Spelunky Creator Derek Yu Talks (Dangerous) Shop

Q: One of my favorite things about Spelunky is hearing the stories that come of it. What is your favorite Spelunky moment, either something you did or something from the community?

A: This is sort of terrible, but off the top of my head I remember this one time where I stuck a sticky bomb to a dead shopkeeper and then used a shotgun to blast the corpse into a room filled with other shopkeepers. Given the angle, the was the only way to get a bomb in there safely (for me, that is!).Definitely not the most ethical thing I've done in a video game, but I'm pretty proud of it nonetheless!

Q: Spelunky is being released at kind of a weird time. Especially considering it's currently an XBLA exclusive, is it a bummer to miss out on the promotional push that Summer of Arcade offers? Or are you just glad to finally have it out?

A: I'm mostly just happy that the game is coming out, and actually, I kinda like being released at a weird time. We can really make this slot our own, and I'm confident that word will get out that Spelunky is a lot of fun, promotion or not.

Q: Going off of that, the XBLA has shifted in the last couple of years, with a lot of bigger games and remakes from more established publishers hitting the service. Do you think the service has shifted away from what the more traditional arcade style that it originally had, and has that impacted the ability for smaller studios to get there games out on service?

A: To be honest, I'm not sure if it's gotten harder for small studios to get their games out on XBLA. It's always seemed difficult to me - a mixture of hard work and luck. But as long as the quality level is high, I'm very happy to see more bigger games and remakes hitting the service. We all benefit if quality is respected first and foremost.

Also, I think there's a big opportunity in XBLIG, both for Microsoft and smaller indie developers. Hopefully that channel will get more support in the future.

Q: After working on Spelunky in various forms for so long, what's next? More improvements on the game or something brand new?

A: Definitely going to work on some new stuff in the very near future, but I'd be surprised if this was the last you saw of Spelunky. I'm still lovin' it after all these years!