Interview of Dan Williams
July 21, 2025, 9:34 p.m.
Active Up Games
Pictassembler, Nomerads, GRAVESTUCK, Dynamic Dino Island, Band Maker Party Dungeon, Tileflipper, Skeleton Assembler, Surround Yourself with Dogs, Mini Nomerads, Pixel Master, Mini Nomerads 2: Constructaballs, The Irrigation Game, To All Living Things, Bring Water
Did I miss any games from the above?
Only the ones in my heart that I haven't finished! I've worked on some jam games with others and other tiny things but that pretty much covers it.
In 2017 I and a team worked on a multi-city jam game with the Goethe Institute out of Germany. Our (unfinished) game was called Struggling Dreams,
which won the award for Boston. It enabled us to take a trip to the AMAZE Festival in Berlin, which I highly recommend to anyone attend who is
remotely interested about the stewardship of games and their possibilities.
Upbringing?
I grew up in northern and central Florida, and from an early age developed an interest in computers, games, and programming. My parents divorced
when I was 10 and, due to family hardship and my personality, I spent a lot of time alone as a kid. I started learning how to program when I was 12
and have had the bug ever since. It feels second nature to me even though I wouldn't say I'm that advanced of a programmer.
How did you start developing?
I started tweaking values in Qbasic, Gorillas.bas at school mostly, and learned more formally at a summer program at USF where I learned PASCAL. I tended
to gravitate toward Qbasic more because it allowed for loops (as far as I knew at the time) which meant video game programming for me. I wanted to make
fighting games and adventures, so I made some early rudimentary text adventures and character art fighting games before I learned how to make pixelart with it.
Why the hesitation when submitting first entry? Gravestuck?
You want to make a good first impression with anything that you do, and so I was very hesitant on putting anything out unless I felt it was completely polished and great. But none of my projects ever got there, so that's been a lot of why I haven't published too many games.
Inspiration for game type?
I've always had an affinity for games where you have freeflowing movement like the action you'd see in something like Dragonball Z or Superman, basically. I
loved the game Bangai-O for the Dreamcast and thought it had a lot of potential as an action mechanism which you didn't see that often. I tried my hand at
essentially mimicking the feeling of Bangai-O and I think I got pretty close. Unfortunately since I usually don't play arcade shooters that often, I don't
have as much passion for that game type as others, so I lost interest. I'd like to revisit the idea one day though. I did promise a 10 year old that I met
when I demoed the game that I would finish it. The game Minishoot' Adventures married the adventure and shoot em'up genres pretty well, so I think I could
give that a decent shot again if I ever get proper inspiration.
Goals for ActiveUP Games?
The goal, I think, for any game developer, is to be able to make games that sell well enough to keep making games. I haven't made anything close to that
so I don't have that dream any more, but I learned when I take on other hobbies that I always gravitate back toward making games. I guess I'd mostly just
like to actually finish the ideas in my head at this point. It's tough when you have a day job and other interests to balance it all out.
Hobbies?
I also am into 3d printing and have gotten into designing puzzle boxes lately. After I finish my current game I'm going to explore finishing a puzzle to sell
and try to design more things like that. The tangibility of them makes a big difference in terms of personal satisfaction and it's an excellent motivator.
But I've also written a couple novels and other pieces, composed music, painted, and designed some card and board games. I'm always working on something.
Anything that you’d like to add or other things of mention?
I'm working on a new video game that I'm trying to get over the finish line and it's tough. JW Nijman of Vlambeer said "it takes to weeks to make a video
game and one year to finish it" and I am feeling that so much. It's a game in the budding "metroidbrainia" genre and I hope I can finish it. It doesn't
have a name yet, but I'm mostly through with it, although I think every developer says that any time after 30% completion. I like that you are doing
your blog to get in the rhythm of creating things, and I hope that energy takes you to where you want to go. Thank you for the opportunity to chat, and
I hope you enjoy my games!
https://www.activeupgames.com/small-games