Podcast Interview: Dream Chronicles Developer...
Miguel, from Kat Games, talks about developing adventure games for the casual games market.
You can download the podcast here...
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/dream-chronicles-podcast.mp3
or listen to it here...
Special Thanks to PlayFirst for setting up this interview and a few other upcoming interviews...they provided excellent developers and allowed them to share some really useful information...
Show Notes:
Founder of Kat Games (www.katgames.com) and developer of Dream Chronicles 1 & 2
Made an adventure game in the casual games genre
Played adventure games in the 90s...those were more challenging.
Had to find a way to make a new adventure game that is simple enough for the
casual gaming audience
Went through PlayFirst
Before they pitched the game, had a prototype done in Director
Challenge was how to make an adventure game that was easy to start and fun enough to keep people
playing.
People compare hidden objects with adventure games.
Design Suggestions:
Make sure there is little text
Make sure there is eye and ear candy
Have an uplifting experience from the first click
Had extensive play testing when developing the game
Avoided text by making every level self contained
Had to make sure the story elements were split properly to appeal to Casual Game audience...
Playfirst helped them get solid Audio
The studio is based in Spain...and PlayFirst is in San Francisco...so some challenges in working
with PlayFirst.
How PlayFirst helped the game:
a) Offered Professional Usability Testing
Did user testing through game
Benefits of going through a publisher vs. self-publishing...
Did self-publish previous games. But this case, the project was more expensive, so risk was higher.
Hopes that current adventure games will expand the adventure game market for casual game players
Feels adventure games are more gratifying than hidden object games. With adventure games, there is more of a hook.
Labels: adventure games, casual games, dream chronicles, GDC 2008, kat games
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