Noitu Love 2: Devolution

I am Joakim Sandberg and I am the sole developer of the game, so I do everything that has to do with it.

I suppose it was just the thorough enjoyment of playing other games all through my life, starting at a very young age. It's always been in my mind to create my own adventures.

Not having a choice, I guess? I wanted to make games and that's what I do, with the means that are given or available to me. I never walked around calling myself "indie", specifically.

A developer who has no outside influence on his or her ideas. The creation becomes what the original intention was; it's pure. There's not that much more complexity to it. It's just having the freedom to express your imagination, freely.

I haven't given it much thought, but I guess it's great that everyone who has an interest in games can try to have their own ideas come to life in some form!

It's the interaction and sense of thrill. I think video games marry all the other mediums and becomes the pinnacle of media, and then adds the fantastic interactivity. You don't quite get the same thrill watching someone else sock it to someone compared to if you can do it yourself! It's pretty easy to say it's interactivity, but it's not more complex than that. It's what games give you.

I don't know, really. I was just made aware of the competition and a friend asked if I was going to enter. He suggested I should enter Chalk but I wanted Noitu more because it's a project I like more personally. The fee didn't really bother me so I decided to enter despite feeling the game might be a bit different than what usually wins at IGF.

I wanted to try to make the idea I had for the gameplay engine and assign it to a world concept. Since I liked the world Noitu Love 1 took place in (but not necessarily the game itself anymore) I decided to make a spiritual sequel. Because making a sequel would be fun as well. The idea for the engine itself I don't remember how I thought of. Basically all my ideas come from almost nowhere; often in the shower.

The game is not finished yet, so I might have something worse coming. Biggest issue, since I'm no mathematician, was just to get the air-dashing working well and being able to hit walls and stuff. Might be simple to actual programmers, but there were annoyances for me with detection and not going inside of things. I BELIEVE it is working now. It could be more fine-tuned I bet, but I don't hear people tell stories of suddenly walking on top of the level anymore.

I don't see how I'd leave such a thing in. Also, it would have to be some time after the game's completion that I might be able to point out such a flaw, when my skills as a designer might have evolved. So I have no answer yet.

I look myself in the mirror, take a breath, and say "we're a team". Then I put my shirt back on.

Just by not knowing many other game designer people. But mostly because I'm a control freak, obviously. I still have beta testers of course that throw their opinions at me and come with suggestions.

Currently (as of December 8, 2007) it's been in development since August or so. I don't keep a schedule but it's a little, little faster than a level a month. I foresee having maybe three months to go, if I'm lucky. That's counting extra content and tweaking BESIDES number of levels.

I work at it as much as possible and sometimes when I don't even feel like it because I know how great it feels when you've finished a game, which I rarely do. So I don't keep a schedule, it's mostly motivation and feeling like it.

I used a program called Multimedia Fusion 2. Terribly limited, but I still haven't bothered to learn how to program.

I have always used Clickteam programs as a way to make games, because I never learned to program. I wish I did learn, before I lost all patience for learning it. MMF2 is very limiting and slowly evolving. So I "settled" for it because it was all I cared to learn way back then. I have ideas far beyond the program which is getting frustrating.

I am more likely to try to make a programmer friend before I learn to program. If universes collide where one is ours and the other is one where I am the very definition of patience I'd want to learn C and it is very feasible from one's homestead for free, basically. It's great what Internet can give you now.

I think other developers can program it just fine. I think other developers can make such graphics just fine. Imagination and design ability varies from each designer. I don't think there is much for me to tell other developers, because my game is very much retro, or just not very deviant as some indie games. I might just be missing the point of the question, too! I guess I could tell them to hire me.

I am in no way a boaster... I think you will have to ask the players because I make the games the way I think they should work, and what I think make games good (to the extent of my patience when I implement it). I guess I could say it's varied and has unexpected enemies. That's what I want, anyway!

I have ideas, certainly. I have a specific idea that I don't think I could create on my own, because of my lack of programming skill. Still a 2D perspective and all, but it has some special input. I'm very secretive, though.