xstargaming wrote:Huzzah, a photograph!
That Darth Vader statue in the corner is quite defining.
Though busy I realize you are in answering all of these questions, I have thought of yet another: how do all of you make decisions on certain aspects? Is it generally unanimous (presuming a vote) or are there mixed ideas in most of the situations?
The first stage of developing a game is the moment when everyone can pitch in ideas.
But once we are set on an idea, some of us have the final saying on different areas. Alvaro is the director of game design, so he has the final saying on his area, Pablo is the director of programming so obviously all coding related decisions go through him and Gonzalo is the art director and decides on everything related to the visuals of the KR series.
Now that there's 21 of us, we have 3 teams, and each has it's own lead artist, lead programmer and lead game designer, that are responsible for making sure everything is up to Ironhide standards. Also, each team has meetings very often to discuss issues openly and all opinions and suggestions are heard.
No one barks orders here, it's more of an horizontal leadership... a few of us have to look at the bigger picture while the rest can focus on their own particular area of development.
kevin32 wrote:• Awhile back there was a heated discussion about platform equality. There was different content for different platforms, so players had to buy the same game multiple times to get the full experience. Is this something that will continue with future releases?
• While all KR games have different stories, towers, enemies, etc., they're very similar in terms of format and gameplay flow. I see how this is a good thing with keeping certain elements familiar and comfortable for the player, but will the next Kingdom Rush have new features and mechanics not found in the previous games?
• Are there plans to update KR and KRF with new content? Or are those projects "done".
- For the most part, the game with the biggest differences between platforms was the first Kingdom Rush... the Flash version was a bit of a testing ground for all the things that came later. Also, we put Castle Blackburn as a Steam exclusive for over an year as a way to thank all the people that supported the Greenlight process. We will try to make sure that all games have the same content.
- We will most definitely try to come up with new mechanics for a 4th KR. We are very much aware that after 3 games, it's getting a bit repetitive so we will try to make sure that the next game in the saga maintains some familiarity but also presents entirely new things... it's easier to say it than to do it... we'll probably fry our brains with this.
- KR is done. We are still doing some minor support (Bug fixes and version compatibility) but we will not create any new content for it. It's been 4 years and we really want to do other stuff that it's more fun. Also, we are tired of the constrictions presented by our old and beloved engine.
Frontiers is also done but it's less definitive. We would need a very powerful reason to devote time to another expansion instead of making something for Origins or polishing our new projects.
razieltnt wrote:Who came up with the name "ironhide" and what was the reasoning behind it ? Besides being a free one to take and register.
I wish the story was cool... Pablo, Alvaro and Gonzalo decided to become partners and make video games back in 2010 but needed a name for the company, so they made a list of a gazillion names and couldn't decide on a single one except Ironhide... it was the name that they all disagreed the least.
But you can imagine that they were granted a vision... of a weird orange Turtle/Armadillo with ironskin, an animal guide, that showed them the dream of a cool Tower Defence game... and they used the name of the creature for the studio. Ironhide. The rest is, as they say, history.
Big Bad Bug wrote:Which game company do you guys respect/look up to the most? Are you friends with any devs outside of Ironhide?
Blizzard is unanimously admired here at Ironhide.
We also have a somewhat cool bromance with the folks that created The Banner Saga (the studio is called Stoic). They happened to be fans of Kingdom Rush and many of us happened to be fans of their game so we started talking in Twitter and eventually exchanged several emails. Stay sharp for a cameo of one of Banner Saga's characters in the next update for KRO.
And also, and this is something that makes me very proud of our local industry, we are in super good terms with most game developers here in Uruguay. It's a small country, so we all kinda know each other. Most of us have very good friends working on other studios. Once a month, a bar is selected and many of us hang out, drink beer, exchange war stories and sobs silently in the corner (that last one is usually me, though).
Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 8:43 pm
hopefully it still has your awesome, artsy graphic style! And I mean, if it's like a puzzle game, racing, space, sports, RPG or whatever have you, I am without a doubt getting it 
