Connor Ullmann is an independent videogame developer that has now learnt a lesson in the ups and downs videogame development with his latest release, Hollow.

Name?

Connor Ullmann.

Age?

18.

Location?

Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Development tool(s) of choice?

Flash with Flashpunk / FlashDevelop / Flex / everything else that starts with an “F,” SFXR, GameMaker sprite editor, and Audacity.

What do you do?

I’m a college student at the moment (freshman this year!) and game development has been my part-time job for the past 6 months or so.

How did you get into game development?

As many original GameMaker users will tell you, I decided at about 13 that I wanted to make a game (I’ve always been into making things, and games seemed to be the ultimate form of interactive creation). I typed “game maker” into Google and stumbled on.. GameMaker (to my surprise). I proceeded to use that for a very long time before switching to Flash about a year and a half ago.

What are your goals and aspirations as a game developer?

I hope to get at least one game out there that is immersive, addictive, and original — Minecraft is just about the epitomy of that for me, as I was drawn into the world so fast for a long time when I started to play it. I’d like to eventually make a game with that level of immersion and originality (not to speak of the intense need to build that lava pyramid at 4 in the morning). Career-wise, I also hope to go into game development, and I’ll be studying computer science while I’m at college.

So you want to work within a studio and do you own thing on the side?

I’m still debating whether I want to do indie work or go into a more mainstream development team. Indie sounds very appealing for obvious reasons like creative control, participation in all of the aspects of the game, having the design power while actually making something through programming and graphics, etc. Working at a larger company takes away those opportunities, requires me to focus on one skill (programming) but allows more money. I don’t have enough of the independent mindset at this point to really say I want to give up money for creative freedom, but we’ll see where things land.

You recently released a game called Hollow for Ludum Dare #21. Prior to this, confidence in your abilities as a game developer seemed to be at an all time low. You stated you were having trouble making money and it wasn’t fun. Were you close to giving it all up? Run me through what you were feeling.

When I had completed expanding Hollow from the original 48-hour version, I put it on FlashGameLicense.com. Until then, I had received, quite literally, zero negative comments about the game (we’ll ignore the one comment that mentioned that the music was slightly repetitive) — in comments on the Ludum Dare website as well as in general (facebook, twitter, etc). I received the review from FGL a few days later - the ratings were the lowest among all my games overall, and the three comments listed were all negative, with no mention of the good qualities of the game. Now, on top of this, Hollow was my third straight unsponsored game on FGL — I have SPCU and Quietus II on there now (although I just recently had Quietus II sponsored, so that should be coming out soon). I was, for the most part, feeling pretty underwhelmed with myself, as I had quit my job in March to try and make games — since then, I hadn’t sold a game. At this point, I was very close to simply calling it quits, at least for a while. Then, Jay from JayIsGames emailed me about a possible review, and I mentioned that it was unsponsored. We got to talking, and he bid on it — I’d taken Hollow off of FGL to avoid the relatively scathing review, so I was actively seeking sponsorship, and this was perfect. I accepted the bid, and I got to working on putting things together. This was very uplifting, and I’m really happy with how things turned around; it was a great lesson in the ups-and-downs of game development!

How much post-compo work did you have to do on Hollow to get it prepared for the sponsorship deal?

Hollow required very little work after the original 48-hour competition; I essentially added some basic enemies (they weren’t as creative, like the enemy that grabs you out of the air and the slime that grabs you) as well as more levels. I also threw in some achievements, since everyone loves achievements, and that pretty well rounded things off.

Hollow managed to gain coverage on IndieGames, JayIsGames and Rock Paper Shotgun. Would you consider it your most successful game so far?

I have had an incredibly odd experience so far between the media and audience when it comes to my games. Quietus, by far, has been the most successful game for me — but only with the audience. As I’ve developed more and more games, my FGL ratings by reviewers continue to go down, my game ratings on websites like Kongregate and Newgrounds continue to decline but I’ve made more money with each game, and I’ve received more press each time. So, in the sense of media and sponsorship, Hollow is definitely my most successful game, however when it comes to player responses, Quietus is the best (there have been tournaments for it in the past, which can’t be said for my other games!). Either way, Hollow is my favorite of the games I have made by far. I feel that my idea for the game came across much better than any of my other games, and it was done, for the most part, during a time-constrained competition, which made it even more fun to make!

Hollow placed 8th overall in the Ludum Dare #21 results, beating out many a talentedgame developer. You must be very proud. Were you hoping for or expecting a high placement?

I was hoping for a high placement, but I certainly wasn’t expecting it! I was very happy with how quickly Hollow got going — I had the full character run animation about 5 minutes after the theme was announced and ideas seemed to roll pretty fast throughout all of development. I never got into a dev-block of any kind. I listed tons of enemy ideas and obstacles on the first day (surprisingly, I finished every single item on the list and that got me to the end of the competition, right until I added the “leprechaun level” about an hour before the deadline). Ludum Dare was incredibly fun, and I’ll be doing it again soon!

Has the success of Hollow and the sponsorship of Quietus II given you a new found sense of confidence and hope for the future?

I have definitely become more hopeful for my games because of them, but I can also see that I need to make some changes in my style and quality to really have some success from here on out. Getting games sponsored is definitely getting harder to do in Flash!

What specifically do you think you need to change, regarding your style and the quality of your work?

I need to just spend more time polishing games—I have a bad habit of not bothering with testing levels so everything ramps how it should, and I get into a rush to finish at the end. Also, I’m thinking that I will start moving away from pixel art, as much as I love it, because it appears that pixel games are losing their luster with the larger audience.

Any graphical styles that you have your eye on that you might try out?

I’ll probably start trying to mess around in Photoshop / GIMP to see what I can make, as I have a drawing tablet which I’ll get back to using. I’m sure some kind of preliminary style will develop soon, but I don’t have any idea what it could be right now!

Some of the frustration you were venting towards game development seemed to stem from the feedback you were getting from FlashGameLicense. Did the recent sponsorship of Quietus II eventually come from the FGL service and do you have any criticisms of this service in particular?

Quietus II did get sponsored through FGL, although not without a lot of trouble. Quietus II has been finished for roughly 6 months — I’ve been spending the time waiting on FGL bids, as well as sending out a few e-mails here and there to try and attract attention. I even made a trailer video that was released on IndieGames.com to try and attract attention, but I didn’t receive any bids after its release. For the past 5 months or so, Quietus II was getting around 6 views a week, primarily from developers and not sponsors; it’s feeling more and more as though sponsors just don’t want to bother looking through all of the games on FGL, since it is so crowded. It was really nice that I got my games sponsored through FGL originally, but I think I’m going to stop using it. The 10% commission is already a bit of a pain, and I haven’t received a bid on a game in several months. Also, the reviews from the website are pretty all-over-the-place; Quietus II actually received equivalent or lower scores to Quietus in every category of the review — gameplay was rated lower, when Quietus II is a mostly aesthetic update with new levels (gameplay is almost untouched). I had a different reviewer for each game, and “hard as nails” platformer games don’t appeal to everyone, so I felt like my sponsorship chances had been ground out because I got the wrong reviewer. As things turned out, my sponsorship chances really did about disappear from there on out, with very few bids trickling in. I recently e-mailed a few terms to the highest bidder and things are rolling, but Quietus II really seemed to choke on FGL.

Now that you’ve decided to stop using FlashGameLicense, is it going to be a lot of painstaking hard work to manually e-mail potential sponsors, regarding each new release?

It will be more work but, as I found recently, FGL isn’t really helping with the process anyway. I’ve developed a few connections along the way, so I’m lucky that I’m not starting off trying to find sponsors — that would most likely force me to try and tolerate FGL. But hopefully everything will work out!

What unique challenges does entering a competition like Ludum Dare (and developing a game within 48 hours) throw at you?

My first finding was that a coherent idea for the game is pivotal — caves, a small character, big enemies, lighting, puzzle-y levels, etc. were all ideas that sprung into my head right off the bat, and I had ideas go on, throughout. Other than that, scope is incredibly important. Biting off more than you can chew is what people say kills games in 48-hour competitions, so I did what I could to avoid that as much as possible. A defining mechanic is also a great idea; in Hollow, the diving mechanic was something I built the game from, and I didn’t try to complicate things with multiple mechanics. Since it’s such a short time frame, one is all you can fit, so pick one and run with it!

Many of your releases seem to be platformers. What is it about this genre in particular that you find keeps drawing you back?

I always seem to make platformers because my favorite games always end up being platformers. Super Mario World is one of my biggest influences, and the crazy precision-platforming combination always gets me excited about making a game. Super Meat Boy, similarly, was one game that got me excited about some hardcore platforming. I’ve also always felt that my sprites are best for platformers, since I have so much practice! That said, I’m probably going to be branching out more with my games to other genres — I’ve made many a platforming game, and there’s a whole world of genres to explore.

Any concepts already in mind?

Not at the moment, but I’m thinking at least a different graphical perspective. Side-view has gotten to be a bit stale for me to develop. Also, with the possible hi-definition graphics I will be trying to go for, I might end up working on a top-down game, since that requires less animation work (which will be the hardest part for me).

What parts of the development process do you enjoy and what parts tend to bog you down and whittle down your interest levels in a project?