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Keira Peney from Write The Game recently emailed me to request an interview. It’s my first time, so the answers might be a little dry and long-winded, but it was fun and I hope it’s useful to other developers out there.
Interview: Interview with Phil Newton of Sodaware.
Grimm’s Hatchery is now available for download. Try it today!
Hot on the heels of the interview with Hanako Games comes an interview with Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games, creators of Aveyond .
Aveyond is a large and detailed RPG, with an engrossing story set in a huge world. There are plenty of quests to complete, monsters to battle and interesting characters to meet. If you’re a fan of old-school RPGs like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger then you’ll enjoy Aveyond.
The interview follows below, with my questions in bold.
Could you give a quick introduction - who you are, what you do (and why)?
My name is Amanda Fitch. I am the owner of Amaranth Games. My primary job is programming and coordinating the completion of games.
What got you started on developing your own games?
I couldn’t find any games that I wanted to play so I decided to venture out and create my own. It’s been a lot of hard work, but also lots of fun.
Your current project is called Grimm’s Hatchery, could you share a some details about it?
Sure thing! In Grimm’s Hatchery, you get to buy magical pets, raise them, and hatch new pets. Along the way, you must solve puzzles, create new species of pets, and keep your pets safe from danger. I’ve also inserted a twist of humor into the game. Once you’ve played it, you may think that the characters are positively insane! (In a funny way, of course!)
What would your perfect game be like?
Drats! The ultimate question, eh? I’m waiting for the day when I can put on my 3D glasses and actually walk around in a full-blown 3D RPG. I also dread this day, for no one may ever see me again…
What’s your favourite part of being an indie developer?
The best thing about being an indie developer is taking risks. I don’t think that big game companies have the leeway that indie game companies have. The budgets for their games are huge and each failure can cost them millions.
Conversely, what part is the worst?
Limited resources. I would love to have the amazing graphics that I see in some commercial games, but such things cost money. Lots of money.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own indie business?
Don’t borrow huge amounts of money, keep your team small (1-4 people), and don’t quit your day job until you have a game or two under your belt. :)
Roughly how long did Aveyond take to create?
Aveyond took 1 1/2 years.
Are there any games in particular that inspired you?
Absolutely! Final Fantasy VI and Kings Quest VI. I tried to blend the two styles into an RPG/Adventure mix.
You used RPG Maker to create Aveyond. What were the major advantages and disadvantages of this approach? I’m guessing not getting bogged down with trying to make a perfect engine is a big advantage!
The major advantage was saving hundreds of hours in engine development and testing. Also, RPG Maker XP has a phenomenal level editor that makes is easy to build large, complex levels, and it leverages the RUBY scripting language.
The major disadvantage is that I can’t customize the level editor and I can’t port my games to Mac computers.
What was the hardest part of creating the game?
Cleaning up the loose ends. The first 75% of development is a lot of fun, however, eventually you get to a point where you have to clean up all of the annoying bugs that you kept putting off month after month. The last 25% can be really irritating and frustrating because you’re no longer innovating.
Some bugs can take days to resolve and it’s hard to stay patient.
Which feature(s) are you most proud of and why?
The storyline and the maps. I spent a lot of time trying to make sure the story was compelling. From the feedback I’ve received, I succeeded. I also had a lot of fun with my maps. I made them large so that players could wander around and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.
If you could do anything differently, what would it be?
I would have created more side stories between the major characters in the game.
Aveyond has won a tonne of awards and seems to have quite a following. Did you ever imagine it would be so popular?
I didn’t expect it to be this popular, but I had hoped… I still have a long way to go to make a game that truly resonates. However, I think Aveyond is a good start! :)
There’s quite an active community on the Amaranth Games website, including fan art and people sharing games they’ve made. What do you think has made the community section so popular?
I think people come around because they have questions about the games that they are playing. Then, some of them stay to chat with other players and myself. I thought it was really great that some of the players liked the site, and so I decided to turn my site into a community with lots of things to do. I actually plan to roll out a new version of the site in January which is going to blow the old site out of the water. The new site lets players earn gold coins, collect items, buy a shack or a castle, and so much more!
Is there anything you’d like to add?
Thank you so much for the interview, Phil! If players want to learn more about Aveyond or Grimm’s Hatchery, they should check out http://www.amaranthia.com.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Amanda for the interview, and I look forward to seeing Grimm’s Hatchery being released. The new community modifications also sound very exciting, and it’s great to see an indie developer with such a strong fan following.
Today marks the launch of the sodaware games section, and as an added bonus I conducted an interview with Georgina Okerson, the head of Hanako Games and author of the excellent Cute Knight.
Cute Knight is a role playing game in every sense, as you take control of your character on their 18th birthday and guide them until their 21st birthday. Every action will change the way the game ends and which one of over 50 different endings you’ll see.
The interview follows below, with questions in bold. Enjoy!
Could you give a quick introduction - who you are, what you do (and why)?
My name is Georgina Okerson, and I create and sell downloadable computer games at Hanako Games. I’m also a big fan of anime, and that influence shows in my work. While there are a lot of anime-inspired games on the consoles, there’s not so much on the PC.
What got you started on developing your own games?
Like a lot of people in this business I have been trying to make games since I was very young. I spent many math classes in high school programming simple games on my graphing calculator. Whenever I’ve come across new tools, I usually think “What can I make with this?”
What game(s) are you working on at the moment?
My current project is a puzzle-solving adventure game called Fatal Hearts (http://hanakogames.com/fatal.shtml). Like many of my games, it has multiple endings. It’s up to the player to decide who their friends and enemies are.
It’s much darker than something like Cute Knight - the story is a blend of romance, mystery, and horror. Also, there will be vampires.
I don’t think anything quite like it has been done before, but it’s an experiment I really wanted to try.
What would your perfect game be like?
The perfect game for me is something like Planescape: Torment. A strong story, with enough variation in it for me to feel like I’m really exploring and shaping the storyline instead of just being led along on a rail, plus fun gameplay in-between the story developments. I mostly play RPGs and adventure games - that is, when I’m not just looking for a quick fix of bubble-popping.
What’s your favourite part of being an indie developer?
Being in control. Being able to work on what I want, when I want.
Conversely, what part is the worst?
Having to wear so many hats. Programming is only the beginning. Even if you don’t make your own art and music, you need to know something about art and music to get what you need and fit them into your game. Then there’s websites, marketing, sales support, tech support, paperwork for deals with other companies… Some tasks sound very simple but can burn up a large amount of time when you have to do them all yourself.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own indie business?
The most important thing is determination and being able to complete something, anything. A lot of people have trouble slogging through the “boring bits”, or even getting past the idea stage. They give up and come up with another idea, then never finish that one either. You have to learn to make plans you can follow through to the end.
What was your inspiration for creating “Cute Knight”?
There’s a series of Japanese games called Princess Maker in which you play an old retired soldier who’s been given custody of a young girl. You make decisions for her, sending her to school, changing her diet, giving her jobs, and so on. This series is still popular in Japan but it’s never been officially released in English, so the only way for me to have more games in that genre was to make them myself.
The most obvious difference is that unlike the parent-child setup in Princess Maker, in Cute Knight you are the character. It’s much more of a role-playing game. There’s also a storyline involving the player-character’s hidden identity and secrets behind several other characters. Unlike Princess Maker, Cute Knight isn’t just about raising your skills and seeing what career you receive.
Roughly how long did Cute Knight take to create?
A little less than a year.
What was the hardest part of creating the game?
Testing. With so many possibilities and so many secrets, it takes a lot of attempts to get a real feeling for how difficult anything in the game is.
Which feature(s) are you most proud of and why?
See next question.
If you could do anything differently, what would it be?
Actually, these are related. With the Wizard’s Challenge minigame, I created a magic system so complicated even I have trouble with it. I’m proud that the complex rules work, but the actual minigame is just too hard. It just goes to show that sometimes the greatest programming achievements are not the greatest game achievements.
Think you’ll ever do a sequel?
I do intend to make a sequel but not until after Fatal Hearts is finished.
So it won’t be any time soon. The general plan is to make a game with a larger “world” - multiple villages you can travel between and so on. Beyond that, it’s too early to say.
I’d like to thank Georgina for taking the time to answer these questions, and wish her all the best on Fatal Hearts!
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