After eight years of programming games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, Henry Smith left BioWare to start work on his own indie games under the moniker Sleeping Beast Games, and in the three years since, his first and only game so far, Spaceteam, has won numerous awards, had a members’ club successfully Kickstarted, and is still going strong, with thousands of nervous and stressed-out people all over the world continuing to shout at each other.
I had chance to talk with Henry about the longevity of his popular local multiplayer game, his Kickstarter experience, his motivations, and what it means to be an independent games developer.
What was your vision when you first started working on Spaceteam?
How has Spaceteam evolved over the past few years?
Where do you want to take Spaceteam into the future?
I added new features & challenges and made an Android version. I created the Spaceteam Admiral’s Club and held a worldwide Spaceteam tournament. I translated the game into ten new languages, with the latest six just released last week! I made customized versions for various clients on commission. And I’m working on two new official versions: one for younger kids, and one for teaching English as a second language.
How did you come up with the Kickstarter project for Spaceteam Admiral’s Club?
How was your experience with Kickstarter?
I decided on Kickstarter because it fit those needs and it had an “all-or-nothing” funding rule, which was important. I needed to know if it was possible to fund myself in this way before I committed. If it failed, I was ready to just charge money for my future games.
Are you planning on Kickstarting any upcoming games?
It’s been a year since your Kickstarter ended; why haven’t the proposed games, Blabyrinth and Shipshape, been fulfilled yet?
What is the current state of Blabyrinth?
Does Shipshape still exist?
What part would smaller games have in the development of Shipshape?
How do smaller games play a role in the development process for more ambitious projects?
A procedural but deterministic galaxy of stars and planets Modular ship designs Inertial touchscreen controls Space phenomena like nebulas, black holes, “stardust” with fluid dynamics
Any one of these ideas could start as a simpler game and then grow into what I imagined Shipshape to be, or they could end up going in a different direction. But I also have more ideas for local multiplayer games that have grown out of my work on Spaceteam and Blabyrinth, so it might make sense to continue on this path instead if people are excited about it.
With so many new ideas, are deadlines just unnecessary?
For one thing, you can experiment with and refine one specific aspect or feature, and then incorporate it into the bigger game using everything you’ve learned. For another, it’s possible that some of the ideas for the big game just don’t work or are not fun, and it’s much less painful to discover this in a small game.
I also think it’s good practice for me to focus on smaller ideas, because it’s easy for my ideas to grow to unmanageable sizes; I think it’s pretty common to want your game to have everything!
What are your motivations for developing on mobile?
Have you thought of developing your games for PC?
Do you take inspiration from any local multiplayer games?
Do you think local multiplayer games have taken a backseat as of late to online multiplayer?
Spaceteam (Space Alert) Blabyrinth (Escape: The Curse of the Temple) Shipshape (Galaxy Trucker)
Spaceteam was also inspired by “digitally-enabled folk game” Johann Sebastian Joust, which I love. The other local multiplayer game that has inspired me recently is Drawful.
How has the indie scene treated you?
Do you see your experiences becoming more common among others?
How have your experiences differed between Sleeping Beast Games and BioWare?
What prompted you to leave a major game studio to go indie?
How did you find sustainability?
However, I didn’t expect to actually make any money on my own, so my plan was to just take a one year break and then attempt to go back to work. I am very grateful that I’ve been able to stay sustainable for this long.
What do you think independent developers need to know about finding sustainability?
My initial savings lasted a bit longer than a year, and at the same time, Spaceteam started making a bit of money. It wasn’t a salary, but it was enough to keep going. Then other opportunities started presenting themselves, and I almost always said “Yes”. To date, here is where my money has come from:
Personal savings Spaceteam in-app purchases Award money from a festival Commissions for customized versions (3 so far) Grant money from a university Contract work for a friend’s company Kickstarter funding Humble Bundle royalties
It’s working so far, but I don’t know where the money will come from in the future, probably a mix of these things and others.
For more crazy ideas from Henry Smith/Sleeping Beast Games, follow him on Twitter @hengineer, and on his official website, sleepingbeastgames.com.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
