Creating ANIMAL WELL, Game Engines, Dunkey, BIGMODE, Finding Challenges, and Patience - Billy Basso

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Show Links:
* ANIMAL WELL - www.animalwell.net
* ANIMAL WELL - / discord
* ANIMAL WELL - store.steampowered.com/app/81...
* ANIMAL WELL - www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...
* ANIMAL WELL - store.playstation.com/en-us/c...
* Limited Run Games ANIMAL WELL Collector’s & Limited Editions - limitedrungames.com/collectio...
* videogamedunkey - / @videogamedunkey
* videogamedunkey interview with Billy Basso - • ANIMAL WELL is Out
* Publisher BIGMODE - bigmode.com
* BIGMODE’s Journey from RU-vidrs to Publishers - www.gamesindustry.biz/bigmode...
* Billy Basso and Dan Adelman AMA - / we_are_billy_basso_and...
* In Living Color | Fire Marshall Bill - • In Living Color | Fire...
* DePaul | Software Engineering - www.cdm.depaul.edu/academics/...
* Handmade Hero - handmadehero.org
* Mr. Roper’s Smiles at the Camera - • Roper's Epic Smile
* Hulk Hogan Racial Slur Scandal - abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...
* Analogue Duo - www.analogue.co/duo
* Wired’s Analogue Duo Review - www.wired.com/review/analogue...
* Crow Country - crowcountrygame.com
GDA065 - In this episode, I spoke with Billy Basso, the sole developer behind the hit indie game ANIMAL WELL. Discover how he began working on the game as an after-work hobby seven years ago, and his vision for creating a lush, 2D Metroidvania experience where players explore underground caves, solve puzzles, and encounter creatures with minimal guidance.
Billy shares his game development journey, highlighting the initial challenges in both developing and marketing the game. Learn how he initially relied on Twitter/X for promotion until partnering with industry veteran Dan Edelman, which significantly boosted the game's visibility and led to a successful launch. Billy also dives into his development process, including the decision to create his own game engine, and building his technical skills at DePaul, as well as game studios like Phosphor, NetherRealm, and Level Ex.
Reflecting on the industry, Billy expresses a preference for smaller, diverse games over massive live service ones. He also shares his thoughts on VR and his dislike for AI-generated assets. Emphasizing the importance of creating meaningful, well-crafted experiences and building things yourself, Billy offers valuable insights.
We wrap up with his excitement around the community response to the game and his advice to aspiring developers. He encourages patience, embracing challenges, and seeking learning opportunities.
Bio
Billy Basso is the sole developer of Animal Well. Prior to this he spent the past 10 years programming games at larger studios, including NetherRealm Studios, Phosphor Games, and Level Ex. He also has had graphics work featured in SIGGRAPH.
Time Stamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:38 Billy's Current Role
1:04 How ANIMAL WELL Started
3:24 Working w/ @videogamedunkey @BIGMODE Dan Edelman
17:39 Going From Film 2 Programming
21:15 First Internship
23:42 Game Engine Inspiration
24:52 Starting as an Indie Dev
28:00 Things He Wishes He Knew
36:47 Working at Game Studios
40:24 Creating the Game & Engine
45:56 Build a Game Engine?
55:26 Communication Skills
59:54 Favorite Game 2 Work On
1:06:11 State of the Game Industry
1:08:11 @NintendoAmerica Switch & Consoles
1:11:03 VR & If He’d Make a VR Game
1:14:03 AI & AI Art Thoughts
1:20:06 Story: Injustice 2 Mobile
1:24:29 Game He’s Playing
1:25:49 Finding Billy Online
1:26:28 Game Industry Advice
1:29:24 Outro

Игры

Опубликовано:

28 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 89

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

UPDATED with timestamp chapters...thanks everyone and keep the suggestions coming!

@i-am-the-slime 14 дней назад

Very nice of you to write these comments.

@Almonolis 7 дней назад

They say: you've become old, you're wearing rose tinted glasses, you're high on nostalgia. When I grew up, I've felt in love with some games that introduced me to amazing worlds: World of Warcraft, Runescape, Assassin's Creed, GTA, to name a few. I've never been fond of indie-games, because of the aesthetics, simplistic design, etc. However, because it's been a long time since I enjoyed gaming, and play them barely anymore, I decided to give Animal Well a try, after seeing dunkey's video about it. I loved it, it's been a long time since I felt passion and love through my screen, thank you, I hope to see more from you and I'm excited about what's next.

@gamedevadvice 7 дней назад

So cool to hear your story and that you loved Animal Well so much. I'll keep doing the show on RU-vid & pod players for the foreseeable future...feel free to subscribe for future alerts.

@mattdacat234 17 дней назад

Found this through recommended. Felt like you did a good job highlighting Billy. Really like your interview style!

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

Wow, thank you for the kind words about the episode and my interviewing! I started the podcast 5.5 yrs ago, so my interviewing style has evolved :) I also interview a lot of people for my job in recruiting & talent acquisition at Level Ex (video games for doctors). If interested, there are a lot more audio-only podcasts on Game Dev Advice you can check out too.

@sunla 13 дней назад

I resonate strongly with Billy's values he has outlined in this and others' interviews. What an awesome and creatively inspiring individual!

@gamedevadvice 13 дней назад

So true! I always knew he was working on something special, but didn't realize how amazing it was along with his ideas and values.

@LionUnchained 13 дней назад

28:54 I just started game development last year at 32, no college degree, but hustled all my life, a lot of which was done with a computer. From side hustles/gigs to a career in silicon valley i've done IT support, audio engineering, web design, social media marketing, system admin, twitch streaming, youtube content, i mean really i've explored every direction I thought I may be interested in perusing a livelihood through, and eventually landed on game dev. While it would have been nice to have started earlier, I played more hours of games than most people could even fathom in that time, from casual survivals to top ranked ladder starcraft 2, and all of those skills i developed I use now as a developer. Just getting over the learning to code hump has been a challenge. Speaking to what John had brought up earlier, my lack of math skills and industry/academic terminology has been something I have to actively work on constantly to be able to interact with higher end developers. Around the 1 year mark my excuse of "i have no formal education" just got tired and i've taken as much accountability for it as I can studying and looking up what I don't know when i come across it. Speaking of which I'm here currently avoiding the last bug in my project (I have been stuck trying to get this reflect vector to correctly apply to the projectile but it keeps going to world origin) so.... I better fix it or cut the feature. Cool podcast going to check more of these out, I have been struggling to find good game dev podcasts, so thank you for putting these together.

@gamedevadvice 13 дней назад

That's an inspiring story LionUnchained and huge congrats on your hustle and grit through all the adversity (most folks don't have the fortitude). Hoping you can fix that last bug, I know how frustrating it can get at the end of a project. I think the previous episode with Roxanne Splitt around Design might be interesting, plus in podcast form I have a back catalogue of 5.5 yrs and 64 other episodes you can dig into. The Justin Fischer one might be interesting to you (June 2021), here's the Spotify link to the show: open.spotify.com/show/5NChfUVhFxV9NCoUVp4uD0?si=e4e0774f970e4033 Glad you found the show, hope you enjoy future ones too. Another one with checking out is my friend Alex Seropian's (founder of Bungie, Wideload Games, Industry Toys, and now Look North World) - The Forth Curtain.

@LionUnchained 12 дней назад

@@gamedevadvice 🙏🙌awesome ty for the suggestions i'll be checking them out

@trev3d 15 дней назад

Been looking for a long-form interview with Billy since I always love hearing the thoughts of the artists behind the things I love. Animal Well is a super inspiring project and a lot of what Billy says is both relatable and reassuring. I especially relate to the challenge of competing for time in people's lives with a game. I never feel I had any 'killer idea' that could be engaging enough to win time from people, so, despite being very passionate about software, I rarely start my own things outside of work. Seeing how Animal Well started as something that didn't necessarily have a grand ambition is reassuring though. Maybe the secret really is to just trust the process and let ideas bubble up over time.

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

Glad you found the interview. Yeah, I think the fact he was honest about organically developing the game and seeing where it went is inspirational. I think game dev folks sometimes get too wrapped up in the narrative they need to have a killer idea before they can commit. Billy provides you don't, just focus on the gameplay and let it evolve. Hoping this inspires you to start something out of work and see where it goes :)

@tdombui 7 дней назад

Cool channel big dog. Thank you for bringing these indies into the spotlight

@gamedevadvice 7 дней назад

Thanks, glad you like it. I try and mix it up with a variety of guests. Have a bunch of podcast only episodes too with other indies if interested.

@IcyGhost_ 12 дней назад

Seems like the algorithm finally hit me with a channel with deep insight on game dev, +1 subscriber

@gamedevadvice 11 дней назад

That's so great to hear! You might be interested in some of my previous episodes too, I'm going back and adding time stamps. Plus if you look up "Game Dev Advice" in your favor pod player I have 5.5 yrs and 65 episodes for you to pick from :)

@crylicakress8380 11 дней назад

Billy's a great speaker, and you're a great interviewer! Thanks for making this type of content, I love to know more about the process and thoughts behind my favourite creators and this hits the nail perfectly. You're both so down to earth guys, and I resonated with the points about GaaS and the youtube content creation treadmill. Just appreciate you're keeping it real with the format :)

@gamedevadvice 10 дней назад

WOW, thank you so much for the feedback! 6 yrs ago my art director told me, "you have all these stories and know a lot of people, you should do a podcast" so I took them up on it :) Been working to improve it over the years and added the YT channel in 2024. Came up with the format and have basically stuck with it so listeners can hear different perspectives on the same questions. GaaS and YT; yeah there's definitely fatigue going on. I'll keep on keepin' on as they say, plus there's a much bigger library of back episodes in the audio-only podcast format under "Game Dev Advice" if interested. Thanks again for the comment, you just made my day.

@crylicakress8380 9 дней назад

@@gamedevadvice Wow thank you! Just looked at the spotify list and looks like there's a lot of gems there, can't wait to listen to them too. I'm particularly keen on the artist interviews as a concept artist myself. Keep up with the quality work, you really deserve more views :)

@rayecast 12 дней назад

Creative work is so hard! I have so much respect for this person because any kind of work where you are trying to create and no one is telling you to do it, is so hard! So when you do it, it's the purest kind of work. I really appreciate it!

@gamedevadvice 11 дней назад

It definitely is, and you can tell in the game and his interview it's coming from a great place of intention.

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

Heads up - working on adding time stamps/chapters, hopefully by Wed. or Thu. this week

@danielgrezda3339 12 дней назад

I think Billy basso's take on ai is one of the best I've seen. All it's doing is what a human can do better, it won't beat human drawings or assets until it can do things humans can't do.

@gamedevadvice 11 дней назад

He had some good insights, especially around AI Art

@StevenKane1983 17 дней назад

This was a nice conversation and pretty nostalgic in all the obvious ways. Congrats on the release Billy and the podcast JP.

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

Thanks so much for the feedback and the congrats, much appreciated Steve.

@kyjmo 10 дней назад

What an insightful video! Glad I found your channel! Always love hearing other indie devs stories, just starting playing Animal Well recently so this was nice to watch!

@gamedevadvice 9 дней назад

Glad you found it and congrats on starting Animal Well. Check out Billy's Discord for questions around the game, plus feel free to subscribe for future episodes (plus I have a few existing ones you might like). Welcome!

@zb3485 14 дней назад

25:13 - so true...some of the popular channels, eg. game maker toolkit preach about game design, but cant make a game themselves, or they are working on something very simplistic...very strange...also - its cool to see someone making their own engine...its hard to find people like that, and i feel like nobody talks about the benefits of it nowadays / everyone preaches unity or godot

@gamedevadvice 13 дней назад

I'm skeptical of anyone who preaches to be an "expert" but hasn't shipped games and worked in the industry. That compounds things too when people follow them, do what they've been shown, and then can't finish a game or get a job. Be wary of them, they're just playing the RU-vid algorithm game around highly searched topics in a field millions aspire to work in. For game engines I've had to rethink my perspective too. There's something to be said for the idea, especially building it in the order Billy did. That's worth digging into more and feel free to reach out to suggest any future guests that could be interesting to speak with who are doing this too.

@penguins4583 13 дней назад

handmade hero mentioned pog

@gamedevadvice 13 дней назад

Yep, I dug this link up that's in the show notes too: handmadehero.org

@Maplefoxx-vl2ew 14 дней назад

Animal Well was really cool, i'm a music composer and small pixel art maker, i hope some day to make a neat game too. The layers he made to this game is too crazy lololol no spoilers. I wonder if he's a fan of Donny Darko or Twin Peaks.. i have this odd feeling he is.

@gamedevadvice 13 дней назад

Glad to hear you're inspired by Animal Well, and I'm especially impressed around him making his own music (as a drummer who messes around with music on the side). You should check out the Animal Well Discord channel, lots of great comments and thoughts on their. I had to google Donny Darko, but personally I'm a huge huge fan of Twin Peaks. I'm old enough to have watched it originally launched on ABC, it was soooo ahead of its time. Just finished this little book by David Lynch, worth checking out if you've not heard of it: www.amazon.com/Catching-Big-Fish-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/1585426121

@mynameisfury7320 11 дней назад

oooooh good interview, will subscribe

@gamedevadvice 11 дней назад

Fantastic, glad you liked it and will subscribe. Check out some earlier interviews too.

@kefalos7134 13 дней назад

Awesome interview, I only wish you had asked how he made the game with such a small file size and if it was a priority for him or just a happenstance.

@gamedevadvice 13 дней назад

Thanks for the feedback. Good question, maybe he or someone's answered it in the Animal Well Discord group (you should check it out, over 10k folks on it)?

@xybur 12 дней назад

The haptic feedback certification feedback and not being approved for it is WILD

@gamedevadvice 11 дней назад

Yeah, consoles get very strict about TCRs and TRCs (technical requirement checklists...funny too since Sony uses one acronym and Microsoft the other, even though it's the same thing ;)

@CirkusBolgen 14 дней назад

Handmade Hero - Casey Muratori That's the in-depth series he mentions

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

Yep, I dug up this link and shared in the show notes: handmadehero.org

@Jerryslaw77 15 дней назад

Great podcast! I think in terms of editing there’s no need to cut out the longer pauses mid sentence, some parts do feel a little disjointed because of it, it would feel more natural to let the pauses for thought stay. Other than that you’re an excellent interviewer and I’ll be tuning in!

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

Thanks for the feedback! That's interesting, since I'd switched after years of editing in GarageBand for audio-only to transitioning to Camtasia for video too. I always disliked long pauses with podcasts thinking they should be tightend up, so my editing ear gets hyper-focused around removing those. But I can see with video it's more disjointing to have tight cuts. I need to dial back the editing in the future so the discussions flow more naturally. Plus the bonus is that'll take less time to edit that way ;)

@codesymphony 15 дней назад

man's a genius

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

Yeah, crazy smart and funny too. His deadpan delivery about how RU-vid graphics tell you how you're going to feel had me cracking up.

@kingbaba1309 15 дней назад

I still havent gotten to play Animal Well (despite craving it) but I am already a huge fan of Billy, I like his chill attitude, very humble ! (also he is very freaking based for his take on IA)

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

You need to check out the game! Interested to hear your thoughts in the future after you play it too.

@j3t594 16 дней назад

I think the RU-vid algorithm recommended your video to me because I'm starting to make my first game, I think it picked up on the term "Creating" in your title

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

That's interesting, I went back and forth on a couple words and just liked "creating" and used that. No thoughts or understanding about algorithms ;) Billy has some great advice in this episode about making games, along with some other episodes like the Alex Seropian one. Welcome, and I hope you find this channel helpful!

@FlatThumb 16 дней назад

I think I am subscriber #100 :D - Great interview!

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

Welcome, glad to have you here!

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

Plus you're OG now that we're closing in on 300 ;)

@CirkusBolgen 14 дней назад

Audio quality. Dedicated mic for the person with 2 keyboards in shot and a film background, and something to deal with the plosives of the other one

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

That's fair, I worked in GarageBand on the levels and re-imported into Camtasia after I started the editing to get them closer (I was 2x louder initially). Think I got them pretty close, plus I wouldn't turndown an interview with a guest if they didn't have a mic. My other episodes have guests with mics. I need to work more on the plosives since I went to the headset setup. (Got frustrated with the range difference based on how close or far I was from my mic previously.) It's all a work in progress, like life.

@donuts4dilla 17 дней назад

16:49 the point here was kind of lost, but he is saying that he needed a low pressure situation to figure out what the game actually is. People quit their job and then can't afford to change directions mid development, and the game suffers for it.

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

Yeah, his point was having a steady gig meant he didn't feel the binding pressure of burning through the bank account while trying to "find the fun" (which is very elusive). Being able to explore, play, and go down rabbit holes lol is easier and more productive in that environment.

@CirkusBolgen 14 дней назад

Chapter names: cut unnecessary words. "hear how he started RU-vid" -> "RU-vid: starting"

@gamedevadvice 14 дней назад

Good point, I was thinking the same thing after seeing the chapter titles cut off and just revised them

@xperryment 17 дней назад

Wanna grow your channel? Add timestamped chapters.

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

1000% agree and working on it now. I've been doing the show for 5.5 yrs as an audio-only podcast, and stumbling my way through recently learning the RU-vid side of things now :)

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

Done! Timestamped chapters are added, thanks for suggesting...enjoy

@vj6566 12 дней назад

@@gamedevadvicethank u so much!

@creditwhereitsdude7544 12 дней назад

@gamedevadvice I liked, subscribed, and threw on all notification due to this response. I think you're going to grow extremely fast here with your attitude. Whether you have team engaging in comments or do it personally, but seeing how poised someone can be with constructive criticism is refreshing. Keep it up 👍

@clarkecreates 10 дней назад

Yt literally decides value based on view time if a new viewer skips to a specific time stamp youtube algorithm says "oh they didn't like it enough to watch it all the way through" and recommends it to less people. So in theory it doesn't matter whether you have stamps or not

@meanmole3212 17 дней назад

RSS feed for the episodes, please?

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

Thanks for reaching out! Try this from my hosting site: feeds.megaphone.fm/gamedevadvice

@meanmole3212 17 дней назад

@@gamedevadvice Thanks, works nicely!

@gamedevadvice 16 дней назад

Whew, glad to hear (first time sharing an RSS feed)! I have a back catalogue of episodes too if interested. Thanks for reaching out.

@trentbillington1093 17 дней назад

Chapters please 🙏🙏

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

I'll have to look if there's a way in the settings, thanks for the suggestion

@trentbillington1093 17 дней назад

@@gamedevadvice I think most people just do timestamp in description? i dont know how the official big chapter button thingys work xD

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

In progress, should have in 1-2 days :)

@gamedevadvice 17 дней назад

@@trentbillington1093 Yeah I'm going to add those in the description, working on them now...great point to bring up.

@trentbillington1093 17 дней назад

@@gamedevadvice sweet! cheers

@yunggolem4687 8 дней назад

"91 metacritic, can't argue with that" 7.9 user score, who is silly enough to care what shill "games journalists" say about anything?

@gamedevadvice 8 дней назад

That's the age-old question - whose opinion should you listen to? "Uncut Gems" is a movie that I enjoyed but also found intense and uncomfortable at times. It got a 91% from Rotten Tomatoes, but the Audience gave it a mere 52%. I'd personally give it way more than 52% and closer to the Rotten Tomatoes score. www.rottentomatoes.com/m/uncut_gems

@yunggolem4687 8 дней назад

@@gamedevadvice Naturally there are exceptions and Uncut Gems is intentionally an odd duck movie so audience reactions are mixed, but games journalists are far more corrupted than film critics anyway. Free review copies, early access, the need to maintain access, and the fact they plow through several games a week, limiting their time investment to a few hours in most cases means the critic review is inherently inferior to the actual player who bought the game him/herself, played it all the way through, & made a real effort to get their money's worth from it rather than move on to the next game in the pile. It's very rare for the critics to be right & the general audience wrong about a game, but vice versa is extremely common.

@PsychoJosh 12 дней назад

I wouldn't work with videogamedunkey even if it was to rescue kids from a burning orphanage.

@begobogo2583 10 дней назад

Which I guess makes him a better person than you?

@dado2_9293 9 дней назад

Hi Donk

@Renegen1 9 дней назад

I think the host could've asked better questions. the whole interview feels very surface level.

@gamedevadvice 8 дней назад

Sorry it's not your scene. I've evolved the show's format around asking similar questions to all of my guests so listeners can hear different perspectives each time. Maybe check out Alex Seropian's 'Fourth Curtain' podcast? He's pretty awesome with some great guests.

@maciejsawtyruk5804 12 дней назад

I like the interview. However the talk about most of the games on disc requiring download to even start is totally false. And Billy is even referencing that 50% games for PS3 and PS4 require that. No true at all.