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.
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