Frayed Knights Interview at RPGWatch

Posted by Rampant Coyote on September 8, 2011

I imagine most of the information from this interview is familiar to long-time followers of this blog, but hopefully you’ll find it interesting regardless:

Jay ‘Rampant Coyote’ Barnson Interview at RPGWatch

I feel really weird cutting out an excerpt from my own interview to tease you into reading it. But, putting on my shameless marketing hat for a minute, here’s a tiny one:

RPGWatch: How has your initial vision changed over the development cycle?

JB: Well, let’s see… I had a vision of releasing a full-fledged RPG in only two years of part-time development! That goal’s been blown all to hell for a couple of years now.

I don’t know if my core vision for the game has changed all that much, but the details really have. Limitations in the engine dictated that my areas are a bit more sparse than originally intended, and the dungeons a little smaller. Realities of budget and manpower meant I can’t get quite the production quality I always said I didn’t care about, but secretly envisioned. And I’ve had a few corny ideas – like the movement system that was in the pilot – just not survive feedback from testers.

Perhaps the biggest change was realizing that even what I thought was a pretty small scope for an RPG was way too huge for a single game. I had three separate “acts” that took place in three different regions, and I thought that the acts might only be around six hours of gameplay each. Right now the first act is clocking in at around five times that, on the average. Breaking the acts out into three different games was definitely the right idea, though it did require some significant changes to the story and quests to make all three fully stand-alone games.

If interested, please go over there and check it out, and even post comments ‘n stuff if you feel inclined.

This whole summer has been pretty much a blur of Frayed Knights development. I’m kind of embarrassed these days because my life has been so focused that I haven’t had much else to talk about. It’s like… the day job, and the night job. I get embarrassed talking to people these days because I’m so out of the loop on anything else. But it is nice to spend some time unreservedly talking about the one subject I know anything about these days.

Filed Under: Frayed Knights, Interviews - Comments: 10 Comments to Read

Greg Tedder said,

>> Realities of budget and manpower meant I can’t get quite the production quality I always said I didn’t care about, but secretly envisioned.

This is so true!
Noumenon said,

I’d have preferred a less “my game sucks” kind of answer, like this:

RPGWatch: How has your initial vision changed over the development cycle?

JB: I started out trying to make an RPG in the Ultima tradition, but I found that the “build it till it’s done and release it with a giant thump” model just strings along fans in the Internet age. Indie games work better with a “blog it till it’s done and release it in parts whenever you can” approach.

That kind of answer sells your game and your blog more than basically saying “my game didn’t turn out quite as nice as I planned it to be.”
xenovore said,

@ Noumenon: Dunno if you’re trying to be trollish or helpful…? No game really turns out quite the way the devs expect/want it to be; there’s always stuff that gets left out or doesn’t get polished enough. So it’s not necessarily a “my game sucks” statement.

@Jay: Nice job with the interview.
Rampant Coyote said,

Yeah. Maybe I’m just trying to pioneer a totally new marketing approach. That particular excerpt does come off a little as a downer, doesn’t it? I’ll change this post to include my whole answer where I move to more positive territory.

Maybe I’m making too fine a line of it — obviously, I’m a huge fan of my own game and think it’s AWESOME, and I have to be the world’s biggest cheerleader for it. But I also have to manage expectations. Jussincase there is anybody out there who is actually expecting a Bioware-style megagame, I guess (though it should be pretty obvious from the screenshots).
skavenhorde said,

Hmmm, I didn’t read “My game sucks” in that reply. More like my vision was too grand and had to be toned down to be at all realistic, which just about happens every time on any game ever developed (not counting 5$ throwaway games made in a few days)

Also I didn’t really understand “your” reply for him while I understood Jay’s just fine. Blog it till it’s done? Haven’t a clue as to what that means.
skavenhorde said,

Please, Jay, I love how you are truthful about your game. It’s so dang refreshing after reading “the spin machines” from the AAAs talk about their games. Never change.

Seriously, I didn’t read anything negative in that reply and have no clue as to what Noumenon is talking about. You came off just fine in saying that your vision was too large and it needed to be toned down a bit to be at all realistic.

You’re not shooting for a Grimoire type release after all 😛
Rampant Coyote said,

Noumenon’s comment is fair. I don’t think he’s suggesting turning it into a AAA PR doublespeak thing at all. Those are boring interviews, anyway.

I want to be honest and straightforward when presenting myself, my company, and my game. That’s who I am. But the truth is that I’m also the only designated cheerleader and marketer for the game, and that while I am intimately aware of shortcomings, I’ve got a close-up vantage point that nobody else has or really cares about.

So it’s good for him to remind me that I need to make sure I take advantage of these opportunities to talk up the strengths of the game. I think I did plenty of that in this interview, too.
Corwin said,

I think it’s a great interview and it’s getting a positive response. The hardest thing for an Indie developer to do outside of actually making the game is to get it KNOWN in the greater community. Once people hear about it, there’s a chance they will buy it, but first they have to know it even exists. Plus, I much prefer honesty to hype. I’ve stopped reading stuff from certain large publishers/developers because nowadays I know it’s 90% hype.
Noumenon said,

“blog it till it’s done” was supposed to call back to the first part of the sentence, “build it till it’s done,” and say it’s more important to engage your audience through the process than it is to code all day, but you’re right that it doesn’t really make sense.

Not really a troll, I’m just very critical and occasionally rude enough to actually post what I think on someone’s blog, which is their happy space.
Rampant Coyote said,

You are a long-time visitor and commenter: We know you aren’t a troll. 🙂 And I appreciate your candor.