Road to the IGF: Key and Kanaga's Proteus
February 4, 2012 1:00 AM | John Polson
[Continuing 2012's "Road to the IGF" interview series, Gamasutra speaks with the creators of Nuovo award nominee Proteus about their fascinating, music and exploration-driven game.]
There's something uniquely elegant about Proteus, a peaceful, open wildland that has its own primal beauty, despite -- or maybe even because of -- its pixel-chunky aesthetic.
The game, developed by UK-based Ed Key and David Kanaga, is a finalist in the Nuovo category, and also received honorable mentions in the Excellence in Audio as well as the Seumas McNally Grand Prize categories.
It's more than just a land to explore; its true charm reveals itself slowly and gently through reactive audio that, in the developers' words, "allows the player to explore the environment as music."
Kanaga and Key talk to Gamasutra about Proteus, and how their somewhat uncommon combination of backgrounds, goals and innovative way of viewing games helped create this uniquely mesmerizing game.
What background do you have making games?
Ed: When I was young I made BASIC games on the Spectrum and Amiga. I spent about 8 years in the game industry after graduating, working on things like Battalion Wars, but Proteus will be my first indie release.
David: Well, playspaces in general more than "game" games: writing pieces of music based on interactions-- response structures, etc. Forms for improvisation. Teaching. Throwing parties with strange moods.
What development tools did you use?
Ed: It's written in C# and uses Tao Framework, OpenGL, SDL and Lua for scripting. It's also using a big chunk of framework code written by my friend Alex May. I use various free paint programs and Sketchup for the occasional bit of 3D modeling.
David: All the music is done in Ableton.
How long has your team been working on the game?
Ed: I had to check back over old emails and was a bit surprised that it's been three and a half years since the early glimmers of the project. It only really kicked off in its current form when I got in touch with David about two years ago. It's been a very long fermentation process, which might show through in the game.




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