S3E019 – Gas Filled Balloons

It’s another Game Dev Origin Story this week, but first, let’s get our APMs up: Sorry. Sorry. So sorry. Much apologies. Very sorry the show was late this week.

Dave dives into an interview with Will Chyr, the creator of Manifold Garden. Will had a long, winding adventure with respect to shipping his first game, but we start this interview with Will’s college days. Will covers his days as a Physics student, his experience creating art installations, before finally unpacking the journey that was creating his first game. Buckle up, it’s a good one.

2:00 – Interview with Will begins, he discusses his first passion: Creating Art Installations.
10:10 – Will talks about his days putting his Physics major to use in a lab in Italy.
11:50 – Will discusses pivoting out of Physics, and how he dove into the Chicago art scene.
16:45 – Enough with the setup, let’s get to the viddy games. Will dives into how he got started on Manifold Garden.
22:45 – I’ll be done with this game in 3 months.
30:00 – Will and Dave discuss the value of external playtests, especially when the game is early along.
34:15 – Manifold Garden gets some funding, and Will can keep pushing forward.
39:30 – Will gets into the value of all the times he streamed his game development process on Twitch.
45:20 – Will brings on other people to help finish the game, and discusses the process of letting go of ideas he held dear.
51:40 – Time to ship Manifold Garden.