PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Yo, I'm Jayce! An Australian developer + streamer and the creator of our upcoming game, Windswept.
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TELL US ABOUT WINDSWEPT.
TELL US ABOUT WINDSWEPT.
It's a 90's styled collectathon platformer drawing inspiration from others of its kind during the SNES era. Fans of the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy and Yoshi's Island will easily see the similarities and we want to celebrate those games all over again through our own.
Might seem like a bit of a cop-out to say, but I've wanted another DKC-styled game to show up for years and one never did. Some were on the right track - namely [Kaze and the Wild Masks] & [Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair], but they were each missing elements that didn't feel definitive to me, so I set out to make my own as an excuse to learn how to make games.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
Overall I think development has been fairly straightforward.
As you can imagine, when learning to use an engine you eventually accumulate a bit of tech debt so Windswept has gone through a number of cleanups and refactors during development. There's some stuff in there that's programmed pretty poorly but so long as it works and it's stable I'm happy to leave it there as a reflection of my growth over the years!
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I chose to start with Game Maker because at the time it was known for its simplicity and for being a good tool to prototype with. I think the first year of development was mostly spent poking around the software and seeing what I could come up with.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
Any part of development I don't have direct control over has probably been the toughest part. Sourcing team members, working with others, understanding their work habits, managing finances, predicting release dates, setting arbitrary deadlines that everyone else adheres to, etc. It's something I'm definitely handling ok but the more lives you include in a project, the more unexpected circumstances there are to manage and deal with.
It's something I definitely have to dedicate time to exclusively instead of trying to passively communicate amidst heavy bouts of programming and stage design. But hey, we're still speeding along so it can't be too big of a hurdle in the grand scheme of things.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
I started Windswept as a solo project for practice and as a creative outlet, but I'm not the most confident artist/animator, nor do I know how to make music/sounds.
When it comes to developing anything of this nature; presentation matters so much. Your audience won't be afraid to tell you when something sucks either. You'll either need funds to pay others to fill your knowledge gaps, or you'll need to sit down and learn each and every skill (which is a huge time investment). Whichever path you choose during development, you need to manage your expectations and make a plan for what you want to accomplish.
Do I think Windswept will be a commercial success? Absolutely, it's a cute & colourful adventure that has a lot for players to discover and the constant stream of feedback I receive online reflects that. Do I think it's going to be a cultural phenomenon? Probably not... But you never know with these things.
Managing your expectations keeps you humble and focused. You can set out to make a game exactly how you want it to be with minimal risks and pitfalls.
I know exactly how my game is going to turn out because I know I'm capable of accomplishing each challenge along the way. There's power in that, and it's probably why I think development has been straightforward. But we'll have to see how the game turns out when it releases in 2025... This could all age very poorly!
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
uhhhhhhhhhhh head empty - follow us and wishlist our game I guess?
-Jayce
❤️
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