Game Developer Interview: Meteorbyte Studios

INTRODUCTION

Q: Let’s start off with an introduction! Please tell me who you are, and what do you do?

I’m Phil González. I am the founder and team lead at Meteorbyte Studios. We are a small indie studio located in Asturias, which is a small region in the North of Spain. We have been around since 2016, and have worked in about 15 different projects, give or take.

I myself have a software engineering and musician background.

GAMING QUESTIONS

Q: What game/studio are you currently involved with? And what position?

Meteorbyte Studios. I’m the founder and team lead. I’d like to think of myself as a programmer, but I do a bit of everything. I work on both our own games and on porting games for other developers.

Q: What advice would you give those who wish to enter the industry?

Learn a craft, and learn it well. Good ideas are important, and I’m sure you have a few of those, but if you ever want to be able to execute them, you need to develop a hard skill that can allow you to get your hands dirty and do some of that work yourself.

For an indie game developer, which is the path I chose, programming and art are the most crucial, especially when starting out. Put in the hours to study and become better, and keep it broad/generalist. For instance, there is no need to box yourself into being an “animator” or a “concept artist”. Small studios need artists – full stop. You will animate, you will do concepts, you will do backgrounds, you will do UX. Don’t overspecialize.

Q: If you still have time to play video games, what are some of your favorite ones to play?

Mostly roguelikes. I run a business, and I’m a dad, so I can’t really play anything with an overly long story, or something with too much built-in idle time anymore. I enjoy a good story and complex progression systems, though, so I want to play something complex enough but which I can pick up and continue quickly; something that won’t punish me too severely for being 2 weeks away.

This way, most Metroidvanias, open worlds, and any kind of multiplayer games, are total no-noes for me.

The biggest games in the last few years have been Slay The Spire, Ozymandias, Hades, Battle Brothers, and Against The Storm. Maybe some Europa Universalis IV, for those now-rare gaming afternoons I have every now and then. I’ll throw in Outer Wilds there, as well, for being such a 90’s game – and I say that as the biggest compliment I can give.

My all-time fave, though, is Planescape: Torment.

Q: How did you get into your chosen field in the industry?

It sort of chose me. When I was 12 years old or so, I wanted to make music and games. The path to making music was easy – just pick up a guitar. The path to making games, though? I just asked around and older and wiser people said “probably software engineering”, so that’s what I did.

After university, I found out that many people were getting into the industry without knowing how to program. I’m still glad I did things the way I did, though. I like my trade, and there’s rarely a shortage of work for us.

Q: What is the hardest part of your job?

By far, it’s having to wear all the hats: I do team management, I program, I do sales, I design, I do taxes, I write narrative, I talk to clients, and I contract and follow people who provide us with services… all these things are all very different from each other, and some of them go really deep in both complexity and time, so managing them all at once is staggering, sometimes.

Q: What lessons have you learned during your time in the industry?

Too many, too many. And many of them, I would rather not comment on.

If I had to have one, it would be, I guess… “be yourself”? It’s trite, but it’s completely true. I’ve succeeded and I’ve failed. The times I’ve failed while not being myself were by far the most painful. Succeeding at anything while being true to yourself and sticking to your guns and your beliefs is the feeling you’re chasing when you go the self-employed/small company route.

Q: What are your future project(s)?

Aside from some of the ports we’re working on, we are also making a roguelike game mixing futuristic car racing with deckbuilding: Deck RX. You can check out the demo on Steam!

Q: If you couldn’t be a game developer, what ideal job would you like to do?

Musician. I tried it. It worked, but it didn’t work out. You see, the band records and tours and grows until you’re opening for the bands you were listening to back when you were in high school. You think you’re about to make it, and then those pro guys have beers with you backstage, and they tell you how much money they make, and how they live, and how they were lucky that they made it in the 80’s-90’s, back when people still paid for music.

And then you realize you’ll never make a half-decent living like that anymore, and now the band is just a cool hobby you do… with the guys who are now your best friends, hands-down.

Q: What were your greatest challenges during the development of Song and Steel: Hispania?

The AI.

And the hexagons. Dear lord, the hexagons make everything 10 times harder to program. They also make the gameplay several times better, so that’s a worthy investment if you ask me.

Q: What are your plans for Song and Steel: Hispania regarding post launch support?

We have already released an update and will release another one soon, mostly with fixes and implementing a few quality-of-life improvements. The game was pretty stable on release (and finished) so it doesn’t need much more work, safe for a little trimming here and there.

In the future, there could be more Songs of Steel games. The core game mechanics seem solid and open enough to be suited to other wars and time periods!

Q: What games were your greatest inspirations in designing Song and Steel: Hispania?

The Banner Saga, XCOM, Heroes of Might and Magic, Battle Brothers and some tabletop wargames like Commands and Colors or Richard Berg’s GBOH/Men of Iron series.

Q: What is your ideal video game if money and time was no object?

It would either be:

• Project: Attrah, a cavemen management game we’ve been wanting to dig into for a long time, OR,
• An isometric, old-school CRPG with unique mechanics and statsbuilding, deep character-based narrative, and SIX characters in the group. You hear me? Enough with that 4 crap. What? Your game has 4 characters, and one is a DOG? Seriously? I’ll stop playing as soon as the leveling-up plateaus.

So yeah, any of those two. We don’t even need that much money for either, come to think of it!

MORE ABOUT: Phil González

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?

Be with my family and friends, play videogames, play music, cook.

Q: Coffee or Tea? Or (exult deep breath) what other drink do you prefer, if you like neither?

ColaCao! Spanish chocolate milk; think Nesquik but a little bit more “rustic flavoured”. Also (craft) beer, if it’s a weekend and past noon, or during a football match (as a spectator, of course).

I can’t do caffeine. You know how it’s great for most people? Well, I’m not among them. I’ll drink some “fruity/herbal BS without caffeine” sometimes, as well as decaf coffee, no problem. I do like the flavour of both.

Q: You can travel to anywhere in the universe. Where would you go, and why?

To the center. Isn’t that where the Grox are?

Q: Pick any three fiction characters. These are now your roadtrip crew. Where do you go and what do you do?

I pick Red from The Shawshank Redemption, Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, and Dak’kon from Planescape: Torment. We drive around the world sightseeing and eating at local places off the main road while smoking pipes and having the most interesting conversations ever.

Q: Finally, what superpower would you most like?

Time travel, obviously. It really does count as every superpower ever, and doesn’t sound as obnoxious as saying “having every superpower”.

TheThousandScar

As a 34 year old British guy, I’ve been gaming almost as long as I’ve been around! Narrative Designer (Spellforce 3, Plarium Games as Lore Editor) and Freelance Writer, my favourite game genres are strategy, RPG, simulation and RTS.