Ian Campbell joins us to talk about his newly released 2D side scrolling adventure platformer, Bleed. You will read about his life as an indie developer, thoughts on the PC gaming industry and much more.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your role with the development of Bleed.
I’m Ian Campbell, a 27-year-old resident of Ontario, Canada. I’m responsible for just about everything in Bleed!
How did you get started in developing PC games?
Developing PC games (and video games in general) is a dream I’ve always wanted to realize. I started a long time ago when my dad taught me how to use Qbasic, which I used to make these incredibly simple text adventures. Over the years I slowly graduated to in-game level editors, programs like Game Maker, and finally learned how to actually code in C# and use Microsoft’s XNA!
Where did the idea for Bleed come from?
Bleed is the kind of game I’ve always wanted to play. I love side-scrollers, but I’ve often felt they could be more fluid and acrobatic in their gameplay and control schemes. The core idea for Bleed was attempting to create a game that made good on that vision of play and control.
In its current form, how close is Bleed to your initial vision?
In terms of how it controls and plays, it’s extremely close, which I’m very proud of! But in terms of story and atmosphere, it’s wildly different. Originally it was going to be very surreal and dark and overly serious, about some powerful warrior clawing his way back from the brink of death. Over time it evolved into something more upbeat and irreverent, and I think the final product is better for it!
Some devs admitted their games were too hard upon release because they became experts as they developed the game. Talk about setting the difficulty levels for Bleed and if you faced a similar challenge.
Difficulty was definitely an issue that needed constant attention! The first version of the game was so ridiculously hard, I was the only one who could beat it on anything above easy mode. Of course I didn’t think anything was wrong with it, at least not at first.
I eventually clued in, and luckily I have wonderfully supportive family and friends of all skill levels who were willing to play the game a ton and gave lots of very valuable feedback! For the easiest difficulty, I made sure even my mother (who doesn’t play games at all and regularly forgot buttons) could complete it with a little persistence. After a long time of watching people play and making changes based on their feedback, I eventually developed a rough sense of what seemed like a fair challenge at each difficulty level and applied that to the entirety of the game.
Were there any challenges you faced in ensuring Bleed would run on the various PC system configurations?
Thankfully no, not really! XNA takes care of just about all of that, and even ensures that many modest computer setups can run the game, including a rig I had from about eight years ago.
Please talk about developing the art style, level design and music for Bleed.
I was really inspired by Cave Story when I set out making the visual style of the game (which was more than three years ago, so the idea of making a retro-styled game was still fairly novel to me back then). Not only that, but since I’m not a great artist by any stretch, I hoped the pixelly look would allow me to express the characters and stages I wanted without having to obsess over tiny details.
The level design process went something like this: First, I tried to think of one or two unique gameplay mechanics, enemies or obstacles that would fit with the boss and the theme of the level. Then I brainstormed and tested a lot of different variations of how the obstacles could be used, finding my favourites as well as discovering which were harder than others. Using that information, I’d arrange them into a level and have both myself and others playtest it, making sure it all flowed well and worked the way I wanted it to!
The music was, for better or worse, just me banging around on a midi keyboard and messing about on a piano roll. I really don’t have much experience making music, so I watched a few faux-chiptune tutorials on YouTube and hoped for the best!
Outside of creating the game itself, what is the toughest aspect of being an indie developer?
At the moment, I think one of the toughest aspects of being an indie developer is staying motivated. You only get out as much as you put in, and when working on long projects like this it can take a lot of effort to keep plugging away day after day!
How did you go about funding Bleed and did you receive financial or emotional support from friends and family?
It tickles me a little to talk about the “funding” of Bleed, because there really was no funding that went in to it, other than the cost of my time – it was just me at my computer most days, plugging away. I’ve made a few small games in the past and I have a part-time job, so the income from that was thankfully enough to finish the game.
As for the emotional side, I absolutely have my friends and family to thank for being so supportive and and keeping me motivated. Without them, I probably would have decided to shelve the game or put it on the backburner a while ago.
Did you research similar titles when trying to come up with the launch price?
Bleed was originally only going to be for the Xbox 360, where developers have the options of charging $1, $3 or $5 dollars for their titles. Since I charged $5 for it there, it seemed only fair to charge $5 everywhere else. Because of that, comparing the prices of similar titles didn’t end up playing into it very much.
Can you tell us why you chose to release a demo for Bleed?
I think that came from having only published for the Xbox in the past, where it’s mandatory that you provide a demo for your game – so it just seemed like the logical thing to do. On top of that, when I released the demo I’d been working on the project for more than two years and I thought it was time to test the game out in the wild and see what people thought. I wasn’t ready to release the whole thing, but I was really excited for people to play it and wanted to get their feedback on it!
How important is it to get instant feedback about Bleed from users through online message boards and other social networking sites?
Incredibly important, even more than I imagined. A great example would be the launch day on Steam, where a bone-headed mistake on my part made the game unplayable for many customers. Being able to interact with users so directly was immeasurably valuable, and allowed me to discover the source of the problem and thankfully fix it the same day. I don’t even want to consider how that would have gone down if not for the connectivity of social media.
How much value do you place on the opinions of those who review Bleed professionally?
I try not to live and die by them, but I do place a fair amount of value there. I mean, these people live and breathe games. They’ve seen it all, and they think about games a lot more deeply than the average user. So to me, it’s hard not to take the feedback and criticisms found in their reviews pretty seriously.
How do you feel about the various indie bundle promotions and the “Pay What You Want” pricing methodology? Would you be interested in contributing to a project like that in the future?
I think bundle promotions are a great way to raise awareness for games and to help them reach a wider audience. On top of that, many bundle promotions give a percentage of the proceeds to charity… so whatever the potential downsides to bundling, I believe they’re more than negated by the shining positives. Bleed has already been featured in one bundle, and if the timing was right, I’d be all for it in another bundle in the future!
How do you feel about individuals posting videos of Bleed?
I think it’s great! It’s a game made for showing off cool tricks and close calls, and I’m always excited to see people sharing the experiences they’ve had with the game.
How do you feel about DLC and its current implementation in the PC gaming industry?
DLC is a great idea, although the execution of it is running the gamut from fantastic to very poor. When it isn’t a cynical cash-in or utterly inconsequential, it allows players to get a bit more fun out of a loved game, and developers to possibly get a little more support for their efforts.
How do you feel about the online modding community in general and specifically if mods were created for Bleed?
Well, I’ve always been a big fan of modding, even if I never got into it myself. But I got my first email today from someone who was working on a mod for Bleed, and I can say now for sure that it feels partly strange, but mostly cool and flattering! Strange, because… that’s my baby, and it’s surreal to see it behaving in a way that’s different from how I imagined. But then on the other hand – modders wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t care, and it’s a great way to see what other people can do with the game and how they choose to express themselves through the modding of it.
What advice would you give up-and-coming indie PC developers who are trying to break into the business?
I guess all I can really say is be persistent, and make games you believe in! I’ve been trucking away at this for at least four years now, and I’m not even sure if you could say I’ve “broken in” — I feel more like a random developer who was lucky enough to get his game through Greenlight and on to Steam – but if I could attribute it to anything, I think it would be to sticking with it, giving myself time to grow and develop as an artist, and working on projects that excited and challenged me. – End
We would like to thank Ian for his detailed and insightful answers. You can pick up Bleed via Steam and learn more on the official site.
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Steven S
