Super Meat Boy

Here’s our trailer for Super Meat Boy:

The following is an interview we did with Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes, the creators of Super Meat Boy.

Indie Game Project: When did you start designing video games and when did you realize this would be a serious career option?

Edmund McMillen: I got a job working with an indie studio called Chronic logic in 2003, in 04 I pitched them an idea for a game called Gish that went on to win the IGF grand prize in 05. After that I put my full focus into indie game dev as my career.

Tommy Refenes: I was a server / database programmer in Charlotte NC in 2005
making pretty good money but I was depressed and wanted to do
something more. I sold my house, my car, put all my stuff in storage
and moved to work at a now defunct company as their network, then
engine, then render programmer. I enjoyed the work, but the environment was shit. When the company eventually went down the tubes, I quit and started working on my own games.

IGP: Did you create any other games before Super Meat Boy?

Edmund: I’ve released about 25 games before SMB, most of them very small flash games but the bigger ones I'm most proud of were Gish, Aether, Time Fcuk, Spewer, Coil and Triachnid. I also worked on Braid doing character design and animation.

Tommy: Mainly my games were tech demos or random flash games. One of
my more well known games, even though it isn't well known, is a game
called Goo! which was in the IGF in 2008 for Technical Excellence.

IGP: What were the challenges that you faced as a game developer?

Edmund: The biggest challenge for me was financial. I had to do a lot of freelance work on the side to buy myself time to work on my own projects. I was making around 20k a year for a good 6 years before super meat boy happened, it was a struggle but I was always happy and never really went without. Except medical insurance...

Tommy: I'd agree with Ed. Finances got pretty tough at the end of development but it was a happy time up until then because we were doing what we loved.

IGP: What's your opinion on the importance of indie games?

Edmund: I believe indie games are important because they take big risks design and content wise that mainstream studios aren’t comfortable with due to financial risks.

Tommy: Ditto.

IGP: Do you believe that there is less of a struggle to get a game released nowadays, if there is a struggle at all? If so, why?

Edmund: When I started out you could only make money off your game by selling it off your site. No portals, no XBLA no steam no nothing. So yes, it’s much less of a struggle now.

Tommy: Though there is less of a struggle, there is more competition which I think is great because it causes developers to step it up.

IGP: Are you planning any games for the future?

Edmund: Yes, many.

Tommy: Yes, many...

IGP: Any words for people who are thinking of designing a game?

Edmund: Make sure you are making games because you love making them and not because you want money, because there’s a good chance you won’t be seeing much of that for a long time.

Tommy: My advice is a little more high level than yours Ed, it goes
like this. Life sucks unless you're happy...so figure out what makes
you happy and do that.

Special thanks to Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes for their time.