Justin Ma and Matthew Davis Q&A

TheBitFix.com recently had the opportunity to interview Justin Ma and Matthew Davies developers on the upcoming indie title Faster Than Light. Faster Than Light is a rougelike Space simulation game due out in September 2012.

Q) Do you think consoles will eventually go digital download only?

JM:

Digital distribution of games will definitely continue to expand but I think there will always be a market for retail-based sales. Even if its just selling codes to download the game.

MD:

Definitely, and if we think about even further in the future I’d say that downloading will also become obsolete. Once internet speeds are fast enough, streaming services like OnLive where everything lives in “the Cloud” will dominate.

Q) Do you think there will always be more than one console in the future?

JM:

I doubt there will ever be a console that fulfills every type of  gamer’s needs. Whenever there is a demand for something different someone will try to step in and fill it. Even if it needs to begin in Kickstarter.

MD:

I hope so, more consoles means more choice for the players. But I’d like to see less emphasis on exclusivity of games and ‘the console wars.’

Q) Do you think the Free to Play model will work?

JM:

F2P has been a dominant payment model in Asia for years and many studios have already adapted it to work here in the west. The exact mechanics will probably evolve over time, but the basic idea of F2P is here to stay.

Q) Do you think the industry will ever find a way to combat used games sales?

JM:

Look to the PC gaming market if you would like to see a productive method of preventing used game sales: providing extra incentive to owning full copies works well, especially when combined with sales. That being said, I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with person-to-person game swapping/selling.

Q) What tips would you give to anyone looking to get into video game development?

JM:

There are tons of great resources on game development online. Just  start making small prototypes or join a mod team. Learn Unity, Unreal  or even just GameMaker or Flash. However, never make your dream game  first, always start with something simple. Also, trying to deconstruct what makes successful games fun is a useful game design exercise.
MD:

The beauty of game creation is that it requires no special equipment. Anyone with a computer and internet can learn the skills and have the tools they need to make something awesome. As Justin said, just get out there, try it, and do whatever interests you the most. Programming isn’t the black art that some people might say it is, just takes a bit of time and practice.

Q) What inspired you to become an indie development team?

JM:

We wanted to make something that we felt strongly about. Plus I went to GDC last year and the amount of openness, creativity and awesome people in the indie games scene made me realize how much I wanted to work among that crowd.

MD:

Outside of getting to work on a project I care deeply about, I also just prefer the lifestyle of an independent developer. The desire to work from home, on my own schedule, was a definite motivator to go indie.

Q) For those who don’t know how would you describe Faster Than Light?

JM:

We are calling FTL a “spaceship simulation roguelike-like”. It attempts to recreate the feeling of commanding a starship similar to the classics like Battlestar, Star Trek and the like. However unlike other games it focuses entirely on the interior of the ship: managing the crew, systems, life support systems and weapons targeting.

MD:
We’ve all watched Star Trek captains stay cool in a scene of chaos and explosions while calling out commands: “Someone put out the fire in airlock 2 and focus fire on their shields!”. FTL lets the player be that captain and not just a fighter pilot in space. We used roguelike elements (like permadeath and random galaxy generation) to enhance the tension of being in command. The end result has probably best been described by Tom Francis (of Gunpoint) as “Firefly by way of Spelunky.”

Q) You won a fair few honourable mentions at Indie Fest 2012, has that spurred you on or are you now worried that there is higher expectations?

JM:

When we just started developing the game it was the China GDC IGF nomination that really pushed us to consider developing FTL as a commercial release. The overwhelmingly positive feedback from the main IGF was also very encouraging. However, the amount of backers we received through Kickstarter definitely put the pressure on and made us concerned about living up to expectations.

MD:

The IGF definitely increased pressure, and the Kickstarter doubly so. But in the last few months our Beta backers have gotten their hands on the game and seem to be enjoying it. It’s very satisfying to see that happening after 18 months of hard development. Just getting a random email from someone who loved the game is the best motivator we can get.

Q) What was the biggest challenge you are facing making the game?

JM:

Being a small team, the hardest challenge has just been juggling all the aspects of game development at the same time. The two of us are trying to manage business aspects, press, responding to our beta testers, and porting the game all while trying to actually design a game that is fun. It’s been a rough learning process.

Q) When can we expect Faster Than Light to release?

JM:

It will be released on Windows, Mac and Linux early to mid September. We’re deciding on a date soon.

Thanks again to Justin and Matthew for their time. Keep an eye on theBitFix for more coverage as we near release.