After granting Blow the well deserved title of Community Game of the Week, I had the chance to interview David Flock, the developer behind the XNA masterpiece.

How many people worked on Blow?

The game design, programming, and graphics were done by me and my brother Jonathan was responsible for level design and quality assurance.

Blow feels very polished - how long did it take you?

It’s really tough to say how long it took because I’ve only been able to work with XNA part time but I’d estimate it took around 1000 hours. The development for Blow wasn’t a nice straight line either. There was a lot of “back to the drawing board” with this one.

The procedurally generated levels are surprisingly awesome considering the open ended nature of the gameplay - did you have any trouble implementing them properly? Was there ever a point in development where impossible levels were generated?

The procedurally generated levels were the very first game mode implemented and the most challenging design element of the game. Being sure the levels were possible to complete was critical. I designed the algorithm such that it would create a winding path between the start and exit and fill in the environment around it. This would ensure the level could be competed. Designing diverse paths with dead ends, loops, corridors, rooms, and a controllable range of complexity is what took the most consideration. I was trying to design an overall algorithm that would ensure the player would always see something beyond their own imagination.

I could imagine the gameplay working well in a variety of settings - what made you settle on bubbles in a magical forest?

The original idea came from my observation of thistle seeds blowing through my yard. The outdoor setting stuck in my mind and worked well with the overall serenity and organic nature of the game.

Have you been playing any of the other community games? Find anything you liked?

Being part of the XNA community I help peer review games for release on the service so I’ve playing just about every game. There’s quite a few gems in there. I’m most attracted to originality. Games like Machiavelli’s Ascent, World Molder, CarneyVale, and Hexothermic are a few examples.

Did any particular games inspire you to pursue game development?

It was XNA itself that inspired me to get into game development.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get started creating video games?

My best advice is to think of a very simple project and complete that project from start to finish. The fastest way to jump into game development is to experience the complete design process from the core mechanics to the final polish. This is true even if the game is as simplistic as “Pong”.

So what’s next? Any new projects in the works?

Currently I’m working on finishing XBLA certification for Blazing Birds, an update for Blow, and I’ve begun a brand new project (currently top secret).

Secret project??? We here at Check Your HUD can’t wait to see what it is. For now, we’ll have to settle for moving our bubbles through the forest. Blow is available now on the XBLM for 400 Microsoft points.

-Mike Kurz

Tags: Blow, community, Game Design, Interview

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