Get to know the people that make great videogames
It’s been a power-packed couple of weeks on Sup Holmes (now on iTunes). Last Sunday we were welcomed by a wonderfully pregnant Kellee Santiago, co-founder of thatgamecompany (fl0w, Flower, Journey). At the height of her game, Kellee dropped the mic and joined the team at Ouya (which hits retail at June 25th) as head of developer relations.
We talked with Kellee about how she got started in development, why she’s so excited about Ouya, why she left thatgamecompany, the potential for her to “get the band back together”, how to market my dumb game idea about collecting art and making it fight Pokemon style, and a lot more. Kellee’s ability to embrace risk and make it work for her is an inspiration. She even showed us her baby bump. Giving birth to a human being while working on launching a new home console at the same time? Amazing.
Just as Kellee’s story defined everything that Sony did right with indie development on the PS3, James Silva’s story defines everything that Microsoft did right with indies on their last console. That’s not all James and Kellee have in common. He’s also no stranger to risk. Working almost exclusively on the Xbox 360 (both XBLA and XBLIG), releasing multiple titles developed alone or with his wife, he’s continued to stay true to his unique vision for hand drawn, punk rock, comedy action games (The Dishwasher series, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1, and the upcoming Charlie Murder).
Charlie Murder is set to release soon. We talked with James about the game’s many features, how he got started in development, his relationship with Microsoft, advice for budding developers, and much more.
Thanks again to Kellee and James for being so open and engaging. You’ve proved that home console development is no longer something for an elite few. It’s a medium that anyone with the drive and the heart can make their own, without compromises. I can’t wait to see what you’ll both do next.
Join us this Sunday at 1pm PST/4pm EST when we welcome Rich “Disasterpiece” Vreeland (Fez, Runner2, Drawn to Life, many more). It’s going to be beautiful.