Interview with Ned Green

Ned Green is one of the founders of Too DX, a game studio from the USA that was established in 2013. Two great successes lie behind the Too DX duo, and Ned explained how they got where they are now in an interview with GameCritics. Ned is in love with gaming and designing games, just like his business partner Autson, but Ned is also more business-minded and knows the market. The two of them are old friends who happened to share the same dream. Ned gave GameCritics an insight into the company Too DX and their success, as well as plans for the future.

What does the concept behind their latter game Sportsball entail is given in this brief overview of the interview.

Ned told GameCritics that Sportsball was a typical Wii U game and a mixture of jousting, birds, and soccer. He also stated that he and Auston deliberately wanted to make the game suitable for more players and that is what they did. One of their goals was also to make the game fun to play and fun to watch - two birds with one stone.

If you have noticed the crazy 1980's-sounding music that follows the game, Ned revealed that the Lead Sound Designer was Kareem Shuman, whereby the soundtrack was produced by nicklePunk.

GameCritics also asked about the funding of the game and where the resources came from. Ned stated that they used their own resources at first and when the money was spent, they took a private loan. Publishers were out of the question, just like Kickstarter and others since they wanted the game to be independent and free from restrictions that publishers could impose on Too DX. They wanted the game to be exactly as they planned with no third party interference. This also proved that it is possible to develop something under one’s own terms without having to get financial resources from the outside.

One of their major concerns according to Ned was also that similar games were featured on Kickstarter and it would be hard to stand out where the choices seem endless. Ned is proud to have chosen the old-fashioned way to fund the game. The do-it-yourself approach paid off for the Too DX duo.

Ned also says that Nintendo, as their platform, was very helpful and for now, Sportsball is only empowered by Nintendo. Still, they have plans to get on board with Play Station 4 and Xbox One and others. Ned also stated that they would keep working on the game to extend its features.

About Ned

Ned said that he had been in the board games market before, since his family owns one of the longest-standing game stores in Indiana. The store has been active for around 40 years. Ned has been in love with games, and it is only natural that he chose this career path.

He talked about how he partnered up with Auston, who pursued game design at a private college. Auston was not fond of the business part that the gaming industry is a part of, so he got Ned on board fresh out of college with his accounting degree. When they met their sound designer Kareem, they were all set.

Corporate vs. Indie

When asked about the Indie game concept and its significance, Ned did not spare any words of appreciation for the concept. He believes that Indie games foster creativity and enable access to concepts that might not be available with money-oriented corporations. But Indie games also have to be commercialized so that these concept developers do not wind up empty-handed after all.

He does not hide his satisfaction with the independent games market since he believes that there are many talented individuals who just want to share their games with the rest of us and that do not need a lot of funding. He said that the many available tools out there make it happen with some or no money.

Ned just seems to be content with the gaming industry where it is now because it offers enough space to the corporate and Indie market at the same time. In the end, he believes that the games’ primary role is to be fun and exciting, and if that part is accomplished, success will follow.

We have to say that video games have a very bright future since the high-tech world keeps developing and enabling access to every individual. The virtual reality has already taken over a big part of free time and is the number one monotony breaker for the majority of the population, especially boys and men. Sportsball is a fun game that is based on socializing with others since it is a multi-player game, and it is not as fun to play online as it is with real friends. The more players you have got, the higher the entertainment factor.