Welcome to our series on “How developers game”. Today we’re talking with Random Interactive the creator of Escape From Everwood to share a little about how developers play and make their favorite games!
Before we start we would like to thank Stuart for participating in our interview and for answering all our questions! Thanks!
/// Thanks for taking the time to talk to us about Escape From Everwood and your gaming setup. First things first, are you a PC person or a Mac person?
Mac mainly, although I have a small Windows laptop too.
I prefer Mac, it’s controversial but I like Apple’s philosophy of controlling the hardware and the software together. If I was going to make computers, that’s how I’d do it. OSX isn’t perfect but I just find it a less frustrating experience than Windows.
I understand though that the Windows experience is subject to whatever components are being used in your hardware. So the OS probably gets the blame a lot of the time for a cheap hard-drive, for instance. Also, I find the editioning of Windows baffling, I just Googled this and apparently there are 12 different editions of Windows 10??
With OSX there’s 1 edition for everyone, and it’s free.
Edamame – 12 different editions of Windows 10!? Wow, that is something I did not know…
/// Can we have a list of your top 3 gaming peripherals when playing and making games on your Mac.
Nothing exciting I’m afraid, although I do find the magic mouse super-useful for doing graphics and map-editing etc.
Being able to swipe around the screen quickly in any direction I find really useful. If I’m gaming it’ll be something retro. I do have some old digital joysticks I should use more often.
/// Is there anything weird or unique to the work you do about your setup that you would be willing to share with us?
Not really, the only odd thing about how I work is it’s in really small pieces, rather than doing it ‘properly’, ie. full time. So I’ll grab ten minutes at lunch to fix a bug, or if I’m walking past my computer I’ll just log on quickly and finish off an icon.
To be honest, it’s a terrible way to work.
/// Moving on to your smartphone, iOS or Android? And why?
Currently, iOS, although I’m not anti-Android in the same way I’m anti-Windows. I’ve had good Android phones in the past and will probably get one again.
The one thing I do find with iPhones is that they age well, I’ve got old ones that are still super-responsive and still have decent resale value.
/// Top 3 games on your phone other than Escape From Everwood!
I’m not much of a mobile gamer but I like the Fighting Fantasy apps, and that 8-ball pool game you can play online, I forget the name.
/// Last questions, for all the newbie developers out there, what do you actually need to buy in terms of hardware in order to start making games? What is your advice?
Again I’m not one for giving advice but I guess it depends on what your ambitions are.
Everwood is mostly text-based, and the bulk of it was done on a cheap laptop. Some of these 2D game-making tools can run on fairly low-end specs and produce great cross-platform games.
If you just want to make some variation on Tetris you don’t need serious hardware. I’d maybe just suggest refining what you want to do, research the tools, software, etc you want to use to do it, and let those define the hardware requirements.
/// Thanks again for participating in our gaming interview! We look forward to sitting down to play some retro games with you!
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