How did Buster's Quest come to be?

We have had a few places reach out to us recently asking us questions about our background, and where the ideas and concepts came from for Buster’s Quest. So… I thought I would write about that here so anyone can easily see and find this information if they so desire.

I grew up in a small town in North Dakota. At the very young age of 5 I was introduced to the magic of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) when my cousins who lived next door to me were lucky enough to get one. Luckily for me, they did not enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did. I played Nintendo every moment I could, and eventually got my own. Thanks Mom!

I played every single game I could get my hands on. Adventure Action games like Hudson’s Adventure Island (1, 2, & 3) Adam’s Family, Dick Tracy, Friday the 13th , Guantlet, Golgo 13, Hydlide, and Metal Gear. Side scrolling beat ‘em ups like Double Dragon (1, 2, & 3), River City Ransom, Battletoads, Bad Dudes, The adventures of Bayou Billy, and Turtles the Arcade game. RPGs like Zelda I & II, and Final Fantasy, Faxanadu and Crystalis. I was even playing gameshow games like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Win Lose or Draw, and Anticipation. Basically if they made it, I wanted to play it. Then with my best friend, Jerome, I found the magic of puzzle games, Kickle Cubicle and The Adventures of Lolo.

Jerome and I played Kickle Cubical and Lolo so much the music is still ingrained into my brain to this day. I always looked up to Jerome as the smartest person I had ever known, especially then, watching him figure out some of those difficult puzzles and doing it in ways I never thought of. Playing those puzzle games and puzzle levels repeatedly, trying to figure out how to do them faster, and safer. The games were hard, extremely hard especially for kids under 10 but that dopamine release when you figured out a puzzle you were stuck on for hours or days was amazing. I have always attributed my problem-solving skills and logic to playing these games at such a young age.

Jerome, like all of my best friends growing up eventually moved away. Due to our passion for gaming we stayed in touch and discussed gaming as much as possible. During this time we played all of the Sierra adventure games like Kings Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, and of course our favorite Hero’s Quest. These adventure puzzle games just further fueled our love for puzzle games.

Fast forward to 2015 and my current boss and mentor, Carl, and I are talking about Flappy bird. I made a comment about how the game was nothing special and the creator just got lucky, and I believe Carl’s response was something along the lines of “You couldn’t make it”. Right then and there I bet him that not only could I make it, but I could make it that night. I went home, downloaded Unity followed a very simple online guide on how to make a video game, and downloaded the assets for my generic version of Flappy Bird. 5 Hours later I sent him a copy for him to play on his phone, and that is when I realized I could make video games.

In 2016, I talked to Jerome about creating video games based on old NES games and styles, and Indie Remix Studios was born. We talked about taking old concepts for old games that we loved, and adding on to them and making them better, introducing new mechanics and keeping the old elements that made them so good and smooth. This is what lead to the creation of Buster’s Quest.

We expected the elements from Lolo to be fairly easy to code for our first game and expected it to be pretty fast (boy were we wrong). We also thought it would be good to create cute animals so it appeals to not only the Retro enthusiasts but to younger people to hopefully have people had the experience we had as kids learning problem solving skills and expanding their creative thinking.

Overall creating this game has been a great overall experience. It has not only made me a better coder, a better leader, more organized, and more frugal, but it has reinvigorated my friendship with my childhood best friend.