Before we get started, could you tell me a little about the Twisted Pixel Games studio?

Frank Wilson: We're a small independent studio currently with 13 people that focuses on creating original high-quality character driven titles for digital distribution. We also take on contract work from larger publishers and developers to help them implement their titles.

When was the independent Twisted Pixel Games studio founded and by whom? Or was it a team effort?

FW: Twisted Pixel was formed back in 2006 by Michael Wilford, Josh Bear, and myself. We basically got tired of working on licensed titles for big publishers and decided that we had the prowess to make games on our own. The three of us work very well together and complement each other’s skills. But the success of the company is entirely a team effort.

What sort of challenges are there being an relatively new independent studio?

FW: There's a certain amount of time that you need to spend establishing credibility. Even though all of us at Twisted Pixel have worked on several other games at other companies, we still spent quite a bit of time convincing others about the credibility of our studio. Publishers want to know that the team can work together. Fortunately, The Maw helps show that.

I heard Twisted Pixel is moving to a new area. Where is that? Have you moved already? And why?

FW: We were located in Madison, Indiana until late last year when we moved the whole company down to Austin, TX. Josh Bear, one of the co-founders and Chief Creative Officer grew up in Madison, Indiana, so we decided to start the company there in order to keep costs low and get help from family and friends. We had every intention of moving the company to a larger location when we became more established. Last year, when the time was right we did some research and visited several cities to decide what the best location for Twisted Pixel would be. Austin's talent pool, tax benefits, atmosphere, and several other reasons made it the best location for us to move to.

What platform does the Twisted Pixel Games studio prefer working on? Please be honest.

FW: I'd say the Xbox 360 is my favorite platform to work with for a couple reasons. It's very easy to develop for and it's the hardware that we're most familiar with so that lets us spend more time creating the game itself and less time creating the underlying technology. Also, we've established a very good relationship with Microsoft in which they trust our abilities quite a lot, which makes it much easier for us to make the games we want to make.

Can you tell me anything about your artists? How many and who they are?

FW: We currently only have one internal artist, Dave Leung. He's absolutely phenomenal. We outsourced some models and had our friends Sterling Williams and Dave Rankin help us out with some visual effects and object modeling, but the rest of the art in The Maw was all created by Dave Leung. It's pretty amazing the sheer number of models, animations, textures, and other things that he was able to complete in less than 9 months. There are roughly 900 animations in the game. If you do some quick math, that comes out to an average of over 3 animations a day for 9 months plus all of the other work he did as well!

How big was the programmer team for The Maw?

FW: Well, the core programming team consisted of Mike Henry and I. Mike Henry mostly worked on gameplay while I worked on the engine. However, due to the design of our engine, which allows all gameplay code to be written in lua, our lead designer, Sean Riley, was able to contribute a large portion of the gameplay code. Our IT director, John Bodek, helped out by wiring up visual effects and sound effects, and working on some of the camera code. Michael Wilford, co-founder and CEO, even helped out by writing some rendering code for the engine.

Who else was a part of the construction of the game?

FW: Really the whole team was a big part of the creation of The Maw. Josh Bear, director of The Maw, did an awesome job of keeping us all focused on the game's vision points. Sean Conway, level designer, did a great job of coming up with new ways to use proven game mechanics.

What was the major factor(s) that lead you to choose them? And what should inspiring gaming artists and programmers do, in your opinion, to get involved in the game industry?

FW: The biggest factor is that we've all worked together in some capacity before. We knew that we would work well together and we knew each others strengths and weaknesses. We also knew that every one of us cared more than almost anything else about putting the time and effort in to make a great game. Anyone who wants to get into the game industry should spend their spare time working on games. It shows that you have a passion for it and it will make you better at it.

Where did the idea / inspiration for The Maw come from?

FW: Josh Bear and Dave Leung wanted to create a game that involved characters that needed to rely on one another to get through the game and to have that bond between the characters grow and evolve throughout the game. A game involving eating fits very well into that because Maw relies on Frank to help him eat, just like a pet relies on its owner in the real world.

Where did the name MAW come from?

FW: A maw is another word for mouth and that's basically what the character Maw is. He's basically just a big mouth that eats anything and everything.

How would you describe the game?

FW: I'd describe the game as a 3D puzzle-action-platformer. It really has a nice combination of all 3 genres that keep the game fresh throughout the whole experience. I'd also say that the game is unlike anything else that's available on Xbox Live Arcade. We really tried to reinvent what an Xbox Live Arcade title can be.

What kind of delays did you run into with The Maw, if any?

FW: The only delay that we ran into was deciding when to put the game out there. We didn't want to compete with the big budget retail games of the holiday season, so we took some more time to make more improvements and add more polish in time for a release early this year.

You won the PAX 10 Audience Choice Award! How did that feel?

FW: It was really great to be included in the PAX 10. We couldn't believe it when we found out that we received the Audience Choice Award especially amongst so many other great indie titles. It gave us a nice sense of validation that we were on the right track for a game that people are really going to love.

I recently read that The Maw is a finalist for the 2009 Independent Games Festival Awards for Technical Excellence. Tell us a bit about it.

FW: This feels great too. When you submit a game to a festival like this, you never know how you will fare against all of the other great games that submit. So, when we found out that we're a finalist, we couldn't believe it. We're extremely excited to have The Maw recognized.

Do you have any interesting/funny development stories to tell before we wrap this interview up?

FW: One of my fondest memories of development of The Maw is actually from before it was approved for XBLA by Microsoft. Of all of our game ideas, we had decided to take a month to make a prototype of The Maw to pitch to Microsoft because they seemed interested in the idea. We worked day and night nearly every day of that month to get the prototype as polished as possible to really show what we wanted the game to be like. I can't tell you how many times we left work at 6 AM, then went and ate a couple McGriddles before going home to sleep for just a few hours, then returning to work. I think back on that and think how totally worth it that was now that the game is finally being released.

What's next for Twisted Pixel Games?

FW: I can't really say much, but I can say that we're beginning development on a new title that will be hilarious.

Are there any plans to release any downloadable content for The Maw in the game's future? Or is it too soon to ask?

FW: We currently don't have announcements regarding downloadable content, but stay tuned.

The game has a few dashboard unlockables. What are they?

FW: By playing the game, you can unlock 2 Gamerpics and a Premium Theme. We thought it would be cool for gamers to get something for their in-game accomplishments, so we planned on doing this from the very beginning of development of The Maw....and luckily Microsoft was okay with us doing it.

Is there anything else you would like to tell the fans of your XBLA games out there?

FW: We really appreciate all of the feedback that we've heard about The Maw. If you like this one, then I'm certain that you'll also like our next game. If you don't, email us at comments@twistedpixelgames.com with your critiques. We want to get better!

One last question Twisted Pixel Games…. Can you drop a hint? About this or that?

FW: All I can say is that you haven't seen the last of Maw.

Thank you to both Frank Wilson, and the rest of the Twisted Pixel Games studio for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer some questions regarding the Xbox Live Arcade game The Maw which is out now for the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points. You can click here to download the trial version via Xbox web marketplace.