1) What was the inspiration for Shovel Knight?A) All of the games we grew up with on the NES, from big titles like Mega Man, Mario, Zelda, and Castlevania to small ones like Shatterhand and Wai Wai World.
2) What was the biggest hurdle your team found bringing your game to reality?
A) We hadn’t handled the business and marketing aspect of game development before. Integrating that into our process was very tricky.
3) What are your team’s biggest influences in gaming?
A) It varies wildly for each person on the team. Name any of the big publisher’s games: Nintendo, Blizzard, Sony, EA, Activision, etc or smaller indie developers, and someone on the team has probably been influenced by them at some point!
4) Will it be a Cross buy across PS4/PS3/PS Vita?
A) Yes!
5) What was the reason for putting Kratos in the PlayStation release?
A) We wanted the PlayStation version to feel at home on the system and stand on its own. Including Kratos felt like a way to signify that commitment to our PlayStation fanbase.
6) What made you want to make games?
A) I love games! I wanted to make them because I was obsessed with everything about them. The music, the art, the worlds, the gameplay, the people who made them…I wanted to be a part of it all!
7) What are your team’s favorite games from childhood?
A) Hard to speak for everyone as we’re all pretty different! Personally though, my favorite game is A Link to the Past. Probably because it came at the right time in my life. But beyond that, it’s a brilliantly built sequel that refines a series that focuses on what I love best about games: exploration, fun, living worlds, ingenious game mechanics, and the wonderful intersection of art, music, story, and gameplay.
8) How does your team feel about modders of games and systems?
A) Awesome! We love seeing mods of everything on the planet. It’s so much fun to twist and turn the original purpose of a game, device, etc. I wish more people modded Shovel Knight!
9) What advice would you give to young programmers who want to make games?
A) Start making them now! Start at the most basic level and build a simple game from start to finish. Established easy games to make like Snake, Tetris, Pac-Man, etc all have readily available tutorials on the internet in lots of languages and tools. Make a game now!
10) What direction do you hope gaming will go in the next 5 years?
A) I always hope to see new, unexpected gameplay designs and experiences. I want to be surprised!
And as always you can find me on twitter @riddle43