Gamedev Interview: Triple.B.Titles

Hello all! I’ve slowed down a lot on the blog as you guys know. Don’t worry, SPFBO interviews are still going, and I have quite the backlog to get through. Rest assured everyone who has sent in responses will be featured, just taking a bit longer than I expected. Be gentle!


Now, I haven’t had many gamedev interviews lately. However, I’m happy to bring you guys the chance to hear from a really cool indie gamedev team! These guys are a family unit who are behind Popup Dungeon, a fascinating papercraft roguelike RPG that lets you create any weapon, ability, enemy, hero, and game imaginable. I picked up the game over the weekend and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it so far. I highly recommend it.


Click on the icon below to be taken to the game on Steam!


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Also, to check out my previous gamedev interviews, here is a list of them down below:


Game Dev Interview: Wildermyth


Game Dev Interview: Warsim: The Realm of Aslona


Game Dev Interview: Fictorum


Game Dev Interview: Atom RPG


 


Without further delay, here is the interview with the man himself!


 


First of all, tell me about yourself! What do you do?


 


My name is Enrique C. Dryere, and I developed Popup Dungeon along with my brother who focused on programming and my wife who did most of the 2D art.


 


What does being a game designer actually mean?


 


I feel like game design is a very broad field. The goal of one game designer can be very different from another. It’s sort of like defining yourself as a director, but not specifying if you’re directing a TV series, a movie, a commercial, a music video, or a play. For us, our goal is to create a game that provides a lot of replayability and flexibility. Maybe someday we’ll do a tight, controlled experience instead, but our favorite games have always leaned towards a more open-ended, explorative experience.


 


There has been a great deal of controversy in recent years about micro transactions in gaming. Not so much an opinion, but why do games tend to cut out content to sell later as DLC and lootboxes? Is it to do with development costs? Or is it time related?


 


Popup Dungeon stands firmly against that trend by empowering players to create their own DLC. Typically, I think it has to do with the basics of capitalism: maximizing profit. Microtransactions are only necessary for a game’s finances if that’s the way it was planned.


 


Tell us about your current project.


 


Popup Dungeon is a bit of a passion project, seven years in the making. Its primary goal is to turn players into game developers by lowering the bar to entry as much as possible and enabling cooperative development. Although making a game will perhaps never be “easy” we’ve made it as easy as we could! The game automatically balances abilities and handles their AI, regardless of what you throw at it. It turns 2D images into 3D cutouts. And very importantly, it unifies player creations so that they will play well with one another. I think we’ve built up a respectable library of media and game assets for players to get started with over the last seven years, but you can import your own images and sounds. We used these assets to create the 50+ hours of game you’ll get right out of the box!


 


As anyone who creates anything, we must all deal with criticism from consumers. How do you go about it particularly in the prolific and viral standard of gaming today?


 


I think it’s very important to remember that not everyone is going to like what you make. If you go look up reviews for your favorite games and movies ever, you’re going to run into some negative ones. With that in mind, it’s also vital to listen to feedback and respond to common complaints and concerns. I view myself as an employee of everyone who purchased the game. If it were possible, I’d like to satisfy everyone, but in the end one of the toughest skills to learn as a creator is which feedback to act upon to please the greatest number of your audience, knowing that many of the changes you make could displease a number of your audience as well.


 


What advice would you give budding developers into taking the plunge into game design?


 


I only recommend pursuing game design if you’re very passionate about it. There are far easier ways to make money, that’s for sure! And give Popup Dungeon a try!

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Published on August 26, 2020 00:00
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