Song of Iron‘s developer Joe Winter (Resting Relic) recently took the time to answer some questions about his newly-released game which is out on Xbox and other platforms right now. Joe Winter is a solo developer, so we found out a little more about how it is to make a game on your own, what it was like working with Xbox and more. Please read on to get an interesting insight into how Song of Iron came to be and be sure to check the title out for yourself on the Xbox store!
GPN:
Hi Joe and thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions about Song of Iron. Firstly, big congratulations are in order! How does it feel now that your title is out in the wild?
Joe:
Thank you for talking with me again, it’s always an honor! It has been a very surreal first month since launch. Finally opening the doors to players to fully dive into this thing has been awesome. Response has also been positive overall and that really makes me happy, especially since it is my first solo release.
GPN:
For those unacquainted, could you give our readers a brief explanation as to what Song of Iron is all about?
Joe:
Song of Iron is a Side Scrolling action adventure, set in a dark and moody nordic world. In Song of Iron you will be met with intensely beautiful locations to be explored and challenges mastered; daunting old growth forests, deep forbidden caves, windswept high-exposure icy mountains and more. While you skillfully bash, climb, sneak, hack, burn, their way across this provoking and shadowy Nordic world.
Source: resting relic
GPN:
You created Song of Iron on your own, and we’re seeing more solo developers take centre stage in the gaming world. Can you tell us about your solo experience? Was it as daunting as it sounds?
Joe:
I love seeing all the solo devs coming up this year and I really think we will be seeing more and more as time goes on. The tools to make games have come so far in recent years and it’s really opening the doors to more creators. I really enjoyed building Song of Iron. It was both a great learning experience and a chance to try out ideas I had been brewing for a long time. It came with some major challenges also, building the game is hard enough, but then dealing with everything else, business, marketing, sales and so on really made it a daunting challenge.
GPN:
You mention on Xbox.com that you loved the thought of being a fur cloaked Barbarian. Can you tell us a little more about the thought and motivation around the Nordic themes?
Joe:
Just as I was starting Song of Iron I was playing in a D&D game where I played as a barbarian. The story of that game became the story of Song of Iron and my character became the main character of the game. I had also been listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore history series on the vikings and was really feeling the nordic vibes. So it all just pushed me in that direction and all just clicked as I started exploring where that could take the game.
Source: resting relic
GPN:
There’s always positive talk surrounding Xbox and its commitment to indie games and indie developers. In a world of AAA games, how important is the indie scene to the industry? And how was it working with Xbox to bring Song of Iron to console?
Joe:
Working with Xbox was absolutely amazing. The ID@Xbox team really just seem like gamers that want to bring more good games to Xbox players. As an indie dev I am of course biased, but I think it is very important to have a strong indie community in the gaming scene. Indie devs generally take more risks trying to bring fresh new experiences. We generally are not building games around business models and microtransactions. I know I just want to be successful enough to continue making games and learning so the next game is better.
GPN:
Apart from Song of Iron (of course!), what’s your favourite video game franchise and why?
Joe:
For me it’s Zelda hands down. It has made such a massive impression on me over the years. They are always trying new things while somehow never losing the Zelda magic. It is such an impressive achievement and I cannot wait for what they do next.
GPN:
Developers get their inspiration from some weird and wonderful things, places, people and experiences. As a solo developer, where do you get yours?
Joe:
It really does come from a thousand places at once. Games, movies, books of course, anyone who has played the game can probably tell I like Lord of the Rings for example. I love to go backpacking, walking through the mountains of Washington really has some amazing spots and I’m always thinking about how to better portray that feeling in a game. Also sometimes fans will give me awesome ideas or simply give me encouragement and that is inspirational as well. It really does come from everywhere.
Source: resting relic
GPN:
Tackling a large project on your own must have provided you with a steep learning curve. What did you learn and what would you have done differently?
Joe:
It was definitely a learning curve. There were so many things I had never done before and so I had to learn so many new things. For example I had never coded anything before starting Song of Iron. Can’t thank Unreal enough for making the Blueprint visual code system. Marketing was also a new concept to me, something that I did a lot of trial and error there. Hard to say what I would have done differently. I absolutely have a list of things to improve for the next game, but there is no one big mistake or anything like that.
GPN:
Lastly, what message would you like to give fans and the Xbox community?
Joe:
Thank you all so much, the support for Song of Iron has been amazing and I cannot wait to bring more games to the community!
Cheers!
Joe
Richard Atkinson
Lead Editor
