The Last and Final Word: CosMind
CosMind quietly worked behind the scenes on a game that he was passionate about, revealing little to the public about his project before its release. After years, where others may have lost interest and quit, he continued on with an unusually positive and enthusiastic attitude. That game was Glum Buster and it brought him to the attention of much of the indie community.
Name?
Justin Leingang (alias, CosMind).
Age?
31.
Country?
U.S.A.
What do you do?
Professionally, I design and develop video games. As hobbies, I design games, design and develop video games, write poetry, graphic arts (digital and physical medium), learn a ton and read lots and lots and lots of books..
Development tool(s) of choice?
Flash Develop for engineering in Adobe’s Flex framework; Game Maker.
How did you get into game development, specifically independent game development and how did using Game Maker eventuate for Glum Buster?
My initial discovery and passion for game design (not *video* game design) was fully realized in my first year of college — I say “fully realized” because I’ve had a natural inclination to design games since as long as I can remember. During college, I realized that game design actually applied to video games too (it might seem funny, but up to that point I’d never associated one with the other; video games always seemed some magical creation to me). Before college wrapped up, I landed an internship as a game designer at a local (Phoenix, AZ, U.S.A. at the time) video game development studio. Serendipitously, the lead game designer at the time left the studio to take up a role at another studio. By the time that occurred, I was so deeply involved in the game design of the video game, and had proven myself more than competent in the duties, that the studio heads decided to hire me as the lead game designer instead of looking outside for some other person to fill the role. That role was so time consuming and demanding that I had to quit going to college.
Where did the idea for Glum Buster originate from?
Glum Buster grew from a play mechanics prototype, which itself was sparked by the idea of a basic play mechanic and interaction set I kept daydreaming about.
From concept to final execution, how long did Glum Buster take to develop?
A bit over four years.
Obviously with a project this big, you must have invested a lot of yourself into it. What was the ultimate payoff for you - what kept you going and what made it all worth it?
With Glum Buster (as with any project I pursue), the learning, exploration, and development process (game design, graphic design, audio design, engineering, et al) are what drove me to completion. The ultimate pay off was, and always is, the experience I get from watching others play the game, because I learn so much about what makes them enjoy it and why it engages them.
When you finally released Glum Buster, what was your general feeling?
To be honest, I felt pretty empty for a long while after I finished working on Glum Buster. For years, developing that video game had consumed every ounce of spare time I had. Not having it there to work on was like having a hole in my life — I didn’t know what to do to keep myself engaged!
Although reviews and feedback were generally positive, there seemed to be some negativity directed at the fact that you had to discover game mechanics by yourself (not enough hand-holding). Do you think most people got the concept and played it the way you intended?
To be honest, I’m not too sure about most people’s experience. I haven’t really read reviews or feedback (outside of maybe one or two a long while back); I don’t tend to ever read reviews of anything (whether created by me or somebody else). However, it doesn’t surprise me that some folks might find the concept and experience off-putting. The entire game design is highly contradictory to what most people might find digestible and engaging: it’s rooted in an experience that’s closely akin to begin thrown into a country of foreign language speakers and being asked to learn to communicate immediately without any prior knowledge of the language, customs, etc. of the folks that live there (and actually quite a bit more extreme, as the “language” of the game mechanics / system and the visual contexts are “inhuman”, unlike those of the analogy).
Were you satisfied with the final version? What would you have changed or done differently?
I’m satisfied in many regards with the final version of Glum Buster. However, I’m not 100% satisfied: after playing through it many times, it’s clear to me that the reward schedule is less than compelling to the broader set of “player personalities”; it’s very much directed toward gratifying the self-motivated learner (such as me), without going out of its way to motivate and reward those who aren’t voracious about learning. The game system as a whole could and should be designed to gratify both
types of players.
During development, you took a fairly low-key approach and didn’t really promote the game at all - was there any reason for this?
First of all, I feel that promotion / previews of any unfinished work is pointless and ruinous — the experience of playing / reading / watching / etc. anything for the very first time, without the influence of others opinions and directed perception, is the only possible way for one to form his / her own true opinion and meaningful experience. Secondly, I feel that the experience of consuming any work should stand on its own merit; it shouldn’t be perceived / influenced by either the creator’s or some other person’s intention or opinion.
What effect on development did working as a lead designer at a professional company have on the development of Glum Buster - was it refreshing to come home from work and have complete creative control over something?
Yes indeed, there were many times that coming home and working on Glum Buster was refreshing and liberating. However, working professionally as a lead game designer also taught me so much (and always will continue to do so) about what it takes to carry a larger-scope project from conception to completion. In addition, there’s so much that’s infinitely gratifying about the experience of working together with others on a team — learning, growing, and ultimately achieving something so incredible as building a video game together; it’s rad like not much else!
Within the lengthy period of time spent on developing the game, usually a project such as this can evolve quite drastically. Did you ever have to start from scratch more than once and was there ever a time where the mechanics drastically changed where the game was heading?
The only time a near start-from-scratch treatment occurred was during the prototype phase of design and development: The play mechanics and control interface changed from game pad to mouse + keyboard and the primary interaction method was detached from the player character’s position on screen (and attached instead to the mouse cursor’s position on screen). Outside of that, the development itself was a fluid and iterative process that reciprocally influenced and fed the growth of the play mechanics and game systems. In a sense, I was learning to communicate with the “language” of the game in a similar manner that players eventually also would.
What are the most important lessons you learnt about personal game development, during your time developing Glum Buster?
It’s extremely challenging and time consuming to tackle any project that’s scoped on the larger end, but immensely satisfying and educational.
Game developers that have worked on long term projects such as Daniel Remar with Iji and Pixel with Cave Story have stated that they will most likely never again work on such large and ambitious projects. How do you follow-up a game like Glum buster?
My follow-up to Glum Buster has already been completed, though I doubt anybody but my sister will ever play it. Shortly after wrapping up Glum Buster, I started tinkering with building various random prototypes to “fill the void in my life”. During that time a daydream I had, sparked an idea to design and develop a video game for my sister as a birthday gift. It turned out that it took me too long to finish developing it in time for her birthday, so it became a combination belated birthday and (also belated) Christmas gift. She got the final first version and started playing in late July (of 2010). The total development time of that project was roughly six months. It’s one of my favorite video games to play (which surprises me, considering the fact that I created it).
Recently, I shifted my professional work away from studio employment and am now working as a self-employed video game developer. Now many of my personal projects are also my professional projects — I’m nearing completion of my first of this ilk, for iOS platforms (which I’m working in tandem with a buddy of mine to develop). After I finish that project, I’ve plans to tackle a very exciting project intended for Web platform; I’m quite stoked to taking on that puppy.
