TOD2 – opdracht 4 – Interview

De persoon die ik heb geïnterviewd heb ik op een online forum ontmoet en hij had me al eerder geholpen met een game van me. Hij is Dean van  Demonic Design Games.

Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Dean An ex C64 & Amiga Musician and Designer who creates Retro games and music for Retro lovers.

What is a good start for an aspiring game designer/developer?
Unity is a good start and very versatile which most indie's use so chances are most gamers will know what to expect, keep promoting your game and update where you can but do have a clear goal as to what type of gamer you are trying to attract and it's also a good idea what to show what you hope to achieve with your game and what you wish to add to it in the future post release.

Do you have any tips on releasing a game?

First game in particular can be extremely hard work but stay with it. In today's market it's best to get some gameplay footage out there or even a little demo so gamers can see what the game is about, Twitter is a good place to spread word of your game, if you have your own site and have video's or screenshots available this will always help.

What skills do you need as a programmer?
It's all about taking little steps in the beginning and to keep it fun as well, programming in itself can be quite time consuming and full of problem solving and that's the challenging part as I'm sure you have found out.

What did you do to get good in programming and also what did you do to motivate yourself?
(hier voor had ik mijn manier uitgelegt)

That's interesting about what you mention for creating games in one month, i had a similar idea years ago but rather than games i created small demo's which could be things that would appear in an actual game just to see if they would work or if i could even do them, it's not as silly as it sounds as it means keeping things simple and small and doesn't take as long as writing a game, think of it as small steps. I did this as I was learning a language and made things easier for me until i really knew what i was doing and made me a better programmer, motivation is the key factor as you have said and know only too well this is a big problem.

Do you have any tips for me as an aspiring game developer?
It pays to not have too many things going on at once, i have learned or programmed in around 20 different languages in the last 30 years and it's a lot to get your head around and makes things easier if you can be very good at a couple of things rather than average or good at many and will benefit you no end.

Where did you start as a programmer and which engines/languages did you use?

It's a bit more complex in today's industry as there is a great variety with languages and engines and frameworks, for me when i started there were no engines and only limited to a couple of languages so in a way it was slighly more easier to learn and become very good at programming, assembly was the only real professional option. The one thing i will say is that you never stop learning or finding other ways to improve as a programmer and you always find another way to solve a problem, it's quite exciting really. 

What is one thing that is still tricky today?

One thing that i have learn't over the years in the industry on a personal level is to know what your limitations are for the game and for your programming skills and keep within that and your game will generally work out as intended but keep practicing as i have done for 32 years and counting and keep progressing.