Mommy’s Best Games has produced some of the best games the Xbox Live Indie section has seen. With games like Weapon of Choice, Explosionade and Shoot 1Up under their belt, Serious Sam publisher, Devlover Digital, approached them about making a tie-in game. Dubbed, Serious Sam Double D, the title was a Contra-like 2D game with a focus on stacking guns on top of each other in order to produce the most powerful combination.
On February 20, the game will receive an Xbox Live Arcade port, titled Serious Sam Double D XXL. The game aims to add in new weapons, enemies and levels. Nathan Fouts was kind enough to answer a few questions about the port, as well as some questions about the state of Xbox Live Indie Games as well.
Addam Kearney – How did you get started in creating video games?
Nathan Fouts – I used to draw out level designs on paper for made up games back in middle school. Wait, professionally? Oh, I did programming for Running With Scissors. I got the job there because I had made several shareware games in college and was able to show my work.
AK – Your first major hits, namely Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1Up, were both through the Xbox Live Indie Market. With a number of developers complaining and complimenting Microsoft’s system, how did you find working in that environment?
NF – Almost everything about the system in the background, from XNA to getting games onto the service was excellent. Once the game was on the service though, from popularity lists not updating, to discoverability issues, it was a little bumpy. All told though, XNA and XBLIG have been amazing.
AK – With the recent news that Microsoft will cease supporting XNA development, one of the cornerstones of many Xbox Live Indie Games and Xbox Live Arcade releases, do you have any concerns about the future of these services when Microsoft releases their next video game system?
NF – It’s a real shame that Microsoft is not continuing to support the excellent XNA Game Studio. It’s a fantastic way to make games for Xbox with all other consoles very difficult to reach. I do have hope they will offer something similar on their next console since XNA and XBLIG has launched many great developers such as Ska Studios, Magical Time Bean, and radiangames.
AK – You have recently been involved with the Ouya Game Jam. What about the Ouya excites you as an indie developer?
NF – I think the low-price is a good start, the accessible nature of starting quickly with development, and the energy behind a fresh team. I’m doing a girl/boy/everyone-friendly party game involving cute flying pigs and lots of player-v-player competition called Pig Eat Ball. It’s gone over great with hardcores, casuals, moms, little kids and everyone together at once!
AK – How did you get involved with Devolver Digital and the Serious Sam franchise? Were you always a fan of the games or did you not really know much about them going into working on Serious Sam Double D?
NF – I actually have been playing Serious Sam games since The First Encounter. I’d like to thank Old Man Murray for making me aware of them way back around Y2K.
Devolver Digital had played Weapon of Choice and loved it. They had this amazing new idea of getting indie studios together and reinterpreting a classic franchise (in this case Sam), in their own unique styles. Vlambeer and Be-Rad Entertainment were the two other studios, making their own wild creations.
AK – Were there any restrictions about what you couldn’t make with Serious Sam Double D or were you allowed to go nuts and create whatever you wanted?
NF – Croteam and Devolver were awesome. They saw builds coming through and I guess I got it right since I only heard good things from them! It’s been really great working with Devolver and they’ve now publish other original games too like the upcoming Dungeon Hearts.
AK – Was there anything in particular that you wanted to include with the initial release of Serious Sam Double D but were not able to? Also, why did you decide to add co-op gameplay to the Xbox Live Arcade port?
NF – For the initial version of the game I wanted more enemy variety that would require more Gunstacker consideration. At the time, I hadn’t thought of lots and lots of new guns, like what’s available in the new XXL. The extra enemies were already an idea and we brought those into the new XBLA version.
Coop was on our minds as well all through DD, but it didn’t feel as necessary on the PC. Once we started talking about and Xbox version it became more obvious and we were encouraged by a lot of fan requests for coop as well.
AK – Are there any plans on bringing the XXL update to the PC version?
NF – Plans… Schemes… Machinations… time will tell!
AK – With Serious Sam Double D XXL, you’ve introduced a number of new weapon accessories. What is your favorite new weapon to use?
NF – I can’t get enough flesh-eating beetles. But I also love unstoppable, monster-gibbing balls of pure energy. Those are really satisfying too. And butter. I think more games should involve butter and monsters.
Serious Sam: Double D XXL will be released on February 20th on the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points
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