Interview with Phoenix Games

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?
We are small team of four members located in Nis, Serbia. Our team was born during our college days (computer science college). After few student projects we realized we share the same passion for playing and making games. We are here to bring high quality games to the players by pushing our knowledge to the limits. Because we are small team, we all share jobs of programming, modeling, animation, music etc. Our goal is to become professionals in game development industry. We are currently “bedroom” studio with no funds and we are planning to change that in future.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
XNA was our first choice when we started making games because it simplifies game programming. Also, it provides easy deployment to Xbox consoles and XBLIG. This service is perfect for beginners, it is good for studio promotion but it is not so good for making money. It is sad that there are some good games on XBLIG which are not noticed by Xbox Live users.

Interview with Emoks and Eric, the conductors for Train Frontier Express

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?
Emoks: We're a duo; Eric has done all the coding and particles effects for the game, and I worked on the art. We've both worked on traditional games for the mainstream market, but had always wanted to try making something on our own and out-of-the-norm.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
Emoks: It’s accessibility to the console market is what’s drawn me to XNA and XBLIG. Throughout the development process having that Xbox controller in my hands has been a good feeling (D-pad aside), knowing that console readiness was already there.

Eric: If you have a small game with less risk, then XBLIG can make sense as a platform and is a great way to get a game on a console quickly. I had reservations with XNA, since it’s limited to Microsoft platforms. It’s proven a blessing and a curse.

Interview with Alex Jordan, the mind behind Cute Things Dying Violently

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?
ApathyWorks is me, Alex “AlejandroDaJ” Jordan, a 27 year old who lives in Washington, DC and works for the U.S. Department of Labor. I started programming and doing level design in elementary school, graduated to modding, and eventually hit the ground running with indie game design with XNA in early 2009. Cute Things Dying Violently will be my second title for Xbox Live Indie Games.

While I certainly enjoy helping out workers and the unemployed at the Labor Department, my real passion lies with game design and writing, and some day I hope to do it for a living. Although it’s currently just a hobby of mine, the “apathy” in my studio title is a complete misnomer that hides my desire to create worlds and experiences and to share them with others.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
I already owned an Xbox 360, and developing a game for a console had always been a dream of mine. When XNA was announced, I couldn't believe it, no company had ever made it that easy to get your game on their console. I jumped at the opportunity and spent a good chunk of 2009 learning C# and XNA. That means I've been developing for XBLIG for two and a half years now.

Interview with Alejandro Gonzalez of Milkstone Studios

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?
We are an indie game development company created in Asturias, Spain, and have released many successful titles on Xbox Live Indie Games. Our games feature polished gameplay and high production values.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
Our first game, Little Racers, was a hobby project that we did on our free time. We chose XBLIG because there were very few options to market an independent game on a non-mobile device and it was easier to develop on a closed platform as the Xbox 360. After the unexpected success of the game, we just kept releasing games on that platform. We've tried other platforms in the past, but there’s no magical platform yet.

What was the biggest hurdle in getting this game finished?
Usually our biggest hurdle is to cut somewhere and polish everything. The only exception has been Raventhorne, were we had a tight deadline so we ended up cutting before we intended.

Interview with James Petruzzi of Discord Games

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?
Discord was formed in 2009 by life-long friends James Petruzzi and Tim Dodd. Our original intention was to kill time, and have fun creating stuff. At some point we realized we had a shot at doing something really cool and unique, so we put our heads down and started working on what was to become Take Arms.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
I think both of us have always wanted a game on a console, and XBLIG is the easiest path to that. No publishing deals, devkits, etc. are needed. It’s an awesome platform, just a shame it isn't a little better managed.

Interview with Francesco and Matteo of Doom & Destiny

Tell us a little bit about your team?
We are two standard Italian nerds. Francesco, from Benjamin Ficus production, is responsible for the plot, level design and guilty of all the misspellings. Despite his love of creating video games, his computer skills suck hard He was lucky enough to find Matteo, his colleague. Matteo, from HeartBit interactive, is the genius behind the programming.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
Around two years ago, Francesco made a game with RPG Maker. It was a small but fun adventure of four nerds trapped in a fantasy world. Everybody (his friends and his mum) was pleased with the game and kept telling him “You got talent”, “You should make some money with it”, and “Eat your vegetables” so Francesco decided to turn his small project into a real game! He discovered that a friend of a friend (Matteo, from HeartBit interactive) was a very talented programmer who already worked in the amazing field of game development. Francesco showed his project to Matteo who said “your game is pretty cool, why don’t we collaborate to put it on Xbox Live Indie Games. You do the level design, story and other crap while I do the serious coding and programming. It shouldn't take much time, right?”

TWO years later, here we are!

Interview with Casper van Est of DoubleDutch Games

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?

We're a young Dutch company, consisting of two guys; Casper van Est and Gert-Jan Stolk. We founded DoubleDutch Games in 2010, and Speedrunner is our first game.

What made you decide to use the XBLIG platform for your game?
Well, XBLIG is basically the only option you have when you’re a new studio with no track record and no money and want to make games for a console. It’s a really great platform for people like us, as it allowed us to actually create a product and have it released. We'll have to see whether or not it’s actually a viable platform for making enough money to keep our heads above the water, but then again, we hope it can serve us as a stepping stone to other platforms such as Steam and XBLA.