@Jampley-Dev - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index
Q: How did you become interested in literature? Why do you think you enjoy reading? Can you provide examples of your own stories that you’ve written, and what do you like about writing them?
1- I was in high school, I felt the education system had failed me, so I tried to learned some stuff on my own, like how to write and read properly, so I read some books like Frankenstein and Don Quijote. At first, I didn't like them much, but then I actually tried to understand what I was reading and I started to take linking to them. I always wanted to tell my own stories, growing up watching a lot of movies and cartoons, and I found a way to tell stories through literature, which is its own media with its own qualities. I like the creative process of making anything that is on your mind, and express your ideas and feeling.
I don't usually write stories in English, but I have this flash fiction that I think it's good:
Q: Where does your interest in game development come from? What have you learned from your experiences creating games such as Gravity Storm, Lucy's Dream Panic, and Manuee's Adventure?
2- My interest comes from the many games I played as a kid, maybe not much of an unique story ha, ha. My first console was a bootleg console called "Fullstation", that looked exactly like Playstation 1, but it come with a zapper and loaded with 999,999 repeated NES games. I had fun playing Mario and Dog Hunt on my "Fullstation". It took a while until I got my PSP and could play with oficial Hardware. I'm more a retro gamer although I'm not that old.
I remembered that one day I just woke up and asked myself, "is it hard to make videogame? I like games, I wonder if I make one". I don't know I found out about Gamemaker, but I did and started learning, although Gamemaker is quite an easy game engine to learn, it was still hard to learn. After like a year of treating game dev hobby, I found myself with no job and a lot of free time, so I decided to try see if I can make so profit out of it. I participated in several game jams which most of the time were just excuses to make games and get some visibility at the same time. Gravity Storm was the game I felt had the most potential and it actually got pretty popular in Gx.games and Newgrounds, so I decided to make it my main project, and I'm still working on it. Game development gives me a certain creative feeling that writing give me too, although I never focus on the narrative when I make games.
Rather than learning from making games, I have learned more from watching people play my games, and listening to their "feedback". Most of the time, their feedback isn't useful, so many people give their opinion without even playing the game for more than 2 minutes, or even without playing it at all, asking me to add stuff that is already in the game or features that would break the level design, or take me too long to implement to be viable. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten plenty of good feedback, but most of it tends to me poorly thought out or biased, and I usually learn how to improve my game by watching how people play, rather than what they say about the game. Many people want your game to be more like other games they like, instead of a better version of itself. For example, many want my game to be more like Megaman and I understand that Gravity Storm looks like Megaman, but it was never my intention to make a Megaman clone, my inspirations are others, and Megaman fans who actually played my game realized that it plays quite differently from Megaman. What I'm trying to say is that I've learned how irrational people can be, even myself because I've acted similarly in the past, and you should be careful listening to people who talk out of ignorance, and try not to talk out of ignorance yourself.
Q: What recommendations and advice would you give for doing pixel art commissions?
3- I'm not an expert in pixel art commissions, I have done only 5, I'm kind of new to this. But I was a Spanish tutor in the past, and I learned that you have to get paid in advance because there are many irresponsable or simply bad people out there. I have learned to value my time, my work, and keep getting better at it, because quality is important. You need patience because freelance work can take time to pay off because you need to get an audience, which isn't an overnight thing. Also, advertisement is important, advertise your work in as many places as possible.
Q: Why do you think you’ve never played Minecraft? What is it about FPS games that you don’t like?
4- I've never been interested in Minecraft, it's not like I'm not open to try it, I might try it in the future.
I don't usually like FPS games because I feel restricted in the limited view I have of the surroundings, third person games gives me more to work with in that regard. I also don't feel more immersed in first person prospective because normal people don't really move their body like that, it's unnatural. I'm not really looking for immersion, most of the time, I'm looking for cool mechanics and freedom. I don't really view art or videogames as a way to escape from realistic if that makes sense. VR games might be more immersive, but I can't afford them nor I'm interested in putting a screen right in front of my eyes, well, that's probably a whole other topic.
Q: What do you discuss with other game developers?
5- Usually how hard game development is and how to solve each other coding problems and we give feedback to each other's games.
- Two blue, two red, and one yellow
I used to work at a shop and some guy came with a piece of paper. The piece of paper read, "two blue, two red, and one yellow". I was like, "what does that mean?", and he was like, "it means what's written there. Then I handed back the piece of paper and told him to read it himself. When he read it, he look at me puzzled, then got angry and said, "I'm never doing her any favors ever again". Then he stormed out the shop, never to be seen again ha, ha, ha.
Q: Do you have any clues as to what "two blue, two red, and one yellow" was referring to?
6- I'm not sure, maybe they wanted paper, I worked at a office supply shop/pet supply shop, I know, weird. It could have been whatever, or maybe someone was pranking that man.
Q: Your favourite games and why?
7- Hard question... on top of my head:
- Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 1 remake: best survival horror games I've played, I love survival horror games.
- Pokemon Black and White 2: best pokemon games in my opinion.
- Over Horizon (NES): Best NES shoot'em up on the NES in my opinion, you can shoot left and right, great use the the environment in the level design, more shoot'em ups should do that.
- Castlevania Harmony of dissonance: Underrated, my favorite Castlevania game, I love Castlevania
- Kirby and the Amazing Mirror: I love metroidvanias and this is one with co-op, I played alone and with people I love.
Q: Advice for Game Dev
8-Get your priorities right, scoop creep is a big and very common problem. if you make a big project, it will most likely take you years to finish it and you got to be aware of it, you might not be as excited about your game after a month or two. Listen to criticism, ask for help if you need some, don't listen to ignorant opinions, and try to be wise enough to tell them apart from good feedback.
Q: What do you think about Newgrounds? How did you join, and what have you learned about yourself by being a part of it?
9- I love Newgrounds, I gotten many opportunities since I made an account. I like the system it has, it seems to make it easier for new creators to get visibility, I wish It were a more popular place because I think it deserves it, but I guess sometimes it's better when things aren't too popular.
I think I found out about Newgrounds because I was doing research on places where I could publish my game and Newgrounds would pop up a lot. I uploaded Gravity Storm one evening without expecting much, and the day after Gravity Storm was on the front page and I was so happy, some time after that I got 100 dollars from a contest on Newgrounds I didn't know existed, I thought it was a scam, but it was legit, I was surprised and grateful I got it because at the time I needed the money.
I don't think I've learned much about myself; however, I've had a lot of fun and and opportunities, and I think that's awesome.