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?
The south of England.
Development tool(s) of choice?
For the body of any game itself and very often any and all of its graphics, I use Gamemaker and its in-built image editor. The version of which varies between 7, 8 and 8.1 (or whatever decimal they’re on at the time) due to what I feel would best fit the project, usually in terms of its intended visuals, or how well it deals with 3d.
I haven’t tried anything other than Gamemaker and I don’t intend to any time soon. It’s a program I’ve gotten very used to and I can do almost anything I want with it. Making games for me is a whimsical hobby instead of any great endeavour which requires something more sophisticated.
As far as audio goes I tend to ‘fashion’ any sound effects using Drpetter’s fantastic SFXR and sometimes modify them with FruityLoops, which I also sometimes use to try my hand at composing something. There’s also a wonderful tracker I use called ModPlug.
What do you do?
I try to be a bit of a one man band with game development, though recently I’ve been working more with other people.
I’m still learning all of my instruments, though some are clearly better than others. Music particularly is something I’m not as apt as I would like to be and rather pressingly, my game design feels like something I would expect from a seven year old, so I need to improve upon that most urgently.
But sometimes it all comes together to create something people seem to enjoy, which to me seems like a miracle because I made them while fumbling through the poorly lit cavern of my lacking knowledge of game design theory.This inexperience has killed some of my projects that once looked promising. I had been very slowly bolstering a game together a few years back called Informis. As I worked, it got better looking but I felt increasingly unsure about it, not just because it was pseudo-surrealist nonsense but because I realised it just wasn’t entertaining. I had no idea how to make a game (I still don’t really). The worst thing about it is that I’ve slowly worked on it for years and it’s so close to being finished. I haven’t touched it for a number of months.
Pay attention to your game design kids. Cool graphics and months spent on fancy dressing won’t make an enjoyable game.
Most developers seem to form attachments to long-winded projects. Was it hard letting go of such a long-running project?
It was. I was very dedicated to finishing the thing eventually, even though the spark had gone and it’s development crawled along dispassionately.
What elements specifically made it un-enjoyable to play, do you think?
The gameplay wasn’t exactly challenging and the controls were somewhat irritating. You could hold down one key and fire glowing laser ball things and lock the position you were facing with another. If you had to hit something behind you it was very easy to fumble around trying to find the right direction. The pace could also be very slow at times and although thought was put into the level design, the level design wasn’t good.
How did you become involved in game development?
I found a program called Gamemaker after googling for something to make a super special 3d Mario game with lasers and dinosaurs and zombies and cool stuff like that.
This was a long time ago but I had the sense to build stupid rubbish to hone my technical prowess before moving onto the magnum opus of this hopelessly ambitious Mario fangame nonsense. As it turns out I never started on it but as I matured I gradually got more capable and interested in the wonderful world of indie games and here I am four or five years later and sort of a bit of an indie game dev and things and stuff.
What are your goals and aspirations as a game developer?
I have no idea really. This is a hobby for me but I hope to eventually be capable of making some pretty cool games that I can truly be proud of and perhaps gain a bit of notoriety as an exalted warrior of indie game devs and cool kids the world over.
But I’ll see where this takes me.
Is it something that you would like to turn into more then just a hobby?
Not really. I find it tedious sometimes actually. I don’t think I could manage trying to scrape an income out of it.
I noticed you used the phrase ‘I can do almost anything’, regarding what you were able to accomplish with GameMaker. Are there any limitations you’ve come across?
Well of course it has plenty of limitations. I’ve been very aware of them but I’ve never felt like creating a game outside the border of its capabilities. I have ran into them though. I made 3d jointed skeletal animation thing recently and it starts to lag at around 35 joints. The reason it’s so heavy is because of the excessive use of d3d_transform functions. Unless I start using something outside GM’s native functions or perhaps learn some math than it isn’t going to get better.
Many developers use GameMaker as a stepping stone to more complex tools. Are there any other game development tools you’ve been eyeing off or isn’t that something your interesting in doing?
It seems like an awful lot of effort to learn everything again just to make something that’s faster or more accessible. I find I can get by fine with Gamemaker.
You mentioned working with other people. What do you enjoy about the process of collaboration and who have you worked with?
Working with other people takes a certain amount of pressure away from working on things and gives you the motivation to keep going. It’s a nice experience.
I haven’t done much of it though, and so who does what varies from game to game. For instance my most recent release, Super Cave, was almost entirely my own work until late in its development when a pretty cool guy by the handle of JMickleoffered to compose music for it and immediately came up with two tracks (about fifteen minutes for each). Needless to say both of them were far better than anything I could do, even if I spent a few days trying to come up with something.
And on another game, I’m working in partnership with a guy who I’ve e-known for a while now, Block0man (the author of a brilliant game called Rogue Hockey). The programming and game design is being carried out entirely by Block0man while I’m just in charge of coming up with the graphics.
How much time do you spend on game development?
This varies dramatically. Most of the games I finish are made in short bursts of two to three days. Others drag on for unspeakable ages and often never see the light of day.
Describe your approach to the game development process?
It tends to vary. I usually leave the music and audio until the last minute, but I think that can be a bad idea because you’re not getting a full picture of the game without it.
In some of my recent projects, I’ve been sketching some various ideas before working on them because it’s only just hit me that you can’t just bash away at a keyboard and make a game.
Have you been generally satisfied with how your games have turned out so far or do you feel there are elements in each project that feel rushed because you lost the original spark when you started the project?
Well I lose the spark an awful lot, but even when I finish something without losing it, that doesn’t mean I’m happy with the end result. As I’ve said I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing. When I look back, my games seem to reflect this.
Are you attempting to create more ambitious concepts and learn new skills as a developer as you continue to make games?
The opposite has happened with regards to ambition. I’ve reached a point where I’m trying to do short things quickly while trying to learn about game design in the process. The ambition might return at a later date, but I don’t have a good track record with such things.
Do you develop games that you, yourself would play and do you actually play your own games after you have released them?
Yes and yes. Well at least I try. I see no point in trying to make something I would have no interest in playing. Sometimes I play my own stuff to have a look at what I made a while after doing so. I don’t actually play them because I enjoy playing them, however.
Bonus link: 2 snaps.
