I had a chance to chat with Brian Provinciano of Vlank Entertainment, best known for his upcoming title Retro City Rampage, the 8-bit GTA game that started out on a hacked NES and is now set to debut on XBLA this summer.

So Brian, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself and the game briefly before I really start to grill you with questions?

Brian: Well I’m a game developer who pretty much does everything from the programming to the art, design, and business – definitely wearing the indie hat for sure. I used to work in the industry for many years, and before that I was a hobbyist, or “indie” before the term was coined. I’ve been working on Retro City Rampage, or at least a retro-style GTA game for…..wow…..over seven years now, and I went full time about two years ago and have just been plugging away, and it will come out on Xbox Live this summer and WiiWare this fall.

So what finally pushed you over from being a part-time indie developer, I guess a “garage” developer as Reggie from Nintendo would say, to something full time?

Brian: Well I really believed in the project. It really was, and is, my passion. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but, I was just scared. Giving up my security with a day job and the health benefits – all of that stuff; a mortgage included. So in those years I was saving up and all of my money was going in my bank account with the idea that I would pull the trigger one day and work on this full time. Eventually I did, it was definitely the right decision – I’m so glad I did it. It’s not without a lot of risk and scary times though. There were moments of doubt here and there but you’ve just got to push through.

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