We met free game developer Dong in his hometown Yokohama. He has been regular attendee of COMIKET and is creator of shooter Nanosmiles. Dong claims that the game is still unfinished (in fact, never to be) nevertheless it was one of the presentations at 2008 SOWN. Congratulations!

: When did you make your first game?

D: I made my first game Boidtrancer maybe five years ago. That was the first time I used Gamemaker. I tried other tools but I completed the game with that software. It took about a month.

: What inspires you?

D: Basically, I get ideas from retro games. Indie developers look for inspiration sometimes in crappy games (Kusoge in Japanese) as well. Even in crappy games there might be a new idea. We often recycle those ideas. I make crappy games too (laughs).

: How did you know about SOWN?

D: I read a post on Kenta Cho’s (ABA Games) blog.

: Tell us something about the presentation.

D: Every presenter had five minutes and I was the last one. I was really nervous to speak in front of two hundred people. At the end we could chat a little with the jury. I liked The Unfinished Swan, Depict, Gomibako and Moon Stories.

: Will some of the games become commercial products?

D: As far as I know Gomibako and Depict will. But I do not have such a plan. SOWN is not about commercial products in the first place, it is more like an informal get-together. Most of the developers make their games downloadable anyway.

: You are developing for the love of the games. Hasn’t it ever crossed your mind to make a commercial product?

D: No, never.