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We are the team behind Surgeon Simulator 2013. AmA
Over the weekend we participated in the Global Game Jam and created Surgeon Simulator 2013 in under 48 hours.
We are overwhelmed with how much it has been played and talked about over the last couple of days. It was made in our spare time but now we have an opportunity to make a full releasable title and are hoping to take it further.
Answering the questions are :
broadleyboy - James Broadley (Artist)
Eternz - Luke Williams (Designer & Voice "Actor")
freshcut - Tom Jackson (Developer)
Jacky-Boy - Jack Good (Artist)Support us on Greenlight!
Play the game online hereCheers!
EDIT : Proof
EDIT 2 :Hey guys we are going to be wrapping this up in 20 minutes, for 9pm GMT. It's been an awesome experience and great to answer the questions we could get round to, if we didn't answer you there was a lot of duplicate questions so there's a chance we answered a similar question somewhere else.
EDIT 3 : Okay guys, we are turning in for the evening. that was a good 6 hours of non stop answering :) Thankyou to everyone who asked us fun questions its been a blast!
freshcut774 karma
There is a tiny easter egg (not a 'real' easter egg, but a secret nevertheless) in the free version. One of the scalpels is special... In that it is specifically designed for removing hearts so there will be no resistance when cutting round the arteries and it wont cause blood loss ;)
Eternz72 karma
I'm afraid not but if it's something you'd really like to see... I guess we could?...
Limethistle1046 karma
About 20-25 years ago, I remember playing a surgery simulator that (to my 6 year old brain), seemed incredibly impossible/complex. However, it always amused me when my patient would end up with toe-tags at the end of my super failed surgery.
Do you happen to know the game I am talking about? Was this inspiration at all?
EDIT: After a little research, it appears that the game title was 'Life and Death', published in 1988. (I was 5)
I became a surgeon, and I like to think that the intrigue created by that crazy game was part of my inspiration to do so. Who knows, maybe you're inspiring future surgeons, too!
freshcut418 karma
I wasn't aware of the game before we made ours, but the similarities have been pointed out since then and we've checked it out. I do remember playing Trauma center on the DS, that was my first thought when our brains went down the surgical route
Jacky-Boy21 karma
:D Yeah I used to play that on my Atari ST. I really wanna go back to it and see how similar it is. I just remember drawing a face on some guys stomach with a scalpel knife because I didnt know what I was doing :P
KemintiriAtWork468 karma
Hi!
What do you think of Robbaz's video?
What's next on your agenda?
Why did you do this?
Where do you want your work to take you in ten years?
What's for lunch?
Thank you for the IamA.
freshcut561 karma
Robbaz video was awesome. I'm a fan of the viking
Next on the agenda is rapid development of a much improved and expanded version of Surgeon Sim :)
For lunch... I had Chicken and bacon club sandwich and a gingerbread man.
Eternz85 karma
We love all the videos of people playing the game, that moment when they discover where things are and what they do is hilarious to watch. We did it as part of the Global Game Jam 2013, the theme was on heart beat so we took it literally and made something we thought was funny. If in 10 years I'm still designing video games, I've got no complaints!
Ineedanaccountthx341 karma
How does it feel knowing that along with giving an enjoyable game experience, you could potentially be training a bunch of serial killers.
Napalmero324 karma
Is it even possible to complete the game? Like make a successful transplantation?
composedryan277 karma
Heart Surgeon here. How did you research how to accurately simulate such a complex surgery like open heart surgery? I too have problems with the rib cage shattering.
ndog01263 karma
Are any of you actual surgeons? Because it is extremely accurate to the TV shows I watch.
freshcut262 karma
Glad to hear it is authentic, that might be down to luck as we are definitely not surgeons... I'm actually incredibly squeamish and can't even watch hospital dramas, let alone films like Saw.
hihosilveraway214 karma
I gave it a try, ended up laughing hysterically for 15 minutes at the drunk surgeon who can't pick up a tool without knocking everything else on the floor.
4wesomes4uce173 karma
What kind of background experience, if any, do you guys have in video game designing and developing?
freshcut266 karma
We all work full time at the moment in a games company (Bossa). James previously worked at Sony Playstation, I worked at EA, Luke was a QA chap at Sega and Jack worked at Marmalade
unfortunatejordan126 karma
I don't really have a question, just a compliment.
I lost a pet recently, and it hit me really hard. So hard that you struggle to find enjoyment in anything. One of the very few things that managed to give me a brief reprieve from my guilt and sadness was playing your ridiculous game. Nothing else could really reach me, but hacking away at Bob, watching the videos on youtube, it just brought me such joy I had to let you know.
All the best in the future.
scottford2124 karma
I know the game is purposefully difficult to play in the same style as QWOP, but have you considered creating a version of Surgeon Simulator that uses some of the new motion control technology coming out? I'm specifically thinking it'd be cool to see a version adapted to the Leap Motion controller coming out this year. How might you adapt the controls to maintain the same level of difficulty that makes the game so amusing to play now?
freshcut92 karma
I'm aware of the leap (pre-ordered on day 1) but didn't actually sign up for the dev kit... I would love to do some tests with the leap when my pre-order arrives.
rozzles80 karma
Do any of the team have any experience of surgery: history of medical professionalism?
BatXDude42 karma
Soooo no, House?
Ang about, you said Casualty. Does that mean you're from the UK?
Eternz130 karma
We are indeed English fellows, I was the (admittedly incredible) voice actor in the game. We all work and live in London.
Eternz106 karma
The Steam version we're trying to Greenlight at the moment will be an expanded version of the game, with more levels, tools, settings and achievements.
Jacky-Boy26 karma
:D right back atcha!! We're actually trying to get it greenlit on steam so we can make a load more content, and get some of the ideas we originally had into it. Check it out!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123715746
lyridsreign45 karma
So what is it like knowing you built a game that is worshiped by Reddit?
Eternz73 karma
We no where near expected the reaction that the game has gotten, we were 4 guys sleep deprived in a room over the weekend, making something that made us laugh, we presented it on Sunday to the other game jammers and it got a good reaction.
We got in to the office on Monday, uploaded it and a few tweets later it had basically blown up.
brokensaint8241 karma
What kind of software did you use while making the game and what influenced you to go ahead and pursue making the game?
freshcut94 karma
The artists used Maya 2012 and I used Unity for the development.
The main influence was the game jam's theme which was "A human heartbeat".
LumpyGenitals35 karma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2XkTIYhQC8
Have you seen this video? If you have what was your reaction?
freshcut69 karma
Robbaz is a hero. I became a viking right around his battlefield 3 sniper shotgun hilarity
NarfArf32 karma
Hello! And congratulations on the game's success!
Something that always intrigues me when indie games get this kind of exposure: How are you feeling about the game becoming this popular, and are you glad that the way it did so was through the Let's Play community?
Also are any of you followers/contriburtors to the (or any) Let's Play community? After-Action Report forums and generally gaming-related comedy/entertainment applies.
And my final question, what's the future of Surgeon Simulator? Moreso, what's the future of your crew - are you wanting to make an entirely new kind of game, or will you continue on the "Simulator" path of games?
Cheers!
freshcut51 karma
Hi! Thankyou
The popularity is amazing. It's great to know people are having a blast playing the game. The lets play community is great as it actually lets us experience them having a blast first hand.
I'm a bit of a let's play fan (big love for Robbaz, Nerdcubed, JonTron, Egoraptor and Dopefish being my favourites).
Yes! A full version is planned with different surgeries to perform and obviously more tools, new environments etc.
I couldn't say whats in the distant future at the moment, this has all taken us a bit by surprise so pretty much all our energy is going into this :)
bl1nds1ght62 karma
More environments? I think you need a moon surgery level with zero gravity.
RobDeeJay27 karma
Awesome news that you are looking to take the game further its a real laugh to play and even more impressive that it was done in 48 hours :D
My question is what other types of operation would you be looking into putting into future versions of the game? Amputation comes to mind for me... :P
Eternz66 karma
There's quite a lot of options available for us to try out, one idea we'd really like to play with is simply changing the setting, so we're gonna play around with performing a heart transplant in the back of a moving ambulance, people from England will understand the hilarity that ensues when going around a roundabout.
michaelbb23226 karma
Do you think the publicity from youtubers like pewdiepie, robbaz and nerd cubed helped a lot with expanding the audience.
freshcut40 karma
absolutely. A big part of the lets play community jumped on this, and we saw tremendous publicity from it
freshcut33 karma
I've been doing independent stuff outside of my day job for a couple of years :) Shameless self promotion
Jacky-Boy22 karma
I've worked on: QuBIT (mobile) Fable:Coin Golf (mobile) Merlin the Game (facebook) Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (mobile)
broadleyboy15 karma
Probably the most notable game I worked for (before Surgeon Simulator 2013) was Eye Pet for the PS3
Da_Thatch10 karma
If you could preform any surgery on any person alive or dead, who and what would you pick?
freshcut53 karma
I'd transplant the hands from the robot devil in Futurama onto myself. Those would really speed up game development.
NotClarke9 karma
Love your game by the way. Played it online. Great stuff.
Is there plans to do future games like this? Besides heart surgery I mean?
Will there ever be a colonoscopy simulator 2013?
Ok but seriously, other surgeries than heart surgery planned? Brain Surgery might be fun.
broadleyboy20 karma
Thanks, as you've brought it up, we will be adding Brain Surgery along with other surgery's and features such as emergency surgery in the back of a moving ambulance.
freshcut9 karma
I cried when he tries to get the patient to sign the forms in the Inside Gaming Extra one
bananatrouble1 karma
Are you happy with how the game turned out? Is there anything else you want to change/add? Why does it feel like I'm in a dream while playing it?
freshcut4 karma
Initially I was happy with the hand mechanics and feel. But wasn't sure it was funny enough, as when your making something you get pretty good at controlling it so it often didn't feel like it was as out of control and haphazard as we had planned. It wasn't until we got one of the other guys on the team to try it out who was useless when we realised we had something really funny.
deliberately silly physics and a floaty camera are probably the main reason it feels like a dream.
fredlllll0 karma
Please improve the "grabbing things" thing :P its horrible. and maybe more organs ;)
freshcut4 karma
The grabbing has been tweaked slightly. But it's not meant to be easy ;) There will be more organs yes.
Manticorp1273 karma
Are there any awesome easter eggs in the game like exploding testicles or 'insert finger into anus' buttons?
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