That’s right, we have the man and the myth, Aaron Bishop himself of Lords of Uberdark.
Aaron Bishop is living the American indie developer dream. He went from his small but enjoyable project “Soul Fu” to being the in-demand guy for his game “Lords of Uberdark” after being tweeted by Notch.
Aaron has been swamped with work so he hasn’t had a lot of time to speak with the press, so we are beyond proud to announce that he will be speaking with Nerd Age:
Nerd Age’s Scholar: When did you, Aaron Bishop, decide to get into video game development and what inspires you to continue?
Aaron Bishop: When I was about 6 years old, there was this game called “Elevator Action” at the local grocery store. I remember building my own little cardboard version of that same game, with slots cut out for the elevators to ride through — and brass paper fasteners to keep the elevators in their slots.
Over the years, my brother Ben and I wrote several little games, going from C64 to Amiga to PC — and taught ourselves assembler and C and a few other languages along the way.
As for what keeps me going, I think it’s the complex puzzles that videogames offer to their programmers — how to arrange data to save memory, how to make the code run fast, how to write a believable AI, etc. With Lords of Uberdark, there’s a lot of new puzzles, chiefly due to the voxel based terrain.
NA: We would really like to talk with your designer Cody in the future, he does great work. But can you tell us about any other contributors or what you are doing to get your team together?
Aaron: For now, it’s just me and Cody. My brothers Ben and Jack helped a lot with the overall game design, and we have a huge list of features that we think will make the game cool — Airships, Cannons, NPC helpers, etc. Have also been in contact with a few musicians and web designers, but that isn’t really a focus at this point.
NA: Why did you decide to make such a different game from Soul Fu?
Aaron: Still remember playing the original Rogue when it came out… Then Hack on the Amiga… Moria, NetHack and a bunch of others. It’s probably my favorite genre of game, because it allows such a diversity of gameplay.
SoulFu was my attempt at making a modern Roguelike, and so is Lords of Uberdark… The voxel-based terrain just allows for a better translation. For example, NetHack had a pick axe and a Wand of Digging you could use to tunnel around — in SoulFu, the engine just couldn’t handle it. Same for truly random terrain generation.
That being said, they will still be very different games — with Lords of Uberdark, I want tackle some of the shortcomings that SoulFu had. Multiplayer is top on the list.
NA: Lords of Uberdark has a very impressive visual style, why did you decide to go with this?
Aaron: Actually wrote a few engines before settling on this one. The first had everything constructed entirely of cubes — but allowed for non-axis-aligned blocks… Meaning you could construct an arch, block by block — or knock a building down and watch every piece fly.
That was pretty processor intensive though, and doing it multiplayer would make it even trickier. The current engine also allows for ray-traced lighting, crossfaded textures, and a really nice water effect.
NA: So we know the game looks good, but can you tell us anything about how the final product will sound? Do you have anyone doing the sound exclusively or will that be a project down the road?
Aaron: Sound and music are really back-burner things at this point — but it should be professional quality by the time we’re done.
NA: Will Lords of Uberdark feature significant modding support?
Aaron: Maybe. My brother and I talked about how to implement a modding system, but work on that will have to wait until everything is further along.
NA: You are having some NPCs we haven’t seen in any game of this type, would you say your NPCs are going to be more advanced than any we have seen thus far (in games of this type)?
Aaron: Eventually. Definitely want the NPCs to have their own equipment and “chores” that they handle automatically.
NA: Here at Nerd Age we love Dwarves, or “Dorfs” as some prefer, and you seem to as well. How will your “Dorfs” compare to those in other games and media?
Aaron:Thinking of the Dorfs in a sort of “Tower Defense” kind of way — where they’ll have fortifications and traps and defenses, but the numbers will be with their enemies.
NA: Will we see water and lava flow updates in future patches?
Aaron: Yes. That’s another reason for going with the current terrain engine is that it does allow for nice fluid flows.
NA: We can only assume later on you will have doors, storage, etc. Are there any other basic house items you will be filling us in on?
Aaron: Doors are on their way now — the model is in a nearly finished state, just have to get the code squared away. Other objects will be added according to priority — things like Anvils, Furnaces, and Beds are all well under way — and will be added before non-essential things (like Looms and Mannequins and Tankards).
NA: Will you implement multiplayer later on, and if so, can you tell us about what you are planning for it?
Aaron: Multiplayer is something that needs to get done ASAP.
NA: Can you spoil any basic enemies for us?
Aaron: I’ll just say that Cody has one modeled up already, and I’m hoping to include it in the next release.
NA: Is there any information on upcoming Lords of Uberdark patches in general that you could spoil for us?
Aaron: Hmmm — one of the things I did recently was getting the game to compile and run under Linux, though it will be a while before I release a Linux version (just because there are so many flavors) — but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
NA: Your story is particularly significant for developers, as you have seen such a burst of funding and success. What advice can you give other developers?
Aaron: Don’t bite off more than you can chew — prioritize your work and get the most important stuff done first — and most importantly…Don’t shoot yourself in the foot!
Once again we would like to thank Aaron Bishop for taking time out to answer our questions. We will keep you updated on all the latest information on Lords of Uberdark. We should also have an interview with designer Cody coming up as well.
