After ten years at Gamespot Greg Kasavin left his editor-in-chief position to begin working in game development. He spent a few years in the AAA space before joining a small San Jose indie studio founded by his former colleagues at EA. Their first title, Bastion, was a tremendous success, and allowed Supergiant Games to continue creating unique downloadable titles. Their second game, Transistor, enjoyed similar success when it was released last year. In this interview Greg and I discuss his time in the games press, at large studios, and the sacrifices necessary to make it as an independent developer.
1:35 – Making the switch from a journalist to a developer. Being critical of games while still being respectful.
5:48 – Receiving criticism as a developer after having delivered it as a reviewer in the press.
9:07 – Supergiant’s reaction to the critical reception of Transistor. The pressure of delivering on high expectations.
11:34 – How the pressure of game development feels different, but the quantity remains constant.
15:13 – The Double-edged nature of owning control over features on a small team. Why even working on a small indie team is often less stressful than AAA development.
19:31 – Designing out of choice vs. necessity. How to impose creative restrictions yourself when you have less financial constraints.
Greg Kasavin – Supergiant Games
After ten years at Gamespot Greg Kasavin left his editor-in-chief position to begin working in game development. He spent a few years in the AAA space before joining a small San Jose indie studio founded by his former colleagues at EA. Their first title, Bastion, was a tremendous success, and allowed Supergiant Games to continue creating unique downloadable titles. Their second game, Transistor, enjoyed similar success when it was released last year. In this interview Greg and I discuss his time in the games press, at large studios, and the sacrifices necessary to make it as an independent developer.
Rob Carter
Rob is a software engineer and amateur game developer. He lives in Bellevue, Washington.
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