Interview: Kyle Gray, Henry Hatsworth and the EGP

By Chris Evans

Kyle Gray is one of the finest independent developers making games right now.

Involved with the Experimental Gameplay Project since its inception, he recently worked with EA on the whimsical DS platformer Henry Hatsworth in The Puzzling Adventure. We chatted to Kyle about his time leading that development team, what he’s been up to since and, of course, the Experimental Gameplay Project itself.

Resolution: Henry Hatsworth has been out for a few months now, and it’s received a lot of positive press. How’s the game done since release?

Kyle Gray: I don’t really have access to any NPD sales numbers, so all I have to go on is rampant internet speculation these days.  At one point we had the dubious honor of being one of the “50 most overlooked games” of this console generation, which makes me kind of sad – though I do hear the game is popular in England for some reason.

R: You led a small team at EA Tiburon. What was it like to lead a group of developers at a company like EA?

KG: Being under the average leader height of 6′1″ meant that I had to make up for my lack of height with sheer volume.  Good thing I was naturally louder than everyone else on the team, especially after a couple of cups of coffee.  All joking aside, though, it was an amazing time – everyone on the team was incredibly talented and hard working, so I really couldn’t ask for a better first leadership experience.

R: Has EA been in touch with you about working on any more Henry Hatsworth titles?

KG: I keep in touch with a few friends from the old days, but it hasn’t come up at this point…

R: How did your experience with the original Experimental Gameplay Project affect how you approached the development of Henry Hatsworth?

KG: EGP was pretty much the only reason I was able to make Hatsworth in the first place.  As someone starting off at the grunt level in a giant company it’s pretty hard to get noticed – mostly because there are tons of people all vying for the same thing.  In that regard, EGP and participating in things like GDC and Gamasutra helped me get noticed.  Probably more importantly, I was able to leverage the skills I’d learned to make the first prototype for Hatsworth – which, while being extremely crude, helped define the game’s character.

R: What was it like leaving EA and finding yourself on the indie scene again?

KG: In a made-up word: sadisfying.  I was a little sad to leave since I had worked there for 4-plus years, but satisfied to have accomplished the goals I set for myself at EA. I’d like to think I made that word up, but a quick search reveals the internet is chock full of people that use it.

If I had to use real words, I’d say the whole experience has been both terrifying and exhilarating. The indie scene has blown up in the last few years, so it’s great to finally join it legitimately and work on an actual indie title.  On the other hand, that means everything else is “indie”, which can sometimes means things are a little less organized then they were when I was part of a corporate structure.  I’ve had to establish a new morning routine and get out of the house to make it feel like I’m not just slacking off.  I also don’t get free cereal or coffee any more.

R: What made you decide to relaunch the EGP?

KG: It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while now, so I’m really glad we were finally able to pull the trigger on that.  Relaunching the site has been a whole lot of fun – I’m continually surprised by what our users make.  When we first launched in 2005, it was pretty rare you’d come across someone who made game on their own, let alone a good game.  Now there’s a thriving community of people who do just that – last month we had over 29 user-submitted games following the “Bare Minimum” theme.

R: What are the differences between this incarnation of the Experimental Gameplay Project and the original one?

KG: EGP 3.0 is a nice blend of EGPs 1 and 2.  Originally, the team was made of only four guys, working really hard in a really, really, really tiny room.  Each guy made his own game in seven days, based around a theme.  In EGP 2.0 we opened the page up to user submissions and people submitted whatever they wanted, which was interesting, but a little less focused.  With the current incarnation, we have a revolving bunch of regulars all making games based on the same theme, which is really neat.  It’s interesting to see what 30-plus people come up with when they’re all given the same theme.

R: Yourself, Kyle Gabler and Allan Blomquist are all working on a new game independent of 2D Boy and EA. What can you tell us about it?

KG: Only that we’re working on a downloadable title for undetermined platforms.  Our hope is that a shorter, just-a-few-hours-long experience where everything is fun, high-quality, and extraordinary will prove to be a more valuable experience to players than a 40-120 hour slog-fest. I don’t know as many people these days that can devote more than a few hours a week to gaming, but maybe that’s just a sign of my growing age.  And no, it’s not “World of Hatsworth.”