I was just chatting with Andy Hull after this interview, and he said, “Every design decision matters more when there aren’t many to be made.” He’s in a position to know, because his game, What is Bothering Carl? targets young children. It makes his game the odd duck in a pool of ten odd ducks, but Andy’s insight is all the more interesting for being on the outside looking in. Read the full interview for how complicated it is to keep things simple, what it’s like to be stuck outside the mainstream, and a few ins and outs of running a one-man operation.

Nick Lee is one of the artists who worked on Trino, but he perks up like a designer when he chats about mechanics. This comes in handy when you want to talk about a shooter that undermines its most fundamental genre convention. Check the full interview for what makes a a shooter a puzzle game, Trino’s history, and some hints about the team’s future plans.

Tag made a big splash at the Independent Games Festival by taking home the best student game award, so it might come as no surprise that it was included in the PAX 10. We had a chance to speak to Tejeev Kohli, who had his fingers in programming, input, logic, and just about everything else in the game. Read on for the team’s future plans and their insight into the differences into PAX and the Independent Games Festival.

Taking ten students from different schools and asking them to make a game in four weeks sounds more like the plot of a G4 reality show than a PAX 10 entry, but that’s exactly how Puzzle Bloom came to be. Jess Rahbek is the designer for that game, and he’s very focused on that job. Read on for a designer’s-eye view of non-gameplay elements, the future of Puzzle Bloom, and one of Jess’s personal projects.

Watching gamers play at the Osmos booth was hilarious. They’d grab the mouse with that kill-and-win attitude that works well for so many other games and immediately die. However, in a repeat try or two, everyone had learned to settle down and take a more deliberative approach to Newton’s third law. Dave Burke was on hand to explain why everyone’s experience turned out that way, along with a detailed explanation of Osmos and some thoughts on the game’s future.

Tyler Glaiel is programmer and game designer for Closure, but he looks more like a PAX attendee than an exhibitor. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that he made the PAX 10 though. At nineteen years of age, he’s already spent eight years developing Flash games, and five years working with Closure’s artist, John Schubbe. Check out the full text of the interview for what’s new in Closure, a look at Tyler’s design process, and even a little bit about why platformers have been so cool lately.

The Penny Arcade Expo is right around the corner, and if history is any guide that means it’s time for this site to start giving shout outs to the PAX 10. So for the next week, your regular posting schedule will be filled with some of the most innovative gaming of 2008 and 2009. We present to you the conclusion of our PAX 10 introductions.

The Penny Arcade Expo is right around the corner, and if history is any guide that means it’s time for this site to start giving shout outs to the PAX 10. So for the next week, your regular posting schedule will be filled with some of the most innovative gaming of 2008 and 2009. We present to you the continuation of our PAX 10 introductions.

The Penny Arcade Expo is right around the corner, and if history is any guide that means it’s time for this site to start giving shout outs to the PAX 10. So for the next week, your regular posting schedule will be filled with some of the most innovative gaming of 2008 and 2009. We present to you the PAX 10.

If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you may recall that we earlier had a chance to talk to Mike Henry of Twisted Pixel Games. The independent developer announced on Monday that their upcoming action-adventure game, The Maw, will be released on January 21st, saying:

Twisted Pixel Games, working in conjunction with the Galactic Council, mistakenly let The Maw escape from his quarantine early Monday afternoon. Scientists predict the destruction of all life in the galaxy “probably by next Wednesday.” Twisted Pixel’s CEO Michael Wilford responds: “Real sorry about that. That’s totally my bad.” Twisted Pixel refused further questions, instead announcing the award-winning game’s release date, price point, and website location. The Maw is the company’s first original IP, a product of monumental effort by a passionate and loving team, and also their first venture into galacticide.

If that doesn’t catch your interest, recall also that The Maw won the PAX 10 Audience Choice Award despite stiff competition from nine other worthy titles. Interested players can expect to shell out $10 (800 MS points) to download it on XBLA and curious gamers can poke at the media available at their (now officially launched) website.

We’ll have a review of the upcoming “Eat ‘em all and let your digestive tract sort ‘em out” game just as soon as we can.