Interview to Warboardwar.

Hi friends, this time I'm posting a great interview that I made to Warboardwar (the developer of that game in Kongregate)

Interview

(click the question name to expand and see the answer)

Lightsun >Thank you for accepting this interview

When did you decide to do whiteBoardWar?

I started writing a prototype flash game in November of 2007. I was mainly wanting to learn the ropes of flash game development using AS3.In December of 2007 I decided that I would do a game that would take place on a whiteboard. By the end of the month, I had a basic game in place. Over the following two months I would refine the game and add all of the content. When complete (end of February 2008) I put the game up on my own website (www.whiteboardwar.com) to get feedback and make refinements.A month later I was fortunate enough to sell a primary license(sponsorship) to bubblebox.com. After that, the game spread to hundreds of game sites....

Why did you decide to make a tribute to that game?

ChopRaider is ultimately a tribute to Raid on Bungeling Bay since it shares its basic gameplay concept. I loved RoBB as a kid (back in the80s). It was absolutely one of the best games I played on my Commodore 64. RoBB was probably the first game that I played that had a sense of "simulation" to it. The world you played in felt like it was "alive". Naturally, with ChopRaider I changed many things, with the obvious changes being the story, graphics, and game universe (to name a few!). But the general idea of flying around in a carrier based chopper and blowing up things on islands remains. I've been a professional software developer since 1994, but have been writing software since I was 10 years old (Atari basic on an Atari 400was my first language). for me... writing them that is. I play my fair share of games, but I always look at them and try to figure out how they were written, why they were written, etc. Understanding the games of others and writing my own games is itself a kind of entertainment for me. So, for me one of the things that was a nice "problem" to solve in ChopRaider was the behavior of the enemy units. How the planes fly around, how they attack, when they attack... all interesting challenges. ChopRaider provided a little "universe" for me to write simulation logic and then watch how that simulation unfolds. Most people look at the graphics and say "wonderful/terrible". I look at the tanks, and the planes, and the guns and see simulation logic that is reacting to what you are doing.. and doing so (most of the time) in a believable sensible way that is fun to interact with.

how long have you been in Kongregate?

I've only been a member at Kongregate for a couple months (as long as ChopRaider has been available at Kongregate). Honestly, I've never really been into the online community thing. I spend most of my time developing software, and when I'm not developing I'm playing games(console, pc, casual), or reading/watching science fiction. I have played casual/indie games at Kongregate for over a year now... I've just not created an account until more recently.

Are you planning to do another tribute?

This is difficult to say. Each of my games is guided by many factors,most important of which is whatever interests me at the time. I am most interested in original concepts, or at the very least some original takes on existing genres and stories.

And finally, is WhiteBoardWar going to have a sequel?

Many, many have asked for this, so I think that it may be worth the effort. The story arc was certainly written to continue beyond the first game. And for those that didn't like that the pilot died at the end of ChopRaider, here's a hint; Things are not always as they first appear when covert operations are involved....

Well thank you again for accepting this interview.