Interviewing Andy Lever

By Alex White

- 3 minutes read - 451 words
Working on Skies Above, a JRPG inspired game

Please tell me a bit about yourself

My name is Andy, I'm an illustrator and indie RPG designer from Glasgow, Scotland. I've designed 5 games at this point and provided artwork for a few others.

What do you like best about designing games?

Seeing them come together. The moment after maybe the first few play tests where mechanics start to click together or evolve to flow the way you want it to give a solid foundation to build on.

What are you working on at the moment, and what excites you about it?

I recently successfully kickstarted my newest game Skies Above, so I'll be working on doing the final writing, layout and art for it over the next few months after already working on it solidly the last year and a half and on and off over four and a half years. It's a JRPG inspired game that means a lot to me as early final fantasy titles, games like Dragon Quest, Grandia and Legend of Zelda where my first steps into gaming.

The book Skies Above, with heroic characters against a cloudy background. At the top is a woman with piecing blue eyes and a close fitting headgear

Can you tell me more about Skies Above?

Skies Above was the game I actually started working on when I first went freelance as an artist and was developing it on the side. At various points I hit some walls mechanically and artistically with the direction I wanted to go in with it and put it aside to work on other smaller projects and one not so small project. The whole while I was tinkering away at bits and pieces of it in the background based on what I learned from these other projects.

What experience(s) are you trying to give to players?

With my games I really try and capture the tone and vibe of the game from the lore and settings right down to the mechanics and I try to connect the mechanics to elements of the lore of the games themselves. This is hopefully obvious to players and not even that subtle with the number 8 being important in the world of Skies Above and so the game uses a D8 for its resolution with the number 8 exploding and providing critical levels, or Abbadon's lore having 13 demon lords and 13 seals while a card deck has 13 cards in a suit.

The book Abbadon; a black book with a demonic red face, and a flame-like title. Resting on black and red silk

Is there anything you would like to promote right now?

Late pledges are still open for Skies Above over on Kickstarter and will be until December or possible January.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/losthaven/skies-above/

Where should people go to follow you, and to find your products?

People can find me on pretty much all social media platforms as lost haven art or they can find my website at https://www.losthavenart.com