Engine 001: http://www.engine001.com/
Voyage Of Vengeance: http://www.engine001.com/games/Voyage+for+Vengeance_57.htm
1.) Tell us a bit about your game, Voyage For Vengeance. How was it made?
Back in the day (August 2007 the game's topic says), I was really into this Supernatural TV series that was on an early season at the time. Then one day I thought: what would a supernatural game be like? So having not seen any games like it by the time, and having a little experience with 001, I decided to make it.
As anyone can see, the game itself is pretty much a rip-off of Supernatural (plot, characters, soundtrack), but hey, I dare anyone to come up with something 100% original.
By having a male and a female leads (rather than two male ones) and a slight change in the plot, where the protagonists seek only revenge from his already dead father, rather than look for him, I gave my own touch to the game, so you can tell Supernatural and Voyage for Vengeance apart. Of course, I couldn't leave key elements like the soundtrack, the evil demons and Dean's awesomeness out of it.
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| Voyage Of Vengeance |
It's really nice to have small games like Minecraft and A Tale of Two Kingdoms recognized. It's extremely hard to make games if you're on your own (like the former), because you will often have to get resources from some source which is not yourself, unless you're talented enough to make your own art, music, sound effects and scripts for the game (like metomunc)! And it sucks because your game will always give the player the thought "It's the pink doom monster!" or "I've heard this sound before!", and will be always bounded to the copyright issues that come with them.
But even for indie games with a limited team (ATOTK), it's hard because you're working on a low (zero) budget, and who is going to work really hard on something for years that will not give you any income? It's hard to assemble such a team AND keep the team on until the project is completed. In my opinion, they've been growing with the internet itself.
10 years ago, it was very hard to make an indie game and have it spread worldwide. But today, with everything linked by the web and so many ways to publish your work, if it's good, it will be passed on from person to person, like a meme. The good stuff has always been there, it was just invisible to people, now it's visible. Also, now we have so many games that seem more real than reality itself, because of the increasing development of the gaming industry accross the world, sometimes you have to play something that just feels like a game.
3.) Are you thinking about making more games in the future?
Of course. Making games is a hobby for me, so it's not a question of if, but when. Recently, I've been working on a Fallout game, though this game was actually started before VfV, so don't expect anything soon.
4.) What is your tip to aspiring video game designers out there?
Such a person to ask! I'm not sure I should be the one giving advices on game making, but if I had to, I'd say put some real effort on your game(these tips might not work for all game genres):
First of all, think about the story before making a bunch of thoughtless maps, they have to fit your game's setting and storyline. Having an interesting plot is the first step, since people will not play your game if it's got a dull plot. It works like movies - a bad synopsis is likely to be a failure.
Think about the situations you put the player in! Don't expect he or she knows something just because it makes sense to you. If you're ever making puzzles, make sure it's possible to beat it without google (I speak for myself)! Unless it's a puzzle-based game, then it's up to the player to crack it.
Try putting as much detail as you can! Highly-detailed maps, scripts, conversations, cutscenes make the game more interesting. Don't forget that you're not only the programmer, but also the director and screenwriter of the game.
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Test the game before releasing it! I know it's impossible to test everything, especially if your game has lots of choices which reflect on more complex events later on, but know that it's very disappointing to play a game that crashes at the very beginning, or when you load a saved state.
Though I'm hardly in a position to give advice, these are some of the things I consider when making my games.
5.) Anything else you would like to add?
Thank you for this opportunity. I never really thought I'd be answering these questions no matter if a single person or a million people actually gets to read this. I hope to contribute with the indie games database with Voyage for Vengeance.
Miroki123 is so modest. Though we may never know his name, we know he really contributed to the indie game database.
