The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Stargazy Studios

Being a giant, beloved video game blog has its downsides. For example, we sometimes neglect to give independent developers our coverage love (or loverage, if you will) as we get caught up in AAA, AAAA or the rare quintuple-A titles. To remedy that, we're giving indies the chance to create their own loverage and sell you, the fans, on their studios and products. This week we talk with Jeffrey Sheen of Stargazy Studios. Unlike some of our other devs, he's in the unique position of still crafting his first game, Huscarls.

How did your company get started?

I founded Stargazy Studios in September 2009 after resigning from my stable, well paid, successful (and centrally heated) office career. I've been infatuated with video games since my first rage quit out of Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II, and have always had my eyes open for potential ways to get involved in development.

Over the past five years there have been dramatic changes in the platforms on which we play games. High-speed internet connections have made digital distribution possible, slashing the cost of getting your game into someone's hands. When a gaming experience really ignites our interest, we're able to have free and instant discourse through blogs and social networks. Word of mouth has the power to elevate worthy games in to the limelight based solely on their quality.

This environment offered an opportunity too good to miss. I grabbed my laptop and the reams of paper that I'd scrawled my designs on, and dove off the cliff. Stargazy Studios is a one-man flying machine, overtly denser than air, with wings "under construction." You can keep tabs on how I am doing at the official site. I keep a steady flow of information coming through my blog and Twitter account.

Why did you want to make games?

What makes me want to create games is an extension of what makes me want to play them in the first place. The root of our drive lies in the simple fact that we were born to do so; we are highly-evolved game playing machines. Human physiology is geared up to conduct and reward problem solving better than any other organism on the planet. Through play we learn, and the more we learn, the better our chances of survival. Mix together a cocktail of play and other enticing ingredients such as competition, wish fulfillment, and escapism, and video games stoke something primal in all of us.

You need to push your thoughts into unexplored areas when making games, conceptualizing new problems to be solved. In design, as in play, you're discovering new ways of thinking; fundamentally, you're getting the same intoxicating pay-off. The difference is design is not a guided experience, but one driven by your own imagination.

Why be independent rather than try to work for someone else?

There are now several generations of gamers who have grown up with a controller in their hands. This is an audience with an extensive gaming vocabulary, who are hungry for games that broaden and evolve their chosen art form. I should know, I'm one of them!

Successes such as World of Goo and Braid illustrate that the demand for innovative, genre-bending games is increasingly being met by independent developers. Low overheads and an appetite for risk has created a breeding ground for pioneering game design. I'm bursting with ideas, and the indie culture of rapid development and innovation fits perfectly with what I'm trying to do with Stargazy Studios.

What's your game called, and what's it about?

My game's working title is Huscarls, named after the personal bodyguards of the Anglo-Saxon kings. Think samurai with axes. It centers around a squad of operatives that must battle through hordes of enemies, using their extreme dexterity to flow from kill to kill. To give you the necessary control to command a unit of agile close-combat specialists, you can pause the carnage and prescribe each warrior's next move.

You are able to sketch your orders, executing intricate maneuvers simply by drawing your plans on the battlefield. The focus is on outfoxing your foes by coordinating movement, positioning, and attack vectors.

Do you feel like you're making the game you always wanted to play?

Absolutely. It's one of the strengths of indie development that a game can be made without constraints on the concept. We get intriguing games born out of the wildest dreams of their developers. Given the opportunity, who wouldn't want to make their perfect game?

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I love tactical turn-based games, especially the X-COM series. The attraction for me is being able to optimize my strategies, and execute flawless, coordinated attacks. However, I often found myself willing the action on, or wondering what my carefully chosen orders would look like in full flow.

I've taken the thoughtful, nuanced combat of the tactical turn-based genre as inspiration for my game. The difference is that things only slow down in Huscarls when the player needs to think, allowing the fight to unfold in glorious real-time.

How long did it take you to create?

I'm leading development on the iPhone and have found the platform fairly easy to work with. It helps that there is a large community of iPhone developers who share their experiences to help one another out. It only took a couple of months to get the basic structure in place, and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to release in the second half of the year.

What's next?

Hopefully I can get my laptop through security at Boston airport for PAX East at the end of March. If you're coming along, hit me up for a game of Dominion or my protracted thoughts on video games!

If you'd like to have your own shot at converting our readers into fans, email justin aat joystiq dawt com, subject line "The Joystiq Indie Pitch." Can't get enough indie? Check out the Pitch archives.