Meet The Devs Morne Venter: “The world needs more weirdness”

Monte Verter

Today we are interviewing Morne Venter, a solo indie developer from South-Africa. As a creative person, he would like to be remembered as the ‘weird person’ that always tries new and strange things. Experiments and unorthodox ideas definitely make his day. “I think stagnation is the enemy of creativity. My greatest fear is stagnating.” He thinks the world needs more weirdness. Currently, he is working on Enter Digiton, which came from a fever dream I had when I was sick. This might be his weirdest game so far.

There are thousands of indie game developers out there and therefore it is easy to miss out on a lot of them. Indie Game Reporter makes a change. In Meet The Devs we interview a new game developer every Monday and Friday. With this series of articles you can learn about interesting indie developers, creative new videogames and stories on how developers worldwide try to entertain all sorts of indie gamers

Morne Venter does not believe in stagnation

Which of your game developer achievements made you most proud of yourself?
“This will sound simple but rendering my first basic square and moving it with the arrow keys blew my mind. A new world opened to me. I did that. I taught myself to do that. And if I can do that, then I can do anything. I think a lot of people see game development as this obscure arcana. The secret is baby steps, and before you know it, you will be running!”

What kind of games and which well-known persons inspired you to become a game developer?
“I would say the classic Diablo games (1 & 2). I can still remember the feeling of wonder and awe I had when first playing Diablo, and I seek to recreate that feeling in every game I make.

Further, I would say the story of Eric Barone and Stardew valley inspired me, showing me that it can be done solo. Seeing every other solo developer achieving their dreams also greatly inspired me. I love hearing indie dev success stories. They give me hope.”

What is the hardest part of being an indie game developer and how do you try to tackle that problem?
“The hardest part is managing your own hours. I am currently pursuing my Honours degree in Computer Science, leaving me with little time to developers. I mostly resort to weekends and late nights. It can be easy to get carried away and work too long and too hard. This will just lead to burn-out and you hating your game. Not to mention that it will lead to your waning social life.

I remember dreading working on Enter Digiton around halfway through. I hated that game. It was the bane of my existence. I had to take a month break and rediscover my love for game development. Since then I have been paying special attention to my working hours, not working too long or too little. Balanced!”

His game, Enter Digiton, is releasing soon

What are you currently working on that gamers should play?
“Currently I am in the processes of finishing up Enter Digiton. It is releasing on the 14th of August 2020 on Itch.io and Steam. Currently this game is receiving its final touches and patches right now.

I think my game is fun, and I hope that others will join me in thinking it is fun too. I want to share my feelings and visions with people. My goal as an indie developer is to make fun of experiences for people. If only one person finds my game fun, then I will have succeeded.”

Are there other Indie game developers that deserve a shout out?
“Definitely! I have been following SylphArcades progress on their platformer Garlic. That game got successfully Kickstarted recently. I really like their style and approach to humor.”

If you want to read more about developers, you will find more articles in Meet The Devs. Every Monday and Friday we will publish a new article in this series. That way you can meet new developers!

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