Today I wanted to do something a little different.
This isn't something I bring up much, but back when I was in school being a game developer was my number one dream. People would ask "what do you want to be when you grow up" and I'd say, "I want to make video games!"
Well, after actually making indie games, and fan games, I realized it's exhausting and really not for me. However, I wasn't alone in this dream, as one of my best friends was right there along side me!
"BeamBrain," as he goes by now days, also began developing games at a very young age (I believe we were in middle school when his "Joe Awesome" game was in development), and still to this day has continued developing them!
He mostly sticks to retro and classic styled PC games, and just recently I had the chance to reconnect with him to see how things are going
His itch.io page currently has his games available for download, but I wanted to get to know a little bit more about what he has had going on lately. It's been years since we've last had a chance to speak, so he had plenty of news to share.
So, before we discuss the games you have been working on... Why did you decide to get into game development? What inspired you to begin creating your own games?
I've known since I was very young that I wanted to make video games. Some of my earliest and most cherished childhood memories involved playing the family Super Nintendo. As a child, each new video game felt like a whole new world to play in, full of endless possibilities. I was a very imaginative kid, and I soon started dreaming up video game ideas of my own, wanting nothing more than to be able to make them.
That never changed. When I went to college, I pursued a degree in computer science, hoping to get into the game industry. As I worked toward my degree, I learned about the actual conditions in the industry, and realized that if I made games professionally, I'd probably be doing a lot of work and either just making whatever a company told me to make, or struggling as an indie developer. I still finished my degree, and I do software development professionally, but not for a gaming company. Game dev is a hobby I do in my spare time, free of corporate politics or concerns about profitability, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
"Since then you've developed multiple games. What about your old ones from your childhood? Have those been locked away forever, or would you be willing to revisit them again someday? For example, the "Awesome" one?"
Joe Awesome! Ah, yeah, I remember that one - the Contra knockoff stuffed with everything my 13 year old self thought was awesome. Sadly, I don't have those old games anymore. I lost them at some point when I switched computers.
That's a shame! You should make a new version at some point! But speaking of older games... Xenologist reminds me a lot of the good old SNES classic Sim Earth. Was that an inspiration behind it?
It was not, no, though I've played Simearth! I had two main inspirations for Xenologist. The first was a vacation in Hawaii where I went on a rainforest hike and had a chance to see some rare and beautiful plants. The other was discussion around games like Minecraft and Factorio, and how they often feature colonialist themes - building bases, extracting resources, killing natives, and otherwise "taming the wilderness." I found this interesting and started to wonder what a game about exploration and charting a new land without such colonialist aspects might look like. Xenologist is what came out of that, and it deliberately leaves out things like combat and resource extraction in favor of scientific research and diplomacy.
How about Dark Cosmos? The game is a space survival game that encourages multiple playthroughs, and seems quite a bit different from your other projects, while also retaining a similar exploration aspect.
In a lot of ways, I think Dark Cosmos is an accidental dark mirror of Xenologist. In Xenologist, a high-tech, spacefaring humanity finds this alien race, and you get a chance to befriend them and learn about them. In Dark Cosmos, all the aliens are dead, nobody knows why, and you're trying to help correlate the cause without knowing if you'll succeed or even whether anyone's still alive to receive your transmissions.
I've always been drawn to horror, and every once in a while, I come back to dip into that well. The game itself was inspired by a few different titles. One is Metroid 2, which is astonishingly creepy and atmospheric for a Game Boy game, and was what inspired me to go for a minimalist aesthetic. Another is Duskers, a fairly recent indie game where you use robots to scavenge spaceship wrecks after some calamity has destroyed galactic civilization. And finally, there's Ironseed, an obscure DOS game that also involves space exploration. In that one, travel between solar systems takes thousands of years, and planets are programmed to change accordingly so, for example, you might visit an alien civilization you once traded with only to find its planet destroyed and bare of life.
What can you tell us about your latest project?
Guardian Cry is my largest and most elaborate game to date. I finished Xenologist and Dark Cosmos in less than a year each, but I've been working on Guardian Cry since the beginning of 2023, and by current estimate I'll have it finished around the end of 2025. It started out as just a simple Zelda clone meant to shore up two of my weak points as a developer - graphics and level design - but since then, I'd like to think it's taken on its own identity.
The game takes place in the land of Ilethia, which has been invaded by an evil empire. The evil empire's reckless mining practices have released an oily substance called Corruption from deep within the earth, which drives those near it into a mindless rage. It has made Ilethia's wildlife hostile and dangerous, and it has even afflicted the land's Guardians - four deities who serve as guides and protectors.
The player travels the land and delves into the Guardians' dungeons, defeating enemies and solving puzzles to reach each dungeon's Guardian, who serves as the boss. On defeating the Guardian, they are purged of their corruption and reward the player character with an ability that opens up more of the world. Once all of the Guardians' abilities have been collected, the player will go to the Empire's war camp and defeat them in a final battle.
How would you say your taste in gaming has changed over the years? And how has it impacted your game development?
Maybe it's just because I'm old and not as spry as I used to be, but my tastes have shifted away from action-oriented games and towards management ones. That's not to say I don't still play action games, but I spend the most time with grand strategy, empire builders, wargames, and the like. The Tropico series, Paradox games, and Shadow Empire are some of my favorites, along with a love for the Advance Wars series that started when I got the 2nd game when I was 12 and hasn't stopped since.
You can see this in how most of my recent games - Dark Cosmos and Xenologist in particular - are turn-based games centered around resource management. Guardian Cry is actually somewhat of an aberration in that sense. Most of my ideas future projects are management-oriented. In particular, I've been kicking around ideas for an arcology builder and a wargame where the player designs their own weapons and vehicles. I haven't decided for sure what I'll do after Guardian Cry, but odds are it'll be something management-oriented.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
I suppose I'll offer advice to any aspiring game developers reading this.
If you're going into game development, odds are you have some dream project, the game you want to make more than anything else. There's a good chance you'll want to jump straight into doing that.
Don't.
Good games take skill and practice to make, and you don't have enough yet to make your dream game the way you envision it. Progress will be slow if it's made at all. You could end up spinning your wheels for years without ever coming close to releasing something. It's a recipe for discouragement and frustration.
Instead, begin by making very small and simple games - games you can make in a week, or two weeks, or a month, even with your lack of experience. These will teach you the skills you need to make larger, more elaborate, and better project. That doesn't just include mechanical skills like programming and art, but project skills such as managing scope, prototyping ideas to see what works and what doesn't, and understanding what you can and can't realistically do in a reasonable timeframe. Release your games. Get feedback on them and listen to that feedback. Learn from each new game you make. Do this for years.
Then make your dream game.
If you would like to try out any of BeamBrain's games, then head on over https://beambrain.itch.io/
All of the games are free to play.
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