Meet the Devs: Benjo and Shane, Game Designers
In our Meet the Devs series, we’ll feature interviews of the Mushroom Mania team — our game artists, designers, and more. Today, let’s meet two of our game designers.
Who we’re meeting today:
- Benjo Pacia, Game Designer - 6 years in the game industry
- Shane Salvan, Jr. Game Designer - 2 years in the game industry
What do you do on the team?
Benjo: Hello! My name is Benjo and I’m a Game Designer for Mushroom Mania. And yes, I know that my name means ‘toilet’ in Japanese. I’ve been making games for about 6 years in total, and still ready for more!
Shane: Like, Benjo, I’m also a Game Designer for Mushroom Mania. My main responsibilities are with Level Design and Level Layouts, as well as designing some player challenges for the game.
What other games have you worked on?
Benjo: Within blockchain, I’ve worked on Battle Racers and Mushroom Mania. On mobile, I’ve worked on a few games like Zodiac Pop, Holy Ship!, and Run Run Super V. Beyond that, I’ve joined a few game jams here and there with friends.
Shane: On mobile, I’ve worked on Dragon Idle Adventure and an unannounced mobile game. For blockchain, Mushroom Mania is my first and only game at present.
What type of games do you enjoy playing?
Benjo: I enjoy action combat, MMOs, rhythm games, and story-driven narratives. Really hope I can leverage my experiences with action combat to The Sandbox Game Maker. I’m really excited for the possible combat capabilities moving forward!
Shane: I mostly play JRPGs, MMOs, rhythm games, and multiplayer FPS games. I draw a lot of my level design from experiences with JRPGs and MMOs: how the environment is framed, and how we draw players to certain areas in particular.
How would you describe your experience in making Mushroom Mania compared to your other games and projects?
Benjo: Making Mushroom Mania is definitely much more freeform and creative from a design perspective. Because all the features are in a toolkit that is very easy to use, you can just basically play around with it at your own leisure. And I play Minecraft too so yeah it’s super easy to get into once you know the toolkit back to front.
Shane: Mushroom Mania is definitely quite different than what I usually do in other projects. I usually don’t model the landscape from scratch in-engine, but with the tools of The Sandbox, I’m able to do so with relative ease.
Where do you get ideas for making gameplay mechanics and designing levels?
Benjo: The levels I based off on Banjo-Kazooie and A Hat in Time, in that it’s one large map with many collectibles to find within. Hiding challenges within large levels is really fun. Most of the mechanics are set by the toolkit so it’s basically me trying to eke out as much as I can from it.
Shane: I play a lot of Final Fantasy: XIV and I tried to draw some inspiration from that in terms of the cave and forest levels. I also took inspiration from Breath of the Wild, in terms of the exploratory feel of the world. Having players explore more to find hidden challenges and treasures.
Do you have a favorite character, asset, or scene from Mushroom Mania?
Benjo: My favorite is definitely the Big-Cap. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I love her ‘don’t bother me’ face. It reminds me of me when I’m commuting, or ‘commute face’. I really wanna give her more moves when I’m able.
Shane: My favorite scene would have to be the entirety of the first level. I had spent the most time working on the level design and layout of it, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. (Read more: Sneak Peek: Bright Creek)
If you found yourself shrunk down in a strange world, what would you do?
Benjo: Check if my phone still works. If not, I guess I’d just go with it. Especially if it’s like Mushroom Mania where a witch tells me to beat up living mushrooms.
Shane: First thing I’d probably do is try out the food in the area. New strange world? Probably has some great food!
What excites you the most about Mushroom Mania and The Sandbox?
Benjo: The possibilities of where the engine can get to in the future, as well as seeing what other people do with the assets that we create. I’ve seen enough Gary’s Mod to know that people are very creative given the freedom to use premade assets in a large sandbox.
Shane: The engine has a lot of potential and is very friendly to non-programmers. I’m able to create a world with no hassle. In terms of Mushroom Mania, like Benjo, I’m quite interested in what people will do with the assets.
Anything you would like to say to our readers? (play our game, hope you enjoy, etc.)
Benjo: I hope you find something to enjoy with Mushroom Mania, and give us feedback! It’s been a challenging journey but I do personally enjoy what we’ve made here.
Shane: I enjoyed making this game a lot, and I hope our players enjoy it as well! There’s a lot to discover so please do take your time in playing the game. Don’t forget to leave some feedback for us! We’d love to hear what you think, and improve on the game.
Thank you for answering our questions, Benjo and Shane!
Do you have a question you’d like our team to answer? Join us on Discord or Telegram and let us know! Make sure to follow us and please clap or share if you like this article!
Website: http://mushroommania.io/
Discord: https://discord.gg/altitudegames
Telegram: https://t.me/MushroomManiaGame
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MushroomManiaGame/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MushroomMania_
About Altitude Games
Altitude Games is a Manila-based game studio behind the blockchain game Battle Racers and free-to-play mobile games Kung Fu Clicker, Holy Ship! (3rd IMGA SEA Best Quickplay), Dream Defense (2017 Android Excellence for Fall), and Run Run Super V. The company was founded in 2014 by veterans of the Southeast Asian game industry. Learn more at www.altitude-games.com.
About The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a community-driven gaming platform that empowers game makers to create, publish, and monetize a myriad of unique experiences on a decentralized platform with cryptocurrency payments. With the support of millions of creators around the world, their goal is to make The Sandbox the new standard in world-building games, with millions of user-created 3D voxel assets and games available as NFTs on the blockchain. Learn more at www.sandbox.game.
