Review Fix Exclusive: Michael Austin Talks ‘Windborne’

Review Fix chats with Michael Austin, Chief Technical Officer at Hidden Path Entertainment, discusses “Windborne,” a society-creating sandbox title set for release in the first half of 2014. Featuring beautiful terrain and a fun story, the game will have a build at the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo.

Review Fix: What has the development process like?

Michael Austin: We have a really small team where everyone is wearing multiple hats, so we’ve kept it very iterative. Every week we look at the build and ask ourselves “What is the best thing we could add today?” We do have long range plans, but they end up changing as we move forward. It can be a challenge to narrow in on a vision an environment like this, but we have very ship-conscious people and that helps (as do milestones like getting a build for PAX).

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part of the game?

Austin: My favorite part is the exciting, adventury feel of the game. We are trying to build a world where you can’t wait to see what’s around the next corner- danger brings delay or inconvenience, not death, so you are rewarded for taking chances or doing risky things.

Review Fix: How do you believe this game will separate itself from other games on Steam and in the genre?

Austin: Four main ways- Jin, dragons, visuals and social connectivity. The Jin help the world feel alive and appreciate what you do. The dragons provide a lot of fun gameplay elements (dragon breeding) and help define a lot of the history of the world. Our engine lets us provide a unique way of adding more detail to a voxel world (smooth terrain, grass, great lighting), and our online model will give you flexibility on whether you are playing by yourself or with friends, but also allow you to stay constantly connected to a larger world even if you are playing single player. You will be master of your own islands, but will still be in a world shared with everyone else.

Review Fix: How do you want people to be effected by the game?

Austin: I want them to be excited to play- to feel that there are always more things they want to do than they have time to do them, so they can switch focus every hour or minute to follow what grabs their attention. I want to have them care for the creatures they’ve fostered, and always be looking for ways to improve the game world around them/

Review Fix: Where does the game get its inspiration?

Austin: We have many inspirations; Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, and the early Zelda games were all big inspirations.

Review Fix: How do you want the game to be remembered?

Austin: One of the best parts of developing games is when someone comes up to you and tells you an awesome story about how they pulled off a perfect plan in the face of poor odds, or discovered something amazing when they were having a bad day, or bonded with their kids by finding a common pastime. If I can help create stories like that, I’ll consider it to be a complete success.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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