
9 posts
19 tags
The Last and Final Word: Amon26
Amon26 enjoys dabbling in multimedia. After receiving the encouragement of fan mail, fan art and some positive coverage for his first release, All of Our Friends Are Dead, it seems that videogame development has stuck.
Click here for the full pic.
Name?
Amon 26, born Benjamin Braden.
Age?
28.
Location?
Michigan. The rust-belt.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Flash,...
14 tags
..I see myself as awfully naïve about the process of developing games.
Mark Richards reflecting on whether he has ‘made it’ (and his lack of confidence) as an independent videogame developer. [July 30th, 2011] (via A Hardy Developer’s Journal).
18 tags
I can’t really say that many developers go out of their way to be “concept thieves.” I think developers see dynamics and concepts that are good and try to include them in their own games, but never to make direct copies of these games.
John Cooney on the subject of flash developers ‘stealing’ concepts. [April 28th, 2008] (via Armor Games forums).
18 tags
The Last and Final Word: Adam Atomic
Adam Atomic has steadily climbed the rungs of success in the independent gaming community with Flixel (his now widely used rapid prototyping library for Flash) and such releases as Gravity Hook and Canabalt.
Credit to Matthew Wegner of Flashbang Studios for the photo.
Name?
Adam Saltsman.
Age?
29.
Location?
Austin, TX.
Development tool(s) of choice?
Flash Builder (Eclipse), Flixel,...
11 tags
The Last and Final Word: Andrew Brophy
Andrew Brophy is a promising young independent videogame developer from the land down under. He might be remembered for his quirky 3d platformer, Takishawa is Dead. He is part of the ever-increasing wave of experienced Game Maker developers to turn their attentions to Flash development.
Bonus link at the end of the interview.
Age?
Just over eighteen.
Location?
Melbourne, Australia
...
12 tags
I’ve known a couple of people who got so wrapped up in making this super-awesome game engine that they never got around to actually producing a game..
Andrew McClure on the subject of creating re-usable game engines [November 26th, 2009] (via TIGSource forums).
14 tags
The Last and Final Word: Noel Berry
Noel Berry is a young independent game developer. He played a part in the the creation of the Winnitron (an independent gaming arcade cabinet) and co-founded Bit Collective (the group that developed it). He is full of enthusiasm and ready to jump into a huge ocean of big fish.
Bonus link to a couple of in development videogame snaps at the end of the interview.
Age?
I am 18 years old,...
12 tags
Just because a game is of high starndard does not mean it won’t go, for the most part, ignored.
John Baker on the subject of quality independent videogames largely getting ignored. [April 28th, 2011] (via the Game Maker community forums).
15 tags
The Last and Final Word: Kairos
Kairos is a prominent independent videogame developer that used to use Game Maker to develop his games. He won SHMUP-DEV Competition 2k7 in 2007 with Varia. More recently, he has been attending Digipen, a college with an emphasis on the creation of videogames with the aim of getting into the industry and the long term aim of getting back to independent game development.
Bonus link at the end of...
June 2011
13 posts
9 tags
..in my case, the reason for using a retro art style is simply that it looks very neat to me. Lack of skill was never a motive in this case, even though I do lack skill and I am lazy.
Mr. Yes on the subject of why he uses a retro art style in his videogames. [March 6th, 2009] (via TIGSource forums).
16 tags
The way I design is I’ll work on everything at once, and the game will barely be playable until it’s almost finished.
Dark Sirrus on the his method of game development. [January 3rd, 2011] (via his 64 Digits blog).
16 tags
The Last and Final Word: Brother Android
Brother Android has both a strong interest in game design and a strong interest in composing music. Although he managed to gain recognition in the Game Maker community with releases such as The Wasteland (and still tinkers with game development with other tools such as Flixel), his interest in composing music has taken over for the last few years.
Name?
Harrison Lemke.
Age?
19.
Location?
...
14 tags
When I’m working on a 2D game, I really, really care about getting the camera right – so you can see everything you need to, but no screen space is wasted.
Ruari O’sullivan on the subject of 2d games and what the screen shows. [March 3rd, 2011] (via his blog).