MICHAEL ‘FLASH’ WARE

We catch up with one of the members of the Rusty Pixels team

How would you sum up the Next to date in terms of software support?

Software has increased steadily as people get to know the system more. There’s a lot of software released and in production, and when the second Kickstarter units ship, I’m sure there will be a lot more. There is so much that the system can do and I cannot wait to see what others create. Kev Brady is currently working on his game Ice World, and based on what he has shown us so far, it’s going to be rather stunning. What I’m most impressed by is the wonderful work being coded purely in BASIC. The Next has a much enhanced version of BASIC and coupled with its 28MHZ clock speed, we are seeing games that would have been impossible back in the day.

Have sales of current Rusty Pixels games met your expectations?

We originally did a pre-sale to fund the physical units and it went mad! We have since sold three more physical batches of our current trio of titles – Baggers In Space, Warhawk and Tyvarian – and digital units still continue to sell. So, certainly based on our experiences, creating and selling games for the Next is a rewarding pastime.

What’s the latest news on Crowley: Beginnings and do you have a release date for it?

Things have changed regarding the first main Crowley game.

The original idea was a trilogy of games charting his escape from the underworld and his final reward becoming a good demon on Earth. Though Beginnings was started, we decided that part two of the story would be a better starting point. This game is simply called Crowley and it’s a sprawling platform adventure with many worlds and demons to conquer. It’s coming along rather well but we’re not sure when it will be finished and we have no intention of rushing it. We did produce a little demo for last year’s Play Expo at Blackpool and the feedback was tremendous.

Is the Rusty Pixels team working on any other Next releases?

We have several things in the pipeline. We’re currently putting the finishing touches to Baggers In Space: Detour, which is part of the second Kickstarter rewards. This is a follow-up to the original game and a new, challenging adventure. We have Tyvarian: To The Victor The Spoils, which adds a whole host of new ideas to the original. We’re also working on Quakestar, which is a platformpuzzle game designed by Simon Butler, and next year we’ll be releasing Crowley World Tour 2 as a free title.

What would you say to someone who’s toying with the idea of developing a Next game?

Go for it! The community is growing all the time and we love to see new (and old) developers join the fray.

What I’m most impressed by is the wonderful work being coded purely in BASIC

MICHAEL WARE