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[Squid Party]

I am starting a new blog which is all about interviewing indie developers! my blog will aim to interview small time indies from all across the globe. I am posting this so I can ask who thinks they are interesting enough to be interviewed. Preferably 2 or more games created or 1 game if it is a large game. Pm me if you are interested. Post any questions you have here.

[Schoq]

Not a question but a suggestion: Make them video interviews!
There are already 400 sites that do indie dev interviews, and video form would make yours stand out and be more worthwhile.

[Squid Party]

I appreciate it but at the moment I dont have the capabilities to do such things, sorry.

[eyeliner]

Make interviews while sticking Lego pieces in your nose!

[knotty spine]

I think it's your job to contact people, not the other way around.

[poe]

Remove the apostrophe from your title, it's grammatically incorrect.
Maybe a podcast?

[noah!]

I'm still baffled that nobody has had the idea of making their interviews into games themselves.

I don't exactly know how it would work, and the overhead would be pretty extreme, but it'd be hella cool.

[Squid Party]

Remove the apostrophe from your title, it's grammatically incorrect.
Maybe a podcast?

Thanks man, I will do it.

I think it's your job to contact people, not the other way around.

I want all types of indies to get a chance at be interviewed and since I dont know everyone on tigsource this is the best way.

I'm still baffled that nobody has had the idea of making their interviews into games themselves.

I don't exactly know how it would work, and the overhead would be pretty extreme, but it'd be hella cool.

True that, brah

[Superb Joe]

I'm still baffled that nobody has had the idea of making their interviews into games themselves.

I don't exactly know how it would work, and the overhead would be pretty extreme, but it'd be hella cool.

[ink.inc]

hahahhahaha

[Alevice]

i REMEMBER CACTUS DID ONE FOR IGF I THINK

[iffi]

I'm still baffled that nobody has had the idea of making their interviews into games themselves.

I don't exactly know how it would work, and the overhead would be pretty extreme, but it'd be hella cool.

RockPaperShotgun has posted a couple interviews in interactive fiction format, if that counts:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/20/choose-your-own-anna-anthropy-interview/
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/07/16/absent-heroes-choose-your-own-interview-ii/

[Squid Party]

I have completed my first interview, you can see it here
Anyway feedback would be appreciated.

[biomechanic]

Pretty bad, but it comes with the premise ("Every week, similar questions, very different answers.").

When it comes to interviews I much prefer the way the guys at Sidebar or Matt from Matt Chat do it. They pick people whose work and history they are familiar with. Then in the interview they ask questions that are specific and relevant to that one person, and if the answers they get warrant more questions or put the conversation on a different track they follow it, as opposed to going down a one-size-fits-none questionnaire.

And even if you are going to follow a set list of questions, don't just send a form asking someone to fill in the blanks (I assume that's what happened here). Actually interview the person on skype or IM, ask follow-up questions, let the interviewee talk himself out on the subject, maybe rein him in if he strays too far off-topic and then move on to the next one.

And what are some of your all time favourites?
Iji and N+ are two of them. I also like Castlevania Bloodlines, Gimmick!, Metroid Fusion, echochrome, Jet Set Radio Future, etc…

Specific follow-up: What do you think it is about platformers in general that draws you in?
General: What about each of those games makes it your favourite? How do they affect your games?

So what got you started making games?
I love videogames, and I think they are the best art form of them all. So I guess that was what lead me into doing games.

Very generic answer. Follow-up: Do you remember a specific moment when you decided to get into making games? Maybe a game or person that inspired that? What were your first steps when you were starting out?

What kind of stuff can we expect from you in the future?
More/better games, I hope.

Again, generic and (maybe) evasive answer. Follow-up: What are you working on at the moment? What is it about that game that makes you make it? How is the game affected by BLANK? Any side projects? Any dream projects?
Where BLANK is something you learned about the person in the course of the interview.

[Manuel Magalhães]

Actually interview the person on skype or IM, ask follow-up questions, let the interviewee talk himself out on the subject, maybe rein him in if he strays too far off-topic and then move on to the next one.

Actually he went to talked to me via Steam, it wasn't via form.


As for my anwsers:

So what got you started making games?
I love videogames, and I think they are the best art form of them all. So I guess that was what lead me into doing games.

Very generic answer.

Yeah, it's generic, but I couldn't think a different way to answer it. I do love videogames, and that was what lead me into making them. I guess I could have told my first contact with them, but it would be steering away from the point.

What kind of stuff can we expect from you in the future?
More/better games, I hope.

Again, generic and (maybe) evasive answer. Follow-up: What are you working on at the moment? What is it about that game that makes you make it? How is the game affected by BLANK? Any side projects? Any dream projects?

I kinda dislike talking about my future projects unless I'm confident to talk about them, but I should have mentioned that, yes.

But I'm sorry if my answers sounded generic anyway, it's the first time I'm being interviewed, so I wasn't used to this.

[Sean Raia]

If you do an audio interview, i'd love to be in it.

Audio is not as difficult as video, but certainly more interesting than text.

[LazyWaffle]

The problem that most interviewers have is that they don't ask questions specific to the person they're interviewing. When you make the questions generic to everybody, it makes the results seem very cookie-cutter for the reader, and to the person interviewed, seems more like a standardized test with blanks to fill out as opposed to something specific to them. Nothing interesting or meaningful will come out of it, I'm afraid.

I like the premise of interviewing devs though, I just think it'd be much more interesting for both the interviewee and the reader if you didn't just give everyone the same tired questions.

Also, audio interviews might be cool.

[Squid Party]

Thanks for the feedback guys It was my first time so I was breaking into the interviewing groove! having read your comments, I am definitely going to ask a lot more follow up questions. Also I might consider an audio interview but I would really prefer to keep it in text form.

Also biomechanic insulting the interviewee isn't helpful.

[eyeliner]

First interview, that's an excuse to cut some slack.

Now, next time, don't follow such a strict script and allow the questions to be a follow-up to the answer provided, you know, to give it a more organic feeling, like a talk, instead of being a list of questions/answers.

Allow yourself time to create a question after an answer, if you see something coming up and allow the interviewed to expand a bit in each question.

Go to the next checkpoint, young grasshopper. 

[Superb Joe]

Also biomechanic insulting the interviewee isn't helpful.

you won't make it in this business pal