FEZ: What made development difficult? Were there particular elements that took too long, maybe you had to drop them? Did you ever hit dead ends or knots?
JW: Development was relatively smooth. I designed the game very carefully to play to my strengths, so I never really struggled with anything. The hardest part was trying to balance and build the sandbox, it takes a lot of complex work to make something so simple!
FEZ: Were there other projects you had to put on the backburner to get this game built?
JW: When I’m between projects I tend to play around with ideas and prototypes until I latch onto an idea that really sticks and I believe I can make it into a commercial product. For example, Mind Over Metal is a prototype I made a bit over a year ago and I was pitching it to various places to try and get it on XBLA about the same time as I was pitching Solar 2 to PC distributors. Once Solar 2 got approved for Steam though, that was it, Mind Over Metal was put aside and Solar 2 was the absolute focus.
FEZ: Have you worked with a team before? Is it different doing solo stuff like this versus having a group-oriented design?
JW: Not really, I’ve always been a solo developer, so I can’t really compare the two.
FEZ: How is it different developing between the PC and the Xbox 360? As someone who grew up on PC games, it was definitely interesting to see the .NET packager install when I booted it up on Steam. I also know that Microsoft’s a bit more rigid about their guidelines and that. What were your challenges there, did things have to be altered or left out because of it?
JW: .NET is just a library of Microsoft stuff that all Windows computers have installed on them. The only reason Solar 2 installs it is because it requires the latest version of .NET, which some computers may not have. I also use the XNA Framework, which is a Microsoft Cross-platform Framework for PC, Xbox 360 and WP7, which made it easy to have both PC and Xbox versions at the same time. It’s absolutely free to use and use commercially, so there were no challenges what so ever!
FEZ: Have you messed with a Windows Phone version?
JW: Nah. Xbox 360 and PC are fairly similar in a lot of respects, but Windows Phone is a huge leap, and although I CAN technically use the same code, there will be all kinds of problems and stuff I’d need to change. If I wanted to make a mobile version of Solar 2, it would be a separate game and on Android and iPhone :)
FEZ: Now one thing I did notice going from the demo to buying the full version (which was about ten minutes) was the missions that became available. They’re also pretty damn hard to tackle out of the gate. You really do have to build up a repository of systems to even begin to complete them. Was this intentional? Have you thought about grading them a little, like having missions for asteroid-level gameplay, then planet-level gameplay, etc.?
JW: Well, the missions are divided up by asteroid, planet or star, so I guess that counts as ‘grading’. And yes, it is a pretty hard game, sadly I got so good at it during development that my sense of “difficult” got a bit messed up. Missions I think are easy are nearly impossible for many players! I’ve about to release a patch tweaking some of the more frustrating one, although on the whole they will remain very hard. I’m hoping players will become experts at playing the game in the sandbox and then later come back and be able to complete the missions much easier.
FEZ: I really like the fairness of Solar 2‘s Achievements. Do you think they’re an instrument for good or an obligation to get on <insert service here>?
JW: I put a lot of effort into Solar 2‘s Achievements to make them reward skill rather than just grinding or things you’d just encounter during the game anyway, so I’m glad you noticed! I think Achievements can be really good, just the majority of developers just chuck them in without second thought. I actually made new content and changed things just for the achievements, and it’s that sort of attention that needs to be addressed by other developers too.
FEZ: What are some of your favorite games? Particularly favorite systems over the years? It looks like you were totally hip with space games…
JW: I grew up with a Nintendo 64, and my favourite games were all the classics on that console, like Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart, Goldeneye 007, etc. That was the only console I had growing up actually, I bought all the current consoles after I started game development. I did thoroughly enjoy Freelancer on PC, which was the other main inspiration for Solar along with flOw. Other games I enjoy are the Age of Empires series, the Halo series, the GTA series and the SimCity series. Quite the broad range of games!
FEZ: So what’s next? Are we getting the world-exclusive announcement about Solar 3? Do you have a short list of things you want to get done?
JW: Unless I come up with a lot of really good ideas, a Solar 3 is unlikely. I’ll probably work on some new games, but likely similar as I enjoy making games like Solar and it seems the players enjoy playing them!
Jay, thank you much for your time, we’ll be keeping an eye on you! Pick up Solar 2 for PC ($9.99 normally on Steam) or Xbox Live ($5) immediately!
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