Thursday 25 July 2013

Interview with Simone Bevilacqua, creator of Huenison.



The following is a interview I managed to snag late Thursday evening on Facebook with the insanely talented Simone Bevilacqua. Huenison came out on the Friday the 12/07/13 as a downloadable title published by the the independent games company RGCD. This title in particular is the first PC title the company has put out, and it was coded by Simone.



Anton MacArthur
Evening Simone!

I am currently reviewing Huenison and would love to interview you for the piece.
I hope you don't mind, James [publisher] told me to ask you directly.

Simone Bevilacqua
Hey Anton, thanks for doing the review James gave you a most sensible piece of advice.

Feel free to ask any question 

Anton MacArthur
What were/was your inspiration for the game?

Simone Bevilacqua
Ah, you mean right away? Then... I have to switch a computer on, no way I can answer on this phone...

Anton MacArthur
ha ha I can wait bud! Would an email be better so you can take your time on it?

Simone Bevilacqua
Here I am.

It depends on the questions: even the apparently most innocuous one could get me blabbering to no end! Let's see how it goes..

So, answer to the first question on Dec. 31, 2010 I was munching ideas for a new game - something I do way too often. I was just letting thoughts go wild, jumping from one genre to another. All of a sudden, I visualized a shooter in a Tetris well, based on colors. I wasn't specifically thinking of any game, but it took an instant to realize that the basic idea came from Tetris and Vital Light... and Space Invaders-like shooters.


Anton MacArthur
So in regards to making the different concepts work together... Was this difficult to achieve?

Simone Bevilacqua
No, everything went naturally smoothly. That basic idea I started with lends itself to infinite variations. But I had to put utmost care in balancing all the elements in a good way. Every time I added a concept (from some other game or not), I had to think about how it affected the whole gameplay.

Anton MacArthur
The game was released on PC & AmigaOS 4... were there any issues/challenges creating such a game for 2 completely different platforms, and why AmigaOS and not the obvious choices of Linux or Mac?

Simone Bevilacqua
My main machine runs AmigaOS 4 so I develop on it.

I use a custom framework I built and keep on developing over the years that allows me to easily port my stuff over desktop platforms. It's the same framework used by BOH, which, besides AmigaOS and Windows, runs natively also on Linux, MacOS and AROS.

This time I decided to limit the platforms to just 2 because supporting multiple platforms is very demanding, and I have little or no time. I prefer to use my little spare time to work on other games, after all, the game runs perfectly also on Linux and MacOS through Wine.

BTW - I hope Linux users won't hate me - I do have a native Linux version: I built it for internal testing (running the same code on multiple systems makes for a great way to test the solidity of the code!).


Anton MacArthur
ooooh.. other games?! any hints?

Simone Bevilacqua
As for the next games...

My close-future plan includes back-porting some parts of Huenison to BOH, which has also been enriched a bit since the latest update, and release a super-ultra-mega-turbo-final version.

Also an updated version of QUOD INIT EXIT, a C64 game. I already have a new build with improved graphics and new features. But I first want to use the last memory bytes and CPU cycles left before releasing it. The problem is that I couldn't think of anything yet.

Once I'm done with those two titles, ideally I'd make a brand-new original game for the C64. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but I don't know if it will happen. At the same time, I'm considering that maybe I should change entirely my life, stop developing, and do something more useful to the world.


Anton MacArthur
More useful than keeping the C64 alive, is there such a thing?!

Simone Bevilacqua
Love that 

Anton MacArthur
My favorite games of the last 3 years have been on the C64, it has been a real inspiration to find such talent on a 30 year old platform - do you feel maybe sometimes in our rush to evolve technologically we are missing the point of gaming?

[IE: to have fun]

Absolutely. "Gaming" is more and more shifting to "audiovisual experience". I see that not only in other games, but also in comments I get relatively to my own games. For example somebody complained that QUOD INIT EXIT is unfair because one has to understand certain mechanics of the game, and kind of wished that the solution was totally obvious or automatic... and we're talking of an extra-simple game! (which is just an insider joke)

The challenge is being displaced by more superficial audiovisual entertainment.


Anton MacArthur
'PRESS X TO COMPLETE GAME' !!

Simone Bevilacqua
EXACTLY!!!

Anton MacArthur
I agree fully with that after playing Maximus Arcade Carnage by Bruneras... the games way of teaching you is to kick your ass! The reward in learning to play is the reward in its own right

Simone Bevilacqua
Although I don't know the game you just mentioned (I live almost totally out of the world... I don't follow the gaming/tech scene), I totally agree with the concept you just expressed.

The pleasure of mastering something takes an effort... it's important, and not just in games.

It's a cornerstone of life.


Anton MacArthur
I have been playing a lot of Huenison and I think its an amazing experience. What has the reaction been like for yourself, has the feedback been positive/negative?

Simone Bevilacqua
Thanks for the very satisfying words 

I don't know how to put it in words without making it sound boastful, but the plain truth is that I got awesome feedback, publicly and privately!

The comment that sticks out most is after playing for a while for the first time, someone posted on a public forum his first impressions and then closed with something along the lines of:

"Now I have to calm down, my heart is beating like crazy!".


Anton MacArthur
I had the same reaction! lol
Wonderful!

Somebody else expressed almost the fear to start playing again, due to how intense the experience is.
Let me add one more, because it's fresh from today - a guy, in an email, expressed his amazement at the fact that the more he plays, the more things he discovers... and he's definitely right, one has seen it all only after the last level... And maybe even missed a little something along the way 


Anton MacArthur
Lastly, If I stranded you on a desert island and you could pick 1 movie, 1 game, an album and 2 women to go with you, what/who would they be?

Simone Bevilacqua
When it comes to these questions, I can never answer because it's impossible to choose a song, a book, etc. Also, I'm not much into movies. So, sorry, I can't answer... except for the women part...

Anton MacArthur
haha!

Thank you so much for your time Simone! Its been an honor talking with you. I shall await your next project anxiously! Any final words for anyone reading?

Simone Bevilacqua
My big pleasure, really!

Hmmm... final words... don't be fooled by appearance! Look at the core, and search for Truth!

Anton MacArthur
Never a truer statement! be well my friend and hopefully we can talk again soon!

Simone Bevilacqua
Thanks a lot!



Stay tuned for an upcoming review of this modern masterpiece. If you cannot wait to play the game, its available immediately for download here [and costs less than a pint!]

You can follow Simone via his Twitter account here.

2 comments:

  1. Hey, Anton, thanks for the nice chat!

    For the really curious ones, let me add the answer about women* that you left out to tease your readers ;)

    For sure I can say that one of them would have to be the woman I'm totally in love with - but this is a theoretical thought, as, at the moment, there is none.

    *Faithfully and lazily copied and past from our conversation, in all its late-night pseudo-English weirdness.

    ReplyDelete