PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Hey all, I'm Oliver Joyce. I'm best known as the creator of the Swords and Sandals gladiator RPG series from the golden era of Flash. I've been making games since I was a teenager a quarter of a century ago, but only went professional in 2006.
I've probably built a few hundred games in many genres, but RPGs are by far my favourite. In 2013 I founded my own game dev business Whiskeybarrel Studios and have 10 games currently on Steam, the latest being Gorgon Shield.
TELL US ABOUT GORGON SHIELD.
Gorgon Shield was an idea I've had brewing in my head for almost a decade. I remember sitting on a hill sketching out the concept of four heroes on a circular shield, rising up a tower. Early last year I found the concept in one of my notebooks and thought "Oh hey, I should revisit this, there might be something there!"
The original concept was turn-based but I wanted a faster paced, more arcade experience. I really wanted to replicate that feeling of my youth, of being in a darkened video game arcade putting coins into machines, that adrenaline rush of battling monsters and ascending.
I like the idea of four heroes having to work together, to heal, repair the shield, fight monsters. Making decisions about who gets the treasure, who sacrifices themselves, that kind of thing. Being so time poor with kids of my own, I wanted to package all this up into a bite-sized experience, and the end result was Gorgon Shield as you see it today!
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
I can't sugar coat this one, this has been a TOUGH year for me personally and that definitely seeped into the game dev. Dealing with serious family illnesses really puts things in perspective and I've just had to shift around a lot of priorities. A few times I considered abandoning Gorgon Shield.
However, I've always found respite and solace in making games and creating things, and once the dust settled in my life I was determined to see it through to completion.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
As far as game engines go, I used Godot 4.2. Coming from a Flash background, Godot has just been a natural fit for me and I've used it for about 3 years now, having used it to build Swords and Sandals Immortals in 2023.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
Gorgon Shield was my first real "3D" game, (well, technically 2.5D as I'm using billboard sprites for heroes and monsters!) and there was a lot of learning for me along the way, so what started as a 6 month project has turned into 13 months. I found I struggled mainly with the challenges of proper texturing and lighting and just caching things properly so the game didn't stutter all the time. In the end I've hidden a lot of stuff behind loading screens , but I feel I could still do more.
The main lesson for me is that I'm way better at making 2D games than 3D :D
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
My approach to game dev was to look at games I loved growing up, and think "Well, if I only had 10 minutes to play this, what would my favourite bits of the game be?" - and to try and fill my games with only those things. If there's a particular genre you're really passionate about, try to replicate your favourite bits from it in a small package, gain confidence from that and then expand your game and iterate on it. Maybe your first game is just a super simple 1 vs 1 turn based battle game, and the next game you add in special skills and weapons, then you make it 2 vs 2 and so on. Iteration is the key!
And also, make sure to try and ship your games - it can be really seductive to just jump from project to project but you learn a lot from completing projects, even if they are not commercially successful.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Game dev has never been more accessible, but also never more competitive. Sometimes that can feel super discouraging and you can feel a real sense of imposter syndrome - I certainly do, I look at all these super talented kids coming through the ranks and think "How can I compete with that!" but the key is to find out what makes your work unique and try to lean into that.
And sometimes, be sure to just take a break from living and breathing game dev. Read widely, get out and go for a hike and so on. Some of your best ideas will come away from the computer.
Onwards and upwards !
-Oliver
❤️
