Andrew Shouldice makes stuff. His games are always interesting and he has some clever ideas about the whole creative process behind making them (jam or non-jam related!). Now he answers our questions!
1. How long have you been making games?
2. Where do you find ideas for your games? Tell us something about your creative process.
The pattern I get into with making games really depends on whether it's part of a Jam or not. I found it easier to make some diagrams:
If you can identify at all with these processes, then the following observations might apply to you as much as they do to me:
- Jams make games, non-jams fill out the graveyard. Make games for jams.
- "The Tough Bit" is tough. Wallow around in it. That breakthrough will come sooner or later. (Hopefully?)
3. You have participated in some game jams. What is your favourite story or anecdote concerning a game jam? Any favourite feedback you remember?
The evolution of Hide was sort of haphazard and serendipitous. It started as a first person adventure game set in the desert. I wanted to try using a very limited palette with no lighting, so I picked four brownish colours and started making the desert world. Because there was no texture on the ground, I tried communicating player movement across large expanses with dust hanging in the air. I soon got frustrated with the look of the game, and tried simplifying a the whole thing by going black and white. Suddenly the desert was a wintery field, and the dust in the air was snow. It was a great breakthrough moment that really cemented the look of the game.
Favourite feedback: The glorious Porpentine wrote nice things about PROBE TEAM once and that made me feel good.
4. Probe Team is an interesting game you made for Ludum Dare #27 (Theme: “10 seconds”). Where does its idea come from?
- http://ded.increpare.com/~
locus/sickness/ - http://www.increpare.com/2012/12/slave-of-god/
- http://www.increpare.com/2011/11/english-country-tune/
I don't have outstanding reaction times when it comes to games, but Terry Cavanagh has made some of the few precision-control games I've become obsessed with. Both VVVVVV and Super Hexagon look like the sorts of game's I'd quickly get frustrated with, but I stuck with them. I haven't collected all the trinkets in VVVVVV, or seen the very end of Super Hexagon, but those games still made me feel accomplished and satisfied.
Sophie Houlden is a delight. Her work has an enchanting whimsey that's backed up by a diverse skill set. She's very open about her development process and the challenges of marketing indie games. If "follow their work closely" means Twitter, I feel like I'd be getting the most for my money by choosing her. :)
8. Are you a heavy gamer? What games are you playing now? Naw, I'm not a heavy gamer. I spend more time thinking about games I'll never make. I try to keep up with what's happening via Giant Bomb.
Here's a list of games I'm playing now. In other words, these are the games I've started but I haven't finished yet, but plan on getting back to:
9. One last random question. If you could use any musician (dead or alive) to make music from one of your games, who would you choose and why?
Ooh, wow. I have no musical talent, and have great admiration for those who do. This would be a great opportunity to express my fondness and respect for any number of game musicians, including Jim Guthrie, Alec Holowka, Rich Vreeland (Disasterpiece), Danny Baranowsky, Magnus Pålsson (SoulEye)...
*We Ask Indies is an initiative by Beavl, an Argentinian independent game studio putting some teeth into videogames. You can check all the interviews here (caricatures are made by amazing artist Joaquín Aldeguer!).