Interview with Andrew Dayton, Co-Founder of Steel Wool Games

Flyhunter Origins is the newest title from Steel Wool Games which follows Zak, an alien spaceship Janitor who accidentally falls into the role of daring Flyhunter! We had the chance to talk with Andrew Dayton, a co-founder at Steel Wool about the game. 

GameGrin: Can you summarise Flyhunter Origins in 10 words or less?

Andrew: Janitor from Space
Hunting of Flies Illegal
Makes much happiness
     -Haiku

Is this the first game that Steel Wool Games have worked on? If not, which others?

It is indeed. Hopefully not the last.

How long has the game been in development for?

Dev side has been about 14 months. It’s been in testing and tweaking for about 6 months.

What's been the biggest challenge during this development time?

Well, since the leads are working film professionals and our programmer is a full time software engineer at a leading chip manufacturer, we all work after hours and remotely. Our team of amazing artists had to deal with not being able to get us in a room together very often. We work together using Box and Skype. Our strong background in complex production pipelines helped us keep organized.

There are a lot of other platformer games out there at present. How do you plan on making Flyhunter Origins stick out?

It has a heart. It’s not just a bunch of levels with some quickly strung together cut-scenes. The story of Zak was just as important as the game design to us. We want the player to have fun, but also feel they are part of a larger story and really connect with Zak. I think it all comes from our film background and also our natural instincts. Some of my favorite games are the ones where I get immersed into the narrative as well as the gameplay.

Tell us a bit about Zak, the protagonist.

He is our Charlie Chaplin. He is bumbling, a bit naïve but at the end of the day he is a good guy with guts. He is the underdog. He doesn’t have dialog but he is such a loveable character which is a testament of our animators who can breathe life into him and have him express emotion with just pantomime.

Why did you choose to release the game on PSV and how will you be utilising its capabilities (touch etc.)?

The Vita is a logical device to have Flyhunter Origins on as the game plays best with a controller. It is an elegant device and the beautiful OLED screen means Flyhunter Origins looks really great on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TsAxBqM8A8

In the trailer, we see a lot of rubbish and Earth-creatures. Can we assume that Flyhunter Origins will be based on Earth?

It takes place in a vast landscape filled with exotic and dangerous flora and fauna. You never see the native sentient beings but you do traverse some of their colossal monuments. Basically it all takes place within a small back section of a trailer park in the American South East!

How has the reception been from the community for the game?

So far so good. I haven’t received death threats yet so we’ve got that going for us.

Talk us through an average day in the Steel Wool Games offices.

Well, considering we all work remotely I cannot speak for the other team members. I just hope they are wearing clothing during our skype chats. My average day at Steel Wool Games starts at around 9pm after my kids get to sleep and my 7th cup of coffee of the day kicks in.

Be sure to check out Flyhunter Origins which launched 13th November, 2014, available on Android, iOS and PlayStation Vita!