Q&ERA: Tom Happ and Dan Adelman discuss Axiom Verge!

[Q&ERA]

This Q&ERA was organized by Emily.

Q&ERA offers an opportunity for our community to learn more about the gaming industry from those that are part of it. This involves batches of questions, submitted by users and then selected by staff, which will then be given to industry members to answer. Our intent is to bridge the divide between the gaming community and the gaming industry. We want to encourage engagement between those who talk about games and those who make them. (Note: Questions will be curated as interviewees won't have time to answer every single one. Also, there may be certain topics that interviewees are not able or allowed to comment on.)

Introducing our guests: Tom Happ and Dan Adelman, the creators of Axiom Verge!

About the game: Axiom Verge was created as a love letter to the original Metroid. The story is about a scientist named Trace who awakens in the alien world of Sudra. Axiom Verge is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, Windows, macOS, and Linux.






Tom Happ

Tom Happ is responsible for all of the game design, programming, music and art behind Axiom Verge. Working alone, he began development on Axiom Verge in March 2010 and spent five years developing the game. The game was finally released for PS4 on March 2015. It would later be ported to other platforms such as Wii U, Switch, and Xbox One. Before Axiom Verge, Tom had previously worked on Triple-A games such as Grey Goo, NFL Street, and Tiger Woods. You can follow Tom Happ on Twitter over at @AxiomVerge.

Dan Adelman

As the producer of Axiom Verge, Dan Adelman provides Tom with assistance in business development, marketing, and negotiating.

From 2001 through 2005, Dan Adelman was the Business Development Manager for Microsoft's Xbox business where he helped launch Xbox Live Arcade. During his time at Xbox, he negotiated contracts with third party publishers for Xbox content, including deals such as "Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic" with Lucas Arts.

From 2005 through 2014, Dan Adelman was the Head of Digital Content and Development at Nintendo of America. During his nine years at Nintendo of America, Adelman launched and managed four digital distribution platforms: WiiWare (Wi), DSiWare (Nintendo DSi), Nintendo 3DS eShop, and Wii U eShop. He also played a role in the launch of the Wii's Virtual Console service. As Nintendo's indie chief, he helped discover and foster major indie games such as Shovel Knight, World of Goo, Retro City Rampage, the BIT.TRIP series, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story, and many others. You can follow Dan on Twitter over at @Dan_Adelman.



SCREENSHOTS

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #1 -- Member: IwazaruK7

"What were the most inspiring or iconic Metroidvania genre representative games that made an influence on Axiom Verge's development?"

Tom Happ: Super Metroid, NES Metroid, Rygar … there are a lot of other influences but they aren't Metroidvania games.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #2 – Member: Musubi

"When working on Axiom Verge, what was your philosophy for striking a good balance between giving players a sense of exploration and letting players know where the critical path to advance was?"

Tom Happ: It was pretty hard to tell at first what players would pick up on or not; watching people play at conventions really helped me realize that things I thought would be easy were not. In the first few areas, the thing is to make the critical path as glaringly obvious as possible without actually giving text directions or GPS guidance. Every so often, put something in that blocks the path backwards, so that players don't feel like they have to explore the entirety of the game before that point to figure out where to be next. Towards the end, when the map is more filled out, they need less guidance because they'll see what areas are empty, or they'll be trying to use all of their new abilities on the obstacles they couldn't get past before.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #3 – Member: Servbot24

"How did you personally manage the long development process? Did you have to hold another job, and how was it managing your time and staying focused/motivated?"

Tom Happ: I did have a full time job as a programmer at Petroglyph Games for 4 of the 5 years of development. I was single without kids so it was really just how I had fun. I organized the development process so that I was always doing something interesting and tried to avoid a lot of thrashing by working on one thing (background art, animation, music, code) in bulk rather than by making all of area 1, all of area 2, etc. Also I think the simplistic art style of the game made it more achievable given the time constraints.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #4 – Member: FoxSpirit

"Mr. Happ, you said it took you five years to develop Axiom Verge, and most of that time as a hobby project. Have you ever tried to do an estimate how many hours you worked on the game in totality? Many thanks for your time and this amazing game."

Tom Happ: I honestly don't know. I used to think it was 20 hrs per week for 4 years plus around 50 hours per week for the last year, but I'm starting to suspect that I must have spent more time in evenings and weekends than I thought.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #5 – Member: Why would you do that?

"I noticed that Axiom Verge was created with the Monogame framework, which is basically a cross platform reimplementation of XNA. Why did you decide to go with this technology as opposed to others like Unity or Game Maker? In general terms, how was the experience porting Axiom Verge to other platforms? Would you recommend it to budding indie game developers?"

Tom Happ: At the time I began working on Axiom Verge – 2010 or so – XNA was the only way to develop for a console without needing a publishing contract or a devkit. That's really the only reason; I suspect if Unity or Gamemaker had been available for that purpose back then I might have used them, but I do rather like the amount of control I have with Monogame. It is a nice middle ground between C++ and full on WYSIWYGs. Sickhead games has done most of my porting (I only did the PS4 and PC/Linux/Mac ports myself) but it's been smooth. I would recommend it to developers who come from a coding background and just want to make their lives a little bit easier without forcing them to do it ways they might not like, or developers who have a team with dedicated coders. But I usually tell new devs (especially solo ones) to start with Unity or Game Maker. I do wish there were more choices in the middle ground between "do everything yourself" and "get a tool that does everything".

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #6 – Member: Binster

"What are the pitfalls to look out for when embarking on a solo development project? Any avoidable time sinks, recommended software for organizing, etc?"

Tom Happ: One thing that can really bog you down is scope. I'd suggest to do anything possible to just make it easier for yourself. Re-use old code or use a dedicated engine like Unity or Gamemaker. Don't try to make all your own tools. Don't try to make everything super detailed. Start with an overview of all the levels, characters, items, you think you will need and pay attention to how long each thing is taking to get a better and better estimate as you go. I just use google docs since I'm just one dev and I don't need to communicate it to a team. Don't waste a lot of time on things that you won't notice down the line. Focus on the things that are your favorite to work on and try to skimp as much as you can on things that make you want to quit. I think the main thing is not to give up; remember it will take years and not months so you have to be patient.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #7 – Member: breadtruck

"Looking back, is there anything you feel like you shouldn't have done in Axiom Verge? [Or anything you would've done differently?] Like, maybe in retrospect, the world was too big, or there were too many weapon options?"

Tom Happ: "Too many weapons" is one of the biggest complaints I hear, which was borne of (perhaps overzealously) trying to give players more to search for than just missile or energy expansions. Instead of being perceived as "this is way more interesting that increasing a counter", it was perceived as "weapons are less valuable than in other games". Another complaint is that the bosses are "just bullet sponges", which was also a reactionary design choice since I was trying to avoid making "puzzle" bosses (like in Nintendo developed games where a boss can only be taken down by performing a sequence of puzzle moves… grabbing its tail with a grapple and throwing its own spikes back at it or something). I don't like having to solve puzzles while something is trying to kill me. But I would like to have made the bosses smarter than I did. Or maybe had the courage to avoid bosses altogether.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #8 – Member: Musubi

"Were there any powers/weapons that hit the cutting room floor? If so could you tell us about one of your favorites that didn't make it?"


Tom Happ:

(Opens the google doc with all the items)

Okay counting them, there are roughly 78 "cut" items/abilities.

Here are a few to give you an idea and hopefully not consume you with angst for what could have been:

Glitch Glide

• Slowdown allowing you to glide (slowdown on y only?)
• You glitch into a run on a second jump press (glide) and glitched blocks pop in below you.

Glitch Armor

• On take damage, a timed glitch makes you flicker out of existence for a duration.

Glitch Combine/Morph

• You glitch with a nearby enemy and get their abilities.
• You swap places with a nearby enemy.

Half Glitch

• Your upper half glitches away and you can move in small places.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #9 – Member: SiG

"Thank you Mr. Happ and Mr. Adelman for your time! I've played and finished Axiom Verge on the Nintendo Switch, and was wondering what prompted you to use such designs and imagery reminiscent of H.R. Giger (and his contemporaries) mixed with the notions of artificial and questioned reality reminiscent of movies such as The Matrix? I understand seeing how Metroid is a big influence of this title, and subsequently being influenced by Alien, that it would inherit much of that aesthetic, but I was surprised at how much more Giger-esq the game would turn out to be, with the most striking images being that of the Rusalki. I guess I'm also asking as to why did you choose a theme that was so biomechanically inspired? Because while the subject itself isn't anything new, Axiom Verge's take on it feels very subconscious and sublime."

Tom Happ: In a setting comprised of alternate universes, the main thing I was going for was to convey just how strange they could be. I guess biomech begins to fit that bill – the notion that a civilization becomes so advanced and so distanced from their fleshly roots that turning themselves into giant robot fish feels normal to them. And that is relatively tame compared to what could be…I mean among the infinite possibilities for the sort of worlds that exist, the chance that you would randomly discover another that also had matter, energy, gravity, air, water, dirt, trees, snow, etc, let alone people, would be infinitesimal.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #10 – Member: Slixshot

"What was the process like of learning pixel art?"

Tom Happ: I dunno, it's mostly fun. The learning curve is really low – it's basically a simplification rather than a complication.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #11 – Member: TransEuropaExpress and Red Arremer

TransEuropaExpress asks: "Based on the quality on display in regards to the OST, my assumption is you're a big music fan in general. What musical genres, and specifically which artists, have inspired you the most outside of video game OSTs?"

Red Arremer asks: "What were the inspirations for the soundtrack? Some of it sounds almost like religious chanting and the likes, so I'd love to know what brought the very unique sound of the music together."

Tom Happ: Since you mention the chanting… I think that may have been a bit inspired by the Farscape end credits theme. It always sounded authentic to me, like aliens could really sing like that. The Axiom Verge vocals I believe are Hindi, but I tried to distort them to sound a bit more like a biomechanoid might be singing them. Some other inspirations besides game OSTs would be Orbital, Hybrid, Ladytron, and Goldfrapp.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #12 – Member: anexanhume

"I played Axiom Verge on Vita and found the experience extremely satisfactory. Were you pleased with sales on the platform? How easy or difficult was it to port the game to Vita? Thanks!"

Tom Happ: The sales are mixed in with the PS4 sales since it's cross buy, so I don't get to see a breakdown, but on the Vita release date we had a sales bump. It was the hardest port since it was the first game to use Monogame on the Vita; Sickhead basically spent a full year building a C# to C++ cross compiler and rewriting .NET while they were at it. But it was also the best trial case because it has such limited memory/horsepower; once it was ported to Vita the XB1 and Switch ports were much easier by comparison.

Dan Adelman: I had very low expectations for Vita going in. Even then it had a reputation as a device that was just collecting dust and going unused and that all the enthusiasm we were hearing about the Vita version was coming from a very vocal minority of die-hard fans of the system. Around the time we were working on it with Sickhead Games, some people even asked about whether Chasm (which is another game I'm working on) would ever come to Vita, and I told them that it would depend on how Axiom Verge did.

I don't want to say too much about Chasm right now, but suffice it to say, the Vita sales on Axiom Verge definitely exceeded expectations….

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #13 – Member: johnkeykong

"Would you consider adding better controls for PSTV? As in more controller functionality (using L2, R2, L3, R3)?"

Tom Happ: I think the ship for that sailed back in 2016… Sickhead didn't have a PSTV devkit, and even before that, Sony had discontinued it, so we didn't think it would get a lot of use. I don't think there is a way for the games to "know" about L2, R2, L3, R3 (though I may be wrong). So for the game to be playable, you need to disable the dpad = left analog option and then start mapping some controls to the directions.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #14 – Member: Metal Slugger

"Can we get confirmation that the US/NA physical Wii U version is officially cancelled? As far as I know, the last official update from last year was that it was being "looked into". Thanks!"

Dan Adelman: We're not directly involved in producing the physical Wii U version. I believe it is in process. We definitely want to see it get out there!

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #15 – Member: Jonneh

"Hi Dan, considering you have a long history with digital ecosystems, including previous eShop, I was wondering what your impressions are of the current Switch store?"

Dan Adelman: It's great to see each successive iteration of the eShop and how much it improves each generation. When I launched WiiWare back in the day, the functionality was incredibly limited. We had no ability to showcase the best games, developers couldn't put their games on sale, and the only information people could see to find out about the games were 2 screenshots and a paragraph description. It got better with DSiWare, then 3DS eShop, and the Wii U eShop, and now the Switch eShop is looking like a legit digital distribution platform! There is still some functionality I'd like to see added but it's now at least on par with most of its competitors.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #16 – Member: Prevolition

"Dan, I am thankful for you working alongside developers to get their games out into the public eye and helping with the business side of things. Do you think the large increase of indie games on platforms like the Switch or Steam is a good or bad thing for the industry, and how does it affect the way you approach things like marketing and publishing (and ultimately a game's exposure)?"

Dan Adelman: It's really just part of the natural order. In any industry, if you have low barriers to entry and some money to be made, it's a basic rule of economics that new entrants will keep coming in until a point where the risk-profit ratio is about the same as any other business.

Overall, as a lover of games, I think it's very positive. The quality bar keeps getting higher and higher, and there's just an amazing volume of creativity out there. As a business person, I worry that it does make it that much harder to break through all the noise - any game that I'm not working on is just noise as far as I'm concerned!

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #17 – Member: Emily

"Last year, in late April, some sites reported that Dan was frustrated with the slow approval process for Switch development. He made a short comment on Twitter saying: "We need to wait for them to say it's okay. We could've had it out at launch." Could you describe your overall experience with releasing Axiom Verge on the Switch? As the former head of Nintendo of America's digital content, what is your relationship with Nintendo like nowadays?"

Dan Adelman: Nintendo had two inconsistent policies that I think in retrospect made life very confusing and frustrating for a lot of people. The first policy was that they were only approving developers who were interested in bringing games that had never released on another system before. The second was that once a developer was approved, that developer could bring whatever game they wanted to the system – including their entire back catalog from other systems.

As a result, there was a mismatch between the rationale we were give for not being approved – because Axiom Verge had already released on other platforms – and what we were seeing on the eShop, which was lots of ports from other systems. It was especially frustrating since we had been asking for access to dev kits more than a year before the system's launch, and I told them that I knew from experience that they'd have a period after launch where they'd be starved for content. Sure enough, there was a long stretch in those first few months after launch where there were lots of new Switch owners but no new games, which would have been a perfect opportunity for Axiom Verge.

I'm a pretty vocal and passionate guy, so I let my frustrations known in ways that may have been less than productive. (I guess I can be a bit of a Walter Sobchak.) I've since sat down with some of my former colleagues and buried the hatchet, so I think we're all good now.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #18 – Member: viciouskillersquirrel

"There was an incident mentioned on the Radio Free Nintendo podcast about Axiom Verge's first E3 showing, where Jonny Metts, the host at the time, recalls when Tom first met Reggie Fils-Aime in person on the show floor. The story goes that Thomas was a little star-struck and didn't have an immediate response when Reggie saw the game and said "This looks like Metroid!" Jonny bragged on the show about answering "Well, someone had to make it" to Reggie's bemusement.

The incident is neither here nor there, but it shows that there was a real thirst at the time among Metroid fans for another experience like Super Metroid. I'm sure you guys were aware of this demand, but did it make you feel overwhelmed by it or pressured to deliver, especially as Axiom Verge started to build up pre-release hype? You guys put your own twists on the tried and true formula (and succeeded), but was there doubt in your minds that the overall package or every new gameplay mechanic would be well received? It must have been nerve wracking sending the first review codes out."


Tom Happ: Personally, I'm always stunned that people like it as much as they do. E3 that year was kind of like shell-shock for me between meeting Reggie and winning awards. So, my only reference was like, "Well, the people at Sony like it, people at E3 liked it, Dan likes it, other devs like it, so I guess reviewers will like it, too?

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #19 – Member: Wolfgunblood

"Did you remove or not implement a scanline effect in the options due to the mechanic where scanlines appear when near a secret? Was that just too neat of a feature to remove in order to have a scanline effect that the player could enable for the entire game? I think it's awesome, but I found myself wanting that for the whole game. It was the first thing I checked for in the options."

Tom Happ: Yeah, that was exactly the reason. It felt too neat to pass up using it as a "secret world" indicator. Maybe in for future games I can have a "scanlines always on" option.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #20 – Member: Shanaynay

"Hello Tom, I loved the game. This was my most anticipated title at the time of release! One of the mechanics that stood out for me while playing was the use of glitches. How did the idea of using glitches as a feature come about during development?"

Tom Happ: People always ask and I always say that I don't know. It's largely an attempt to bring back the feel of playing old NES games and taking advantage of the glitches in them, but it wasn't an idea that came to me all at once or was obvious at first.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #21 – Member: Emerald Hawk

"I've been following the development of a game in the same genre, also by a solo developer (Nykra, by Endesga). He has set a release date less than 5 months from now, but between feature creep and things taking longer than expected, he doesn't think he's going to make it. What recommendations do you have for developers in this situation? What can fans do to support a game like this prior to release?"


Tom Happ: I think at the start your best bet is to look at how long a similar game took to develop and use that as a starting point. Axiom Verge took 1 person and 5 years. Cave Story took 1 person and 5 years. Fez took 2 people and 5 years. Owlboy took 5 people and 10 years, etc. So, I think it's a reasonable expectation that these sort of exploration platformers will take many years to complete.

Unfortunately, this is one of those "damned if you do or don't" situations. Players seem to have an expectation that development should take 1 or 2 years, probably fueled by AAA games like Assassin's Creed that come out each year. But for an indie it's going to take way longer than whatever the expectation is.

Also, even if you predicted accurately that it'll take 5 years to develop the game, you can't put up a trailer in 2018 that says, "Coming in 2023!" Especially if it's a Kickstarter and you want people to back it. So even devs with an accurate schedule are more or less forced to post an overly optimistic launch date in order to keep people from dismissing it outright, then miss that date and revise again and again. The best scenario is if you already have the resources and you can just make the game in silence, then not even announce until it's a year or so from launch.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #22 – Member: Skip2baloo

"After swapping from AAA games to indie titles, could Tom imagine ever going back to AAA productions?"

Tom Happ: Fiscally I'm blocked into having to be a solo dev because of my son… I effectively need to save enough money for him to live his entire life being unable to work. AAA game developers just don't get paid what I can make on my own.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #23 – Member: Crawling Mushroom

"If Nintendo contacted you to make the "next entry in the Metroid series" what are some ideas that you would like to put in the game?"

Tom Happ: I would make something different. It feels like every Metroid has the same collection of items, powerups, weapons, enemies. So I'd come up with some other items and abilities. I'd probably be tempted to try and reboot the character, remove the cartoony stuff like being raised by bird people, the prophesized savior stuff, the Barbie Doll zero suit, try to bring in more of the Ellen Ripley and Boba Fett aspects of her personality.

 

[Q&ERA]

Question #24 – Members: Extra Sauce and Shade Aurion

Extra Sauce asks: "Hi Tom, do you know which game you are working on next? If so, when are fans likely to hear about it?"
Shade Aurion asks: "Will Axiom Verge have a sequel?"

Tom Happ: I'm working on another game but there isn't more I can say at this point. Maybe in another year or so.

 

[Deleted member 33]

That concludes our Q&ERA.

ResetEra would like to thank both Tom Happ and Dan Adelman for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer our community's questions.

Our admin team would also like to thank everyone who submitted questions. If your questions weren't selected for whatever reason, there will be plenty more Q&A sessions in the near future.

 

[foxuzamaki]

But being rasied by birds is the best part tom D:

 

[lt519]

Excellent Q&A again, in particular found the answer to question 21 interesting. The need to develop a game in the dark for years before asking for fundraising is unrealistic for most indies. They need to Kickstart to fund a 5 year dev cycle or they will go broke but at the same time Kickstarter backers go nuts if a game isn't released within two years of announcement. Your right, I wouldn't back a game slated to release in 2023. It sets a lot of them up for failure, but what else can they do?

 

[Deleted member 3058]

Fantastic Q&A as always! Very interesting details about the dev process including some pretty great advice (especially Q6 which is useful in general)

Whatever Tom's next project is I'll be there.

 

[Robin]

Fascinating read! I really look forward to these. Thanks to Tom and Dan and everyone who put this together!

 

[MrPhiliasfrog]

That was very interesting. Coincidentally, I started Axiom verge yesterday and I'm having a lot of fun.

Thanks Dan and Tom for answering our questions. And also thank you Emily for organizing this Q&A.

 

[Why would you do that?]

If Tom is reading this, thanks for answering my question! I really enjoyed this interview as a whole.

I felt a little bad for not asking about his son and how he's doing, but I really do wish him and the whole family the best. Hopefully Axiom Verge's success will help secure a brighter future for him.

 

[SiG]

Thanks for answering our questions Tom and Dan!

 

[Shan]

Looking back at my question, i do admit he must've been asked it like a million times but it's a game i stayed "dark" about on purpose so i didn't see any of the interview where he was probably asked exactly this, but i'm happy it was chosen and answered. Thank you for organizing the Q&A and thank you Tom and Dan for taking the time to answer questions. I look forward to whatever comes next.

 

[Joshua]

Thanks Tom & Dan, this was a fantastic Q&A!

 

[KenOD]

Very informative, thanks for the input and everyone who made it possible.

Now to go list to the OST.

 

[Binster]

Excellent stuff, thanks for answering my question!

 

[Skip2baloo]

Nice, really nice Qs and As! Thank you all!

 

[Any Questions]

Loved reading this. I didn't submit a question as for me all i wanted to convey was my appreciation for this game . It was so much fun and i will replay it again for sure. Thanks for the great questions Era and thanks to Tom and also Dan. Good luck to both of you for your future projects.

 

[BrokenIcarus]

Question #23 – Member: Crawling Mushroom

"If Nintendo contacted you to make the "next entry in the Metroid series" what are some ideas that you would like to put in the game?"

Tom Happ: I would make something different. It feels like every Metroid has the same collection of items, powerups, weapons, enemies. So I'd come up with some other items and abilities. I'd probably be tempted to try and reboot the character, remove the cartoony stuff like being raised by bird people, the prophesized savior stuff, the Barbie Doll zero suit, try to bring in more of the Ellen Ripley and Boba Fett aspects of her personality.

Click to shrink...

I really really really want to play this!

 

[Mivey]

Great Q&A, also some neat questions, so kudos on the community for asking good questions and on the Era team for selecting the best ones.

This might have been one of the last Monogame/XNA games out there, so it was interesting reading his experience with it. Seems like, as he said, for solo devs the only sensible path forward is using engines that do most of the technical ground work already.

 

[winkyface]

Amazing QA. Thanks Tom and Dan, I got the game on Switch after learning about it last PAX West. I loved it.

Thanks Emily for organizing all this.

 

[Bufbaf]

I didn't have a question this time, but I wanted to say how much I appreciate these things. It's really cool to see so many devs coming over here to help making this board a somewhat stable pillar in the gaming world, instead of doing the "easy" thing and stick to Reddit or their own forums. Thank you very much for this, not only Tom and Dan, but all the devs and coworkers who join these Q&A's, for giving insight, answering questions and help making this community effort a success. And of course, thank you, Cerium, Emily and the rest of the team for putting in work making things like this happen. Era still has to find its place in a way, but I feel we're on a really constantly great way so far.

 

[AuthenticM]

The story goes that Thomas was a little star-struck and didn't have an immediate response when Reggie saw the game and said "This looks like Metroid!" Jonny bragged on the show about answering "Well, someone had to make it" to Reggie's bemusement.

Click to shrink...

lmao

 

[Deleted member 8861]

Thank you for the Q&A!

 

[-syn-]

Tom Happ: Personally, I'm always stunned that people like it as much as they do. E3 that year was kind of like shell-shock for me between meeting Reggie and winning awards. So, my only reference was like, "Well, the people at Sony like it, people at E3 liked it, Dan likes it, other devs like it, so I guess reviewers will like it, too?

Click to shrink...

One of my favourite moments of that E3 was running into Tom at the Sony booth. I saw that there was a "Game of Show" sticker on his booth (from Gamespot if I'm not mistaking). I asked him about it and he was a bit confused about it. He said a guy walked past his booth, stuck it on and didn't say much else.

Tom seemed genuinely in shock in a "I think this is going to work out" kind of way. A lovely moment in the middle of the marketing frenzy of the E3 show floor.

I should still have the picture I took of him after our conversation.

I'm sure he doesn't remember me by the way :)

 

[ConanEdogawa]

Thank you for the Q&A

 

[Beefwheat]

Question #2 – Member: Musubi

Tom Happ: Every so often, put something in that blocks the path backwards, so that players don't feel like they have to explore the entirety of the game before that point to figure out where to be next. Towards the end, when the map is more filled out, they need less guidance because they'll see what areas are empty, or they'll be trying to use all of their new abilities on the obstacles they couldn't get past before.

Click to shrink...

This was hugely appreciated. More than once I wasn't sure how to progress, and confining my search to a smaller area saved a lot of wasted time and frustration, I'm sure.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Thanks Tom, for answering my question!

Very informative, thanks for the input and everyone who made it possible.

Now to go list to the OST.

Click to shrink...

It's on Spotify, which is a welcome change from a lot of the games I play (Japanese OSTs tend not to appear on online services). I remember I had recently discovered Purity Ring when I first gave it a listen and couldn't help but think that Lo Fi versions of half the tracks on Shrines could have fit in on the OST, especially Lofticries.

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

Question #7 – Member: breadtruck

"Looking back, is there anything you feel like you shouldn't have done in Axiom Verge? [Or anything you would've done differently?] Like, maybe in retrospect, the world was too big, or there were too many weapon options?"

Tom Happ: "Too many weapons" is one of the biggest complaints I hear, which was borne of (perhaps overzealously) trying to give players more to search for than just missile or energy expansions. Instead of being perceived as "this is way more interesting that increasing a counter", it was perceived as "weapons are less valuable than in other games". Another complaint is that the bosses are "just bullet sponges", which was also a reactionary design choice since I was trying to avoid making "puzzle" bosses (like in Nintendo developed games where a boss can only be taken down by performing a sequence of puzzle moves… grabbing its tail with a grapple and throwing its own spikes back at it or something). I don't like having to solve puzzles while something is trying to kill me. But I would like to have made the bosses smarter than I did. Or maybe had the courage to avoid bosses altogether.

Click to shrink...

I like this answer, it feels very honest. Sometimes taking risks like this can pay off with innovation, but sometimes doing something different just for the sake of being different isn't necessarily a positive thing. It's a good way of reminding people that design should try to come as organically as possible and that it's ok to be flexible on your initial vision.