Blast Miner

Q [William Usher] -For those who don't know, how long has Blast Miner been in development?

We've been working on Blast Miner since April, but I had been thinking about the basic idea for a few months before that.

A [Alex Austin] -What inspired the creation of Blast Miner?

The original idea came from watching my friend Dave play Triptych, he got so good at the game he would throw the blocks around, not even bothering to stack them. So I thought it would be cool to have a game where smashing the blocks was the whole point.

A lot of people are saying that the indie scene is full of too many puzzle games. Do you think games like Blast Miner and Triptych, sporting a fun and unique gimmick, will persuade independent developers to try new things with standard puzzle elements? Or do you think that too many of the original puzzle games aren't getting enough exposure to change the stigma on the puzzle genre?

Well first off I would say you have to do something unique no matter what the genre, as an indie you can't compete with the marketing of bigger companies, especially in the puzzle genre. I think there is a bit of a stigma on the puzzle genre since its associated with casual games, but puzzle games can be fun. That said, I don't think of Blast Miner as a puzzle game, its more of an action/arcade game, although it does look like a puzzle game at first.

The game uses some neat physics tricks. Did you originally plan to have a Tetris-esque game with some cool physics tricks, or was the idea conceived based on another concept?

Originally the plan was just to have the three types of blocks that would destroy each other in combination, once we had a prototype we came up with the idea of the ground moving upward that you have to destroy also. A lot of the ideas came during the development.

What sort of engine is powering Blast Miner, and was the engine specifically used for its physics?

The physics are the same type that I' been using since the original bridge building game, the main addition for this game was the explosion physics.

In a way, the physics seem to emulate rag doll effects we've seen in games using the Havok engine. How similar is the physics in Blast Miner to that of the rag doll effects in the Havok engine?

I've never used the Havok engine, so I'm not sure how similar the approaches are. I would say as physics in games get better they will probably look very similar, since most games try to simulate real life physics. Although the physics in Blast Miner aren't based on actual materials, they do act in a consistent manner, which appears "realistic" in its own world.

Following up on the previous question, can the proprietary physics in Blast Miner be used in other genres seamlessly? Or are the rag doll like effects suited only for the gaming style of Blast Miner?

Well I've used the same concepts for Gish and the bridge building games, so its possible to use for a few different genres. Each game requires a lot of tuning and modifications however. I would say that's the most difficult part of making a physics based game, even if you have a good engine getting the gameplay right takes a lot of work.

Is it more difficult making a game that revolves around the physics, or a game that revolves around a lot of gameplay elements?

I would say any gameplay element that makes the game more dynamic is difficult, since you have to consider so many possibilities. The more choices you give the player the more difficult the game is to design. For a game like Blast Miner its easier since its in a confined space, but there is still a lot of issues that come up.

The two player mode is a great addition to the game. A lot of independent games would rock with multiplayer support. Was it difficult adding the split screen mode?

For this game it was fairly easy, I think the reason most games don't have split screen modes is that not too many people have even one gamepad for their PC, so its a more limited audience. But if you're an indie you shouldn't care, we have enough fun playing split screen ourselves to make it worth doing.

What about multiplayer support for on-line play...is that difficult to implement? Or is that the independent development scene is more-so focused on the core gameplay rather than secondary features?

Online play can be difficult to implement, you have to consider things like bandwidth and ping, as well as server browsers and connection issues. I would like to see more indie games with multiplayer, especially co-op modes. I don't think its an issue of third party dev kits, they aren't really necessary since socket programming isn't too difficult. Its definitely not in demand from casual gamers, but there's a fairly large amount of hardcore gamers that are looking for good multiplayer games. One thing we do have planned is an online high score system, so people can compete indirectly at least. Part of the idea for Blast Miner is to have a game for the hardcore gamer that doesn't have 4 hours a day to play games. The kind of game you might see at an arcade if they still existed.

Any final comments for aspiring indie developers?

I would say don't assume people are stupid and dumb down gameplay, but also don't assume that people are going to learn 50 different key combinations unless they seem some potential. There's a tricky balance in making a game accessible but still complex enough to be interesting.