Game Developer Spotlight

[J T]

I have been trying to learn more about the people that make my video games. Some of them are really quite interesting and are at times vocal about their ideas online.

I decided I would therefore make this thread where I can occassionally highlight a different game designer and say something about what games they make and what makes them interesting. I'll usually discuss up-and-coming indie designers, but established designers are ok too. I will try to follow a similar format with each new entry and include some links to what they have written, downloads of their games, or news stories written about them.

Feel free to add other entries if there is anyone you have become interested in as well. Or just discuss.

Now for my first entry...


Developer Name:
Douglas Wilson and The Copenhagen Collective


(Some of the Collective with LeVar Burton)

Notable Games:

• B.U.T.T.O.N. (Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now)

• Dark Room Sex Game

• Fuck You, It's Art!

Video
B.U.T.T.O.N. in action.
http://www.copenhagengamecollective.org/b-u-t-t-o-n/

Developer Website:
http://www.copenhagengamecollective.org/

News story and interview worth reading:
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/32575/Ro ... ective.php

...hilarious exerpt from the article:

The thing to understand is that Dark Room Sex Game isn't really a game about sex. It's a game about people's cultural perception of sex.

It was fascinating to see how embarrassed people would get playing it. Because there aren't any graphics, you and your fellow player often end up looking directly at each other while you coordinate your virtual sex. It can get awkward, especially when played in public. You think you're about to play a fun Wii game, then suddenly, bam, you find yourself having virtual gay sex with your buddy.

Why you should care:
The Copenhagen Collective play the role of the provocateur really well. This is a small team of like-minded developers that have developed a philosophy they term "abusive gaming". These games are meant to mess with players by challenging conventions about how games should be designed and played. They actually like broken games, and will intentionally break their games because when this happens, the role of the developer becomes apparent and you as the player are suddenly in a sort of "dialogue" with the developers, who in this case, are taunting you like bullies on a fat kid. Their take on games is unusual and provacative. While not always providing frivolous enjoyment, they challenge convention and maybe get you to think a little bit about how your games are designed.

[J T]

Developer Name:
Derek Yu


Notable Games:

• Eternal Daughter
  I'm O.K.
  Aquaria
  Spelunky

Video
Interview with 1up.com
"Headcrabbed" from Indie Game the Movie

Developer Website:
http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=157

News story worth reading:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2648 ... _Indie.php

I mean, Spelunky started out as a free game, not a 'fuck you,' [to the status quo] but more just something that I wanted to [make]

Why you should care:
In his games, Derek Yu frequently includes themes of exploration. His games often show a Metroid influence in this regard, but he likes to let the player crack open the game world in unique new ways. In Aquaria, for example, you can travel in all directions with speed and fluidity, which makes it feel like a more graceful Metroid game. In Spelunky, you feel a sense of a game world with limitless playing possibilities because everything is procedurally generated, so you can have a unique experience with the game every single time you play it. No two levels are going to look alike.

He can also be very subversive and humorous, as in the game I'm OK, where he carried out the insane ideas of video game protestor Jack Thompson's so-called "modest proposal" to create a game about killing game developers. The game is totally fucked up, but it is the brainchild of a person that is against video games for being vulgar "murder simulators", so it's kind of hilarious that this repugnant creation was born out of the ideas of the very man that would protest it.

Derek also runs TIG Source, which is one of the premiere websites for indie game developers and gamers.

[J T]

Developer Name:
Team Meat (aka Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes


Notable Games:

• Super Meat Boy
  Grey Matter
  Gish (Edmund McMillen only)

Video
"Control" from Indie Game the Movie

Developer Website:
http://supermeatboy.com/

Interview with Team Meat at Now Gamer:
http://www.nowgamer.com/features/1063/s ... -interview

I have been completely independent for the last ten yearsand I never made any substantial amount of money whatsoever off it. I kind of hit a wall where I was like, “am I not making enough because I’m just not pushing myself hard enough?”

Just to make sure, I decided to push myself more and that year I made six or seven Flash games, This was the same time I made my Meat Boy prototype, and met Tommy.

Why you should care:
Team Meat are indie developers that maintain the ironically radical idea that a video game ought to actually be, you know, really fucking fun to play. Where they excel, as a team in particular, is in creating incredibly playable games. The art is fun, the music is good, but a Team Meat production is above all else, about controls that feel AWESOME. The games are designed in such a way that you want to play them, even if you aren't good at them. The controls are good enough that they are then welcome to push you with some of the ridiculously challenging level design that we see in Super Meat Boy because you know with those controls you can get good enough to pass the level, if only with a bit of patience and a lot of repetitive practice.

[Bradtemple87]

That picture is money

[J T]

Here's a real interesting story about Ralph Baer, the father of the video game console. His work led to the release of the Magnavox Odyssey, the first game console.

http://kotaku.com/#!5797942/the-father- ... ought-them

It turns out he had a really interesting life growing up Jewish and surviving the Wolrd War II era. He escaped the Nazis, fought them, and took all their guns.

[J T]

I was thinking about picking up this thread again, but then I found this website that does everything I wanted to do with this thread. Check it out:

http://quote-un-quote.tumblr.com/the-interviews

[J T]

Developer Name:
Vander Caballero



Notable Games:

• Papo & Yo
  Army of Two
  FIFA 2003 and 2004

Video:
Vander discusses Papo & Yo

Vander Caballero worked for EA, but decided to go independent. He's now trying to make the game he always wanted that is an allegorical story about his own childhood growing up with an alcoholic parent. In Papo & Yo, you are a young boy whose best friend is a big monster. The boy and the monster have great adventures together running through the favelas of Brazil, but the monster loves to eat poisonous frogs. Whenever the monster eats a poisonous frog, he loses control and becomes dangerous and violent. Not even the boy is safe. I recommend watching the video above to hear the Vander talk more about his unique ideas for this game that has yet to be released.