Hello again! This is a continuation of a series of audio podcasts, featuring myself and other independent developers.
Each episode will feature a different developer, and the format will be more like a sprawling conversation than a formal interview. Topics covered will vary depending on the developer in question, but some of the same topics will pop up with many of the guests. I’ll also interject some of my own opinions and views into the discussion.
Why am I doing this? Personally, I’m very interested in how other developers work. What motivates them? How do they deal with criticism? What do they find meaningful about games? (if anything?) What are the stories behind the development of their projects? I hope to learn a lot, and also help spread more knowledge around.
John Graham is the handsome lumberjack/marketing guy at Wolfire games, and one of the main dudes behind the Humble Indie Bundle.
John talks about how crazy working on behind the scenes on the bundle has been, the origins of Wolfire, speculation on the future Bundles and he also shares some advice about how to get started as an indie game developer.
Developer Name: John Graham
Location: Unknown
Website: http://wolfire.com
The source code that I wrote for a little game I made with Derek Yu back in 2005-2007 has been released!
Releasing code is hard for me. It’s always imperfect (or in my case, mostly a mess) and it feels extremely personal. Especially with Aquaria – a game that involved a lot of stress and heartbreak over the course of its development. (a significant portion of the code was written while under the influence of Canadian Club Whisky)
Although programming is foremost a technical pursuit, it feels organic to me. Maybe switching between code, music and design frequently enough makes you appreciate how similar these areas of game design are – rather than thinking about how different they could be. That might be why my code is more like a weird tangled evolution of the game, rather than a clean, factory-built design. (there’s even stuff in there from back when the game was an RPG, for example)
In any case, hopefully some people will find the code useful, and hopefully some will manage to improve it.
You can find the details of the code over at Wolfire.com. And much thanks to the amazing Ryan C. Gordon for porting the game to Linux (and Mac again) and organizing the open source release. What a guy.
Also, see this talk for more on the Humble Indie Bundle:
Yes ladies and gentlemen, its time for Pajama Jam #1! What is a “Pajama Jam” you ask? No – its not that – get your mind out of the gutter. Its actually when you wake up in the morning, you’re still in your pajamas, and you sit down at the piano (or whatever your musical instrument is) and you just start playing and making it up as you go. There are no mistakes, you just play what’s in your heart at the moment. I decided to start recording some of my Pajama Jams for kicks. This first one features themes from Aquaria.
[vimeo 2583321]
I’m looking forward to seeing your Pajama Jams as well as seeing what the rest of the IA team can come up with. Its not just limited to music… I bet Katie could jam out some pretty amazing art in her PJs, for example!
P.S. Aquaria was released on Steam recently, and its on sale for $16 until the end of the year. So if you haven’t picked it up yet, now is the time!
