I recently chatted with the parties involved in the three indie titles coming out to expand upon the world of Serious Sam. Read on to find out how the partnerships were formed and how much leeway each team had with the shenanigans they could put Sam into.

First, I spoke with Roman Ribaric, CEO of Croatian developer Croteam.

Why have these developers create indie games set in the Serious Sam universe?

Roman Ribaric: Croteam has always been a small, independent studio making the games we want to make, and Serious Sam was born from this indie spirit. We and Devolver Digital, our publishing partner, played for a while with an idea that it might be fun to reach out to some of the smaller indie developers that are fans of the series and offer them the chance to make a Serious Sam game of their own. There was a fantastic response from our initial inquiries and these developers were really psyched to create a Serious Sam game in their own style. I guess in the end it is a way to help other indie developers showcase their incredible talents and give the Serious Sam fans something very unique to enjoy before Serious Sam 3: BFE comes out this summer.

How did you choose which developers would work on the titles?

RR: We sought out independent developers that were creating games with genuinely unique ideas and had similar sensibilities that would naturally work with Serious Sam. Explosive action, humor and a sense for weird was what we were looking for and I think that Vlambeer, Mommy's Best Games, and Be-Rad Entertainment exhibit all those qualities. The other things we looked at were their previous games, and each one has a fantastic track record of creativity and innovation with each release. Once we got all their initial pitches for a Serious Sam game, we knew we had something special in the works!

How will these titles add to the Serious Sam experience?

RR: Serious Sam is built on a few key characteristics and I think fans will love to see how these are brought to life in different genres like a side-scrolling shooter, a mobile platformer, and a turn-based role-playing game. As weird as it sounds, when fans play each of these games they'll immediately notice the trademark Serious Sam humor and action.

One of the titles comes from Nathan Fouts, president of Mommy's Best Games. He is known for Shoot 1UP, Explosionade, and Weapon of Choice -- the game that Serious Sam: Double D has been modeled after.

Serious Sam: Double D will be released for PC first, and for the Xbox 360 a little bit later. The release date is scheduled for summer. The price is still up in the air, but Fouts expects it to be between $7 and $10.

How did you get to develop one of the indie games set in the Serious Sam universe, and why did you decide to do so?

Nathan Fouts: Croteam and Devolver Digital contacted me after seeing our first game, Weapon of Choice. They said they wanted some crazy “Contra on acid” stuff for Serious Sam and thought we could pull off a great 2D version.

As for why, I played and loved the original Serious Sam titles when they came out over a decade ago. I’ve kept up with them pretty well, playing some co-op and such on the original Xbox, and enjoying the new XBLA releases. I love the humor, the difficulty, and the massive enemies!

When they asked what I would make, I gave them the proposal for Serious Sam: Double D with a prototype image and specs for the gun stacker, and they said, “Make this right now!”

What can people expect from the game aside from crazy chimps?

NF: We can’t go into too much detail about all the new enemies, but one other that we’ve announced is the Femikaze. She’s like the headless, screaming kamikaze from the original game, but she covers her chest with her bombs, and is rather Amazonian in size.

We’re adding several other new funny enemies, lots of secrets, and new time periods Sam’s never been to before.

In Serious Sam: Double D, you’ll be playing in 2D, so there will be more jumping, but you’ll also have a portable jump pad which you can use as much as necessary to jump up high cliffs or even straight over big enemies’ heads!

What is the weapon stacking system all about?

NF: A big addition we’re making to the Serious Sam universe and run-n-guns in general is the gun stacker. This system allows you to stack multiple guns together at once with tiny, robotic arms that control the aiming and firing. You’ll be able to customize which guns get stacked, so you can create your perfect death-dealing configuration.

Is the game mainly built with the Weapon of Choice framework? It looks very similar to it.

NF: Serious Sam: Double D is built on an updated and improved version of the Weapon of Choice engine and editors. It supports a faster framerate, it's able to spawn more objects, and it has a better dynamic camera, among other little improvements.

What do you like about working in the Serious Sam game world?

NF: I love the freedom they’ve created for enemies which can be funny or deadly or both. It’s also great to push the zoom of the camera on a 2D game and see how far we can go, and how big we can make the enemies. I actually created the gun stacker and the jump pad system simply because I knew we’d be making enemies so big you’d need some bigger firepower!

Have there been any creative restrictions, or have you been able to put Sam in whatever shenanigans you can think of?

NF: We've come up with some pretty silly things so far, and Croteam has been loving them! They’ve been great to work with -- excited but hands-off.

Check out page two to hear from Brad Johnson of Be-Rad Entertainment and Rami Ismail, creator of Super Crate Box, about their takes on the Serious Sam franchise.