A screenshot from Bradley Hennessey's 'An Aspie Life'
A screenshot from Bradley Hennessey's 'An Aspie Life'
Stories & Ideas

Mon 16 Jul 2018

Screen It to Steam: An interview with Bradley Hennessey

Australia Craft Education Videogames

The Screen It 2017 Senior Video Game winner talks about his game, 'An Aspie Life'

Although there were a number of excellent senior student made games entered into Screen It last year, one managed to stand out from the pack. An Aspie Life ended up being the clear winner of the Senior Video Game Category, and has since been released to great acclaim. The Screen It team caught up with the game's maker Bradley Hennessey to talk about life after Screen It, and his upcoming projects.

Screen It: You won the Senior Video Game at Screen It last year. What happened after you won?

Bradley Hennessey: After winning, the race was on to complete the game. I needed to get it out before I started university and a new year of work. Sounds easy, but it took six months to bug test and polish the game. This process is the most tedious part of game development, as it involves you replaying the whole game over and over again to find small little issues, which you then fix … and then go back to start and play it again. 

After six months the game was finally polished and ready to release. So, on the 30th of March 2018 An Aspie Life was released for free on Steam and Gamejolt. Out of all the parts of production, the launch of the game was the hardest. Marketing, promotions and getting the word out was very stressful since it was the first time I’ve ever done something like this. Luckily the launch was a success, with the game receiving an 8/10 on Steam with over 25,000 downloads in total (across Steam and Gamejolt). A good result for my first game. 

An Aspie Life title screen

SI: What would you say was the most valuable part of entering Screen It?

BH: From this experience, I learnt a lot. A lot of do’s and don’ts. The game is not perfect, there are issues with the controls and user interface. But as the creator you’re never fully happy with your product, so that’s to be expected. 

SI: So, what’s next for you?

BH: Right now, I’m developing two new games. The first game, called the Kave Keu Nui Project, is in the early concept stages. It will be a 3D action adventure game. The second game, is a sequel/prequel to An Aspie Life called An Aspie Life Beginnings. The purpose this time is to improve on the user interface and controls to make the game more accessible. The story this time around, is all about childhood, family, friends and the mystery of the lost time capsule. 

SI: Sounds fascinating. Congratulations again, we can’t wait to see your new work and what you get up to next.

An Aspie Life beginnings

It just goes to show, Screen It can be the start of a wonderful adventure into the world of games, digital culture and the moving image.

An Aspie Life is now available on Gamejolt and Steam.

To follow the development of An Aspie Life Beginnings like the Aspie Life Facebook page.

You can follow Bradley and stay up to date with his gaming journey via Twitter @mebradhen.