The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Sherbet Thieves

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

Eric: The game is called Sherbet Thieves and it's a twin-stick sherbet-defense simulator.

Dave: It's a strange combination of two of the greatest classic Williams arcade games: Robotron and Defender, but with co-op play, jetpack mercenaries, sherbet and space hippies. The whole game revolves around trying to prevent aliens from dragging sherbet to their UFO. To that end you shoot them with a variety of weapons and can reposition the sherbet with gravity bombs.

It seems Bang Zero Bang has a fun, quirky approach to itself as a developer. How does this translate into your games and make you unique?

Eric: We try not to take things too seriously. Making video games was a hobby Dave and I legitimized, because if you are going to spend so much time doing something you love, you might as well try to translate that into a business. Making Sherbet Thieves has been a long, strange trip of staring out into the abyss and laughing maniacally.

Dave: It's like Llamasoft's Jeff Minter once said, "I am drugs." Or, I guess that was Dalí?

Eric Vogl (left) and Dave Bastien

Farming sherbet in space is an odd concept — how did that story come about?

Dave: As a kid I thought the aliens in Defender were trying to steal sherbet because the graphics were so low-res. When I found out it was actually people I was really bummed out, so a decade later I roped Eric into making a game about aliens stealing sherbet.

What's the coolest aspect of Sherbet Thieves?

Dave: I'd like to say the retro-cool particle effects, but for me it's the techno-banjo soundtrack.

Eric: We're the only twin-stick shooter that involves protecting a sherbet farm.

Anything you'd do differently?

Eric: I wish we had a much larger art team. Dave and I have art abilities slightly better than cavemen, and while we're really happy with the art our team put together, I would have liked more frames of animation, more sprites, more backgrounds.

What inspired you to make Sherbet Thieves?

Eric: Sherbet, mostly.

Dave: It's interesting that the defense mechanic in tower defense games has become so popular but there's still very few games that use protection of a movable object, despite how awesome Defender is, so that's where we started.

Why develop independently, rather than work for an established company?

Dave: Wait, there's established companies that will let us waste money on stuff like this? Seriously though, larger developers are of course focused more on making money and avoiding risk than making the games their people want to make.

Eric: Making a game takes a lot of work, and working for a game studio usually means you are overworked and underpaid. I'd rather spend my time working on my own creations, rather than someone else's.

Sell Sherbet Thieves in one sentence:

"$1 for a twin-stick co-op defense game with jetpack-wearing rednecks, space stoners and a techno banjo soundtrack."

What's next?

Dave: Well, if we gave away ideas for free, could we make the dozens of dollars we make now?

Eric: PC development. Developing for XBOX Live Indie Games was interesting, but I don't think it is the best way to reach the widest audience.

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