That's really a design question for Ian, but it's always just a combination of a core design and iteration. Ian has a very clear idea of where he wants the game to go from the start, in terms of the dynamics of it and also the feeling he wants to get from the gameplay. He'll then implement a basic system and play the game against Robin, our tester and Level Designer. They'll discuss it and he'll make changes. After that, he'll broaden it out to playing in a wider group and take more feedback then usually add things / pare back until he's happy that his original idea has been fulfilled. It's a process that's very specific to him and it seems to work!
Thanks!
Wow thanks - that's really nice of you! I actually wrote a big thing this weekend that contains lots of info about my setup and working methods.
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PaulTaylor/20140421/215873/Electronic_Music_for_Fun_Games_and_Profit_A_Complete_Beginners_Guide.php
Hope so!
Possibly - we are actually talking about it at the moment
Hahah that is awesome! I think there was a little bit of discussion about further micro mechanics but we just felt that would over-complicate the game.
For me, Deus Ex, Streets of Rage 2, Starcraft 2, Wing Commander and Privateer; Ian would probably say Thief and Tribes 2
It took around 4 years. We used the Torque 2D game engine, which is C++ -based. At the moment we still use Torque and our artists generally work in Blender.
Later this year
Uhh...quite a few! I play Terran very badly in Gold League.