Game in 60 Seconds | Talking ‘Minutes’ with Red Phantom Games (Q&A)

<p>Richard Ogden is a man with almost 20 years of experience in crafting racing games for Codemasters and BigBig Studios&comma; including the <em>Pursuit Force <&sol;em>series and the Vita oddity <em>Little Deviants<&sol;em>&period;  He’s now operating a one-man development studio called Red Phantom Games&comma; which recently released its first title&colon; the minimalist <em>Minutes<&sol;em>&period;  We talked to Richard about <em>Minutes<&sol;em> and operating a one-man studio&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>For the US gamers who haven’t experienced it&comma; describe <em>Minutes <&sol;em>in your own words&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Minutes<&sol;em> is a bullet-hell game or an &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;avoid-em-up” with abstract and pure visuals and gameplay&period; I wanted to make a videogame in the truest sense&period; It’s all about moving&comma; collecting&comma; dodging&comma; unlocking&comma; powerups&comma; scoring points – I’ve taken some of the fundamentals of gaming and created a minimalist experience that still works on console&period; I’ve tried to make it feel like the old-school arcade games that I played as a kid&period; Each level is one-minute long so it really works well on the Vita&comma; as you can literally pick it up&comma; play for a minute and make progress&period; But&comma; I think it’s great on PS4 too&comma; with the larger screen when you want to spend a longer period of time with it&period; The music is absolutely awesome and totally locks in with the theme and the seconds passing as you play – it really helps you to get into the zone when playing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;02&sol;05025816&sol;Minutes-3&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-large wp-image-77952" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;02&sol;05025816&sol;Minutes-3-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Minutes™&lowbar;20150121134929" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"349" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Y<&sol;strong><strong>our output over the years has been almost exclusively racing&sol;driving games&period;  What made you decide to go for a more abstract game like <em>Minutes<&sol;em>&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As a one-man developer now&comma; I have the freedom to create what I want&comma; to build whatever crazy stuff comes out of my mind&period; I don’t think game developers necessarily want to be tied to or associated with a particular genre&period; It’s more interesting to try different things&period; The driving&sol;racing genre isn’t what it once was&comma; though that doesn’t mean that smaller&comma; indie titles don’t work&period; Perhaps something I’ll return to in future&period; In any case&comma; <em>Minutes<&sol;em> had to be something achievable by mainly one person and on a low budget&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Do you find it more effective to work as a one-man operation like Red Phantom Games&comma; or as a larger company like BigBig Studios&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It’s just different&period; Obviously&comma; I can’t make games that require large numbers of assets and features – this requires a workforce&period; I need to focus on what I can do and pick the right battles&period; However&comma; as one person&comma; there’s not much in the way of programmer meetings&comma; design debates and communication issues that can get in the way of speedy progress&period; There’s no barrier to quick decision making&comma; and I also enjoy having full creative control&period; I can’t really blame anyone but myself if anything goes wrong&comma; though&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Given completely unlimited resources—money&comma; time&comma; all of it—and no one to please but yourself&comma; what would be your dream project&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I really wanted to make the game that <em>No Mans Sky<&sol;em> is aiming to be&period; But&comma; that’s ok&semi; I’ve got a long list of other ideas&period; I’m not sure I can pick one dream project&comma; but something along the lines of an open world 3<sup>rd<&sol;sup>-person action&sol;adventure set during the 1917 revolution in Russia but with a cerebral&comma; literary and very historical feel to it rather&period; I doubt I’ll ever make that one but the rest are secret&period; &lpar;I’m kinda hoping it’ll be a future <em>Assassin’s Creed<&sol;em>&excl;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;02&sol;05025845&sol;Minutes-1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;" size-large wp-image-77950 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;02&sol;05025845&sol;Minutes-1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Minutes™&lowbar;20150121135541" width&equals;"620" height&equals;"349" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Now that <em>Minutes <&sol;em>has launched in the US&comma; what are your next steps&quest;  What’s next from Red Phantom Games&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some porting for <em>Minutes<&sol;em> – PC and hopefully PS3&period; Maybe others&period; Some contract work then moving on with my next game in the summer&period; That’ll be one from the secret list&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;