Awhile back 8 Bit Gamer contacted me to record an interview about Another Star. They posted it not too long ago while I wasn’t looking, so why not head on over there and check it out?
I will admit the way they edited my answers in the transcript is not quite to my taste. I’m picky about wording so I’d have preferred it to be more verbatim; although not so much so that it includes all my awkward pauses and “uh”s (I’m usually good about not doing that, but I’m not used to doing Skype interviews). In any case, it’s not like I’m Shakespeare, so I suppose I have no room to complain. Skimming over the transcript there doesn’t seem to be anything they’ve completely changed the meaning on, so if you don’t want to listen to me jabber for twelve minutes you can just stick to reading the transcript. The only factually incorrect bit I caught is that they transcribed XNA as “X and A”. [EDIT: The XNA typo has since been corrected.]
The footage they’re using is from this old gameplay preview, by the way. If you want to see the preview with my commentary, that’s where it is. (I really need to do a new gameplay preview that shows off some of the newer features added since the last beta.)
The interview was pretty good…I’m a big fan of indie games but I absolutely love this old school look…I like your little discussion on Minimalism and how you actually put some thought into making the game. Kind of shows you how history can influence game making.
I played all the Dragon Quests and old school Final Fantasys. I’m kind of glad mobile gaming is bringing back all these retro graphics but with updated concepts. Any idea when this might be out?
Hi! I’m glad you enjoyed the interview.
Personally, I like doing research on different things to incorporate into my work. Before Ludum Dare 26 I probably couldn’t tell you very much about Minimalism, but even reading just a little bit about the movement gave me lots of ideas for what eventually became this game. Norse/Germanic mythology has been done to death at this point, especially in RPGs, so I always try to branch out and look for ideas in things most people aren’t familiar with.
Right now I’m working to polish the game for a release on Windows/Mac/Linux sometime from late-January to mid-February.
As noted in the interview, I’m not sure when or if I’ll be doing a mobile version, but if the game does well I’ll certainly look into doing a good iPod/Android port.