I’ve published an article regarding a particularly fascinating mobile game a few months back, Star Traders RPG Elite. I recently had the chance to sit down and have a chat with the developers concerning their games and Heroes of Steel, the brother’s upcoming game which was successfully funded on Kickstarter.
Just a brief introduction to the Trese Brothers:
Andrew is a digital nomad, carrying a sturdy backpack, a laptop, and a small Wacom (the Bamboo Fun model). When working for Trese Brothers, he hops between libraries, coffee shops, and co-working spaces and enjoy the hubbub of a busy place and the noise of people around him while working.
That be a Wacom tablet I see!
Cory works from his home office in California among the glow of stacks of devices and arrays of monitors. He enjoys the hum of an overclocked server and a USB hub full of Android and iOS devices as he designs, codes, and tests Trese Brothers games.
That is a heck lot of screens!
Onwards to the interview section!
Interview
Nicholas: Thank you for taking the time to sit down and chat with us Andrew and Cory Trese, the Trese Brothers. How fares your weekends on the coasts of California and Boston?
Andrew: We actually just spent a weekend together for one of our “semi-annual shareholders’ meeting.” We spend so much time digitally connected on video calls and chat that its really important for us to spend time together in person. Sometimes we have a “semi-annual” for a week-long work session or to focus on a special project, but this time we just met to vacation.
Cory: Working virtually is something Andrew and I have both done in other roles.
Nicholas: Just to sate my curiosity, are you two actual biological brothers? Can you give us an idea on what the both of you do inside and outside of developing games?
Andrew: Cory and I are biological brothers. Cory is older by two years. We have been making games together since I was in first grade, starting with adaptations for classic games like Heroes Quest through using Lego men as your character sheet, and on to building our own game system.
Both Cory and I are software architects in our day jobs. Our mom was always telling us to “get a hobby” so we are very active. We just did some desert offroading over the weekend in Cory’s Jeep and I am tentatively about to start training for a sprint triathlon. Busy, busy!
Cory: In addition to working as a software architect I am a commercial photographer.
Nicholas: Now, you two are known for your games in the mobile space- Cyber Knights, Star Traders and Templar Assault which I am a huge fan of. Can you tell us what inspired the Trese Brothers to create these games and why the mobile platform?
Andrew: Glad you enjoy Templars! One of our core missions is to make games that Cory and I like to play. Recently I got on a huge Templars binge and couldn’t stop playing. I love the Brutal difficulty, because it keeps you coming back again and again to beat a single level sometimes.
At the core, Cory and I have always been making games. It’s been a passion of a lifetime for both of us. When Cory started playing around with mobile, we both suddenly realized the potential. We’ve been making, playing, and sharing our games for years, but always at a personal level, usually around a pen-a-paper table, one gamer at a time. The mobile platform has made it possible to share our love of complex game, challenging systems, and human-driven stories with well over a million gamers. It changed our game.
Cory: I had an opportunity to take a leadership role on some mobile development projects a few years ago, however, I had no experience creating mobile applications. I really wanted to be part of the team but didn’t have the background. Star Traders was born to fill that skill gap and served as an excellent teacher.
Nicholas: One aspect I really appreciate about your games is the fact that the core fundamental gameplay is immensely enjoyable even without the need of impressive visuals. Has that always been the vision for your games?
Andrew: When Cory first started developing Star Traders, we did not have any art. You can see that history in the game today; it is still very button and text oriented. At the time, I was just an engineer and we needed to find an artist, but had no hope of paying anyone. And from experience, its hard to get consistent, timely production from anyone if they aren’t on the payroll. So, I decided to draw, to become an artist. It was a huge leap for me, and I am grateful to Cory for trusting me that I could do it. It’s been three years and I am constantly learning, honing and gaining in skill.
I would say that it is a requirement of our games that the core gameplay is immensely enjoyable and that it offers deep replay value. We ended up with low-end graphics because I’m just learning to draw. I hope we can see that the graphics in the games keep getting better. We are also constantly investing in our existing games, so redoing and updating the art is a big part of that.
Cory: The gameplay fundamentals, the core of the experience, should come first and I feel that has been our goal and vision from the start. As Andrew said, we started our journey without flashy graphics or animations. We had to focus on the gameplay and balance because that is all we had. As we evolve and move forward as a game development team we’re certainly trying to improve the visuals — but not at the expense of an intense focus on quality core mechanics.
Turn-based gameplay at it’s finest
Nicholas: Cyber Knights, Star Traders, Templar Assault and your upcoming game Heroes of Steel are turn-based RPGs at it’s core. Have these games set the tone for what the Trese Brothers games are, or do you both still feel that there is still room to experiment for games outside of the RPG genre?
Andrew: Outside of the RPG genre? I see it as a really wide umbrella, but we definitely have some strategy games and 4x games on the potential game list.
Cory: RPG games are my second favorite genre. I love complex simulation games. In many ways, especially with Star Traders and Cyber Knights, they are RPG games set inside of simulation games. The player’s world is an RPG, but the backdrop is an active simulation of political or economic activity. I think you will continue to see us expand our umbrella to include games that may not be RPG, single player and turn based.
Nicholas: From my observation, three things that all your games have in common is the science fiction/futuristic cyberpunk setting, turn-based gameplay and a fair amount of Warhammer 40K references- especially in Templar Assault. Was the Games Workshop’s grim dark futuristic universe influence an intentional addition to your games?
Andrew: Cory and I have always enjoyed both Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40K. My armies are still in carriers in the closet. For me, our pen-and-paper games have been the biggest driving influence for how we have created our mobile games, but they too are full of stories that focus on human problems, situations you can’t win, and grim times.
Cory: I am somewhat disconnected from Games Workshop — but I share a lot of the same source works that they use. We all borrow heavily from the real world, especially World War II history and from fantasy like Dune, Asimov’s Foundation and so on. Grim, dark and futuristic doesn’t belong to Games Workshop regardless of how many Amazon takedowns they issue.
Nicholas: You guys had a Kickstarter campaign which was successfully funded 2 months ago- Heroes of Steel, can you tell us a little more about that title and how it might differ and innovate from your previous games?
Andrew: One of the things that I am most excited about with Heroes is that we will start with a central storyline and build in a sandbox around those threads. With Cyber Knights and Star Traders, we built the other way — laying down a sandbox and then adding (or working on adding) some story on top. This drives a lot of additional depth in the character development and planning and allows us to put more focus on the grimmer, human storylines that I love.
Cory: Heroes will push the envelop on several fronts. We’ll be on more platforms — phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. We’re building a brand new map engine that will drive highly complex and interactive environments. We’re building individual and squad based enemy AI that will allow for diverse combat scenarios and tactics.
Nicholas: Trese Brothers are well known for their undying devotion and commitment to their fans. Has there been any changes made to the game design or new features added for Heroes of Steel due to suggestions made from the community of fans and gamers?
Andrew: Our fans know we are responsive, so we have already had floods of comments and suggestions. A lot of early suggestions were about how to make the KickStarter rewards better, which we quickly followed up on. The really exciting moment is going to come with the Alpha Access Team, just about 40 team members who bought in at the $100 goal. They are going to get early access to the game, and a direct line to Cory and I during the Alpha period. That is when the real feedback is going to come in and we absolutely love seeing that feedback drive our games to a better and more exciting places.
Nicholas: How do you both feel about achieving the $20,000 stretch goal: Epic Platform Pack? Are you guys comfortable with porting the game over to the new console- Ouya as well as for the iOS devices?
Andrew: We are really excited to have made the stretch goal. Based on all the feedback from our backers and from the community, we brought this goal down from $50,000 and have decided to add the desktop platforms and OUYA as well. We’ve already proved that the basics of Heroes of Steel will work (map engine, animated sprites walking) on all the platforms. We published some video proof recently to YouTube if you want to see it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqo0eCAn8H0
At the end of the day, the Epic Platform Pack is the best thing that could have happened to Trese Brothers. Our amazing Kickstarter backers helped launch us to a completely new level. When Heroes is done, all future Trese Brothers games will be built on the same, cross-platform engine. It’s changed our game.
Mountains of Madne-
Nicholas: For ignorant heretics like myself who missed the wonderful Heroes of Steel Kickstater project, is there still a chance for redemption by supporting your upcoming game?
Andrew: We are actually still accepting backers to the Heroes of Steel project. For anyone who missed the 30 day window, there are even still spots available in the Alpha Access Team! You can follow the link below and back our project through PayPal.
http://www.tresebrothers.com/blog/heroes-of-steel-kickstarter-paypal/
Nicholas: On a final note, do you have any tips for aspiring game developers ready to set out into the vast mobile market?
Andrew: Two things that have always stuck out to me about the Trese Brothers approach is to build games that you love to play, and to focus on your community. Unless you are up in the clouds dreaming about how famous you are going to be in five years, you’ll realize that you are an indie developer and that our type are made or broken by word or mouth and our communities. Focus on your community and work on turning your fans into fanatics into life-long fans. And play your games. A lot. There is nothing better to help you see your own strengths and weaknesses and places where you need to grow. Don’t give up… forget what sleep is … celebrate your successes and failures.
Cory: If you don’t like playing it, no one will. I still play Star Traders several years after it was release. Do not wait. Don’t roadblock yourself — you do not need $10,000 to buy Unity. If you have a great idea, make a prototype. In 2013 game developers have a dozen free avenues to distribute games. The access and channels available to mobile developers today are unprecedented. Take advantage of that and put yourself out there. You might be a runaway success!
Nicholas: Thank you so much for spending the time with us Andrew and Cory, we wish the development for Heroes of Steel to go swimmingly as well as the success of the Trese Brother’s current and future titles. Oh, and best of luck for your triathlon Andrew!
Andrew: Thank you for the time and for the great questions. Good luck with Templars!
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The Trese Brother Games
On App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/trese-brothers/id528949265
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It’s always great to talk to passionate, intelligent people in the industry, that’s why I have scheduled a few more interviews with various developers and publishers! Oh yes indeed- I’m in the final process of editing the article with 11 Bit Studios, developers of Anomaly 2. Oh and not to forget, they passed me two copies of Anomaly 2 to giveaway to TWO lucky readers out there! More information will be posted along with the article on Monday if everything goes according to plan.
I’ll be out of the country this weekend for a short vacation but I have scheduled to chat with Simigo, the makers of Year Walk (go play it if you haven’t already), Personae Studios– one of the most experience game development studios in Singapore (they recently released MechWarrior: Tactical Command) and lastly Kiel Entertainment, makers of Don’t Starve, the Shank games, and Mark Of The Ninja!
*sips my cup of Starbucks coffee*
Have a great weekend readers!