From IGF to PS3: Everyday Shooter’s Backstory

Heya PlayStation fans, my name is Rusty Buchert and I’m the Sr. Producer for Everyday Shooter. As we’re approaching the release of the game, I wanted to drop in and give you some background on how Everyday Shooter went from the Indie Games Festival to the PS3.

Starting at the beginning …

At GDC 2007, some of us from SCEA’s Santa Monica Studio were looking for new games and developers that we thought would be cool for PS3. George Weising had beaten me to the Indie Games Festival (IGF) booth this year and started looking through the games that were there. After a bit he grabbed me from a meeting saying I had to check out a game. But because of meetings, I never made it over there. George kept telling me, “Dude, when you get a chance you need to play this game.” So the first thing I did was figure out how I could get a hold of the developer Jonathan Mak or his agent if he had one. I found out that I knew his agent already so I gave him a ring and told him I really would like to get a build of the game so I could check it out. He connected me with Jon and we went from there.

The first time I sat down with it I knew we had something magical. Not often do I get that buzz from a game. It was something that I wanted everyone to play. We worked things out and we got Jon Mak – the one man that makes up Queasy Games – up and going on PS3. It was amazing how quickly he got it up and running once he got started on the PS3. In just 3 days he had it running and in a few weeks he was up to what was shown at GDC.

What made it magical? It was the constant interaction between the music, gameplay and visuals. The way they feed back into each other is something that happens very rarely. Lots of people try but most of the time it comes up short. Jon hit it dead on and did it with guitar music. Most people have always thought the only way to do it was with techno or electronica. Every level has its own vibe and song that just work for me. I hope they work for you, too.

I love the fact that it’s an album of shooters. That is just plain cool. It hit that point where you are honestly crossing that barrier between being a record and a game.

E3 proved to any doubters that there was something magical to the game. I never expected the press coverage that Everyday Shooter got. Who thought a downloadable game would hijack a lot of press. It’s nice to know that people do want to know about indie games from the hardcore to casual player. This is where we’re going to find the future of the game industry.

One thing I have to say is that after the months of working on and playing the game, I’m still enjoying it and I’ll still be playing it after it comes out.

Oh, by the way it will be up on the store by Oct. 11 (this Thursday). Make sure you check it out!

Tomorrow, we’ll have a post from the game’s creator so you can learn more about the one man show that makes up Queasy Games – Jonathan Mak.

PS – My favorite levels are Root of the Heart, Build 88 and So Many Ways. Check ’em out!