Good Game Get! Interview

… in which we ask a game developer three specific questions based off our site name!

GGG! Interview #005 Brandon Williamson of Nyralu Labs

Brandon Williamson makes games from the future.

I’m not kidding you.

Whether it’s something beautifully absurd like his Magnetic Shaving Derby or his gorgeous and sonically perfect Forget-Me-Not; the man clearly knows how to time travel.

His love and craftsmanship surrounding his games is nothing short of inspiring.

I’m delighted to have him answer our questions!

- Kyle

The feel of playing it. The sort of visceral feel (or something) that can come from the interaction and feedback between you, the controls/your actions, the audio and the graphics. I don’t know how to put it in words properly but I’m thinking of things like…. Popping a bunch of bubbles in Bubble Bobble and seeing the enemies go spinning out and fruit going everywhere. The way how when you’ve fired a bubble in Puzzle Bobble, it sort of glints in the light when it sticks to the other bubbles. The nice crunchy sound effects in Minecraft when you’re digging, followed by the “pop”-ish sounds when you pick up what you’ve dug. Smashing bricks with your head in Super Mario Bros. The sound effects in Final Fantasy games when you navigate menus and when numbers go up. The way your ship gets pushed around by asteroids in Minotaur Rescue. The sounds when you bounce on stuff in Skullpogo, and the way the animals you bounce on go flying up and then fall down off the screen while a number pops up… you can almost *feel* that pogo stick. It’s stuff like that that keeps me coming back to a game. Also, the euphoria that comes from repetition, like the “ready….go!” voice at the start of each level of Puzzle Bobble.

Thinking about it, this is probably the same stuff that keeps old ladies playing slot machines.

There are plenty of other things that make games good too, but… collectible fruit is #1. I don’t know why that is, but it’s true.

This stuff about the feel of playing a game also holds true for non-computer games… I like the sound scrabble tiles make, and the feel of holding a spread of playing cards. These might be as important as the actual rules of the game, to me!

I really like making stuff. It’s all I want to do. One of the things I make being games is because I grew up playing them, they’re a large part of my..culture or whatever. I could have been making cabinets out of wood, or knitting horse suits or writing books or something instead.

I like problem solving, it’s fun trying to figure out the best way to code something. And I’ve found I like trying to make elegant systems of interacting, imaginary objects.. It’s satisfying when the code is all neat and organised. After awhile the code becomes overgrown and gets out of hand, and then it’s not so satisfying but by then the game is hopefully playable so it’s all okay. Then one day I play my game and I’m actually playing it for fun, and that’s magical.

A surprise, after spending time experimenting.

Good Game Get! Interview

… in which we ask a game developer three specific questions based off our site name!

GGG! Interview #004 Adam Saltsman

Adam Atomic’s Canabalt is the best iOS game. I want to gift it to everyone I know with an iPhone or iPod touch. Brandon Boyer said, “It’s going to be quite some time before you find something so simple so thrilling again.” Tim Rogers calls it “Super Mario Tetris.”

Either way, Adam’s made in five days masterpiece is one of the best games ever created.

Adam was kind enough to answer our GGG! series of questions, and his answers are fantastic.

- Kyle



Photo via mrnorush



My favorite things in right now are MYSTERY and CONSEQUENCE. To me, mystery means there are unexplored places, unsolved problems, or subtle little flourishes to uncover. Video games have a bit of a knack for discovery and exploration, in both the external and internal sense, and when I find that I love it to death. The only way to make that better is to have consequences for your actions in this new, unexplored world (be it real, virtual, or just an interesting problem space). I want to face the unknown and experiment on it, and get meaningful results.



I’m going to quote Baiyon here, who once said “making games is the best game you can play” (or something to that effect). Making games is a process that is so wrought with MYSTERY and CONSEQUENCE it can be really overwhelming, but always compelling. It is playful and expressive and frustrating (in a good way) and sometimes you can even discover new things, or re-discover wonderful old things. It’s pretty much the best.



Oh, hmm. I haven’t given this a whole lot of thought, really. I think what I hope for is that I might engage their imagination on some level above or next to but intertwined with the gameplay or mechanics. Most of the games that I’ve made and released don’t spell out much of the story or setting, in the hopes that players will imagine what’s going on back there for themselves, and that that will enrich what they’re actually doing in the game. MYSTERY and CONSEQUENCE.

Good Game Get! Interview

… in which we ask a game developer three specific questions based off our site name!

GGG! Interview #003 Simon of HandCircus

HandCircus single, multi-tappedly, and tiltedly solidified for me that the iPhone was indeed a viable gaming platform. Their freshman debut with Rolando and the even more magical Rolando 2 proved early in the life of the App Store that quality and lovingly crafted games could come to the iPhone.

Simon of HandCircus was kind enough to answer our three questions, and his answers are a magnificent look into exactly what drives HandCircus creatively and the importance of a smile whilst playing a game.

- Kyle





Of course there are many things, but there are three that make me LOVE a game:

Wonder - the ability for a game to transport you to another place, an intriguing, inspiring environment for you to explore, dive into and lose yourself in.

Tactile - a good game should FEEL amazing, should be designed to feel immensely satisfying to perform even the most basic action. The core mechanic should be tuned until it is super-tight and should be as satisfying as bubble wrap or a pump action shotgun.

Behaviour - whether its AI, Physics or good, old-fashioned hoodwinkery, many good games make the player feel like there is complex, interesting stuff going on all around them all the time. The brain likes to be bamboozled - so a good game should provide some bamboozling.



I don’t have a choice! There is nothing that I find more interesting, more challenging, and with more creative opportunity than game development. I could try another job, but I doubt that my brain would let me leave.



If its not asking too much, some joy. There are an abundance of games these days that offer face-punching and huge explosions, and we hope that we can provide something a little different. If players have fun with our games, and if they have the occasional smile while playing, we will be happy games developers.

GOOD GAME GET! INTERVIEW

… in which we ask a game developer three specific questions based off our site name!

GGG! Interview #002 Adam Stewart of One Man Left Studios

Continuing on to some more rad iOS developers, Alex Okafor and Adam Stewart of One Man Left!

The two have only made one commercial game to date, but it’s hella fun, witty, and polished. Their debut game Tilt To Live isn’t some ridiculous poppycock art game, it’s an arcade inspired tilt shooter inspired by our desire to move our hands and shoot.

You can check out our recommendation of the game, here

Adam of the duo was so kind to answer our questions, and we want to thank him.

- Kyle





The secret ingredient is love. If you don’t fill your game with sweet love when you make it, how can you expect players to care? It’s a circle of love.



Because creativity for entertainment is more fun than creativity for advertising. Those are the two paths for artists. It’s a job I’m excited to wake up to most mornings, and if I’m not excited, then a new project is coming in a few months, so maybe then I’ll be excited again. Plus I get away with writing the strangest stuff now, like it’s expected of me.





I definitely want them to get fun. Unless it’s a game with a serious tone, then I want them to feel and/or think thoughts. We might do that some day. For Tilt to Live specifically, I hope they get lots of points.

Good Game Get! Interview

… in which we ask a game developer three specific questions based off our site name!

GGG! Interview #001 Justin Smith

I was in the hospital last Winter because I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and while it was better than dying - it still kind of blew. Luckily my folks grabbed me an iPod touch and I began buying and purchasing a ton of iPod apps and games.

One of the games made me seem a little insane to my hospital roommate.

The game was Justin Smith’s Enviro-Bear 2010. I chuckled madly as I played the absurd game of a bear preparing to hibernate by driving a car around the woods.

It’s rad, and I appreciate Justin’s wonderfully original and fun game design.

- Kyle





One really cool algorithm deep in the guts of the game that makes the coder giddy with delight over his own cleverness.

Also:

Lots of special case code.

A harmonious color palette.

Visible pixels.

Numbers popping up everywhere.

Variable-ratio operant conditioning.

Unusual characters with terse dialog.

Non-realism.

Slapstick.

Really tight collision detection.

The unexpected.

This list was gathered from my collection of favorite games. What makes a game good is really a question for philosophers and poets. I’m a coder at heart.



Making games is all I know how to do. I’m a one trick pony. I’m a little terrified that if I lose my marbles, or there’s a massive soviet invasion, I’ll be relegated to manual labor since there will be no use for computer games. Oh and also I love making games. Love in a way that I don’t love working at Safeway.





A laugh. One solitary chuckle is all I hope for. Maybe with a shade of bewilderment. Or a sigh of longing as the player gazes out their window on a rainy day, dreaming of simpler times. 100 hours of development time is a lot of work for one joke, but I don’t complain.