I've been a massive Tomb Raider fan from the beginning, when my family picked up Tomb Raider 1 on the Playstation 1 upon it's release. There was something about the series that has already appealed to me; whether that be Lara's archeological roots (I'm a History geek, through and through), or the fact that this was one of the first female video game characters I truly admired. Whilst Lara has seen several transformations over the years, most notably, 2013's reboot, a strong fanbase has remained at its core. Cosplayers make up a large part of this, and throughout my time of being a part of this community, there's several cosplayers that definitely stand out and make an impression. One of these is Raymond Croft, bringing his male version of Croft to life for the past three years now. I reached out to him, and had a chat about all things Tomb Raider.
Today on 8-Bit Girl, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kelly, writer and moderator of her Tomb Raider fansite The Archaeology of Tomb Raider. Her site is a fantastic source of Tomb Raider news, features and reviews, as well as interesting posts on history, archaeology and travel.
As a lover of both Tomb Raider and history myself (I graduated with a degree in history), I knew I had to get her on the site. So take a look below at my questions and Kelly's answers!
Hey Kelly! Introduce yourself! Well, I'm Kelly, a blogger, translator, and information specialist originally from Gibraltar but currently living in the Netherlands with my husband and two cats, Rico and Juno. When I'm not working on the site, you can find me reading (mostly non-fiction and travel literature), gaming, learning foreign languages, fussing over the cats, planning my next trip abroad, or spending time at my local archery club.
Your site is a fantastic source of Tomb Raider and archaeological lore. What made you start The Archaeology of Tomb Raider? Aww, thanks. That's very sweet of you.
I started The Archaeology of Tomb Raider as a way of getting more involved in the Tomb Raider fan community and since there are so many fansites out there, I had to try and carve a little niche for myself. The idea of creating a fansite that focussed on the art and artefacts seen in the Tomb Raider games had been in my mind for years but it wasn't until the reboot came out that I finally decided to put my plan into action.
I've always been incredibly jealous of talented musicians. Yes, I passed a music GCSE with an A, I can pick up a tune by ear within seconds on the piano, and I strum occasionally on the guitar, but I'm definitely not great at it. Miracle of Sound is one person where this jealousy lies with. A musician who utilizes YouTube to share his self-written songs inspired by games, Miracle of Sound's work is definitely worth a listen.
I managed to grab a few questions with the man himself on his music, favourite games, and much more.
Q. Hey Miracle of Sound! Can you introduce yourself to us?
MoS: Hi all! I'm Gav, I'm a big nerd and I make music about nerdy things that I love.
Q. Miracle of Sound sounds rather noble. Where did you come up with the name?
MoS: Ha, you say 'noble', some say 'arrogant'. Actually the name is not self-referential so it is neither of those: it's the title of an old song I wrote which was literally about how music was awesome, hence 'The Miracle Of Sound' just refers to music and the effect it has on people. It's also a slight little tribute to Soundwave, my favourite Transformer.
Q. You've had an impressive amount of hits on your videos, and have built up quite a fanbase! When did you first realize that this was going to be big?
MoS: I guess that depends on how we're defining 'big', I mean, everything is relative and to me when 'Gordon Freeman Saved My Life' got 20,000 hits I thought that was big - then when 'Commander Shepard' got almost a million, that was bigger.... and now that it's my job and I'm past 10 million views across the web, it feels wonderful and a little overwhelming but I hope to get bigger and bigger! But if I had to pick a point where I knew this could be my job, I'd say after Commander Shepard blew up, I signed with the Escapist and Bioware started plugging me.
Q. You've created a huge variety of tracks for different videogames now, such as Skyrim, Mass Effect and Gears of War. What has been your favourite track to write/perform so far, and what game do you intend on writing more songs about in the near future?
MoS: I have a few favourites. Normandy is a track I always go back and listen to, I just love the way it starts at a whisper and builds into a big crescendo. I love 'Little Sister' and 'Redemption Blues' as both are dark love songs in their own way and are quite emotionally satisfying for me to listen to - one is for a man loving and protecting his family and one for a Big Daddy having paternal 'love' or something of the sort, for the Little Sisters. Sweet L.A. was really fun because I got to bring in Gary and Jack for the Sax and Piano parts - I rarely work with other musicians but those guys were special. I also got to do some jazzy singing on that one too which I have never tried before.
Q. One of my personal favourites is your collaboration with Malukah on "Legends of the Frost." How did this come about, and would you consider collaborating with her again in the future?
MoS: Well, we were mutual fans and didn't know it. She put out a Tweet about my 'Sovngarde Song' video saying she loved it and I responded with 'Sweet! Wanna do a collaboration?' And so we did. It was pretty simple really! Ha! And yes, we will surely work together again. Malu is a lovely person - (very talented and far more humble than I) -and we're friends now so I think we'll definitely do something again at some stage.
Q. If you had to choose one game, past or present to write a song about next...what would it be?
MoS: I want to make a song about Halo but I can never seem to come up with the right song. Maybe when Halo 4 comes out I'll get it right!
Q. As many people familiar with your work would know, you were picked up by The Escapist. How did this happen, and how has this contributed to your success?
MoS: Well, I was a member of their forums for a couple of years and I posted a lot. Did user reviews, that kinda thing. After Commander Shepard blew up I just emailed them and asked if they'd like to have me as a contributor and they said yes. It was again, a very simple procedure. It has helped me out hugely, the Escapist has a large fanbase and every fortnight tonnes of new people discover my work. I think I actually have more views there overall than I do on Youtube.
OK, now for some quick fire "favourites" questions. Ready?
MoS: Ready! I love these
Q. Favourite game of all time?
MoS: Fallout 3/Mass Effect 2
Q. Favourite game character?
MoS: Ezio Auditore. I am very gay for Ezio.
Q. Favourite game soundtrack or song?
MoS: I adore the Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack by Hanz Zimmer but I think my all time favourite has to be Jack Wall's Mass Effect 2 score, especially the Suicide Mission. Chills every time!
Q. Thanks for answering my questions! OK, final one, what should we expect next from Miracle of Sound?
MoS: You can expect a song about a game I have never covered before, that due to its main character Nate Drake I get a lot of requests for from female fans. ;) Thanks for the questions!
Back in January 2012 I interviewed Brent Black of brentalfloss fame about his "with lyrics..." series, his trip to the London Comic Con, his comic and general gaming ventures. With his latest CD, "Bits of Me" due for a release very shortly, I thought it was time to get a bit of an update on this gaming maestro.
Q. Hey brentalfloss! The last time I interviewed you was back in January! How have things been for you since then?
BF: Pretty good. 2012 is a strange year for me, because I'm working on a lot of long-term projects that make it seem like I'm not releasing a lot of video content, when actually I'm spending time every day on videos that will raise the standard of my production values. So it's a lot of seed-planting, but not a lot of harvesting :)
Q. Your new CD, "Bits of Me" has just finished it's pre-order period and will be out soon! How was the response from fans to your pre-orders, and how do you expect the CD will do when released?
BF: Once it's released, I expect it'll do very well. You can never really predict these things, but once it finally is released in all formats, I think the quality of the music alone will lead to good numbers business-wise.
Q. "Bits of Me" contains 18 songs, including some remastered tracks. What song on the album are you most impressed with?
BF; Probably "Baby Mario and Papa Yoshi." It has a cool jazzy arrangement, it tells a story, and it's just a very well-put-together piece of sound engineering.
Q. How was the studio experience?
BF: Fun, as always, but a lot of work. My sound engineer also acts as the director for the project, so he gets great performances out of me, but we have to switch between many hats during the process.
Q. You're quite busy in the touring/show front lately! What's the best part of doing shows?
BF: The best part of doing shows is when I surprise myself onstage. My shows tend to be very interactive, with audience members turning the between-song banter into a conversation, and occasionally things come out of my mouth that actually crack me up more than the audience. Those are my favorite moments of live shows.
Q. You must have met plenty of bizarre people during your travels. What's been your weirdest experience at a con/show?
BF: I have so many... recently, though, a 67-year-old woman told me she was my biggest fan, and my jaw dropped. I had no idea that anyone over 40 even knew who I was! :)
Q. So most of your songs are based on some excellent retro titles, such as Super Mario Bros. 2. Do you have any plans to combine the retro with some modern games in the near future?
BF: Well, it really comes down to which games I play and which games have good tunes. I'm currently playing through "Cave Story," which has a very retro feel although it was released in 2004. As I keep moving forward, I hope to cover a good mix of old-school and current-gen games.
Q. As well as your music, I've been enjoying reading your brentalfloss comic series since it started. How did this come about, and how have you found writing a regular comic?
BF: My co-writer Dan Roth approached me about a brentalfloss webcomic at the 2010 New York Comic Con, and after I read some of his ideas for strips, I was hooked. As for the task of writing, it's pretty easy since Dan and I generally write one strip per person per week. It's not always easy coming up with new ideas for a strip, but once you get us in a room, our collaborative energy produces a lot of [good and bad] ideas.
Q. And finally, of course you have the CD on it's way shortly, but what else are you planning in the near future?
BF: A lot of amazing videos. Collabs with other internet musicians, and a few really exciting animated projects. These projects generally have a production time of 3-10 months though, so the challenge is keeping them a secret (more or less) while continuing to work on them.
Many of you may know Jonathan Blow as the brains behind Braid, a beautiful Xbox 360 arcade, Playstation Network and PC release that saw gamers experiment with time in a variety of puzzle-platformer levels. Jonathan is now currently working on his next game, The Witness, and I thought it was a good time to pitch some questions to him about it all.
Q: Hey Jonathan! Now we know you've createdBraid, and you're currently working on this yearsThe Witness, but how did your gaming development career start
out for you?
A: Way back in the 6th grade when I was lucky enough to be at a school with
a computer class, I started making game-like things in a hobby kind of
way. Eventually, when I was 24 years old, I started my first company with
a friend from college. I've been working in games one way or another
since that time: 16 years!
Q.Braidis an outstanding game. Not only for the gameplay itself, but for the
beautiful music and visuals. Where did the idea come about originally, and what
made you decide to make a puzzle style game like this? Also, did you expect
such a positive reaction upon it's release?
A: There were many threads for the idea (wanting to do a game with
unlimited rewind, wanting to do a game in the tradition of books like Calvino's
"Invisible Cities" and Alan Lightman's "Einstein's Dreams",
wanting to do a game that was not trying to be 'mere' entertainment.)
These all came together at the right time to form the seed for what you see
now.
I personally thought the game was good but I didn't know what to expect.
In retrospect I am surprised that critical reception was as unanimous as it
was. I thought some percentage of critics would hate the game. I
was also surprised by how many people out there in the gaming world were
interested!
Q.Braidexperiments a lot with the notion of playing with time, which I think
really enhances the gameplay. Was there any significance of toying with time in
relation to the story?
A: Yes, there is a connection there. But the story is told in a way
that provides a lot of space for interpretation; I don't want to mess with that
by filling the space with too many of my own comments.
Q. You're currently developing The Witness. Can you tell us a little bit
more about this, and when should we expect to see a release?
A: It'll be released "when it's done"! It's a first-person
puzzle game, with a mood and setting inspired by games like Myst, but with
gameplay that is very different from those games. It's coming along very
well -- there is some very good stuff in it, and every day now I am excited by
what I get to do when working on it.
Q. After you've finished work on The Witness, is there anything else
that you're wishing to get cracking on?
A: I have about 100 ideas for other games; I'm not
sure which we will do! I'll probably start thinking about that seriously
only after The Witness is done.
brentalfloss, real name Brent Black became a YouTube hit when he first put lyrics to the music in Mega Man 2. Since then, he's expanded his "...with lyrics" series, gained himself a huge fanbase and branched out from the YouTube side of things. Like myself, brentalfloss is an avid Nintendo fan, so I just had to get an interview with him! Here it is folks. Enjoy.
Q. Hey brentalfloss! You've made quite a name for yourself putting lyrics to video game songs in your "With Lyrics" series, as well as a whole host of other excellent projects and videos. How did it all start?
A: The moment I decided to try adding lyrics to video game music was pretty anticlimactic (and is actually detailed in this episode of my webcomic: http://brentalfloss.com/comic26.cfm
But the real answer to "How did it all start?"is this: When I was 4, my parents bought us an NES. Until the age of 11, I went to school at least a half hour drive from my house, so I didn't have a lot of friends in my neighbourhood to play with. I sometimes joke that my best friends were my piano and my Nintendo. Add to that years of training in performance, songwriting, and comedy and it sort of makes sense that all these elements would come together in this way :)
Q. brentalfloss: The Comic is great! What made you decide to branch off into comic strip writing/drawing, and how has the response to these been?
A: Honestly, I would probably never have thought to create a comic series if Dan Roth hadn't approached me about the idea at 2010's New York Comic Con. He showed me some concepts and sold me on the idea of creating an "alt universe" for the brand. The response has been positive, but we're still figuring out how to write a series that rewards longtime fans of the brentalfloss brand without alienating new fans.
Q. What's been your proudest gaming-related moment in your career so far?
A: That would have to be the first time I got to play with Video Games Live. Sitting at the piano in the middle of about 80 professional musicians playing a tune I wrote about Mario in front of over 1,000 people... it doesn't get much cooler than that.
Q. I got to see you perform live at last month's London Gaming Con, but you've done plenty of live performances now. What's been your most memorable live experience, and why?
A: Well, while my last answer was my "proudest" live experience, I think my most memorable might be from this past summer's Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana. I played a concert in a mall arcade! I just kept thinking "If only ten year old Brent had been able to convince his mother that this would happen one day..."
Q. Your "...with lyrics" series has been hugely popular on YouTube for a while now. What's been your favourite in this collection, and what game do you plan on adding lyrics to next (or is a secret)?
A: The answer to this question changes all the time... I think right now my favorite is Castlevania II with lyrics because I got to punch Dracula's severed head. As for future plans, I do keep these under wraps but I will say that I'll be bringing more material from the Final Fantasy franchise to life later this year.
Q. You're obviously a Nintendo fan at heart. What Nintendo game would you absolutely recommend playing?
A: Off the top of my head? Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: LTP, and Mega Man 2. Also all the rest of them that were ever made.
Q. What game are you currently addicted to?
A: Well, I had a quick love affair with Arkham City during Christmastime. Fun stuff, but I found myself wishing I could have performed some of the voice acting :)
Q. And finally, what's next for yourself?
A: My mail goal for the next few years is to continue creating content for the brentalfloss brand while also returning to my first love which is musical comedy. I saw The Muppets a few weeks ago and when I realized that Flight of the Conchords'Bret MacKenzie wrote most of the music and lyrics to the score, I thought "WHY AM I NOT DOING THAT?" So basically, while I plan to continue celebrating the fun and nostalgia of video games and their timeless music, I also want to branch out and show the world (and myself) that I can write original stuff and entertain in more ways than one :)
OverClocked Remix is a website devoted to creating remixes of a huge variety of video game tracks. It's a great site, and I managed to interview a few of it's members, after watching their performance/Q&A at the London Gaming Con last month.
Q. Can you tell us a little about what OverClocked Remix is? A: To quote the press page:
"OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form. Its primary focus is www.ocremix.org, a website featuring thousands of free fan arrangements, information on game music and composers, resources for aspiring artists, and a thriving community of video game music fans."
Or as the guy who introduced us at the convention kindly summarized, we "take video game music and make it awesome". The focus is definitely on arranging the music in a meaningful way rather then just pumping out a million covers with different instruments or drum loops over them.
Q. OverClocked Remix has been around for a while now, and it's obviously grown to a significant size since then! How does it feel knowing it has become so popular?
A: Fishy: Well I'm sure it means a whole lot to Dave (djpretzel) in particular, as it's his baby. Obviously it's gotten a lot of attention from the actual composers and games companies complimenting the music. It even led to OCReMix providing the (first ever fan-made) soundtrack to Super Street Fighter II HD Remix.
In terms of the scale of the popularity it's hard to measure but djpretzel has something like 750,000 scrabbles onlast.fm. That's mind-blowing considering the percentage of people who don't use last.fm. Its definitely exciting to be a part of but we can only take so much credit as the arrangers. I think it's a sign that people care about video game music, and that the site is doing exactly what it set out to do!
Q. A few of the UK team represented OCR at the London Gaming Convention on the 3rd December (which I went to, and really enjoyed!). How was this experience, and do you plan on spreading the OverClocked Remix love at future conventions soon?
A:Protodome: 1. Despite being incredibly last minute and our first con ever, it was a blast. The audience and staff were awesome and it went so much smoother than we could have expected. If we get the gigs, you bet we’ll be along. Rexy: It was a new and exciting experience for me. After the amazing reception from the audience, I'm definitely set for future events. WillRock: It was awesome, went smoothly, and we've all expressed interest in going to more conventions in the future so this is an exciting time for us. Fishy: I think we're definitely all interested in coming back and playing some more music next time!
Q. What's your favourite song that you've contributed to OCR?
A: Protodome: Fill Me Up With Snacky Happiness. Not because it’s my best work, but, yeah, just listen to it. Rexy: The Feather's Reflection. Of all the piano arrangements I worked on over the years, this one ended up being one of my best recorded performances. WillRock: Transient Shadows. Out of all my remixes, I felt that one best showcased what i'm about generally as an artist. Fishy: An arrangement of the final battle theme from Final Fantasy IX, coming out soon with the project album!
Q. What's your favourite remix on the site?
A: Protodome: I don’t know as my opinions shift all the time- I don’t think I could pick one remix. Rexy: Neskvartetten's "Ganon's Temple". To see them take the source and capture it in a live setting whilst still maintaining the creepiness of the original is seen as a big draw for me. WillRock: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Subterranean Kamikaze. I'm a big fan of 80's Rock and that track delivers on a huge scale. Fishy: Either ilpo - In the Land of the Dwarves (FFIV), or Midee/Prozax - The Twelfth Commandment (FF7)
Q. Is there a particular game that gets a noticeably bigger amount of remixes submitted than others. If so, why do you think this is?
A: Protodome: Chrono Trigger. Because dceiowcnieownhvewvce. (Don’t include this). Rexy: Either Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 7. The reasons are usually for popularity/nostalgia and source accessibility. CT's "Schala's Theme" is a popular tune to remix due to its simplicity. WillRock: Chrono Trigger, Mega Man, Mario Bros etc all have so many remixes. I put it down to popularity, nostalgia, and quality of the soundtracks. Fishy: Megaman seems to get a lot more attention then I ever gave it credit for. The songs are all super short, but maybe that's what makes it attractive as arrangement material.
Q. Have you got any advice for those budding remixers who are wishing to submit to OverClocked Remix?
A: Protodome: Don’t be afraid to take criticism! Rexy: Be true to yourself. Think about what the source tune means to you, and express it when writing it. WillRock: Head to the WIP forum! OCR has specific standards to hit and getting feedback from the WIP forums is the best way to increase your changes of getting posted. Fishy: Don't be tempted to remix music you have no attachment to for the sake of popularity! If the music means something to you, it will show and you will be happier.
Q. And finally, what's next for you all?
Protodome: Doing what we always do really. Rexy: Refining my technique, continuing to represent OCR here in the UK and to keep getting involved with the community. WillRock: Focus more on original music. However, I won't stop supporting the game music industry in the best way I can! Fishy: Probably some kind of ridiculous prog album or trying to arrange a live vg music band!
I recently tried out an iPad title called Gua-Le-Ni, which turned out to be a bizarre, but addictive and engaging puzzle game. I then got the opportunity to interview the game's creator, StefAno about Gua-Le-Ni's inspirations, his ideas behind it, and much more.
Q. So, Gua-Le-Ni is available to download onto the iPad now! How did you get the idea for this game?
A: Hi, an first of all thanks for the interest and the ‘love’ you are directing towards our bizarre project. It makes it feel that the long months of designing and crafting this book (or this game) were not completely futile, if we manage to stimulate the curiosity of some of you and to keep you intrigued in its concept and gameplay. As far as the idea for the game, it is more or less a mixture of childhood memories and my current philosophical focus.
My mother used to show me etchings of animals and bizarre creatures by either Albrech Durer or Leonardo Da Vinci as a kid, I was fascinated with those bizarre beasts and how they looked like monsters from other worlds. Building on that basis, the core idea for Gua-Le-Ni comes from the will to make of David Hume’s philosophy of mind playable. Essentially, my claim is that if a player learns how to play Gua-Le-Ni, then she also have absorbed most of the notions involved in Hume’s 1748 Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Some will also spot influences from ‘head-body-tail’ books such as the Animalario Universal del Professor Revillod:
Q. Were there any influences during it's creation?
A: Each an every member of our team contributed with some ideas or details, but I guess most of the design maintained a solid vision from start to end, so the influences mentioned in the previous question are still the leading ones. In the last months, some observations and ideas concerning embodiment in digital worlds and some inspiration to optimize the interfaces came from Helmut Plessner’s 1928 seminal book for philosophical anthropology “The Stages of the Organic and Man”.
I guess it’s more of a personal inspiration and aspiration rather than something overtly perceivable, but it helped, I am sure.
Q. As the games website states, "Gua-Le-Ni is the first commercially released video game whose development was guided by the analysis of it's players psychophysiological responses." What made you decide to do this whilst the game was in development, and and how do you feel it helped to shape the game?
A: More than feeling, I know it helped as I was also part of the research team behind the Biometric research. At NHTV University of Applied Science of Breda (The Netherlands) we relied on embodied psychology (biometrics or psycho-physiology), Which is to say the way that body signals can be interpreted as expressing internal states of a person. By observing the way stress and anxiety changed in our test subjects together with the changes in the game while designing and tuning it, we were capable – we believe – to have a better, more thorough and more objective insight in what it is like to play than it was ever possible to achieve with traditional quality assurance procedures. This experimental way to approach game design was never even attempted in the casual sector of the industry.
We utilized the equipment and experiments to determine the most desirable initial speed for the game and the optimal way the game should have grown in terms of speed and cognitive pressure in the non-fiction mode (the competitive one featuring a Tetris-like acceleration as cleverly pointed out in your review). We believe that the insights we obtained in that pioneering way objectively helped in determining a few key-variable in the tuning of the game.
Q. Do you think you'll be using this type of research again in your next projects?
A: If possible, I would love to. Together with the care and dedication of the programmers, the talent of the artists and the obsessive and continuous playtest sessions we have run, I believe it was a factor it the game’s success. Critical success I mean, whether its bizarre nature and explorative gameplay will be embraced by the public too, that’s still hard to tell. One can hope.
Q. Gua-Le-Ni has been receiving some generally excellent reviews so far. Did you expect to get this reaction?
A: Haha… Again, I was not expecting the interest and visibility the game is attracting but we – as any independent developer - hoped that the love we put it would be experienced and appreciated by other people. I believe that’s the reason why I am still making games. The hope to touch other people somehow…
Q. What I enjoyed the most about the game was the creation of some bizarre but interesting hybrid creatures, and the addictive nature of the gameplay. What is your favourite aspect of Gua-Le-Ni?
A: I am fond of the possibility to optimize one’s behaviour and compete. The game offers more secrets, more strategies and more opportunities for improvement than it might initially show. I am still playing the game months after intense playtest sessions precisely because of its depth and possibilities. Me and my testers are still trying to find out who’s the best… They brutally outperform me with the use of the dreaded black cube (one of those secrets), but I am still the best if we only consider the regular behaviour of the game (40.075 pages).
Q. And finally, what's next for yourself and for Double Jungle?
A: My destiny and that of Double Jungle will remain woven at least until the end of February or March, when we will release a new version of the game including a completely new game mode. We are starting to work on the graphics and the voices in a few days. I believe this is not the last game we will do together, me and the guys of Double Jungle… We’ve been friends for years and find it nice and cozy to work with eachother. As a matter of fact we are also working on a social game that will run in web browsers that is also unique under quite a few aspects.
Next for me is finally concluding my doctoral dissertation… I hope that will be done by October 2012. And after that, who knows? Maybe another digital oddity with a philosophical theme?
Recently I played through a funny, and rather charming Xbox Live Indie game, called "DLC Quest." A satire of games companies increasing reliance on downloadable content, DLC Quest is an enjoyable but brief adventure.
I managed to ask it's creator, Ben Kane of Going Loud Studios a few questions about the game, and much more.
Q. Welcome to 8-Bit Girl! Could you introduce yourself to my readers?
A: Hi, my name is Ben Kane and I'm the sole member of a little indie game development outfit I call Going Loud Studios. We make games mainly for the Xbox Indie marketplace and have been doing so for a little over a year now. We also like using the "royal we" when referring to ourselves.
Q. Your latest Xbox Live Indie game, DLC Quest is an excellent satire that mocks the industries reliance on downloadable content. What made you choose to create a game centred around this theme?
A: I think DLC is a concept that gets abused by publishers more and more these days, and everybody sees it. I didn't actually intend to make a game entirely about DLC at first however. Instead, I was planning on adding some mock DLC to one of my existing games as a joke. Development on that game was running long though, so I just wrote down the idea and set it aside. In the months that followed, more and more ridiculous DLC was announced throughout the industry and so I kept writing down more ideas. When it came time to start a new project, I looked at my notes and thought, "Geez, there's enough here to be a game in itself!".
Q. I loved the retro look, and the game made me chuckle on more than one occasion! What is your favourite aspect of DLC Quest?
A: I love the sheep that wander around the world. I added them just to see if players would attack them or not - and it turns out that's pretty much the first thing everybody tries to do. There's no reason to hurt the sheep but games seem to have taught players to hit things with the sole intent of seeing what happens.
Q. Do you have any intention of expanding DLC Quest into a larger game, or perhaps as a sequel?
A: DLC Quest is a pretty condensed affair. It's deliberately brief, since I think there's little to gain from overstaying your welcome and having the humour wear thin. In that sense, I don't think it would have the same effect to simply create "more of the same", be it in the form of an update or a sequel. Fortunately, there are a lot of things the industry does that can be mocked and so I think there's still a great opportunity for humor and satire.
Q. Any advice for anyone wishing to bring their indie game onto the Xbox 360 Indie section?
A: I think the best advice would be to get started now and check out the community at the AppHub (create.msdn.com). There are more than enough tutorials, resources and genuinely helpful people around to get started. Start small and finish a game, then publish it. The barrier for entry has never been lower and it's a fantastic feeling to see your work published on the marketplace.
Q. And finally, what's next for Going Loud Studios?
A: To be honest, the huge reception of DLC Quest has caught me off guard - it has far exceeded my expectations. So I'm taking my time to listen to feedback and really try to dig into what went right with this release. One great aspect about being an independent developer is that I can shift gears whenever I want. With any luck, you'll be hearing about our next title in the near future!
You may recall that I interviewed the guys behind the Classic L33T podcast at the beginning of October. Well, it turns out that they loved the interview, and are interested in my blog, so I was asked if I would like to be interviewed for their latest episode of the Classic L33T podcast.
I have never been interviewed before in a podcast, so I jumped at the chance to be featured. You can hear me answer a few questions in this interview by clicking right here.
My interview features around the 58 minute mark, but I strongly urge you to listen to the whole podcast-it's a great listen. Oh, and I apologise if I sound a little nervous at points!
Thank you to Tony from Classic L33T for taking the time out to interview me, despite there being a 5 hour difference in our time zones, and I hope you all enjoy the interview!
American McGee is a games developer who has worked on a variety of different games, such as Doom, Doom II, Quake 1 and 2, as well as his more recent "twisted fairytale" creations, such as Alice, and this years excellent Alice: Madness Returns.
Being a fan of Alice: Madness Returns (a brilliant game with Zelda-like game play) in particular, I decided to get in touch with American to interview him on his career. Here are his responses!
Q. The aspect I loved the most about Alice and Alice: Madness Returns is the macabre, gothic feel. Why did you choose to adopt this style?
A: The style came naturally out of the period in which Alice lived and the many interpretations people have made based on the original books since their release. The Victorian era provides many great examples of early fashion, writing and designs which are very gothic in nature.
Q. Your games show a love of fairy tales, with Alice for example being a sort of "twisted fairy tale." What interests you about them?
A: Many of these tales have endured for 1000s of years - the origin of Red Riding Hood, for example, goes back to a time before written history. These tales are passed down in oral or written form because they speak to the heart of the human condition, our fears, our weaknesses and our compassion. When building games based on these tales it's possible to use a sort of narrative shorthand, because the audience already brings so much of the story and tone with them.
Q. You became a Creative Director when you worked with Electronic Arts. What's the best parts of this role?
A: It's just a title like any other. Making games is a truly collaborative process, and we each do our bit regardless of title. Most days now I'm less focused on "creative" aspects of the business and more concerned with supporting the studio in general. And that best describes what I've enjoyed most about my time in the industry, regardless of title, and that's being a part of and helping teams of people to achieve their creative goals.
Q. Is there any news for when the Alice film will make an appearance?
A: Nope.
Q. Your games have received many positive reviews. How does this make you feel?
A: Usually better than the negative ones.
Q. What is your favourite part of the games making process?
A: Seeing the reactions generated by the finished product.
Q. Are there any games that you have taken inspiration from in your own work?
A: Almost every game, film or other bit of creative output I absorb can have a potential impact on the work I do. It's rare that I see or hear something that doesn't make me think in some way of the its message or style might be applied in a game we're making or thinking of.
Q. And finally, have you got anything new in the pipeline?
A: We're currently working on a number of free-to-play online games. One of them, called Akaneiro, is based on Red Riding Hood but set in ancient Japan. The other is called Big Head Bash and takes place inside a toy shop. All the games we're working on these days are online and F2P, meant to be played by a wide audience around the world. You can learn more about them on www.spicyhorse.com.
