Ben Bradley: Ben Bradley

Name: Ben Bradley

Company: Ben Bradley

Profession: Indie Game Developer

Favorite Classic Game: Battlezone

Quote: There have been several games called Battlezone released at different times so I’d better be clear that my favorite classic game is Activision’s 1998 “Battlezone” game for the PC. This was a blend of real time strategy and first person shooters – it took the two most popular genres on the PC at the time and combined them in their entirety. Add to that an amazing outdoor graphics engine and a story which was so clever I almost believed in it myself. After being gripped by the game I got into designing levels for it in my evenings after school. Eventually I made a full mission pack with new weapons and units. That was the point where I realised I wanted to be a professional game developer, so I owe a lot to this game!

Bio: I’ve been working as a game programmer for four years, but in 2010 I made the jump to living off my savings and developing my own indie game. This has certainly been an adventure and I’m really enjoying working on Substream and I’m looking forward to getting it out there.

Project: Substream

Project Info: My current project is a 3D flying shmup which is currently being developed for PC, with other systems to follow. What sets it apart is an ambitious approach to music synchronization – the game has a fully dynamic environment which constantly morphs and reform to fit the mood and themes of the music; and enemies act upon the melodies. All this animation is designed by hand, so the game is like playing through a carefully crafted interactive music video. Substream also features a spatial distortion where the universe repeats like a hall of mirrors. This means enemies appear in multiple positions simultaneously and can attack or be attacked from multiple angles, which gives an interesting twist to the gameplay.

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