Yeah, both Egoboo and Cave Story were just people working to do the best they could with limited resources. It's forced minimalism, not nostalgia. To be frank, I actually feel that both games are slightly flawed in that they don't embrace that enough. They're "really impressive for a one-man effort" rather than beautiful in a categorically isolated way; really great minimalistic art is good because you can't compare it directly to more detailed, complicated works. You don't have to know anything about who produced it and what limitations were in place to appreciate how good it is; it's not "nice for what it is". It's just "nice", with a period. When you put games like Cave Story and Egoboo next to big-budget games (e.g., take your pick from the
Legend of Zelda series) that were worked on by sizable teams over a significant period of time, they are less impressive, and the only things they have going for them is their unique flavor and the badge of having been made within greater limits. In contrast, my favorite minimalistic arcade-style games (e.g. Warning Forever, Rescue: The Beagles, Super Crate Box) still look really good when you hold them up to anything else, because they're not even the same kind of fun.
Don't get the wrong impression, though, I do still love both Egoboo and Cave Story; the care that went into them is very evident from playing them, and that's something pretty special. Egoboo specifically has actually gained more character over time, I feel, as more people have put their own hearts into it.
On the subject of Soulfu, though: I'll be honest; I thought it looked really cool at the time... and... I guess I still think it looks really cool. I'm a little thrown that he thought there was anything "cutting edge" about the game. The visuals are good in a way that seems pretty timeless to me, and fun gameplay concepts don't age. As far as coding and the like; all the gamer knows is whether it works smoothly, and it does. That's not by any means reliant on passing trends or advancing technology.
I think the real problems with development scene not growing were the unconventional license and the poor editing tools. Personally, I thought modifying the game appeared very daunting, and I'm sure that's how others felt as well (I definitely remember reading concerned folk saying as much explicitly). Better editing tools and more conventional license exist for many other games, so I certainly hope that's not what he was describing as "cutting edge".
woodmouse wrote:That interview was short and stuff, would've been more awesome if he'd have been asked about Egoboo a lot more. Am I the only one who got the feeling like he was avoiding the whole subject?
Actually, I deliberately asked very little about Egoboo, because I knew Aaron wouldn't want to say a lot about it. He's very much the "get it done and move on with life" type. He's finished with the game, and there's not much to be asked about it now.
By the way, Lords of Uberdark has
a kickstarter page. At first, I thought he was asking for far too much money in too short an amount of time... Of course, $20,000 is actually a fair budget for a project this large, even from a one-man team; the game is going to take a lot of work, and if he wants to produce it full-time, he needs money just to live. (Plus, marketing is really important, too.)
What I mean to say is that I didn't think it was unreasonable, just unrealistic.
...However, it's looking more promising now, because apparently Notch posted a link to the project on Twitter. Things could easily escalate from here all the way to a successful launch; something like that is sometimes all it takes.
I didn't realize. 
