Cosmin works out of Bucharest and has worked on many games such as Assassin’s Creed and Watch_dogs. His eye for details and penchant for playing games ‘the wrong way’ (in order to break them and reveal bugs) is second to none.

During the interview, Cosmin discusses the tools of his trade, the process of reporting and some of his favourite ‘features’ (a polite word of bugs).

Cosmin not only has one of the best beards in the industry but is also an all-around ‘nice’ guy. After his presentation at Game Anglia, he also spent hours with visitors, answering questions and directing excited potential game testers as to how to break into the industry.

Other questions asked included:

1. What brought you to where you are now?
2. What tools do game testers use?
3. What is the most fun aspect of your job?
4. What is the worst aspect of your job?
5. What is the strangest or most amusing bug you ever discovered?
6. How many games have you tested and which were the most difficult?
7. How would someone get a job as a video games tester, and what other skills can you bring to the table?
8. What are the most important personal qualities of a good game tester?
9. Where can a career in game testing lead?
10. What does the future hold for Cosmin Burescu?

If you have any other questions for Cosmin, please email the site and I will be sure to pass them on.

The post How to Become a Professional Games Tester | Cosmin Burescu Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

To be honest, I was a little awestruck meeting John and his wife Brenda Romero. I had built both of them up so much in my mind as gaming icons, that I was more nervous of them than anyone else at the event. These people changed the trajectory of my life and they hadn’t a clue. Being part of the first generation of gamers and playing through Atari’s, Commodores, Amigas, Megadrive, PCs, and others, we absorbed up every game. Wolfenstein and Doom were turning points in gaming that planted our hearts well and truly in gaming.

I’m sure my interview won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but I hope you find some elements useful and glean some insights if you are just starting out in game development.

Don’t forget to check out my other interview in the developer interviews category on the site.

The post Pushing Boundaries | John Romero Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

I was extremely lucky to get some time with Rhianna and discuss her life in video games from her early adventures on the ZX81 to her more recent deep dive into the myriad of indie games such as Papers Please and Dear Ester.

During my time with the hugely talented and insightful creator, we discussed the importance of bringing in ‘writers’ at the very beginning of a project, instead of leaving it to the last minute and drafting in a ‘narrative paramedic’ to attempt to fix a game’s story. On many occasions, the writer can do more than simply writing ‘the words’. By using a narrative expert, game developers can create deeper characters, develop new game mechanics (based on story arcs) and add meaning to levels and landscapes, through environmental storytelling.

As more and more games are focused on delivering a narrative experience than simply cycling through an endless ‘game loop’, the story is essential.

After writing for the most iconic character in video games I asked Rhianna ‘where next?’. Whilst she was more than happy to be creating new IP and content for the expanded universe, Rhianna expressed a desire not only to create a stand-alone game featuring Alyx from Half Life 2, but also the possibility of exploring the character of the female pirate Ellie Marley from the Monkey Island series.

Rhianna’s love of the Telltale games also saw her express a love of the Wolf Among Us series and would love to be part of the writing team at Telltale for future series of this beloved comic.

It was amazing to chat with such a video game icon as Rhianna Pratchatt and receive valuable insights about video games that are useful for both AAA studios and Indie developers alike. I look forward to seeing what stories she will weave in the future.

The post Writing Lara Croft | Rhianna Pratchett Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Brenda is a fantastic game designer and developer originally from America and now lives in Galway, Ireland. BAFTA award-winning Brenda is one of the longest-serving women in the games industry, starting her career in 1981 on the Wizardry role-playing game. Brenda has worked on a slew of games that range from Dungeons and Dragons to Playboy: The Mansion. Considered one of the most influential figures in gaming, Brenda has created both board games and video games including the critically acclaimed ‘Train’ that was based on the holocaust. Throughout her illustrious career, she has published a book about the industry, given a plethora of talks and help forward the industry as a whole.

After hearing the topic of Brenda’s talk ‘Women in Gaming’, I promptly researched and prepared questions that related to women in gaming. However, after sitting through her presentation, I soon realised how inappropriate my questions were. The key message throughout Brenda’s talk (about women in video games), was to stop talking about women in video games and simply to discuss people in gaming. There was no need for segregation, separate awards and gender-specific categories. Game designers and developers are just that, and should not be split apart. Female game designers do not need their own league… they want fair and equal treatment and equal respect in the industry.

As you might expect, my questions about the current situation around women in games suddenly became widely inappropriate and I felt embarrassed and small. I wanted so much to impress this pillar of the industry, that I didn’t realise my pre-conditioned sexism. However, despite Brenda’s powerful gravitas and overwhelming confidence, there was a calm serenity that looked kindly on my small-mindedness and was able to change my perspective.

With most of my questions now irrelevant, I fumbled through the interview best I could and learned so much in such a short space of time.

I must say a huge thank you for Brenda for her patience and openness. The insights she shared were invaluable and the keynote speech she gave changed not just my life that day, but that of many budding young game developers as well.

The post Gaming Legend | Brenda Romero appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

During this window, Dan created games including the award-winning Hue, amongst others. We talk about the changes that happen between his first success and the follow up from moving into a dedicated studio to assigning a game director.

Dan Da Rocha is a huge part of the indie game industry in the U.K. taking part in various events, giving presentations and showcasing his game.

Watch the full interview with Dan Da Rocha above.

Q.U.B.E 1

Q.U.B.E 2

The post What Makes a Sequel | Dan Da Rocha Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

This veteran Udemy instructor is one of the top-grossing teachers on the skill sharing site and has created courses on Unity, Unreal, Blender 3D and many more.

Check out his courses at:
https://www.udemy.com/user/bentristem/

In this interview, we discuss his life, his love of gaming and the best ways for first-time game designers to take their first tentative steps into the amazing world of game development.

So whether you want to tackle Unity, Unreal or even GameMaker, Ben courses take you step-by-step through the process starting with the basic user interface, all the way to more complex programming. I personally took both the Unity and Blender 3D courses when I wanted to get back into game development and found clear, concise and easy to follow.

His passion for teaching is clearly apparent and throughout the day I could feel his passion for creating useful and practical courses. He was a joy to interview and his presentation at Game Anglia is well worth a watch.

The post Interview With Ben Tristem: Udemy’s Best Selling Game Development Instructor appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

• What is a Unity Educational Evangelist?
• How can game developers embrace the Unity community?
• Where are the best Unity tools and resources?
• Is Unity in schools?
• What is The Playground Project?
• Game Development and Unity certification tips?
• Unity VR Development

And so much more. Whilst I would love to give you all the answers right here, you have to watch the video to find out. If you would like more information on some of the topics we discuss, we see the links below.

Useful links:

• Follow Liz Mercuri on Twitter (@FragFox)
• Download Unity 3D
• Meet and collaborate at Unity Connect
• Unity Learn Channel
• The Playground Project
• Best Unity Assets Right Now

The post The Power of Unity | Liz Mercuri Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

So, if you have missed the boat on getting a University degree in game design or development, never fear, as here are five fantastic Udemy courses for budding game designers and developers.

The Ultimate Guide to Game Development with Unity

Created by Jonathan Weinberger and Unity Technologies
https://www.udemy.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-game-development-with-unity/
156 lectures but only 12 hours

Learn C# Code by Making Games – Complete Unity Developer 2.0

Created by Ben Tristem, Rick Davidson, GameDev.tv by Ben
https://www.udemy.com/unitycourse2/
– 118 lectures and 16hrs

Check out my interview with Ben Tristem here.

Finish Your First Game Quickly Using GameMaker Studio 1.4

Created by Benjamin Anderson
https://www.udemy.com/make-a-game-in-a-single-afternoon-using-gamemaker-studio/
– 28 lectures 3.5 hours

Unity Game Development Academy: Make 2D & 3D Games

Created by Mark Price, Developed by Mark Price
https://www.udemy.com/devslopes-unity3d/
– Biggest at 118 lectures and 35hrs

The Unreal Engine Developer Course – Learn C++ & Make Games

Created by Sam Pattuzzi, GameDev.tv by Ben Tristem
https://www.udemy.com/unrealcourse/
– 55 hours of video

Whether you are looking to code in 2D or 3D or use a drag and drop engine or get down and dirty with code, Udemy is a great resource to start you on your game dev journey. My only advice is to finish a course. Many offer certification and rewards for finishing and it’s great for your mental well-being to start and finish a course. Many a time I would start a course, learn something new and then spend weeks messing around with my new skill and lose my way. By completing a course you can equip yourself with the skills to do many things and mess around for a whole lot longer.

I was lucky enough to interview Ben Tristem from GameDev.Tv, and one of the top teachers at Udemy and you can check out my interview here.

The post 5 Great Udemy Courses For New Game Developers appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Q1. What made you get into game development?

I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember and I’ve spent a fair amount of time designing small projects – from board games, through pencil&paper RPGs – growing up and studying. I’ve always wanted to create video games in some capacity and started actively looking for employment in the industry after I completed my bachelor’s degree. I’ve found work as a tester, initially, and then made the switch to game/level designer.

Q2. How would you describe Serial Cleaner?

Serial Cleaner is a fast-paced stealth game with a big focus on its 1970s theme and atmosphere. Its initial design was inspired by games such as Hotline Miami, Party Hard and Viscera Cleanup Detail, though we’ve since created a set of mechanics which feel entirely our own. You take on the role of a professional Cleaner – sort of like Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction, but more hands-on – who works for the mafia. Over the course of the game, our protagonist starts taking jobs from a different, more mysterious Client, and that introduces the Cleaner to a whole new world of trouble.

Q3. What were the core design goals and how did the design evolve in response to the frequent playtesting?

Initially, we were aiming at a much more slow-paced, deliberate stealth game – essentially a real-time puzzle game with some inspirations taken from stuff like the Hitman series. We quickly found that this isn’t exactly the kind of game we’d like to make, and instead, we focused on making it more of a dexterity game with a stealth component. That stealth element was still pervasive throughout the game, and we haven’t really left out the puzzling component either! In the end, the game is definitely a mix of styles and genres, that we hope is interesting enough to feel fresh.

Q4. When did you decide Serial Cleaner could be a game in its own right?

We knew from the start we wanted to make a bigger game out of Serial Cleaner, though the scope changed as our development reality shifted from making a shorter, simpler title in just a few months, to spending a year on it, to finding a publisher in Curve Digital, which allowed us to extend the production even further. This also gave us the chance to put some finishing touches on the game and add stuff like bonus levels and different costumes – both were features we were excited about but had to cut from our plans… until they could be added back in again!

Q5. Serial Cleaner is coming out on July 14th – How long has it been in development and is out on schedule?

We’ve started development in early 2016, and we had our first playable demo ready in April 2016. Since then a lot has changed, but if you’d play that demo, you’d see that the game’s core gameplay is very similar – just a lot poorer in quality than what it is now   We were aiming at completing the bulk of the work in 2016, but since securing Curve Digital as our publisher we expanded the game’s scope. That expansion was a sensible process though – we’ve delivered all internal and external milestones on time, so the additional features did not have a negative impact on the schedule. We are releasing on time

Q6. What has been the biggest issue and how did you overcome it?

We had a few core features of the gameplay that felt like they could be either liked or hated by players. We did our best to refine some and re-do others and we’re happy with the end result – player feedback has been almost universally positive. It seems then, that the main issue – how to balance the game so it works for different playstyles and doesn’t feel weird – has been solved by some polish, balancing and smart level design.

Q7. Can you tell me more about the film inspired bonus levels

The 1970’s are known for a lot of things: the wild hairstyles and clothing, funk and disco music etc. but not everybody knows that some of the most influential movies of all time were also born out of that decade. And some of those movies were actually pretty bleak – like Taxi Driver or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – which belied the “feel good” view that many people have of those times now. Since several of us in the team were fans of cinema, we wanted to add in a few nods to those classics in the main story, but we then found we’re actually able to make whole new levels inspired by some of our favourite flicks. We had a lot of fun designing them and sprinkling them with all sorts of Easter eggs. We’re curious how many of them are the players going to find!

Q8. Do you have any rituals, music, or perhaps, meditation you practice to get you into your workflow?

Not exactly, but the design and art teams spent a lot of time researching the 1970s in preparation for, and during production. We almost literally submerged ourselves in the decade’s music, art, movie trailers… anything we could find. We did a lot of reading about serial killers, too – the 1970s have seen the biggest activity of such individuals in history. In other words, we did all we could to do justice to our game’s setting and atmosphere!

Q9. What do you think are the greatest challenges that face an indie developer?

From my perspective, it’s definitely figuring out a unique set of mechanics and a fun blend of gameplay that conveys all you want it to convey while feeling fresh and interesting. There are so many games right now, coming from so many talented, creative devs, that it’s really hard to compete in terms of great ideas. Sometimes it all comes down to improving an already good idea and creating a game that uses its full potential.

Q10. Could you share any tips with other devs trying to make games?

Identify early on what it is in a project that makes you happy or feels like a worthwhile path to explore. In some ways, you are your worst enemy, and your self-doubt might kill a project before it’s even ready to be shown to the world. Also, know what elements of your game are the core that you are not willing to negotiate – but make sure that’s the cornerstone on which you’ll be able to create a game, and not a bit more. Defining why your game is fun and what’s inseparable from that fun, is key to creating a focused title that’ll be remembered for what it did well.

Bonus Questions:

Are you generally a clean person, and what is your favourite and least favourite chore?

I’m a bit of a fanatic when it comes to hair. I’ve had long hair since high school and I shampoo them every day. When I don’t, I feel filthy and get really grumpy real fast! I also really dislike summer because of high temperatures and sweating – I’m more of an autumn/winter person.

When it comes to chores, I don’t mind doing the dishes, and I like organizing stuff on shelves – especially when I can listen to a podcast or have a YouTube video playing in the background. I like cooking enough that I don’t usually consider it a chore. I’m not a fan of window cleaning and dusting, to be honest – mostly because it’s a lot of hard work that gets wasted just a few days in!

If your partner or co-worker accidentally killed someone (a bad person), would you help them cover it up?

Well, if I answered that, I’d have to call THEM to help ME cover something up…

Thank you SO much Krzysztof for taking the time to answer our questions and we will have a full review of Serial Cleaner soon.

Check out the game here:

Xbox One   |   PS4   |   Steam

The post Developer Interview: Serial Cleaner appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

From the very beginning we decided to name our studio with two words where the second word has to be Studio. We began to choose the adjectives from the letter A: Active Studio, Ancient Studio, Awesome Studio and etc. When we got to Brainy Studio we were already exhausted. But this naming got our attention, and it became instantly clear how our logo could looks like.

2. How long has the studio been in existence now? 
From the beginning of the studio’s existence, has it always been composed of the team of four guys that presently work here?

Brainy Studio was founded in January 2013 by students of Perm National Research Polytechnic University by web-developer Evgenii Romin, programmer Anton Baranov and digital artist Ilya Antonov.In the beginning of 2014 company joined Unity-developer Alexander Frolov (but he left in summer of 2015) and marketeer Dmitri Ogorodnikov (he is still with us).

As an official registered company, Brainy Studio LLC, we are working from October 2014. And it took almost 2 years to gain the skills and expertise in gamedev before we took the full responsibility for our undertaking.

And now we almost done with our debut game for Xbox One and Steam.

3. TurnOn was inspired by the WWF’s Earth Hour but how did you go about translating that concept to an actual game?

Everything is very simple. A little over 2 years ago our game designer Ilia Antonov told us about a global environmental movementEarthHour‬, which is held by WWF. To be honest we were really hooked and inspired by the main idea of this event – to use your power to ‪#‎ChangeClimateChange‬. And then we thought: can we create a game with a similar setting? Suddenly we tried to imagine sudden tripping the light. Electrical devices don’t work, there is no light on the streets, no internet and mobile connection, and people go out into the street to see what was happening. Can you conceive it? In such a simple manner TurnOn was born.

And then we come up with a character with ability to return the electricity in try to show the contrast between when you have electricity and when not.

4. The story-telling in TurnOn relies purely on visuals. Can you provide certain examples for how this works and the challenges that come with no dialogues?

Each level puts you in certain situations related to the lack of electricity.Thus, in one of them you need to stop the furious rotation of Ferris Wheel and help the people on it. Only by performing the certain actions it becomes clear what to do next, somewhere the game tells you something by moving the camera, somewhere by cutscenes, info bubbles or cartoons it helps you. So the entire story is told through what you see (and sometimes what you don’t). TurnOn has short one-sentence descriptions for every level, but we made it only to meet the player with the given circumstances.

5. TurnOn is a game that is trying to both enlighten the player’s understanding of the world around them as well as get them to have fun while doing so -like such games as “Never Alone” before it. Are there any design pitfalls that you worked hard toward avoiding with making a game that strives to achieve such a dynamic goal?

The most important task for us was to withstand the game atmosphere together with attempt to make the game enjoyable and full of challenges all the gameplay, we wanted the players not be tired of the process and were excited from the game. That’s why we were tried to surprise with every new level. You can just explore the areas in the levels, some of them are musical, in some you should beat an unexpected bosses. At some point the player realizes that he can move not only from left to right, but also into the depth of the location, then jump between the power lines, which seem far, but in the same moment are close.

Inspired by the desire to tell such story as you can find in a great book or in an incredible movie, we paid a lot of attention to the story and the way it should be told.

TurnOn itself is about how strong the world depends on electricity and what can happen if it suddenly disappears. So we hope that players will like TurnOn.

6. TurnOn has an episodic approach to its story. Does that mean it will be split up into five different episodes and sold separately or will it one entire story?

Absolutely not. The game is the complete adventure, consisting of 5 chapters. The division into episodes is due to the fact that we wanted to show the different parts of the city, which have a different atmosphere and style of an action. Thus we have Power Station, Suburb, Residential District and others, but all events in every chapter are combined in one story. Besides step by step we were adding another gameplay types such as moving into the depth of the locations or only up, looking for different object under the ground or leaps of faith.

7. Are there any interesting story details that players may miss on their first playthrough? Perhaps lore or collectibles providing more details?

Actually our tests showed that about a half of all achievements could be got after the first walkthrough, by the way TurnOn has 82 achievements. And players may miss lots of interesting details as for sure. So it can be good motivation to replay the game once again and to find all.

8. How does exploration and level progression work in TurnOn? What kind of objectives will players face in missions?

Basically you need to understand how to get to the end of the level, and it is often not obvious, but a variety of targets await the player at the levels. You should help the little girl to get rid of the dog and bring her back home, find someone loudly chomping in the nearest supermarket, light up the party, repair the wiring in the private house… And all of these goals are to address one global – restore electricity to the entire city.

9. What kind of puzzles can players expect during missions?

The most interesting kind of puzzle is how to get to specific place. Sometimes what seems far and unachievable often is very close. Thus somewhere you should make a leap of faith or to look for a such path that at first glance is not possible. Try to complete the “Unusual Date” level and you’ll see.

10. How do the Music levels work and what are the key differences between Music levels and exploration levels in terms of objectives?

Music levels are like a bonus (but that doesn’t mean they are easier), represent the finite runners where your goal is not to fall down from the power line. And sometimes music can help you to play, moreover after completing this levels the electricity gets back to the city’s districts.

11. When designing the music levels, what was the thought process for the composer? What kind of collaboration was required to find the right music for the level in question?

We’re small studio of 4 developers, don’t have our own composer or money to pay for the high-quality sound design, and this time we have done so: we found and bought royalty free music, which was suitable on the every level’s mood. Of course we would like to work with great composer or full orchestra like other big titles, but TurnOn is or debut project on these platforms, and we hope all is still to come. Anyway we’re ready for the counter offers, because we’re not going to stop on one project and only with these platforms.

12. TurnOn actually arrives on Windows Phone before Steam with its demo. What motivated the desire to start on Windows Phone and how has development on the overall concept changed with the shift to Xbox One and Steam?

In the summer of 2014 we were able to win and get the grant for development in the “Games” category of international competition Imagine Cup which is held by Microsoft, in that moment we had only prototype with 2 levels for WP. Six months later, under the terms of getting another grant by AppCampus we have released 1st demo episode on Windows Phone, but by that time had already hit the ID@Xbox, a program that allows indie developers to release their games on this console. It became clear that this goal is much more complex and interesting, so we should do it. Greenlit on Steam we got in April of 2015 as well.

13. Will there be any challenges or other modes for players to engage in when the story has wrapped up?

It can be connected with Achievement system. We tried to make it in such way, when the player can’t get all achievements and find all secrets by the first walkthrough. Our advice: try to activate all electrical objects and collect all the items, and you’ll be happy TurnOn has not arcade mods.

14. Is there any specific reason why the game is not coming on the PS4?

TurnOn story has evolved consistently. Imagine Cup, AppCampus, Windows Phone, ID@Xbox and Steam. Next we plan to go to PS4 and Nintendo. We already showed TurnOn to guys from Sony and Nintendo, and they liked the game.

15. Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

Most of developers think that they are making a masterpiece. Now we just have to hope that you’ll enjoy our debut game on Xbox One, PC and Macand appreciate it.

The post Developer Chat: Turn On | Xbox One appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

How long have you been making games?

We started working in 2004, so we’ve been developing games for more than 10 years already. Since that time, we’ve created more than 40 titles; and there are more than 5 mln people worldwide playing our games. All of them were mobile games (J2ME, iOS, Android, WP8), ‘Hello, Neighbor!’ is our the biggest and first PC project.

Are there any developers or games that inspired you to get into games?

We’ve always been keen on playing games; and we think that games as a piece of art inspired us to start creating the games, rather than a specific title or a developer.

When did you first come up with the concept of ‘Hello Neighbor’?

The idea came to our game designer about a year ago. He decided to create the game that would give a player the feelings he has when he suddenly finds an “Easter egg”.

What is the general premise of the game?

The “Orphan Black” series gave us the first impulse to create such sort of a game. A few words about the series. The main character here is trying to find out whether her husband is a spy. She’s torturing him and suddenly realizes that she’s mistaken. Then she starts doing the same with a woman living next door. Having killed her, she understands that the real spy is her husband. What a twist!

The amount of A.I sounds really ambitious. How will you achieve such sophistication?

There is no mystery here. The only thing our game-designers and programmers do is working very very hard.

Actually, it’s not an easy thing to tell in a few words how the A.I. works. We are creating a video now in which we’ll show the current state of A.I. development.

How long has ‘Hello Neighbor’ been in production? and what is your estimated timeline for rolling it out?

We’ve been working on the game for several months already. We’ve created design docs, art materials, several videos and are working now over a playable prototype that will come to the light at the start of the Kickstarter campaign.

The ‘enemy’ character is somewhere between Ned Flanders and a Circus Strongman, what was the thinking behind this character?

It was quite a “natural” process. Our game-designer was trying hard to imagine how the Neighbor would look like. Finally, he just took a pencil in his hand and draw the Neighbor as it is.

The whole art style is so bright and colourful, despite the content having a rather dark nature. Was this your intention from the beginning? 

Sure thing! We are not talking about the game as “a thriller for thriller”. It’s not like Slenderman or Alien…Tactics and creativity are the most important things in the game. However, it turns out that the Neighbor, trying to protect his secret, puts a player in fear. Anyway, it’s hard speaking about it without the spoilers.

When the neighbour grabs you in the gameplay trailer it reminded me of Alien: Isolation… Will the neighbour have multiple ‘capture’ animations?

Of course, there’ll be a lot of various animations. Anyway, the game is not intended to thrill the player, as we told before. Therefore, we are not going to focus on the “capture” moments and show horror scenes as in Alien: Isolation. This game is different.

Once you have been captured and respond, does the neighbour remember your previous actions?

Sure thing! It’s the main idea! When captured by the neighbor, the player is just respawned to his part of the map, he doesn’t have to start the game from the very beginning! The neighbor collects all the info about the player’s action and analyzes it. So, it’s getting much more difficult to win every time a player gets captured.

What has been your biggest hurdle so far and how did you overcome it?

Unreal Engine 4 is a kind of a hurdle. It’s a new technology both for us and the market. Therefore, we’re constantly coming across small and big troubles. Anyway, we successfully manage to overcome them!

The game looks to be coming out of PC, Mac and PS4. Why not Xbox One… Will it be a stretch goal?

Lunix! Don’t forget Linux!  Speaking about consoles, PS4 is in priority for us, but we are also keeping Xbox1 in mind. Let’s wait and see.

Do you have any words of advice for budding young developers?

We just want to tell that it’s necessary to do the things that you really love, the things that inspire you. What the most important – love your players, think of what they want to see in the game and work hard to do it!

Is the Kickstarter for ‘additional funding’ and ‘speeding up the development time’? As I would hate to see the project canned.

We can’t say that it’ll “speed up” the process because we are going to release the game in fall 2016 regardless of how much funds we’ll be able to raise. We’d say that the more funds we collect, the more interesting and sophisticated the game will be. E.g., we’ll be able to introduce multiplayer regime and console support.

What can we do to support you in the meantime? 

We are working hard to tell as much player as possible about the game and we’d much appreciate any support of that kind.

For more information visit http://www.helloneighborgame.com/

To support the project on Kickstarter visit the page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/helloneighbor/hello-neighbor

The post Developer Interview: Hello Neighbor appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

Personally, I don’t like to see peoples Facebook feeds filled with Candy Crush updates or No Zombies Allowed purchases. So when I heard about Dpadd.com I became very excited as this could be the gaming social network I have been waiting for.

I caught up with Clayton Correia, the creator of Dpadd and asked him some questions about this stirring new venture.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background?

My name is Clayton Correia and I’m a product designer and developer from Vancouver, BC. I generally work with early stage startups and technology companies to build valuable, easy to use products for their users. I am, obviously, a big gamer. Gaming has always been a big part of my life, so it’s exciting to have a project that combines two things that I’m very passionate about: video games and web products.

Before working on Dpadd I’ve worked on a number of large and small web projects, some of which have been used by millions of people in over 100 countries.

What inspired you to create Dpadd?

For about 6 years before starting working on Dpadd, I had been keeping track of all the games I played and wanted to play in a spreadsheet. I even rated and reviewed the games that I finished. It was clunky, boring and not at all fun or social. Eventually I decided that I wanted to build this into a web product for others to use. And so Dpadd was born. Interestingly enough, I found a number of early users had been doing the same thing in spreadsheets for years and were very happy to have a tool that was more easy to use and social.

From concept to launch, how long has the journey been?

I began development at the very end of 2012 and launched a private, invite-only beta in March of 2013. We launched publicly for anyone who wants to sign up only a few weeks ago.

Being a one man outfit did you design and code the site yourself?

I did about 95% of both the design and development on the site. Part way through the project a friend of mine (who is a very good programmer) offered to do some work on the site in exchange for me doing some design work on his indie game. My design background is much stronger than my programming skills so it was great to have someone at a higher level take a look at my code. There’s a big difference between being able to code a product and understanding what is needed to scale as piece of software that will hopefully attract a large audience.

My girlfriend, who is a UI designer (formerly at Microsoft Game Studios) did the design of a few of the screens and is a great sounding board for me to bounce ideas off of and get feedback.

With Google+ integrating gaming, the Xbox gamer score already sharing gamer achievements, how does your stand out?

To my knowledge, Google+ gaming integration is specific to their own platform. Dpadd is about letting people record and share their gaming updates regardless of platform. We have gamers sharing everything from console and PC to mobile and social games. Regarding sharing Xbox achievements and other platforms, I’ve found that they focus on just broadcasting activity, where as Dpadd is build for discussion.

Do you intend to integrate with the Xbox One features such as the shared YouTube videos and Twitter feeds?

Absolutely. I’m watching the next gen very closely. Both new consoles have deep social integration that I’m excited about. First, I need to learn how people are using these tools, then I’ll be able to position Dpadd to take advantage of the new features.

How does the following of Pro Gamers and Industry Influencers work?

Currently following these folks works just like following anyone else. You can see what they’re playing, read reviews and follow their Twitch streams from their profile. As we bring on more “professionals”, I look forward to figuring out what features I can add to make their experience and their followers experiences better.

Where do you see the future of Dpadd?

I have a vision for what I hope Dpadd will become over the next few years but to be honest, right now, I’m 100% focused on learning from users about that they want the site to be. My job as a product person is to guide and course correct when necessary but focus on figuring out what users want and delivering it to them as best I can. I hope that Dpadd becomes the best place to record your gaming and discuss it with friends, industry folks and other gamers.

What are you currently playing (in both the mainstream and indie)?

Mainstream: I’m currently trying to catch up on a few current generation games that I missed before the next gen starts. Right now that’s Heavy Rain which I’m enjoying a lot. It’s totally immersive and hard to put down.

Indie: I play Atomic Brawl every day (full discloser: I did some work on the game’s UI). Anyone who is into tactics/strategy and witty humor should give it a try. I also recently played Gone Home which was a great experience that I’d totally recommend.

The post New Gaming Social Network Dpadd.com Has Arrived | Interview appeared first on Gaming Debugged | Gaming Site Covering Xbox, Indies, News, Features and Gaming Tech.

The games graphics is reminiscent of the classic ‘Ghosts and Goblins‘ but it adopts a ‘rogue-like’ game-play mechanic, meaning every game is different. Mix that with a selection of humorous children with such ailments as color blindness and irritable bowel syndrome, and you have all the ingredients of a fantastic game

I managed to drag the Lee brothers away from their final tweaks and test to ask them a few questions about their latest title, the journey and game development in general.

How long have you been making games?

Hey, my name’s Teddy Lee, and I’ve been making games with my brother Kenny on and off for about 5 years now?

But before working with my brother, I’ve been making games on the side since I was probably around 6, first working with Pen and Paper, and then going up to RPGMaker and other things. Left on my own, I’d probably still be making games with RPG Maker since I can’t code or draw for my life.

Are there any developers or games that inspired you to get into games?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to get into games, so it’s hard to say.  But there are a few developers that I look up to. Shigeru Miyamoto for sure because he’s constantly on the creative forefront. Pikmin, Zelda, Mario, Nintendogs. All of those games are completely different from one another, and they all spawned their own franchises and genres.

What tools did you use to make your games?

Kenny wrote the game entirely in C#, using XNA. It’s a custom engine, so he did a massive amount of work for this game. The largest by a fair margin.

When did you first come up with the concept of ‘Rogue Legacy’

The game sort of came together in pieces. We had the general idea for a children mechanic, but we tied everything together in a pretty fluid fashion.  It’s pretty exciting, working on a game for a year, hitting a block, and then trying to design your way out of it. Not really.  It’s pretty horrifying, and definitely leads to nightmares, but that’s how we roll I guess.

How long has ‘Legacy’ been in production?

1.5 years.  My brother worked on it full time, and I worked on it part time up until about 3 months ago. We’ve also hired artists and musicians down the way.

Glauber Kotaki is our amazing Pixel Artist.

Gordon McGladdery is our musician and sound technician. He makes some amazing stuff.

Judson “Tettix” Cowan is another musician on the game, and we’ve worked with him on our other projects. He is always top tops.

How many ‘children’ are there to choose from?

The children are randomly generated, you get to pick from 3 every time you die, so there’s no real limit.  I guess there’s a theoretical limit but I don’t know the math.

Children are composed of 3 major modifiers.

CLASS – Each child has their class preference, so you could be like a Knight, or an Assassin, or a Mage, etc. All classes have base modifiers applied to them, as well as their own custom “special ability”.  So a knight can block with his shield, and he has very strong base stats.  An assassin has low health, but a really high critical chance, and he can become smoke, allowing him to walk through enemies.

SPELL – Each child has their own preferred spell, so you don’t go into a game with your choosing. And there’s a bunch of spells, and certain spells are locked to certain classes.

TRAITS – A child can have upwards of 2 traits. So you could be both nearsighted and color blind which would be brutal.  Or you could be Endomorphic (fat so you don’t get knocked back far), and Gigantic, making you this immovable giant.

All of these are applied onto a child, making every play through unique.

How did you decide their ailments?

We just come up with them as we go along.  Some of them we come up accidentally due to a bug in the game, which we then polish off into a feature.

How many levels/bosses are there?

The games not made of levels. When you enter the castle the castle is always different, so it’s not like you beat the castle, and then level 2 starts.  There’s defined zones and bosses, but we don’t want to say how many just yet.

What has been your biggest hurdle and how did you overcome it?

Just getting the game to where it is now has been quite the challenge. There is so much in the background running in this game that’s easy to take for granted. For example, there’s a dynamic scaling system, which works into the Procedural Map Generation.  There’s a drop system, a chest system, economy links, and this whole slew of other stuff, which all tie into the Procedural Map, with their own rule sets and what not.  We put a lot of time into making the game as “fair” as possible. If we just let the game build itself without any checks and balances, it’d be all over the place.

Can you tell us more about how the levels are all unique?

Every time you die, your castle is rebuilt from the ground up. Each room spawns their own set of enemies based off a logic system, they scale dynamically to the castle, and on top of that, bonus rooms and room linking is all applied dynamically to this system as well. We do have some “special” logic rules built into the game world which will help people recognize patterns in the randomness, but they were all implemented purposefully.

From your experience developing this game what advice would you give to those trying to do a similar game?

Never make a game PURE random. PURE random is bad design. Controlled randomization is very important.
Also, never mistake procedural as an easy way out. It’s a lot more work then expected.

Do you have any plans to port the game over to any other platform?

There’s some feelers, but nothing confirmed yet.

Whats next for Cellar Door Games?

Well, either a new game, or bankruptcy. We’ve made this game with our own money so if it doesn’t do well, we’re pretty much screwed…

But we do have plans in the future if we can sustain ourselves. A couple of projects that we had stopped previously for budget reasons and such.

Also, hopefully we get an Oculus Rift.  We’ve been waiting forever for our kit. And we had some really cool things we wanted to try out on that.

Do you have any words of advice for budding young developers?

Make a small game and finish your small game. There’s a huge difference between almost finishing something and actually finishing it.
Also, don’t try to do something “better” than someone else.  Be original.  Otherwise it’s just a quality battle, and there will always be teams bigger than you.

How do you plan to market the game now its nearly complete?

No idea. We are so thankful to the Reddit community for picking it up the way they have.
We do plan on releasing a HD version of the trailer someday.  It looks way better running at 60fps then it does at 30 (YouTube cap).

 Help give this game the ‘GREENLIGHT’ on the Steam website here >>

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