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Interview with Zeboyd Games Bill Stiernberg |
Listed in: Interviews Tags: bill stiernberg, breath of death vii, cthulu saves the world, zeboyd games
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| Article Index |
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| 1. Interview with Zeboyd Games Bill Stiernberg |
| 2. What Inspires You |
| 3. Thoughts on Indie Bundling |
Page 1 of 3
I believe I’ve stated on a few occasions about my disdain for RPG’s. I was a kid who grew up in a world of Pokemon and the Final Fantasy series, but while I did enjoy a title or two of theirs, I never really got into the genre as a whole. I know friends who have devoted several years of their lives to RPG’s - not including MMO’s - but I guess I was off busy playing Kirby or writing or doing something to not care. But more recently my gaming palette has widened a bit and I've grown to enjoy RPG’s.
One of my favourite indie titles so far this year has been the work of Zeboyd Games, creators of Breath of Death VII and Cthulu Saves the World. Based on the titles and stories I’d heard about the game alone, I knew I had to get them. They are currently on Steam for less than $5, together, not each, together. I talked to Bill Stiernberg, one of the co-founders of the indie game studio to discuss who they were and what they were doing.
QJ: So Bill, for our readers to get a good understanding of who you are. Tell us a little about yourself and how long you've been making games?
BS: My name is Bill Stiernberg, I’m 28 and I live and work in Houston, Texas. It's only a hop and a skip away from where Robert lives and works! I have an engineering degree and I’m a licensed attorney. My legal background (focused on IP) is incredibly useful for our team and company. But my passion has always been the video game industry.
QJ: And what are some of your favorite games?
BS: In no particular order include Super Mario Bros., Chrono Trigger, Quake 3, Super Metroid, SOTC, Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 3, Castlevania SOTN, Street Fighter IV. I enjoy almost every genre though honestly.
QJ: What have you been developing and for how long?
BS: As far as game development, I’ve always been interested and involved with it my whole life. I used to code my own games in QBasic when I was much younger, and later worked in teams on mods and maps for popular FPS games. Later I worked with teams to create 2D top down style games. I vastly prefer making game assets to coding, but having some experience in that area has been invaluable.
When I started working with Robert, it seemed the ideal situation for both of us. We both have a passion for making games, and we appreciate the classics as well as newer well-known and lesser-known games. I love working within the RPG genre, as bringing life to our team’s ideas and producing these worlds and characters is extremely rewarding.
QJ: I have to say from the beginning of both games, I am humorously enthralled in the characters and stories, so what is your writing process like for making games? What games, movies or TV shows have shaped your writing?
BS: Now, this question is best directed to Robert who writes the stories and characters. I will say that Robert is a great writer when it comes to humor. It’s his style and it’s what he likes to do. Douglas Adams is one of Robert’s favorite authors, and he draws a lot of inspiration from that. As far as game play and presentation goes, we think it fits well as well with the retro theme. We’re taking old formulas and remixing them with our own new ideas, and so it is fun to kind of refer to those games and works that inspired us. We also kind of hope that it shows through our game to the player that we have a lot of respect for the old games, and for the source material behind Cthulu Saves The World, and that we enjoyed making a fun, lighthearted game with it.
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