If you need a “retro” space shooter for your smartphone get Astro Attack. Though there are plenty of “modern” or “semi modern semi retro” space shooters, when it comes to well made purely retro space shooters, you don’t actually have all that many choices, and out of the choices available Astro Attack is one step ahead of them all!
You can read our original review of Astro Attack here.
Today we have the honor of sharing with you our interview with the amazing developer of this simply brilliant game James Bowling.
Before we start, we’d like to thank James Bowling for participating in our interview, and for spending some of his valuable time in answering our questions. Thank you very much James.
Now without any further ado our interview begins.
Ok first up, why did you decide to make Astro Attack?
Astro Attack started development not long after I was finishing up Tail Drift. It was about the time that Crossy Road had used Frogger as the core mechanic for a super polished mobile game with a great monetisation system. I was surprised to see that no one had succeeded at making a good mobile version of Space Invaders, so I thought I would give it a go.
I managed to knock out a prototype in a couple of days using nothing but boxes. My idea was to make the game fun using simple art first, then worry about the theme later. Astro Attack was originally called “Beat Invaders”, because I was trying to make the game music driven. That eventually changed, but the core timing of the game is still measured in beats per minute.
The reasons I was making Astro Attack changed over time, at first I just wanted to make something small and polished. This is a game I made in my spare time, so I had to keep the scope really small. But after the financial failure of Tail Drift, I became more motivated by trying to do game dev right – to find a way to make games for a living in a stress free way. My drive changed from not just wanting to make a fun game, but build a team and a product that could go on to make other cool stuff.
Amazing! So what programming language and or software did you use when making Astro Attack?
I’ve been a programmer since the age of six, so the exact language I use doesn’t really bother me, I just go with the best tool for the job. For the kind of games I like making on mobile, Unity3D is the best fit. My language of choice is C#, and Unity3D allows for rapid development and deployment to multiple platforms. A huge part of what made Astro Attack fun are the amazing play testers that joined in the development process. Having a tool like Unity3D, I could release fortnightly builds to both Android and iOS, and get some invaluable feedback.
On the art front, we use Qubicle. It’s a voxel editor that’s become quite popular with small mobile games. It’s generally easy to use (though a little buggy), and lets someone who isn’t very artistically gifted (me) create some usable assets. I created a lot of the early art, but eventually I was lucky enough to get Amy and Michael on board, and they’ve done an amazing job rounding out the art.
Game art can be hard…😅 Ok, here is a mean question. What was the hardest problem you needed to overcome when developing Astro Attack?
The most difficult part of making the game was maintaining a work/life balance. I have a day job, I have a partner, I have a weekly youtube show (www.eightandahalfbit.com), and on top of that I needed to make a video game. My incredibly limited time meant I had to be very picky about what I worked on. In the end, I think it made the better game. It forced me to work on the things that were important, and cut everything else. I made sure to work to a strict schedule, and set hard dates long in advance. Before the weekend, I would have a good idea of exactly what I needed to get done, and how it fits into the bigger picture.
I still have my day job, I still have my youtube show, and I still have my girlfriend, so I did ok at keeping my life in balance, but I need to be very disciplined to make that work.
Last question. Where do you get your inspiration or ideas from?
Short answer? Video Games
Slightly Longer Answer? Space Invaders and Crossy Road.
Long winded answer? It’s more than that. A huge inspiration comes from the book “Ready Player One”. It perfectly channels what I want to invoke in Astro Attack. One of the best compliments I’ve had for Astro Attack was “This game looks like my childhood”. Everything we add to the game must make someone feel special. Must make them remember something they loved about their youth. Not every ship needs to hit every person, so I’m ok with throwing in a ship that only a handful of people might get something out of.
A few words to Astro Attack fans on Edamame Reviews.
Thank You. The reception has been great so far. We’re not stopping here though, we’re already hard at work on update 1.1, and in the planning stages of 1.2. I’m also incredibly welcoming of any feedback, so if there is something you don’t like about the game, let me know! Astro Attack is a living product, and I just want to keep making it better!
Lastly a few words on how you feel about Edamame Reviews and our service.
Good – friendly team and I appreciate the promotion on social media
Let us know what you thought in the comments section below, and as always thanks for following reviews.edamame.club
