Frozen Synapse Community Interview

Frozen Synapse Community Interview

Stephen Fraser: Where do you get off taking all the best band names for your video and computer games?!

Paul Taylor: Do you mean Frozen Synapse, or the fictional band IN the game? That one is called Vroom Vroom Speedmonkey. I don't know; we just want to hog the awesome names, what can I say?

Linda Brooks: I'm a complete novice at playing computer games. What level of skill and compentency do you design your games for?

Paul Taylor: We do tend to design for people who have probably played a few games before, but we've seen seven year old girls playing and enjoying Frozen Synapse too, so we inadvertently seem to have made a game that everyone likes!

Parp parp. What's that? Oh, it's our own trumpet.

Rob Walsh: Do you believe that innovation in game play will become increasingly popular or will graphical updates of the same-old franchises and ideas continue to dominate the market?


Paul Taylor: I certainly don't think demand for gameplay innovation will increase overall – I think it will be as necessary as it always has been.

Adam Swift: Is it possible to mod Frozen Synapse? If so, what can we mod? If not, why not?

Paul Taylor: New game modes are reasonably easy to create. Other mod features, while possible, weren't included in the release version because of the nature of the game - sorry! Introducing more modding options is certainly something we'd like to look into in the future, but it's not always trivial for devs to focus on mod features.

Robert Johnstone: Why did you choose Steam to distribute Frozen Synapse?

Paul Taylor: We didn't, actually. They chose us!

Luka Strižić: What's in it for You? Since Mode7 isn't a big, corporate game studio, and you probably won't earn mega-ultra-bucks making indie games that way, do you make them out of pure love and fun, or is there something we don't know?

Paul Taylor: I think we answered this in the podcast but I'll answer again. We like both mega-ultra-bucks and creative freedom. Indie games are one of the only fields where both are always possible and where we can feasibly aim for both.

Matthew Juffs: Duke Nukem Forever took more than 14 years to release, how long did Frozen Synapse take?

Paul Taylor: Frozen Synapse took around four years to make, on and off.


Robert Garner: Do you have any plans to make mobile games for Apple's AppStore or the Android Market?

Paul Taylor: In a word? No. Not right now.

Jason Forster: Are you working on any other projects besides Frozen Synapse?

Paul Taylor: Yes, we are working on other projects. No, we're going to talk about them just yet.

Mandy Howza: When will Mode7's own podcast, 'Visiting the Village' return?

Paul Taylor: Oh god, when someone pays us to make it probably.

Chris Best: I love this game and I love the soundtrack. What made you chose Paul Taylor as the composer for the audio track and will he be used again for future releases?

Paul Taylor: Thanks! I love you. Little known fact: I am Paul Taylor. I am the co-founder of the company and thus I have the power to choose myself.

As for 'Why did I choose myself?' It's probably because I am totally bloody great and incredibly modest. Those are rare qualities.