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 Maker, Photoshop, pen & paper.
How did you get into game development?
It all started when I was really young (2 - 3 years and up). I was always into doing creative things like drawing, “writing” (read: telling my grandma what to write), and tearing apart watches and gluing the pieces on my books and drawings. When I experienced video games for the first time around age 6 on the NES, it was only natural for me to want to make them.
What are your goals and aspirations as a game developer?
Right now it’s really about releasing something that I can sell and make enough money with to fund the bigger, more ambitious projects that I really want to do. The project I’m currently working on is aimed to do just that. As an artist, there’s a desperate need to connect with the world, share your heart and mind, and be validated in it.
So you’ve spoken a good deal about going to college and majoring in Game Art & Design at the Art Institute of California in San Francisco and feeling that the course is no longer teaching you what you want. How do you think the college curriculum could be changed so that it would strengthen your skills as a game developer? What do you feel you need to learn?
Yeah, I withdrew from that school after 4 years of what I consider one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. It was mainly because I started working full-time hours as a contract artist at a game studio and I couldn’t do both, and like you pointed out, I felt that school wasn’t serving me at all.
I majored in Game Art and Design, but the emphasis of the program was more focused on 3D modeling low-poly PS1-era stuff, which isn’t what I was interested in at all. Had the curriculum had more emphasis on design, better equipment, and more relevant courses, I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more. But in general, I don’t think school is for everyone; it certainly wasn’t for me.
Was it a relief when you finally withdrew from the course?
I think I’ve been too busy since leaving school to really acknowledge my feelings about it. It’s definitely a load off my back, but on the flip side of that coin, it means that it’s time to start paying back these loans.
Since you’ve been working full-time hours, have you managed to take a chunk out of the school loans?
I don’t know if working is taking a chunk out of my debt right now, since I’m making the minimum monthly payments of around $750, not to mention a loan that hasn’t even gone into the repayment phase yet, which will probably bring my monthly loan payments to just under $1k, which is definitely a good chunk of my paycheck. Though, if I wasn’t working I’m not sure how I would handle them, so I’m really hoping on the success of my current project to bring in enough money to possibly pay off the entire debt, which is around $80,000.
Do you consider it a mistake because of the large amount of debt that the course put you in?
School wasn’t only a mistake because of the debt but because of the time spent for nothing; I didn’t even get a degree even though I went there for four years. The school advertises their degrees as 3-year-programs, but the way everything is set up, from the registration for quarterly classes to the sheer volume of workload per class, it’s basically set up to make students fail and have to spend more time there.
The school I went to is actually under criminal investigation right now, under the suspicion of being a scam. If you do your homework on the Art Institute schools, you’ll find a lot of cases where people ended up going through the same problems as I faced. In fact, one woman was featured on the news after she resorted to becoming a stripper in order to pay off loans for an education that did not supplement her with the skills needed to enter the industry. Incidentally, she was the same major as me; Game Art and Design. I just wish I had done more research into this school before going there.
You want to forge a niche for yourself as an independent game developer. The sheer amount of independent game developers starting up or going public has exploded over the last couple of years, all seemingly vying for the public’s attention. Although there are probably more avenues then ever before to make money as an independent game developer, there also seems to be a lot more competition. Do you feel that it’s harder to make a successful living then it ever has been?
Those statements are spot-on. I don’t think there has ever been a better time to make games, but the problem now is that everyone wants to do it. Then again, I think a lot of people are approaching it from different angles. They might think it’s simply fun or easy, and I can definitely see why the career has its appeal. Video games are fun and I think that everyone is born an artist, so it’s only natural for people to want to do this. I was a little intimidated by the boom of competition at first, but I’m pretty confident in my abilities; I’ve been doing this for my entire life and I can’t see myself really doing anything else.
You have expressed a disinterest in veering towards the abstract territory of say, someone like cactus. Why is this? Do you feel that it’s just a trend or a fad?
It’s just not my style. I grew up with influence from the NES - SNES era of gaming, and my heart is really in the traditional aspects of video games, aesthetically and mechanically. I mostly make the kind of games that I’ve always wanted to make. I can respect that people are trying to take video games above and beyond what we’ve known them to be, but it’s a little disappointing when media outlets for independent games only focus on games that try to break new ground. I think there’s still a place in people’s hearts for traditional games and also a lot that can still be done with the medium.
Any specific media outlets your referring to - are we talking TIGSource and the IndieGames: The Weblog or do you just feel that most indie-friendly media-outlets veer towards what they consider to be ‘innovative’?
Well, I was thinking more along the lines of IGF when I made that statement. Judging by their previous selections, they seem to be interested in games that are technically impressive or artistically avant-garde, which is understandable. On the other hand, some of their choices have been downright puzzling, so I’m dubious about their selection process and whether nepotism plays any role.
I can understand that the selection process is probably overwhelming and the judges have their reasons for what gets picked, but I feel like there are many high-quality indie games that follow traditional formulas and have had just as much love and effort put into them that go overlooked. I really don’t mean to disparage the IGF with this statement because I think it’s great that it even exists.
I noticed you Every Day is the Same Dream seemed to make an impression on you and it is a relatively non-traditional type of game. What does this game succeed at doing that other similar games possibly fail at achieving?
Okay, well this might seem like it contradicts one of the things I said above, but there are some indie games that appeal to me specifically for the reason of being “just the kind of game I’d make.” This was the case with Terraria, too. I was a bit shocked and almost upset at how much EDitSD paralleled the philosophy and some of the mechanics of one of my projects, Solipsius, but it was well done and I enjoyed it. Again, this game employed a surreal theme with existential topics that really appealed to me at the time.
I think enjoyment of a game really has a lot to do with where you’re at in life and maybe this even begs the question, “Are most games even bothering to evolve with us as we grow into adults?” I’m not just talking about throwing in more adult content into games like sex and violence, but the deep questions about our existence that are rarely even spoken of in casual conversation that could be beautifully illustrated in games. We have the tools, but are we using them?
You also mentioned the desire to possibly put messages in your games. What do you think are the best ways to try and achieve this without being hamfisted or preachy?
I think with games, films, and art in general you have a lot more room to get a message across, than say, an online forum. With multimedia, people are willingly subjecting themselves to the experience while being (hopefully) entertained, so it really isn’t up for debate at that moment. If they don’t like it, they can turn it off. I really think that telling stories is better than giving your opinions, even though none of us really exercise the former over the latter as much. With stories, you’re giving your opinion through your personal experiences, and giving the listener an idea of how you came to form your opinions.
What have been the major hurdles thus far on your journey to attempt to make a living as an independent videogame developer? How do you rate your chances of success and is it hard to stay positive?
Staying positive has always been a challenge for me, but I think that’s more of a personal quirk than anything. In terms of the game development journey, there have been a lot of engagements with others that brought me to dead ends. I would start projects with the intentions of finishing them, only to have the other side flake out and the project would get dropped. This was extremely disappointing, and after the third time it happened I ended up breaking down.
It was hard to find the motivation to go back to these projects after this. On a more positive note, the last project to get dropped was actually picked up by my roommate, who re-coded the game in XNA and it’s the project we’re currently developing. This time I’ve got a team who’s local, professional, and dedicated to making this game a reality. We’re planning on releasing it later this year on multiple platforms and I’m pretty optimistic about its reception.
Regardless of what happens, I’m always going to be a game designer. Success is an exponential thing and I’ve already enjoyed some of it, but end goals are really irrelevant if you aren’t loving what you’re doing in the meantime. I think that’s something important that I have to keep in mind.
I noticed this quote on your twitter back on the 23rd July ”I’ve never played any of my friends’ games; Aquaria, Spelunky, anything by cactus, etc.” Why is this - lack of time or the games just don’t appeal to you?
Haha, talk about putting me on the spot! Well, I’m sure most people who know me know that I tend to be very brash when it comes to presenting myself to the public, even though I’m a lot more considerate on a personal level. I actually have played a few of cactus’ games but the only one that really made an impression with me was Psychosomnium.
The thing is, I’ve said that I don’t like to play indie games, I just like to make them. I think there are a lot of factors that play into this stigma I have about indie games; lack of time, competition (thinking I could do better, etc), and just the general impression of their quality falling short of commercial triple-A titles. There also tends to be a higher ratio of really shoddy, half-hearted indie games out there than there are good ones, but there are a few gems that I have really enjoyed: Lyle in Cube Sector, Eversion, L’Abbaye des Morts, Space Funeral, Cave Story, and Terraria. Then again, all of those games are retrostylized and / or obscure / surreal / creepy, all of which really appeals to me.
I think the bottom line is that I enjoy “doing” more than I enjoy “watching.” I don’t like to read but I like to write, I don’t like to watch sports or watch people playing video games; I would rather play them myself, and I don’t like to play indie games, but I like to make them. If I can do it, I want to do it.
Bonus: In development snapshots.
