Rusty Arcade

Behind any Flash game there’s always someone involved, a company, a team or a single author.  Whether it's a lead programmer in a huge organization or just an individual programmer from their bedroom, you don't often get to know who's actually behind your favorite Flash games. That’s why here on Rustyarcade we will be conducting series of interviews with famous Flash game developers!  So hopefully you'll learn something about the Flash game community and maybe even be inspired to give it a go yourself!

This time we will start with someone who you've probably heard of before; he is a very hard worker and had released over 20 Flash games since 2006, ladies and gentleman please welcome: Bradley Erkelens AKA Eggy! ;)

Q.RUSTY:  First of all, could you introduce yourself for those who don’t know you?

A.EGGY:

My names Eggy or I'm also known as Bradley :P I live in western australia and love lazing around making games, playing games or just watching some good old nerdy sci fi.

Q.RUSTY:  How did you start programming flash games?

A.EGGY:

I started off in school just mucking around with open source .fla files I had and making little stick animations. I actually started off teaching myself really badly and slowly by deleting lines of code and seeing what it did at first. I had no clue what to do, but slowly I learn't what things did and worked out the basics enough to start making basic games and look up code in tutorials as I went.

Q.RUSTY:  In some of your games, like the hit series Draw Play, you did the programming and the artwork, what made you choose programming over art as your specialty?

A.EGGY:

Well I think of myself more as a game maker more than a programmer, and code is much more needed to make the game overall as graphics can be done in simple forms if I really need them. I'm slowly learning to draw better though and you'll see better graphics from me.

Q.RUSTY:  Which one of your games is your favorite and why?

A.EGGY:

Hmm that's always a tough one; every game brings something new to me. I actually personally like Smithys Quest the most. It's my light hearted adventure game that makes no sense. I love doing random humor and incorporating them into my games.

Q.RUSTY:  What other games do you like from other authors?

A.EGGY:

Well there’s lots! It's hard to choose, it seems I like different things from different games. I do love a lot for jmtb02's games. I like his simple yet unique ideas which is what I strive for overall. Things like Achievement Unlocked was a brilliant parody idea of what’s happening with games these days.

Q.RUSTY: Which game has been your  biggest success in terms of popularity since you started?

A.EGGY:

That would have to be Draw-Play. The idea is popular with pretty much everyone and it was much more unique when it came out, it seems more drawing games are copying it now so it doesn't seem like the idea is unique anymore. I haven't been able to top it yet except for The Unfair Platformer coming fairly close.

Q.RUSTY:  From which sources do you get your inspiration to start a game?

A.EGGY:

These come from pretty much everything and anywhere. Playing other games and just generally movies and music. I like just putting in my Ipod and going off daydreaming spinning in my chair and just brainstorm ideas around. Lots of my ideas also come from just mucking around with scripting itself.

Q.RUSTY:  Do you think making a living out of independent Flash game development is possible?

A.EGGY:

Yep it's definitely possible these days, I'm already doing it :) You do however have to make sure you keep on working though and set yourself goals on games to get done. It's different for every person on how long it will take and there experience in game design and Flash. Either way don't expect it to be instant, give it a year or so and don't give up.

Q.RUSTY:  What would you recommend to those who want to start developing flash games?

A.EGGY:

The first thing is just learning the Flash program as much as possible, even if you're gonna be a coder, learn to animate and draw a little. Making a game is a jack of all trades kinda job. Involving sound editing and all. But don't be overwhelmed. Plan out a simple game and tackle it step by step and use tutorials. Practice practice practice and keep playing other flash games. Also don't forget, the game comes before the money. If you lose your passion for making the game itself and are only in it for the money, then most of the time it will reflect in your work.

Q.RUSTY:  Finally, what can we expect from you in your future projects and what you would like to say to all your fans here at Rustyarcade and all around the internet?

A.EGGY:

To keep expecting my games to get bigger and better. I wanna keep coming up with new and unique ideas and not to die out. Hopefully in the far future to make a popular online [multi-player] game.

Thanks for your time Eggy and keep up the awesome work!