Hey there! Waiting for the next installment of our September Game Jam Interview series? Well, wait no more! Today, we’ll be chatting with Aleksandar Andonov, who created The Last Mine. Let’s get into it…
1. How long have you been developing games?
Committed to full-time development of video games in November 2025. Because it’s an activity that holds a special meaning to me, I started by building a custom engine. This slowed me down a lot, and I had to overcome significant doubts on a few occasions, especially when some fellow developers gave nonconstructive negative feedback. I kept working on it, and it is now rich in features. You can check the development blog at https://beseda.itch.io/journal.
2. What made you want to get into game dev? Is there a particular game that inspires you as a developer?
As a consumer, in the early 2000s, I was privileged with free access to a gaming hall. You can imagine that I played there from the morning until late evening :D. Probably it was the 2004 RPG Sacred that inspired me not just about video games but also about gamifying life itself. I played Diablo 2, but I didn’t like how dark it was, and the story was not relatable. Sacred had intriguing quests, and what specifically left an impression on me was the way they implemented the diary – just so much data in there, even statistics with proper diagrams and all.
I missed Neverwinter Nights, which was released a few years earlier and may have pushed me into the modding community. I guess it’s fate that I started seriously considering making games much later in life, so I skipped that middle step to becoming a game dev.
Actually, I take the most inspiration from the people who make the games – I listen to a lot of GDC presentations, podcasts, and streamers. I have been reading about the operational and business side of games for many years before starting my journey with development.
Some games I played presented very interesting situations but did not account for a choice I thought I would make, which triggered my imagination. I have been motivated by the question “what if” – how to support the player’s ability to choose with very few limits.
As a creator, the cross-disciplinary nature of the activity is very appealing – the computer science and the art. There is always something different or new to do!
3. Did you learn/realize something while participating in this game jam? If so, what was it?
After each jam event, I reflect back and try to identify what went well, what mistakes I made, etc. For this jam, the user experience was not optimal. When the voting period finished, I uploaded a new version of the game, which addressed that.
I was also surprised that seemingly no one used the level selection menu, which I made precisely for cases where a player might get stuck somewhere to still be able to experience the rest of the game.
4. When creating games, what comes first for you: the coding, artwork, writing, or something else?
I prefer when a product is both aesthetically pleasing and useful. That is why I try to always base the stories of my games on real history. You can check out what I’ve released on https://beseda.itch.io/.
Because I’m focused on innovating social simulation, I limit the story to a character who uses conversation as a tool to accomplish goals. For The Last Mine, I picked a profession which may surprise you – community liaison. But now you know why I chose that instead of who you would expect the game to be about – de-miners themselves.
Then I think about the setting – environment art, music. Because the engine is doing some heavy computations for the social simulation, I limit the art style to 2 dimensions. I like to draw on the digital notepad – doing characters and storyboards. But it is often too time-consuming for a jam, so I only ever draw the unique assets. For everything else, I rely on asset stores.
Finally, I think about the actions the player is going to make. The end of gameplay is how the player is going to remember the game and tell stories about it. For this particular jam, the first thing I worked on was the last piece of the game – the mine disposal mini-game (level 3, which you can go straight into from the main menu).
5. How did you get the idea for your game? Was there anything that inspired your idea?
I was browsing a store for ocean/sea/water related assets. It was an image of sea mines that caught my attention. Since I’m not interested in combat and placing mines, I searched for famous examples of mine disposal. This led me to the Falkland Islands.
6. A silly question, just for funsies: If you could live inside the world of any video game, what would it be and why?
It’s a fantastic question!
I’m curious about space travel and meeting alien species. I can imagine myself living in the Mass Effect setting. UPDATE: It is regrettable news that the company BioWare was closed by EA. I hope the 50 employees manage to recover in this hectic time for the industry. The legacy remains.
Back to the question – it’s not that I don’t like fantasy; I think magic is all around. Actually, the less a person understands about the world, the more phenomena appear mysterious, supernatural, and magical.
Just the idea of flying in zero gravity and meeting other species who can talk is appealing. But not just any species. Some fantasy and science fiction settings imagine how real animals like dogs, lions, dolphins, etc., talk. I don’t like that. To me, anthropomorphizing other species is disrespectful to those species. What is fascinating is some imaginary sentient beings who, similar to humans, share their knowledge from generation to generation and use speech to synchronize their states and actions.
And an extra note from Aleksander:
“I would like to mention that I have been improving the engine a lot after the jam to make it more immersive. To find out about the underlying social, economic, and life simulation in the engine, which is what makes it unique, go to https://beseda.itch.io/journal.
Thank you for organizing this event! I noticed that people play each other’s games and leave feedback a lot more than they do at other events. I assume that part of the reasons for this is that in the submission form you ask the players how many reviews they can make during the period from X to Y date. I think this explicit definition leads people to be more committed. That is amazing! Keep it up.”
Thank you to Aleksander Andonov for taking the time to answer our questions, and for submitting The Last Mine. It was lovely getting to know more about you! We’re so happy you received helpful feedback in our game jam. We wish you the best of luck with development as your game continues to grow.
If you haven’t played The Last Mine yet, you can play it for yourself on itch.io! In The Last Mine, you are serving as the community liaison for the de-mining program in the Falkland Islands. Figure out how to smoothly navigate the difficult discussions to get permission from the Falkland representatives and citizens, and clear the area of the mines that have been left behind. Can you complete your mission and make the Falkland Islands safe again? Play The Last Mine and find out for yourself!
Well, that does it for this interview! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. As always, thank you for reading!
We’ve got a couple more interviews left in this series, so rest assured, we’ll be back next week for our next interview with another member from our lovely community.
Time to make like an ocean and wave! Bye bye!