It’s easy to be cynical about videogames. Naked pandering and soulless sequels can make you forget that there are genuinely enthusiastic developers out there. However, the Solace team will remind you if you ask them the right questions. Technical director and multifaceted programmer Robert Francis and co-producer and sound/game designer Daniel Rosas walked me through grief, music, and the meaning of names. It’s pretty heavy stuff for a shooter.

PAX 10 booths always hum with activity, but Super Meat Boy draws a crowd. For all three days the expo hall was open, there were never fewer than twenty people cheering the victories and commiserating the (far more frequent) failures of brave meat cubes. Luckily for the interview, Jordan Fehr managed to talk over the swelling audience to cover what’s changed since we last saw Super Meat Boy at the GDC, the social implications of sharing intellectual property, and the outcomes of crowd testing.

Leonard Paul worked on the sound effects and some of the music for Retro City Rampage, though that hardly limits the scope of his knowledge about the game. Instead, it adds technical depth today’s interview. We cover the game’s neo-retro style and what role that plays in modern gaming, the game’s inspirations, and a survey of the technology and techniques that give RCR that polished retro feel.

Calling Fowl Space a platformer is like calling Enviro-Bear 2000 a driving game: technically correct but it completely misses the point. You can actually get a much more accurate impression from the game’s PAX swag: a pair of official Fowl Space panties. Sometimes crass and always irreverent, Fowl Space is the kind of game that will have you checking over your shoulder in case someone sees you laughing. Project manager and lead programmer Evan Miller brought us up to speed on the game’s style choices and what to expect from the gameplay.

You may have noticed a shameful dearth of in situ photography on our PAX 10 interviews this year, and our memory card has been executed for its treachery. Nowhere is the loss felt more acutely than here, because the entire the entire development staff at Hegemony‘s booth was dressed in togas. Until we can find a replacement, you’ll just have to imagine lead programmer Rob McConnell delivering information on the game’s catchy zooming mechanic, its strides making strategy more accessible, and historical wargaming. You know, in a toga, which was awesome.

Alititude	Bastion	Fowl Space	Hegemony	Plane Weaver
Puzzle Bots	Retro City Rampage	Shibuya	Solace	Super Meat Boy

Updates M-F

Altitude is probably the most mature game in the PAX 10 insofar as it has been out for over a year and developed a healthy online community of players. So even if a player at the booth put down the controller for a few minutes, eleven other people somewhere in the world would still be locked in a 2D aerial dogfight. To make a long story short, something was always exploding at the Altitude booth. Karl Sabo, who happens to be half the game’s development team, helped explain how two guys managed to get the ambitious project off the ground.

Narrative games usually tell two stories. There’s the one the writer seeded throughout the game in text and voice where you’re a globetrotting savior with a Mysterious Past, and probably amnesia. Then there’s the story you tell through your actions where you’re a bullying capricious thief who resorts to violence at the drop of initiative. Bastion deserves your interest because it does away with that schism, and studio director Amir Roa was on the PAX floor to help explain how.

Like most indie developers, Erin Robinson wears many hats. She designed PuzzleBots, drafted concept art, and even did a bit of animation. You can actually hear the ruthless efficiency in her speech; it’s precise, succinct, and fast. In just five minutes, we covered the initial goals of Puzzle Bots, its extensive voice acting, and even the game’s possible future.

When you approach the PAX 10, it’s a melange of televisions and Xbox controllers. However, in the middle of it all, the Shibuya booth stood out with two iPads and an iPhone. Between the bright colors, the falling blocks, and the shiny hardware, the booth was brilliantly salient. John Plewe, the game and software creator for Nevercenter, was onhand to help explain why.