The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Serious Sam: Double D
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We at Joystiq believe no one deserves to starve, and many indie developers are entitled to a fridge full of tasty, fulfilling media coverage, right here. This week, as part of a three-part series, we're featuring the creators of the Serious Sam indie series. Today is Nathan Fouts of Mommy's Best Games, talking no-joke gun-stacking in Serious Sam: Double D.
What's the name of your Serious Sam indie offering, and how does it play?
Serious Sam Double D launches Sam into the second dimension and grants him actually-over-the-top abilities, like the Gun Stacker, which is a suite of robotic arms that allow him to carry all of his guns at once [Ed. note: Or carry all of his chainsaws, a feature added thanks to commenter greyson97 on this Joystiq article, because that's how indie development rolls]. Sam fights Mental's hordes in new temporal dimensions, encountering classic enemies like the evil Kleer skeleton and the headless Kamikaze, but also new, deadly oddities like the jet-packing Chimputee, and the bristling Etanoh Salvo Spider. Sam must disable teleportation beacons placed in each time period before his hordes completely invade and wipe out civilization.
How did Mommy's Best Games get started?
In the Fires of mount Doom, in 2007, after working for too long on lumbering 3D games I decided to strike out on my own and make the most excellent 2D games I could manage, and thus Mommy's Best Games was born. Oh, and we risked our savings. Which turned out okay, but was almost like throwing it into Mount Doom.
What motivated you to begin making games?
Making games is like solving a puzzle only backwards, which is almost as much fun as solving the puzzle forwards. Plus, I get to use programming, my artistic skills, and talk about complete nonsense all the time, so it works for me.
I had too many of my own ideas burning inside me, like a late night burrito mixed with too much alcohol, that absolutely had to come out.
Why did you choose to develop independently?
I've worked for other companies before such as Running With Scissors and Insomniac Games. It's great! Seriously! But after many years, once I learned how to make games really well, I had too many of my own ideas burning inside me, like a late night burrito mixed with too much alcohol, that absolutely had to come out. (Man, that was gross. Sorry.)
Did you feel the pressure of the Serious Sam franchise while making Double D?
I had no idea working on a franchise would kick this much ass. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be fun, but considering it's Serious Sam, it worked out well for me.
What's the coolest aspect of Double D?
Several of the new enemies make me laugh about every time I see them, and there are lots of really funny secrets we've added, but I think between Sam's new portable jump pad and Gun Stacker it's a tight race.
What one thing would you tell someone to convince them to play Double D?
If you like shooting aliens, you can fight enormous enemies firing all your guns at once in Serious Sam Double D.
What's next?
Sleep, then Explosionade PC, Shoot 1UP on Windows Phone 7 and Secret Project #2. Find out more on the Mommy's Best Games twitter.
Serious Sam: Double D drops August 30 on Steam and elsewhere -- don't you dare miss this glorious quad-weapon action. This is Serious business.
If you'd like to have your own shot at converting our readers into fans, email jess [at] joystiq [dawt] com, subject line "The Joystiq Indie Pitch." Still haven't had enough? Check out the Pitch archives.
