Hi Tammy. Thanks for sharing your perspective on game dev!
I have a couple of questions.
Q: What do you think are the biggest mental hurdles for someone with business programming experience (e.g., web apps, web services, etc.) attempting to make the paradigm shift to creating games?
Q: While not necessarily your favorite games, what would you consider to be some of your personal watershed moments in gaming, e.g., games that really had an emotional impact, became an inspiration for your own dev, became a new pinnacle of experience, or simply clicked for you in all the right ways?
My list includes:
Bionic Commando (Nintendo NES)
- Replacing jumping with swinging from a bionic arm really flipped my experience with platformers (Mario, Mega Man). It felt so weird and awkward at first, but when it finally clicked it felt like poetry in motion.
Etrian Odyssey (Nintendo DS)
- A first-person dungeon crawler featuring virtual graph paper on the touch screen. I don’t get too excited about building up a party of adventurers but what really hooks me is making my own maps. There was so much creativity thrown at the DS and 3DS platforms and I think this is one of the best examples.
Portal (Xbox, PC)
- I love games that rewire my brain the way Portal did. I was shooting imaginary portals all over my house and workplace for weeks afterwards.
SpaceChem (PC, Steam)
- My first experience with Zachtronic Games, who specialize in games that are essentially visual programming challenges. When I wasn’t staying up too late playing SpaceChem, I was thinking about it, dreaming about it, and having plenty of eureka moments while doing other things. SpaceChem has its weak points, though, and I think the later Opus Magnum is a smoother experience.
VVVVVV (3DS, Steam, etc.)
- Plenty of gravity-reversing platforming challenge but plenty of instant-reset to keep trying. And a great soundtrack.
Holedown (mobile, Switch, etc.)
- Dig through blocks with an increasing number of bouncy pellets. Shatter the core and upgrade. Repeat. The perfect mobile game for me to kill a bit of time. Charming and clean presentation, quirky and fitting sound effects, and a fun progression.
Cookie Clicker (web)
- Knowing that it’s pure Skinner Box didn’t make watching numbers go up any less compelling. I think the theme is amusing, so maybe that helped.
I dropped my fair share of quarters at the local bowling alley back in the day. I’ll just say, “Elf shot the food.”