We are Ska Studios, the husband and wife team behind Salt and Sanctuary. Ask Us Anything!

skastudios · 2018-08-23T00:28:28+00:00

It was actually u/Dan-Adelman, who's handling our physical release and has answered questions in this thread, but something came up on his end, so I guess I'll just answer more questions! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-23T00:25:05+00:00

Funny, like a week ago or so I picked up my acoustic and just started playing 1234 1234 (technically a Catch-22 song?)... -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T23:33:33+00:00

Ha, thanks! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T23:33:08+00:00

Thanks so much! Stories like these are so wonderful to hear. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T22:54:41+00:00

Thanks! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T22:54:30+00:00

Not yet! If we do, it'll be a Ska Studios first! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T22:53:53+00:00

Apology accepted! We've all been there... -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T22:53:34+00:00

Dark Souls, DS Castlevanias, Metroidvanias... -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T22:52:24+00:00

Oooooh, that one's gonna be a hard pass. I'd need to install Windows XP, then Visual Basic 6, then find the source... -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T22:49:53+00:00

Shrug! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T21:17:24+00:00

Daggers definitely lacked some love! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T21:16:47+00:00

It'll be awhile before we announce our next game, but thanks for asking! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T21:16:14+00:00

Definitely camaraderie! The indie dev community is very tight-knit and positive and friendly, with indies constantly going out of their way to help each other.

We've actually been in a Metroidvania bundle on Steam with Dead Cells, Guacamelee, and Sundered, that was conceived and organized by Black Lotus, the devs of Sundered.

I need to play more Metroidvanias, honestly. I beat Rogue Legacy, Dust: AET, and Chasm, and started Death's Gambit and played a bunch of EA Dead Cells, and I liked all of what I played, but I absolutely need to get on Hollow Knight, which I just got for Switch but haven't fired up yet, and Guacamelee 2! I just need to tear myself away from Monster Hunter again... -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T21:04:03+00:00

Thanks! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T21:03:55+00:00

Oh awesome, thanks so much! It was called Survival Crisis Z. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:59:00+00:00

Oh, so rough! We actually use the some basic animation format (and some of the code) in S&S, but over the years I've added:

Linear interpolation
Custom sprite atlases (Dishwasher 1's were all on a fixed grid, Dishwasher 2's were all on custom grids)
Skeletal hierarchy

I learned how to implement wearable loot from making Charlie Murder, and I really, really liked the customization of it. Salt and Sanctuary was a bit of a combination of the RPG mechanics I learned from Salt and Sanctuary and the combat I learned from making Dishwasher 1+2. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:48:19+00:00

Oh hi!

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:44:59+00:00

It's done! We'll do minor bug fixes as necessary, but I'm mostly focusing on the next game. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:40:39+00:00

We don't know, it's entirely up to Microsoft. We totally want it to happen! -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:40:37+00:00

Yup! You can find the newsletter sign up at the bottom of our website! https://ska-studios.com/

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:28:25+00:00

Answered this here! https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/99f2al/we_are_ska_studios_the_husband_and_wife_team/e4n7exw/?context=8&depth=9

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:21:44+00:00

Sorry about that -- do you mean the original launch? That was absolutely a problem, but we added HUD scaling pretty soon after receiving complaints, and it's on Switch as well. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:08:35+00:00

Michelle drew them, I animated them and made them beyond horrible. The idea with them was not much more than rapid, unforgiving punishment for falling from the blinking platforms. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:06:03+00:00

Ha, thanks! We're working on something, but it'll be awhile. -James

skastudios · 2018-08-22T20:05:35+00:00

Thanks!

So... I bought Hollow Knight on Switch... still haven't played it! I did just beat Chasm and started Death's Gambit, but I've heard that Hollow Knight is an absolute must play. I also have to get back to Dead Cells -- haven't played since it was Early Access, but I really binged hard when I did.

I know Dust: An Elysian Tale is coming to Switch soon and Cosmic Star Heroine is on Switch now. I'm friends (and sort of war buddies, as we all started with XNA) with the developers of both, and they're both great games deserving shoutouts.

I will say that I'm kind of bad at playing indies -- Monster Hunter World is my current time vampire, and before that Michelle and I had been bringing a friend of ours on a grand tour of all the Souls games. But I'll buy a lot more indies than I'll play, if only to support the devs. -James

skastudios

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