/Interview/ The brains behind: Windosill
29/06/2009 | Filed under Discover > Interview
Windosill is a Flash-based puzzle game full of whimsical objects to push, pull, take apart, and otherwise manipulate. Creator Patrick Smith explains how he designed it
.net: How did you come up with the idea for Windosill?
PS: I decided on the format — a series of window-like views, with the small vehicle moving between them — pretty early on. My background is as a painter, and things like perspective and deep space are interesting to me. I thought it would be fun to have things occupying the foreground and also things in the distance, and then to find a way for them to interact.
The individual rooms each had different inspirations. In some cases, the idea for a room began with a drawing or a painting that I thought might be interesting to approach as an animation. In other cases, a kernel of an idea would occur to me while doodling or showering or running or whatever. And a lot of my inspiration comes from other artists: just to name a few, I’m a big fan of the painter Peter Breughel, the cartoonists Jim Woodring and Chris Ware, and the sculptor Alexander Calder. Someone familiar with any of their work could probably spot their influence on Windosill.
.net: What tools and techniques did you use?
PS: The most important tool is my sketchbook, because that’s where I first begin to work things out. After that, I’ll usually do a series of larger, more detailed drawings to work things out a bit further. And I’ll often do a drawing in Illustrator to work out specific shapes and colours. Finally, I’ll begin the animation itself. It’s not quite so linear, though. Often I’ll go back to the drawing board partway through working on something, to make changes or develop things a bit differently. I often an animation will look or feel differently than it does, and I’ll have to adjust my ideas accordingly. There’s a lot of trial and error, and more than one idea that didn’t make it into the final version.
.net: How did you get the objects to be so physical?
PS: I think it’s mainly a matter of deciding which details are important. None of the physics systems in Windosill are terribly complicated, but I tried to make nearly every object responsive in some way, and hopefully in a way that seems like a natural extension of user’s mouse movements.
.net: How long did it take you to create the game?
PS: About a year, with some breaks to do freelance work.
.net: What was the biggest challenge?
PS: Finishing it! I remember being six months in and honestly not knowing if I would be happy with the end result. But I also knew that if I didn’t finish it, I’d never know.
.net: Why is it a download rather than an in-browser experience?
PS: Primarily, it’s an issue of performance. Windosill animates at 60 frames per second, which is quite fast — about twice as fast as video. The Flash browser plug-in does a pretty terrible job at rendering smooth motion at that frame rate, no matter how fast your computer is. The standalone projector, which is what I ended up using, does much better.
.net: Why did you decide to charge for the full version?
PS: It’s an experiment, really, to see if I can make a living off of my work.
.net: What’s the feedback been like?
PS: Very positive! Of course, most of my feedback is from people who’ve bought the game, so it’s a skewed sample. I suspect many people just scratch their head at the demo and throw it away. But I’m happy it’s found an audience — that’s about all you can ask for.
.net: How successful has it proven so far? How many people have downloaded the paid-for version?
PS: Enough to make me happy! But the real question is, will people still be downloading it six months or a year from now? Who knows? It would be nice, but I’m certainly not depending on it.
.net: What else do you do? What’s the idea behind Vector Park?
PS: Vector Park is really just a repository for my Flash work. It began back in 2001 with ‘Park’, and I’ve gradually added other things since. I also make drawings and paintings, and do the occasional freelance job to pay the rent.
.net: Have you received any work offers on the back of Vector Park?
PS: Sure! Pretty much all of my freelance work has come either directly or indirectly from Vector Park.
.net: What’s next for you?
PS: Launching Windosill has kept me so occupied for the past few weeks that I haven’t really had to time to figure that out! At the moment, a vacation would be nice...
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Comments
AnotherGuy / 19/07/2009 / 02:15 / http://anotherguy.us
I downloaded Windowsill a few weeks ago and loved it. I wish that it was a little longer, because it was so fun to be able to interact with the objects and 'creatures' that inhabited the land. I've been planning on writing an article on my site about the game, as well. Just haven't had the time.
Meanwhile, I'll leave a comment here saying - Amazing job! I look forward to seeing what else you come up with. :)
Dalaan / 05/10/2009 / 14:16
I didn't buy the game yet, just played the demo a few days ago... but I'm seriously considering buying it.
It's a really nice piece of work and really deserves attention.
Keep up the good work Patrick!
from france, with much love
