Xbox Live Developer Interview: Mommy's Best Games, maker of Shoot 1UP and Serious Sam Double D XXL

We're back with another installment of our in-depth Xbox Live Developer Interview series. This fourth dimension we probe the mind of Nathan Fouts, President of Mommy's Best Games. MBG's starting time Windows Phone game, Shoot 1UP came out a few weeks ago and I gave it a rave review.

Read on to acquire more about Shoot 1UP'southward evolution process, MBG'due south upcoming XBLA game Serious Sam: Double D XXL, Nathan's experiences working on the Postal and Resistance series, and lots more.

Hey Nathan. Delight tell us a little about yourself outside of the world of videogames.

I accept a wife and two kids, and nosotros savour doing outdoorsy stuff with them like playing basketball game, exploring our nearby creek, and hiking. I also like baking pies!

What were some of your favorite games growing up?

The Sega Genesis is my favorite console with games like Ranger-10, Granada, Gaiares, Phantasy Star, and Contra Hard Corps high on my list. Super NES is great equally well with some favorites being Space Mega Forcefulness, R-Type 3, and Actraiser.

Ooh, I love Gaiares. And pretty much all of those others too. So did yous always know you wanted to make games?

I wouldn't say I always knew I wanted to make *video* games, simply I've always enjoyed making and playing games of all kinds.

Growing upwards, nosotros had a large family, and all my siblings and cousins would play made-upwardly, original, physical games outdoors. It was fun exploring the rules for them and what made some games fun and not so dandy. Afterward on in high school I would draw extensive level designs for original game ideas on paper. Finally, in college, I started actually programming and made my first games for PC shareware back in the nineties.

Permit's talk about your game development experience prior to starting Mommy's Best Games. Early on, you lot contributed to the infamous Postal² and its expansions on PC. What was it similar working on such a controversial and humorously low-brow serial?

I loved information technology to pieces, and Postal² is still 1 of my favorite games. Designer Steve Wik and I worked to create an early sand-box environment in which the actor could interact with NCPs in trigger-happy but too non-violent ways. A game's strengths are its interactivity and originality and P2 has that in spades.

Programmer Running With Scissors is always at the center of some drama, so working there I learned to develop a thick peel. We also liked to push boundaries simply I nonetheless maintain an involvement but in 'cartoon violence.' I like things gross, but not also realistic.

Later on, you moved to Insomniac Games and worked on the Ratchet & Clank games as well equally the first Resistance, all for Playstation consoles. How did you enjoy your fourth dimension at that place?

Insomniac Games was challenging because it'southward so high profile and in that location are [so] many very intelligent people at that place. It'due south first-class because information technology makes you piece of work all the harder. I designed and programmed the weapons for the first game in the Resistance series (Fall of Man) which was very exciting to accept a large impact on such a large, exclusive PS3 franchise.

What led you to start your own company?

Torcher Kitty enemy mockup

I'chiliad passionate near interesting art styles and 2D gameplay. Given current game controllers, I think 2nd games agree the potential to deliver the virtually intuitive controls and gameplay. Working for Running With Scissors and Insomniac Games was great, but information technology was also in 3D. I really wanted to brand some side-scrolling insanity!

At the time, back in 2006, Xbox LIVE Arcade was just taking off and I saw the opportunity to create our own games, exploring different art and gameplay styles.

Where did the proper name Mommy'south Best Games come up from, anyway?

It'due south from a weird in-joke I had with a friend, in which we laughed about being "Mommy'southward Best," like being the most favored in the family. Just when I thought almost games, I liked the audio of it - carrying the conscientious, loving attention we'd pay to the games we develop.

And why the switch to Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Indie Games for your first self-published titles?

In 2008, Community Games on Xbox 360 (now XBLIG/Xbox Live Indie Games) was just starting. Microsoft asked kindly if we'd like to accept our first game, Weapon of Choice , be a flagship title for the new channel.

As I understand it, your in-house staff consists solely of y'all and your married woman, with other duties handled by outsourcing. Does this approach work better for you than keeping a regular squad on staff?

Living in the boonies of Indiana, it'southward tough to convince people to move here. Hamdija Ajanovic has been our composer on all our games, though he lives in Arizona. We too contract the writing for our games from AJ Johnson, who lives in Florida. I'd love to have an office where we can all piece of work, but the internet lets everyone live where they want.

Before we talk about your Serious Sam spin-off games, permit's look at their predecessors in the run-and-gun genre, Konami'due south Contra series. How do yous feel nearly the Contra games from the 32-bit era onward?

• C: the Contra Take chances (PS1) is actually pretty good (inspired enemies and fights, manageable difficulty), but I've still never enjoyed Contra: Legacy of War (PS1) .
• Contra: Shattered Soldier and Neo Contra (Playstation ii): My brain likes SS best for the insane monster designs, but the linearity and difficulty make it hard to enjoy for long periods of play. Embarrassingly, I think I enjoy Neo the virtually of recent Contra games because it's then like shooting fish in a barrel to tear through some cool monsters, become an catastrophe, and probably unlock something extra.
• Contra four (DS) : I think the sprite work was fantabulous and the utilize of dual-screen was inspired. I'1000 still non convinced it functionally worked well enough (or could ever in that example) to be actually enjoyed.
• Difficult Corps Uprising (XBLA) :  Beautiful looking, only too grindy for my tastes. Many levels felt padded (or just not ever that interesting for a game in which you're supposed to play them over and over), and I'g more than inclined towards monsters than robots. That said, the boss designs were very good.

I'm with you on Insurgence's overload of grinding. That brings us to Serious Sam: Double D for PC, a 2D spin-off of the Serious Sam series of first-person shooters that Mommy's Best Games released last year. How did you end up with that project?

Devolver Digital, publisher for the Serious Sam series, loved our previous games and wanted us to contribute to a marketing campaign for Serious Sam three BFE. The thought was a grouping of indie developers [would make] original interpretations of the Serious Sam franchise. They said "can y'all brand something crazy like Weapon of Option, but for Sam?"

Were there any challenges in working with an established property like Sam?

Information technology was hard to make certain information technology felt like a Sam game, but once we went back and played the one-time games enough (I loved them when they were originally released back in college), it started to brand sense. We created new concepts like the 'Gunstacker' system to allow players use all the former guns from the series, but in a fresh manner that lent itself to a 2d side view.

We as well permit players spring over big enemies with our Spring Pad that Sam tin use whatsoever time. And we carried the 'stacking' theme through to the enemies, letting y'all finally stack giant piles of enemy corpses, like to the previous Serious Sam box art of Sam standing atop his fallen foes.

Were you lot pleased with Double D's reception? Are you incorporating any of its feedback towards Serious Sam: Double D XXL, the upcoming XBLA version?

We've had a ton of back up from gamers happy with Double D, citing the Gunstacker and the game "feeling like a Serious Sam game" as positive aspects. Most of the reviews were good, but one event brought up occasionally was there was simply "too much shooting."  While that sounds silly at first, I understand that it tin get repetitive.

For Serious Sam Double D XXL, we've fabricated several all-new levels in which y'all can pilot really weird *not-shooting* vehicles. And many of the original levels have been reworked to contain new platforming sections with new environmental gameplay. The platforming helps break up the 'straight action' which some different skills and thinking.

What new features tin can nosotros look forward to in Double D XXL ?

Serious Sam Double D XXL co-op

The biggest request was to stack guns with a friend! Once Devolver Digital gave u.s. the adventure to make the XBLA port, we committed to expanding the original Double D (thus the XXL, to say it'southward more than than a simple port) and include 2-player co-op. Thus we've added an original character, expanded the story, and added voice acting (with the original Serious Sam voice histrion!)

We've also profoundly expanded the weapons system to make the well-nigh of the Gunstacker. There'southward at present xl different guns to experiment and stack with, greatly increasing the thespian strategies available when encountering all the different enemies (and the levels and enemies have been rebalanced to conform and claiming the new weaponry).

Run-and-gun shooters, much like shoot-em-ups in general, are sometimes also challenging for mainstream audiences. Where does XXL autumn on the difficulty calibration?

AI path planning for the Torcher Kitty enemy in Serious Sam Double D XXL

Maintaining the original Serious Sam'south accessibility, in that location's a ton of customization bachelor in Double D XXL. For difficulty, the default Normal setting is a adept challenge for most players, but there's also Chilled fashion (making it easier) and Serious fashion.

Further, for each difficulty setting, you're able to increment or decrease the bodily gameplay speed when starting the game. This allows for skilled gamers to make information technology fifty-fifty tougher if they desire, or coincidental players to go far even easier, or to take a tougher setting similar Serious, but boring down the game [in gild] to handle it all.

I corroborate! When can we look forward to Serious Sam: Double D XXL coming out on XBLA, and how much will it cost?

Serious Sam Double D XXL is hitting XBLA subsequently this Fall/early Winter and volition price 800 MS points.

Next I'd like to ask you lot some of the same questions I put to the producer of Dodonpachi Maximum near shmups in our interview before this yr. Starting time, the genre has many dedicated fans, but overall shoot-em-ups are much less popular than they used to be. Why do yous think that is?

I recall there are definitely some hardcore gamers yet playing shmups (like myself, but many more I see on the web). That said, I call up the reason they were originally so pop is because they embody the arcade spirit. A curt burst of challenging fun, putting skill at the forefront.

Every bit many more than players and many more game options are bachelor, things take become diluted. Tastes take inverse over the years and those new gamers who maybe would accept been interested in the shmup/arcade experience are [now] drifting towards online and multiplayer-fashion games - options not bachelor 20 years agone.

What tin can shoot-em-upwardly makers do to attract new players in addition to dedicated players? Is this a trouble that Japanese shmup makers can handle, or is it up to western developers similar yous to open up the genre to new players?

I would dearest all developers to work to become more gamers interested in shmups. I call back everyone should exist involved. More multifariousness, and more interesting ideas put forth in a well polished package volition aid draw new gamers in to shoot-em-ups.

That brings united states to Shoot 1UP, which you first adult as an indie game on the Xbox 360. What were some of your goals in creating the game?

One focus of Shoot 1UP'south design was to make information technology easier for new gamers to savour it.  That'southward addressed through giving the player more of a chance to stay in the game via the active, additional 1UPs as ships. Getting extra lives gives y'all more firepower. While dying is bad, [it besides] sets off a giant explosion, killing things effectually you.

Giving players options other than shooting during gameplay, like sometimes determining what path they want to accept was as well there to entice veteran and new shmup players alike.

Did you pitch the idea of porting Shoot 1UP to Windows Telephone or did Microsoft approach you?

Microsoft liked the game and wanted information technology on their telephone (which is always nice to hear).

Was it tough shrinking the game downwardly to a mobile resolution and/or adapting it to affect-screen controls?

Information technology was difficult at starting time since we made the XBLIG version for widescreen TVs. One time we sliced the playfield back down closer to a typical vertical scrolling aspect ratio like an arcade game, it fabricated sense. Also, keeping auto-burn down on all the time and letting you move simply by swiping worked great (instead of the virtual pollex sticks and buttons to press).

Shoot 1UP's start level is littered with fallen robots that resemble characters from an blithe series or ii. Tin can you list some or all of the allusions for us?

Yeah, that was fun adjusting the art after requests from Microsoft's legal team. The thought for the opening level is that all these typical robotic defenders accept been defeated by the conflicting foe, implying they actually hateful business! We've got influences from Transformers, Robotech, and several others. Take a expect and see if you can tell!

Speaking of background details, level vi contains an array of sleeping robotic ladies earlier culminating in a battle with a gigantic awakened one, Mecha Lilith. Unfortunately, the groundwork ladies take been censored in the Windows Telephone version. Whose idea was it to draw clothing onto the characters, and was it really necessary?

Information technology was Microsoft's conclusion which I now agree is reasonable. In the original XBLIG version, the game is "unrated" but we withal tin can't do nudity. I included some nude female androids asleep with wires covering their modesty (then they are ultimately *non nude*). Now, when we look at WP7, no games tin be worse than a Teen rating. This is a good thing in a way, because it means no ESRB rating system to deal with, just it'south a coating rating which is bad if you're trying to do something racier.

While I tried to contend my case to keep the original versions while on the phone with a legal group of Microsoft there was a strange, humorous exchange:

Me: "But the androids are covered past wires. You can't really come across annihilation."

Legal: "Right, but under the wires, they're nude."

Me: "Aye, merely under our wearing apparel we're all naked… that'southward how nudity works."

That didn't win them over, and ultimately when I realized we had to go with straight Teen, I conceded to comprehend things up. So the androids now have wires shadowing them above, and underneath they have dark, sheer bikinis.

At least you lot tried! Anyway, the Windows Phone version of Shoot 1UP has been a long time in coming. We get-go previewed it dorsum in October of last year, but the game didn't release until this August. Can you lot tell us about the factors that delayed its release?

There were many issues involved and I can't go into all of them, only 1 upshot is we were developing several other games (such every bit the original version of Serious Sam Double D) in tandem with Shoot 1UP on WP7.

Another was that 'tombstoning' took forever to implement, and the game features the ability to perfectly save the game and return to that state. For example, if yous back out of the game, and turn off your phone, so turn the phone back on afterwards and launch the game from the Games Hub, you go to leap right back in exactly where you lot left off.

Windows Phone 7 does not support this inherently (Fast App Switching doesn't preserve the game country after you plow off your phone). That took a long time to implement merely I idea it was worth it since beingness on the go I know it's of import to stop what y'all're doing instantly and come dorsum after.

Will you lot go along to employ XNA in forthcoming game development, or would yous adopt a dissimilar set of evolution tools?

XNA is extremely fast for development and equally long as Microsoft continues to promote and support information technology, I'll be happy with information technology.

Now that you've published an official Xbox Live game on Windows Phone and Serious Sam: Double D XXL is set to debut equally an XBLA game on Xbox 360, volition your future games be Xbox Live-enabled equally well?

I dear my Xbox 360, but at that place's another console I similar also. We'll see!

Finally, do you have any plans for Windows viii or Windows Telephone 8 evolution? A Windows 8 Xbox Alive version of Shoot 1UP would be fantastic!

I agree, that'd be pretty sweet—could exist something in the future for that.

Thanks for reading and EAT MORE PIE!

Shoot 1UP is available now on Windows Phone for $2.99. Get information technology hither on the Marketplace.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox-live-developer-interview-mommys-best-games-maker-shoot-1up-and-serious-sam-double-d-xxl

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