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
Development tool(s) of choice?
I’ve been using Game Maker since I was about eleven, but within the past year or so, I’ve started working with Flash (although I haven’t finished anything major with it, yet).
What do you do?
Surprisingly not that much. Education-wise, I dropped out of high school a few years ago and on the work side of things, well, yeah.
How were you introduced to game development?
I used to play this computer game called Heroes of Might and Magic 3 when I was pretty young, and those games are pretty good to the player in terms of custom maps, which was always fun to mess around with. I think it was that, combined with just a general want of making games that got me into searching the internet for something that could do this. I remember coming across RPG Maker, which I made quite a few (bad… oh so bad) games with. The novelty wore off pretty fast though.
A year or so later, I was reading this game magazine that used to be around which occasionally featured a CD with programs and games and all that business. One of the issues happened to have Game Maker on it, so from then on I just used it whenever I could until I got better.
It wasn’t until 2008 that I found a whole community of game developers and things just really started to take off.
What are your goals and aspirations as a game developer?
Make a living, maybe? Personally, I think that’s just a pipe dream, but I would definitely do it if I could.
You think it’s a pipe dream for what reason exactly? Lack of opportunities?
It’s probably self-depreciating, but I just have this feeling I couldn’t make enough of an income to support myself on releasing games alone. Sure, I’m probably going to try, but I don’t see myself succeeding.
Having not released any projects for quite sometime, do you feel the need to prove to yourself that you can release something with more content (or that is more ambitious) then previous endeavours?
I think I have to up my game (ha… ha… ha…) in terms of quality, but since I last released something, I have gotten way better at developing games. I think my standards have just been raised in the last year or so, making me a lot more fickle with what I release.
Does that also mean you’re a lot more fickle in terms of what you choose to actually develop?
I guess so. I’ve shot down a lot of ideas for games that I’ve tried out, and only went for the ones that could turn into something worthwhile (in my eyes, anyway).
Do you have trouble keeping yourself motivated?
Not at all! If I have just a small amount of caffeine, I can stay up all night working on something. I don’t really do that too often though. I’ve really gotten into writing down ideas while I’m away from my computer. Never realised how much it helps until recently.
When nothing gets released for a lengthy period of time, do you feel like you have fallen into a ‘development rut’?
In a sense, sure. I mean, I sorta felt like I lost whatever relevance I had to indie gaming scene a while ago, but hey, I’m getting the occasional email (or message on forums / twitter) asking if I’m working on something, and I’m even getting interviewed as we speak, so I’m not totally forgotten.
Does that relevance mean a lot to you? It almost sounds like you’d like to start fresh.
I’d kinda like it if people would remember me from some of the games I did so they can see how I’ve changed, ‘cause I think the style I have for myself now is pretty different from my earlier projects. I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve released though, so I see no need for a complete fresh start.
How did CowboyKilla come to be selected for the Winnitron AU?
I know the guy who is making it, so after an email, it was kinda set in stone. It all depends on who you know, I guess.
You mentioned in a blog post that you had a new game coming out that you were actually proud of - what does it take to make you ‘proud’ of what you’ve developed?
The majority of the games I’ve made aren’t really something I’d play myself, so something that I’d be proud of would be something I would find fun. Again, I have pretty high standards, though, so this would probably be a problem…
Are you a concept art kind of developer (do you draw and write or just write down the nuts and bolts of how the game mechanic will work on screen)?
A mix of both, really. I’ll write down ideas like items that you’d have or what kind of enemies there are, as well as drawing character ideas and things like that. I sometimes draw the game screen as well and try and figure out how the whole thing would work out.
There seems I’ve noticed a large trend of developers, especially former Game Maker developers, turning their attention to flash + Flixel / FlashPunk. What was the attraction for you?
I think it may have been a mix of reaching out to a wider audience and also just the idea of trying something new, personally. The idea of possibly earning something after all these years of making games doesn’t sound too bad either.
Which one are you currently using - Flixel or FlashPunk?
I’m using FlashPunk, currently. I tried out Flixel a while ago, but I feel FP is a lot more easier for me to grasp (I’m kinda awful with anything that leans towards actual coding languages).
Most of your released projects so far seem to be of the arcade shooter / platformer variety. Are these the genres you tend to be drawn to?
They’re the easiest games for me to get done, so I guess? I really like how the whole formula of how they work (from a player’s perspective), so I guess the same applies when making them.
Immediate plans for the future - are you planning to chase up sponsorship for any of your current projects?
I’ve got at least two games that I want to put up for sponsorship as of right now. I’m still kinda deciding where I want to take them though, so it’ll probably be a while before they see the light of day. I would really love to pitch an idea to Adult Swim at some point, so I think I’m gonna work on that a little more, too. I guess that’s not too immediate though.
Bonus link: Work In Progress screenshots.
