Interview with Global Defense Network developer Jeff Evertt

Flowing motion and synchronicity
By Russell D. Carroll [March 4, 2005]

Q: For everyone reading out there, who are you and what was your involvement with Global Defense Network?
A: My name is Jeff Evertt and I’ve been making Indie games for a few years now. Aside from the music, I was the sole developer on Global Defense Network (GDN), doing the design, art, sound fx, and programming for the game. My wife did the voice for the game.

Q:  What do you think makes Independent games distinctive?
A:  I think it’s that there aren’t any rules. If you have the skills and the determination, you can make your vision come to life. The result is a lot of different ideas with a few really great ones mixed in the middle. That’s why people have such a hard time defining what an Indie game is. There is no such thing as a typical indie game.

Q:  How did your studio get your start in working with independent games?
A:  Well, I’ve worked in the mainstream retail game industry for many years now and for the last three of those have been making Indie games in my copious free time. I’m a programmer who also likes to be a designer – you’ll find a lot of those in the retail game industry. I’ve been making my own games since I was little. A few years ago, I just decided to finish one, polish it up and release it to the public. That was “Goof Ball”, the first game I released through Evertt.com.

The retail market has a lot of heavy baggage – with the development costs they have to deal with, they simply can’t take the risks that Indie developers can. As an indie developer I can make games that are very different and hopefully stumble across an idea that is lots of fun and has never been done before.

Q:  What is the most innovative feature of Global Defense Network and how is it innovative in your mind?
A:  The core game play is what I call a rhythm action shooter. It is basically an aim and click shooter with the levels timed and synchronized to the flow of the music. When the game really succeeds, a phenomenon happens where you get into this zone where your fingers take over and you just feel the rhythm of the music.

The game was definitely influenced by other rhythm games (e.g. Frequency, DDR) and was partly inspired by the underground demo scene – if you’ve seen some of them, then I don’t need to tell you that they have produced some really incredible stuff over the years. GDN builds on those ideas, goes in a new direction and becomes something new.

Q:  What do gamers appreciate most about Global Defense Network?
A:  GDN has a single player experience and takes advantage of the fact that when most people play the game, they don’t know much about it. The game goes in a direction that most don’t anticipate. First time players log in to a console, are given a guest account, and then are directed to the GDN simulator. There is a forum style communications panel that has a good amount of interesting chatter from other members of the network. That forum was a lot of fun to program and I’ve received a lot of comments about it being lots of fun for players as well.

Q:  What was the single most difficult part of Global Defense Network to program?
A:  Figuring out how to make the levels flow with the music. I messed around with doing automatic beat finding for a while and eventually settled on a custom built music synchronization tool that gave me the right amount of automation while still not limited flexibility.

Q:  Other than your own game did any one of the IGF finalists or Student Showcase games stand out to you? Why?
A:  There are definitely some good ones this year. In the downloadable category, N is one of my favorites. I see N and Gish as games built around their physics simulators. As those games prove, when done correctly, that can be a lot of fun. I think Kisses is also well done. I was glad to see that there are quite a few of us Washingtonians who made it in this year.

Q:  How do you think Independent Games will evolve in the future?
A:  Most gamers don’t care how a game is developed; they just want it to be fun. Having a multi-million dollar budget isn’t a prerequisite of a fun game. Indie games will be around as long as the capability to produce them exists. They will, however, always be smaller and more diverse than their mainstream counterparts.

I think as the video game market expands and as a broader range of people begin to embrace it, the demand for more diverse experiences will grow. Combined this with the ease of online distribution and the whole market will branch out. Indie games will really receive the attention that they deserve.

Q:  What is the biggest challenge facing Independent games?
A:  I think the challenge for an Indie developer is staying focused. For the Indie game market, it’s organization and exposure. People like fun games and variety. For the price of one retail game, you could buy several Indie games. Not everyone is looking for fifty hours of game play. I know I’m generally happy if I get a good four or five really fun hours out of a game – I just don’t have the time for more. There are lots of great Indie games that would be perfect for these people, but there isn’t an easy path for the consumer to find those games without searching through many others that aren’t right for them. The diversity of the Indie market is both an advantage as well as a challenge.

Q:   As one of the leaders of Independent Games, what is next for you?
A:  I’m glad you asked that, I’m always most excited about my current project. I’m going in a fairly different direction. I’m making a kids game that can be played with a parent and is fun for both parties. A couple of the technical hurtles that I plan to tackle are a new physics engine and some believable, interactive AI. It’s really too early to say much about it, but odds are good that it will have at least one Monkey.