electric overdrive has the exclusive interview with one of the top Flash game developers on the web - Joey Betz, of Armor Games. With games like Phage Wars, Demolition City, and Pixel Grower under his belt, he is definitely a developer to watch.
Q. What got you interested in game development?
A. I got interested in game development when I was at a game co
nvention and I saw some colleges offering degrees in game development. I was at a point in my life where I didn't want to work dead end jobs anymore so I chose to visit West
wood College (the one with the horrible commercials) and got enrolled in classes knowing nothing about game development. I found out that it was a lot more complicated than everyone makes it look, but I enjoyed the challenge immensely. I ended up loving every minute of it and glad I made the decision.
Q. When did you become a game developer for Armor Games?
A. I became a full-time game developer at Armor Games on Feb 1st 2009. Before that I actually developed a the original Phage Wars as a sponsor game for Dan (owner of AG). Phage Wars was actually my senior project in college. Before that I worked for company doing client based games and a Flash MMO.
Q. Do you have any plans to create a Phage Wars 3, and, if so, would you like to see a multi-player feature? What other features that didn't make it into Phage Wars 2 would you want in a sequel?
A. I would love to revisit Phage Wars. It's definitely a project that I enjoyed doing. The number one request I get for Phage Wars is multiplayer, hands down. I've gotten so many comments/emails on that request alone, so it's definitely been on my list of things I need to do.
Q. Do you have any other upcoming projects?
A. I always have upcoming projects. We are very close to finishing Crush the Castle: Players Pack, so I'm looking forward to launching that soon. In the mean time I'm focusing on smaller projects (like "Demolition City") that take only a week to build.
Q. Tell us about the process of taking an idea and making it into a full-fledged game.
A. When one of us comes up with and idea in the office we like to gather discuss it together so as to get input from everyone. If everyone agrees on the idea then it boils down to when it will be started. Mostly this is right after your current project, as that is when you need a next one
anyways. Sometimes work loads have to be split, like art and code, but most of the time you're on your own. During development, sometimes issues come up that you didn't think about prior and have to be addressed. If they require major changes, then sometimes we get back together to find a solution. As far as the entire work flow of development, I typically like to get the core gameplay nailed down before I start work on menus and such. This isn't how everyone works, and John (jmtb02) likes to work on UI more. Sound and Music is always last, as you can better judge all the sounds you need when the game is finished.
Q. Where does the music for your games come from (specifically, "Demolition City")?
A. We like to grab music from a few places. The Newgrounds Audio Portal is one of them, another one is imcompetech.com where Kevin MacLeod does some awesome scores. That is where the music for Demolition City came from. In fact, DC was extremely hard to find music for. I listened to so many songs, but nothing fit the game perfectly. Eventually I remembered the Fantasia 2000 movie by Disney and the George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue set in a large city and I figured that would fit perfect. I found the best 1930s sounding music I could, which is also why the explosions are cymbals and the collisions are drums. It ended up better than I expected so I kept it.
Q. What console games do you like to play? Have any of these influenced your game development?
A. I have a soft spot for the Ratchet and Clank series. They are very polished and humorous at times. I also enjoy free roam games more than I should. If I can walk around and do a bunch of cool stuff, I'm sold. As the game industry grows there are more and more highly polished games coming out, and I think if anything I like take some time at the end of the game development and refine features and such to make the game as well rounded as I can. I don't always get this time at the end, but when I do I take full advantage of it.
Q. Of the games you've created, which would you say is your favorite?
A. I think because Phage Wars was a college project that turned out to be cooler than I expected, that I would have to call it my favorite. I spent so much time researching cells and viruses that I probably learned more than I ever did in my high school biology class. It became a quest to make it accurate, but still fun. Crush the Castle was also fun to make, especially when during development I finished implementing the character screams and it became apparent that it way more entertaining than I imagined.
That's it for the exclusive interview with Joey Betz. For more on Betz, go to his website here, or, to play his games, go here.
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