RPG Land’s Joseph Wartick recently talked to Amanda Fitch of Amaranth Games (Aveyond, Aveyond 2, Aveyond: Lord of Twilight) about their upcoming games and the goings on in the studio.
| Joseph Wartick, RPGLand.com Tell us about yourself. What position do you hold at Amaranth Games? What got you into game development? |
| Amanda Fitch Currently, I’m moving away from Amanda-Does-Everything and into the role of a game designer. More or less, this means that I create the game ideas and have a developer and artist implement these ideas. I got into game development because well… I love games! |
| Joseph Wartick. What are some of the successes and failures that have come with being in Indie Game development? |
| Amanda Fitch The greatest success I’ve had is creative freedom. Ironically, creative freedom has also resulted in failure a few times. To make what I want to make, not something that someone else wants me to make, is the best feeling in the world. However, with creative freedom comes risk, and the wrong risk can lose an indie developer lots of money. |
| Joseph WartickI read that Aveyond 3 has been split into two chapters. What went into that decision? |
| Amanda Fitch A few things actually:
1) When I finished Aveyond 3, it was huge. Bigger than Aveyond 1 and Aveyond 2. The ending was good, but I felt that the story I’d built for Aveyond 3 was not finished. I didn’t want the game to end and I felt I should continue to expand it. 2) A typical Aveyond game takes 1-1.5 years to create and is expensive to develop. Another game of ours, Grimm’s Hatchery only took 6 months to create, was 1/2 the price to create, and made more than any Aveyond game. To keep the Aveyond games alive, I decided that a drastic change was necessary. |
| Joseph WartickAlso, there are reports that this game will have further chapters on the way. Will each chapter have closure, or will gamers have to buy further chapters in order to finish the story? |
| Amanda Fitch Each book will have closure. Because Aveyond 3 was split into Aveyond: Lord of Twilight and Aveyond: Gates of Night, this closure is not as strong in the first book. |
| Joseph Wartick. really like kittens, do you? Have they affected the way you think about games? |
| Amanda Fitch Kittens? Did someone say Kittens? Er… just wait till you discover Naylith in the second book, Aveyond: Gates of Night. There are hordes of cute fluff balls. 😉 (Sorry, if any one has kitty allergies!) |
| Joseph Wartick. Finally, what can we expect in the future from Amaranth games? |
| Amanda Fitch As long as Aveyond makes enough sales, you will see more Aveyond games. We’re also turning our focus on Adventure/Hidden Object Games (I LOVE THESE!), and various simulation games. Honestly, there are a half-dozen games I would like to make right now–all of them different–but I cannot do this until I have a bigger team. |
RPG Land thanks Amanda Fitch for her time and answers, and we look forward to speaking with her again.
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