We’re only leveraging THPS-style controls because they’re easier to use than EA Skate-style stick waggling. Old School Gamer Magazine: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important? Oh, that and NEVER EVER EVER MAKE A FULLY PHYSICAL SKATEBOARDING GAME WITH ACTUAL JOINTED WHEELS. It works, sort of, but you have to add yeast as well, so I’m not really sure it’s worth the added effort. Megan: Don’t bother trying to make gluten-free sourdough. Old School Gamer Magazine: What were the major lessons learned? It’s very odd to suddenly be invited to things, and not just have your emails ghosted. You assume it’s a troll email first, but then it’s not, and- huh. Megan: Nothing’s really gone wrong, but the experience of being emailed by Geoff Keighley just to casually ask “hey you wanna be in this big event” was weird. Old School Gamer Magazine: Any fun stories or wild moments during development? Megan: SkateBIRD is kind of straight down the middle between the Tony Hawk series, and the EA Skate series. Old School Gamer Magazine: What games influenced this one the most? (but you gotta imagine me saying that in the saccharine fairy-grandmother way) Old School Gamer Magazine: What makes this game special? There’s been some stress here at the end caused by the nature of shipping a multi-platform game across 2 consoles, 1 cloud service, 3 desktop stores, etc, but even that’s not resulted in a ton of crunch. We’ve churned along, haven’t hit any major budget crunches where we had to drastically alter plans. It’s been wild to watch the community and its awareness grow, to be part of the first VGAs #GameFestival, to sort of “win” E3 the one year, and all that, but like the actual dev? Just, nice. Old School Gamer Magazine: What has development been like? It of course then grew significantly from there. A lot? SkateBIRD pre-Kickstarter started as a project that I thought I could do on my own, with Nathan doing music. Megan: Well, I’m the project lead, the main programmer, the only designer, and prior to the last year I was the only non-character 3D artist on the team full time, so um. Old School Gamer Magazine: What is your role in the game? In this case, the bird was clearly getting into it. They can be trained to ride boards down ramps and such, and often they enjoy it. Like, a GIF of a real bird skateboarding. Old School Gamer Magazine: How was this game born? Select from more than 30 species of birds and dozens of accessories to create-a-birb that’s as unique as your skating style. Complete missions to unlock new levels, ranging from a messy bedroom to a secret rooftop full of ramps and rails. Shred bird-sized skateparks with an intuitive and accessible control scheme that makes linking together lines and combos a breeze. Megan made the game with the help of Nathan Madsen, Xalavier Nelson Jr, Alexander Price, Sara Fox, and a bunch of others kicking in a little here or there- and together, they moved the mountain.Old School Gamer Magazine chats with Megan Fox, Lead Developer, Glass Bottom Games, who discusses the fun behind the developer’s newest game, SkateBIRD. It's available on Switch, Xbox, Desktop and elsewhere. Megan's Breakthrough project is SkateBIRD (2022), which is a game about a little skateboarding bird that tries their best. Starting as a graphics programmer on LEGO Universe, she then spent a decade honing her craft and building her own games. Her grandpa helped her find games on BBSes on an 8088 PC, then came the NES, and then back to PC for greats like Ultima 7- and then she knew what she'd do when she grew up. Or at least Megan did, because she was (and hiking and hobbies aside, still is) a nerd. Born in the sage-drenched west under a cherry tree, she was whisked at an early age to Alaska, where glaciers roam free and kids spend a lot of time indoors. As a BAFTA Breakthrough, I hope to connect with the various platforms and professionals that would be interested in supporting my further efforts in making queer little games about queer little birds doing people things.
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