The Drunken Lizard Pub

I've seen so much about Eschelon Book II already, and we've all loved Book I with a passion, but I've always wondered more about BasiliskWrangler. To complete a game of this magnitude almost entirely by yourself is epic. So:

Did you really make this game almost entirely solo? I just want to hear the story.

Do you work on Eschalon full time? Or, do you manage to create this behemoth in your freetime outside of another job?

Has Basilisk Games grown from the incredible response you've received on Book I?

Is there an interview that answers all of these questions posted somewhere? Answering them again here would be pretty interesting for everyone i think.

Is the team bigger for Book II?

-Jinx

I want to know who Jinx is...

Did you really start a T-Shirt empire all by yourself?

Do you come up with those awesome designs on your own or have you enslaved others to do you bidding?

What are your thoughts on the Riemann hypothesis? Please show the supporting mathematics as to how you've reached this conclusion.

Which do you think is the better trilogy? The original Star Wars or Lord of the Rings?

lol, nice try. Anyone on this forum that has ever attempted to make a game (and I'm sure there are more than a few) would love to know more about the man behind this game. Every interview I click into just talks about the actual game itself. I want to know about the creative process, your work environment, your inspiration, what pictures do you have hanging by your computer, how many all-nighters did you pull, etc. Spill the beans, good sir.

Hey Jinx I'm like you. I want to know more about how BW goes about doing what he does. Since I make games as a hobby I'm also interested in the process. Basilisk Games doesn't have a devblog of any kind. Nothing like what Bay 12 Games does, for instance.

Some artists discuss their art, the process, etc. and basically share what goes on. Some artists just focus on producing their art. As an artist BW probably falls under the latter camp. So we just have to be content and enjoy whatever we get.

Basilisk Wrangler, destroyer of free time. One look at him will drive you completely mad. It's better you don't know.

macdude- that picture is nothing like me. I'm a bit more red.

Okay, well the truth is I am just a normal, private person. I don't like to do "personal" interviews and I have turned down 2 requests in the past 3 years. However, because you've asked nicely I will try to sum up some of your questions:

My name is Thomas. Basilisk Games is the company I founded and I am the lead developer of the Eschalon series. It is my full-time job. I actually do most (95%) of the work on the game myself (hence very little time for a developer blog, tiresius) but I do contract out some things like music and occasionally graphics or even programming. I also have some help running the company. Regarding game development, I had 2 very important testers that constantly played Book I and gave tons of feedback, so much of the credit for the feel of the game goes to them. I actual refer to them as Assistant Designers because they influenced the development of the game so much. For Book II, one of these testers has returned, the other is new.

Basilisk Games has grown a little since Book I was released- we have a few more pieces of equipment and software, but we are still a small-time studio. You asked if the team is bigger for Book II- no, not really, but as I mentioned we use some of the profits from Book I to contract out some work like music or game models that are just to complicated for me to tackle. For Book III (if Book II profits are good enough) I would like to contract out a much more significant portion of the graphics workload.

Jinx wrote:I want to know about the creative process, your work environment, your inspiration, what pictures do you have hanging by your computer, how many all-nighters did you pull, etc.

My creative process: I have to cleanly separate the "creative" side of my job (graphics, writing, map design) with the "logical" side of my job (programming). I rarely do both in the same day because it's hard for me to switch between the two modes and still be productive. Weird, I know. When I wake up, I just decide what I am in the mood to do that day and I do it.

Work environment: always messy. 5-6 computers always running, probably killing me with gamma rays. Or they're making me hulkish.

Inspiration: Old-school RPGs, of course. I have most of the Ultimas, M&Ms, Wizardrys, Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder series all on my workstation. I play these when I am feeling burned out from working- helps me stay on track creatively.

Pictures: My wife and daughters. I also have an original 1977 one-sheet of Close Encounters of the Third Kind hanging over my monitors. Love that movie.

All-nighters: more than I can count. I am a certified insomniac. Can't sleep...too much to do.

Okay...that's it...enough about me.

BW:

Interesting. In the short time you've been communicating with Eschalon fans in this forum, I almost feel like I knew all that already, especially the crowded room with 6 computers!

But . . . surely you're going to let us know your opinion on the likelihood the Riemann Hypothesis is true . . . ?

Awesome, thanx for sharing. I can honestly say that your work is a big inspiration to my own personal hobbyist game dev. Somehow, knowing that someone else is also up at 2am trying to figure out why that sprite is upside down and backwards is comforting...

Yes Baslisk Wrnagler, your work is great and very professional. Its amazing to thnk you did it by yourself. I have a few q's of my own:

-Did you work on Book 1 part time? If not, how did you fun your devleopment? (wife paid for you?)

-What are your opinions on other shareware devs, most notable Jeff Vogel of spiderweb software, and his exile, avernum, and geneforge games? You are the first real competition he has had for ages IMO. (the last was the realmz guy, who preadtes Vogel)

-Will you ever make a fully turnbased, party based crpg? (make an entire party at char gen). If so, any chance of it being turnbased, like the realms of arkania series, or the old ultimas, etc.

Regards

Xex wrote:Did you work on Book 1 part time? If not, how did you fun your devleopment? (wife paid for you?)

No, I worked on it full time for 2.5 years. Basilisk Games was founded with my life savings, which funded the development of our first game.

-What are your opinions on other shareware devs, most notable Jeff Vogel of spiderweb software, and his exile, avernum, and geneforge games?

I am not very active in the indie community and so I really don't know any other developers. I've spoken (via email) with Steven Peeler of Soldak, and Vince of Iron Tower, both of whom are very nice guys. I've never met or spoken to Vogel. He seems like a nice guy and I would love to meet him some day. As for his games, I've only bought a couple of them over the years and I've enjoyed them, but they didn't quite have the feel of the kind of RPG that I wanted to play so that is why I formed Basilisk Games. I have never felt like we are competition with Spiderweb because we make very different games, and the market is large enough that we aren't stealing sales from each other.

Will you ever make a fully turnbased, party based crpg? (make an entire party at char gen). If so, any chance of it being turnbased, like the realms of arkania series, or the old ultimas, etc.

Yes, at some point we will make an RPG that is fully party based, and probably turn-based via action points. This will probably be done isometric, but with a new engine (not the current Eschalon engine which is being used only for Books 1-3). I don't want to ever use an engine for more than 3 games. After the release of Book II we will be announcing our first game outside the Eschalon series using a new engine.

Who is Basiliskwrangler...

A question for the ages....

I have been talking to him for about two years now(is that about right thom?) And I can tell you he has some great ideas, there was one time before eschalon 1 was released where we were talking part 2 and skills...man it was a massive amount of emails back and forth. You know, all though I have never met him I count him as a friend who is very respectful of others(better then I am.)


Turned down 2 interviews....you didn't turn down mine, thanks man!

PS: We really should kidnap him, no answer back;)