Game development can be a challenging and rewarding, Duchenkuke, a level designer and music producer, is the mastermind behind DK Productions. He’s been creating indie games and releasing them on Steam since 2012 with his first title Hunted: one step too far. Duchenkuke got his start in game development when he discovered the engine “FPS Creator” while watching videos of indie horror games like Slender and SCP on YouTube.
When asked about his favorite project to work on, Duchenkuke found it hard to choose between Taipeh Contract and Dark Skies. Taipeh Contract was a bright and colorful world that he created as a change from the dead environments in Dark Skies. But, Dark Skies was a more important project as it was the game that got him through a particularly challenging time in his career. Duchenkuke is particularly proud of Dark Skies as it has some of the best graphics a Game Guru game has ever seen and is one of the biggest projects he’s worked on.
The struggles
Early on a big YouTuber reviewed Duchenkuke’s game and gave it a negative review. This was a test for Duchenkuke as he received a bit of a “shitstorm” about his game on YouTube. But, he didn’t let the criticism get to him and instead focused on what he wanted and what he liked. He learned to care less about what others think and more about what he wants himself allowing him to move forward continually improving his game.
When it comes to game design and development for Duchenkuke, he starts with the initial idea and works on the levels and music for those levels first. The atmosphere is his main focus all the time. The story and actual gameplay get implemented after that. Using tools such as Music Maker, Audacity, Fragmotion, ShaderMap, and Paint.Net to bring his ideas to life.
Bugs
BUGS yes bugs are a huge part of game development and one particularly challenging bug Duchenkuke had to solve was moving Dark Skies to 64-bit. It was a process that took him a few days and involved replacing all the shaders and scripts as not everything was compatible from the 32bit version hence the bugs. He found the process to be complicated and challenging, but he managed to make it work.
The choice of Game Guru as his engine was simply because it’s fun to use and he can make cool levels in no time compared to other engines despite is limitations. The community is also very helpful and creative, making it a great place to have fun and be creative.
The Future
Duchenkuke is not sure what the future holds for his game development interests, as ideas come to him randomly at times. He works instinctively and doesn’t plan anything, but he does need breaks to refill his creative energy.
The future of the gaming industry is a topic Duchenkuke has mixed feelings about. He believes the good days are gone and that the identity of games is vanishing fast. He feels that the gaming industry has become more money-focused and less focused on the art itself, with artists and creative minds being replaced by managers and people in suits who care about stocks only. (we at 42pixels tend to agree)
Final Thought
Duchenkuke is a talented game developer who brings his ideas to life using his creativity and technical skills. He’s passionate about his work and has a deep love for the gaming industry, even though he has mixed feelings about its future. With his instinctive approach to game development and his focus on atmosphere, he’s sure to continue creating amazing games in the future.