Our conversation with Christopher Haag is here. He talked about his game Hamster Chase and his journey from developing medical software to developing games in his spare time. Read on to know about this indie developer.
Can you tell us something about yourself?
I’ve been developing games alone in my spare time for over two decades (my full time job is developing medical software). In the past three years I released three mobile games on the App Store and Google Play for an accumulated 120,000+ downloads.
I also maintain a blog to share my knowledge to other developers.
Game description
Hamster Chase is the story of a family of happy hamsters trying to make their way home while on the run from evil Sour Puss. Help Sasha, Goldie, Snowflake and Ting-Ting follow the trail of seeds by guiding them around obstacles in 100 challenging levels! Avoid the holes, dodge the flying balls, run from the spinning tops, veer away from the vacuums, and even do battle with Sour Puss himself using spring-loaded boxing gloves :)
You can even replay levels to earn trophies for best times, and share the fun with your friends on Twitter and Facebook!
The fun doesn’t end there: also included is an exciting virtual hamster cage. Watch hamsters fly off…er, run on their wheel, play hide and seek, and tap on the cage to make them jump! Did we mention they also tell jokes?
Where did the game idea come from?
Spontaneous.
What can you tell us about the development of the game?
I commissioned Meta3D studios for help with the art, hired Novy PR to help me with the initial release; and did the rest of the work (programming, trailer production, website maintenance, blogging) myself.
The game took almost a year to finish averaging about 10-15 hours/week. I used Unity3D to develop it (the scripts that defined the game were written in C#) and in deploying it to Google Play and the App Store.
What is the most important thing you learned when making this game?
Developing a game alone has its rewards, but it’s better to work in a team.
What advice would you tell people who are beginning with game development?
Go at your own pace, find developer friends who share similar interests, and enjoy the journey! Don’t get discouraged if it seems like a long and tedious process. Working hard will not guarantee success, but doing it and sharing your progress with other people certainly helps your chances.
Anything else you would like to share with the audience?
I wrote an article on a game I spent nine years developing which I think may entertain and inform anyone who reads it: http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/creative/game-design/dominoze-pc-post-mortem-nine-years-one-programmer-r2966
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