Cats VS. Aliens

Michael Schaefer kindly accepted to answer several questions about his upcoming game.

Q: What type of game is Cats VS. Aliens and what makes it special?

A: Cats VS. Aliens (CVA) is at the first sight a “tower defense game” (TDG). But if you look deeper, you can see that it is more than that. Unlike many other TDGs you must not only defend your own “tower”, but you also have to destroy the enemies' tower to win the battles. And the setting is of course also very special. Did you ever saw a game where you can fight with catbox-bombers which shoots radioactive kitty litter?

Q: What special effects do you use in the game and how did you create them?

A: I use many particle and sprite effects. For many effects I use this  method: I create a bitmap in Photopaint. Then I create 3 or 4 of these sprites and make crazy things with them. I let them rotate, change their alpha values and scale them up and down, for example.

Q: How did you create that attention-grabbing trailer?

A: I have captured some gameplay videos with Fraps. Then I have created some cutscenes with GameStudio. After that I have bought some cool music for it. And finally I have melt all things together in a video editor.

Q: Lots of people struggle to get their games finished, and yet never manage to do it. You don’t seem to have this problem at all - what is your secret?

A: When I have a goal I want to reach it no matter what. But I have to admit, sometimes it’s hard, especially if things are not running quite well. If I look at Starlaxis I’m very disappointed - it sold very, very bad and if I look at the time and money I spend into creating it… ah, but anyway. CVA is about 40 % finished and I hope to complete it with the help of Kickstarter.

Q: What are some of the game development tools and resources you couldn’t live without?

A: GameStudio, Corel Photo Paint, Magix MusicMaker and Fraps.

Q: You have managed to do this with Starlaxis, so how do you get a company interested in publishing your game?

A: Make a good homepage and show interesting things from your game!

Q: How can our community help you promote Cats VS. Aliens?

A: First: Support it at Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1126778555/cats-vs-aliens-war-in-space?ref=live

Second: Vote for it on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=172707574

Third: Like it on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catsvsaliens

Fourth: If you have a million dollar and don’t know what to do with it, just contact me! :)

Q: Please give us a few tips for the aspiring game developers out there.

A: Hold on your dreams and never give up! Try to make games that have something special that other games don't have. Make something that you can really do with your resources!

Thank you a lot, Michael!