PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Hey, my name is Adrian Riedman. I've been making games under the name Space My Friend for about 9 years.
TELL US ABOUT GUM FLESH.
Gum Flesh is a bite sized roguelike with bubbly visuals and juicy gameplay. It's been cooking as a side project for the past few years as I worked on other things. I love traditional roguelikes but the barrier to entry can be quite high and overwhelming. So the initial idea was to make a traditional roguelike that could be welcoming to all and that didn't require any text, which meant every action either by the player or enemy would have to be very obvious and ooze feedback. The game has text now but the later idea stuck.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
For a long time, Gum Flesh was a side project. So it was a lot of just messing around with different systems, not really making any progress. But now it's my main project, so I have a bit more focus and direction. Though I'm still taking it slow. Afterall game dev is not my day job, so I treat this as a hobby.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I work in Game Maker Studio. Getting into gamedev kinda happened by accident. I stumbled across an article about some tutorial videos being made by Tom Francis - developer of games like Gun Point and Heat Signature - and he was using Game Maker. As someone with zero experience with making games, seemed like my speed.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
I think this is pretty common among game devs but I hit phases in development where I think "this game is absolute garbage". And then there are other times when I'm loving the game, loving the direction it's going, everything. It's hard to push through the garbage times.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
Pick and choose advice that works for you. There's a lot of advice out there. You don't have to follow all of it. For instance I almost never prototype. You can't throw a rock without hitting a gamedev youtube video about the benefits of prototyping. Not to discount prototyping because it's obviously a super valuable thing, but it just doesn't work for me. So yeah. Find out what works for you. What makes making games a blast for you?
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
- Have fun! Don't get hung up on making a hit game. I've made three games that are... ok at best. But I love that they simply exist and that they are a small little slice of myself and that there's a handful of people who really like them.
Gum Flesh is a long way from completion but if you like weird mechanics and juicy gameplay, add it to your wishlist!
-Adrian
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2946900/Gum_Flesh/
❤️
