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Nick Beauregard and Bryan Depuy are friends who decided to collaborate to develop a video game. Nick is a professional programmer and Bryan is an artistic type who got into programming to c0-create the game Bit Rat. I interviewed them at their booth at Magfest 2018.
0:50 – The developers talk about their game Bit Rat. It’s their first serious long term project.
2:04 – They talk about how they approach completing the game. The game is set in 1991 but a futuristic retro idea. It has an early 90s cyber punk aesthetic.
4:13 – The developers talk about what inspires their work. They were in punk bands together in the past. Puzzle games have inspired Nick.
6:00 – They trade off on who does work in creating the game. Nick programs professionally. Brian got into programming for the game development.
8:36 – Brian likes to balance elements within the game. Nick likes working on the core mechanics of the game. Turning a puzzle into code is his favorite part.
10:01 – They started making games a few years ago during a camping trip. They chose a project that they could jointly work on. A digital project is much easier to collaborate on being hundreds of miles apart.
13:58 – Game makers are like any other creative artist. Bring your honest whole self into the project to help it resonate with the consumer.
15:39 – Neuromancer and Gibson’s trilogy have inspired Nick. He really likes the game The Witness. Brian loves Octavia Butler.
17:38 – They’ve played Shadowrun but a digital version. Flashback was one old game and Nick played a lot of Mario.
22:06 – Portal was a game that inspired Nick because it took a cool puzzle idea and told the story through the puzzles.
23:04 – Bucketdrum games is the name of their company at www.bucketdrumgames.com. They’re on twitter @bucketdrumgames.
Links
https://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson/dp/0441569595
http://store.steampowered.com/app/210970/The_Witness/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun#Video_games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashback_(1992_video_game)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/400/Portal/
For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi
Guests: Nick Beauregard and Bryan Depuy
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: science fiction, 1990s, video games, puzzles, puzzle games
