This week on The Geekwave we are joined by tech/game industry veteran Ross Przybylski. With 10 years of industry experience Ross knows what it has to offer and agreed to share some of that insight with us. During our interview Ross told us how he came about founding D20 Studios, becoming a video game designer, as well as giving advice to others who want to make it in the industry one way or another.
The interview started off with us trying to pronounce Ross’s last name which is not an easy feat. Afterwords, Logan asks more about D20 studios and the past success of its web and mobile game Hero Mages. This was Ross’s first attempt in his quest to give a bit of excitement in the “fleeting moments of time” such as when your waiting for your wife in the car with the kids. He explained to us how many indie studious have great ideas, but can’t decide which game they want to make first. Ross on the other hand was fixated on the idea of bring back the feelings of wonder that came with table top games such as D&D, Warmachine, and Magic The Gathering. Before moving on, Ross shared some of his core concepts for D20’s newest game Prophecies, still in the works, that aims at achieving this goal of giving those “fleeting moments” some of that bygone wonder.
In the next part of our interview, we discuss how Ross went from a technical writer for Adobe to the Director of Flash Development at Reflection Software and creator of the Indie Flash Blog. When we asked more about his blog he told us of his belief that information should be shared so that new designers and developers can take that information and create something new and better for the industry. It was this belief that lead Ross to make his video about “How To Start A Game Company” that is currently the first hit on Google for said topic. With the success of this video and an urge to give back the game community, Ross has recently decided to start a weekly You Tube series called How To Start a Gaming Company. Each week he addresses a different topic and gives solid, practical advice for developers and business owners.
The interview concluded with Ross sharing some parting information to beginning video game designers. Before he left the studio he gave us a quick quote about the role of a producer in the video game industry. Apparently he gets asked this question so often and since their is no correct answer, he has fun decided what to tell people each time, but this is what he told us.
Anyway, we hope you enjoy this interview, have a great weekend, and geek out!
The Geekwave