Podcast Interview: Designer of Synaesthete, IGF Student Game Winner

Joseph, designer of Synaesthete, talks about developing the innovative game for IGF.

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/synaesthete-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/synaesthete-podcast.mp3

Show Notes:
Designer of Synaesthete

Psychedelic Rhythm Shooter

A while back, inspired to make a game that plays like Windows Media Player visualization. Then saw Geometry Wars…

Developed the game while at Digipen

Built the engine and then the game.

Did massive testing to make sure the game was fun.

Twice a week…

At Digipen, high schoolers and middle schoolers came in … so would use them to see how the game was playing, etc.

Based on the feedback…
One of the advisors suggested that the game needs to aim for the person…
That put the game in a whole new direction

Since became GDC nominee, been getting 2-3 e-mails a day about it.

Focus test is important…must constantly do that

Take care,
Action

Show Intern Request…

Hi,

Response to the podcast show has been pretty positive. We’ve been getting a lot more interviews too…and now requires more time to edit.

Right now, we’re looking for an intern to help edit some of the podcasts. This is a great way to meet indie game developers…and you’ll also be helping the few thousand people that enjoy this show every month.

If you’re interested, leave a comment on this blog post with your e-mail address (the comments for this post will not be published, so posting your e-mail address is fine).

Podcast Interview: Student Developer from The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Paul, a University of Southern California Game Design student, talks about developing The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/pbwinterbottom-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/pbwinterbottom-podcast.mp3

Check out the trailer…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDxX3AQHogk]

Show Notes…

0:00 – 5:00
Interesting game where you record a certain action and then it replays in the game.
Game based on playing with time…

Prototyped game in flash and kept prototyping to get enough to hold a team down.

Did other prototype other games while doing this one.

Also used paper prototyping.

Focused on System Mechanics…

Did test board game prototypes on a few team members and users…

5:00 – 10:00
The call to recruit more team-members…

Had a recruitment meeting and showed demo to recruit other folks.

Put up a flier all over campus. Put out an e-mail blast…and went to classes, etc.

Thirty people showed up to the meeting…

All of them were pretty much designers. But they were looking for engineers.

Let everyone stay…and the person that kept showing up week after week…those are the ones with
the passion.

Found a high schooler to help do the programming.

Visual design of the game is very unique…
One of the designers was also an artist

10:00 – 15:00
One challenge was listening to an Engineer professor about using a 3D engine instead of Flash…
so tried it for a month, but it wasn’t working after a month…so went back to flash…it was hard to change
to change back at the time, but it was a good decision.

At University of Southern California, the environment allows for innovation. Design on paper, etc.
Even though most folks in the game design program there are not programmers, try to collaborate with engineering school to
help with games.
2 things learned from game design school…
1) Prototype
2) Get the game out there

Future plans are to get the game out as a downloadable on one of the console games

Wants to be a producer.

Take care,
Action

Podcast Interview: Chocolatier Developer…

Michael, from Big Splash Games, talks about developing a sim game for the casual gaming market…

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/chocolatier-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/chocolatier-podcast.mp3

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:
0:00 – 5:00
Chocolatier and Chocolatier 2
They are casual sim games

The best way to bring it to the audience is mostly a question of tuning…it’s pretty hard to
fail in the game

In Chocolatier 2, had to make it a little more challenging…made the mini-games fro level to level

Ramped up pricing on ingredients as moved through levels

5:00 – 10:00
Worked with PlayFirst…and they helped with the extensive testing of the game to make sure that
it was working well. PlayFirst sent it to 100s of beta testers and mined data from that.

Also hired a formal testing company to take care of things.

Chocolatier players are engaged in the story…that was surprising

Started Chocolatier 2 from the story perspective

Allowed for personalization in the game…to allow expression

Development was pretty smooth since had a senior game dev team

The things needed to make a simulation game compelling…
They benefitted a lot from their team
They did a ton of research … visited chocolate factories, etc.
Simulation tuning still matters in the design space…
Changing the price of one ingredient could mess up a series of quests in the game…so requires
a lot of attention

Testing a game like this requires a lot…because the game builds on itself and have to play the game from
scratch again even if change one variable

10:00 – 15:00
Suggestion for indie game developers…
hunger for innovation…there is a lot of cloning…in the Casual Gaming space, if can come up with something new,
you can easily prototype it

With prototyping…it should be fun very quickly…if you are prototyping it and it’s not fun, then move on…it should
be fun in a week otherwise, change gears

If it isn’t fun after a week, move on…there hasn’t been a case where it didn’t work for a week and then all of a sudden working

Have to move back, keep your ego out of it…change and move on if can’t find the “fun” quickly…

Benefit of a publisher vs. self-publishing…
There are trade-offs
Benefit of being with PlayFirst is that they have great relationships with the other portals
With a publisher, they can handle the business side so you can focus on making a fun game.
PlayFirst can handle the QA/High Score server stuff, etc.

Goal of the studio…
Stay small
Generate some more intellectual property
Let it grow organically

*****

Take care,
Action

Podcast Interview: Founder of Wadjet Eye Games

David, from Wadjet Eye Games, talks about starting an indie studio…developing games like “The Shivah” to the Blackwell Series…

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/wadjet-eye-games-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/wadjet-eye-games-podcast.mp3

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…

0:00 – 5:00
Wadget Eye Games

Works on casual adventure games. Inspired by the old Lucas Arts Adventure Games

Shiva
Took a month to finish

Released it for free. Then decided to sell it. Worked on improving the game, added some polish to the game.

5:00 – 10:00
Blackwell Legacy

Learned a lot more about team management.

Had little money to work with…

10:00 – 15:00
Have to look for team member loyalty…and have to let undedicated people to let go…
For the folks that stuck with him, they are getting paid more…

List of warning signs to let folks to let go…
cannot keep in touch with contact

As a team leader, needs to definitely touch base with them

So it’s not just them, you need to keep in touch with them

All use MSN…chat on MSN, etc.

Be friendly, etc. with folks working with you

Doing outsourcing …
doing it with local people.

15:00 – 20:00
Released the game and slept for a week

Be pleasant to people even when they criticize you

Be nice, because if you’re not…can come back and haunt you

Finishing the game is not the end

That is only half the battle…

25:00 – 30:00
Approached by Playfirst to do an adventure game for the casual game market

Benefits of partnering with Playfirst…
Immense resources
Whole staff doing art
Whole staff doing PR
Whole staff doing engineering

Can now make the games he wants to make

Now has extra money coming in so can fun Blackwell while doing the game

Game doing for Playfirst is NDA…cannot talk about release date either

30:00 – 32:00
Future of Studio…
Wants to get into publishing
Wants to help other people doing indie games

Top suggestion for aspiring indies…
Just start on a game, get it out there
Uses AGS (Adventure Game Studio) to make adventure games…

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…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/dream-chronicles-podcast.mp3

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.

IGF Finalist Interview: Iron Dukes

Another quick interview from GDC 2008…one of the developers of Iron Dukes

http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/iron-dukes-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/iron-dukes-podcast.mp3

Show Notes:
Simple Flash RPG…won
Best Browser Game award
Star Control 2
Paper Prototyping
First tested out paper prototypes on self
Casual RPG
Try to be able to level up in 10-15 minutes
Idea is to have players have quick success and quick action
If you die, that’s ok…equipment is still persistent

Did some rough prototypes in Flash
Worked on converting in-browser game…into .exe version

Current goal is to finish up Iron Dukes and get out to market…

Looking to do online and multiplayer capabilities of flash

Advice for other indies…
Start small
Smaller design is much more effective
Start small and continually expand from there
Can give players something loose and allow folks to create their own story 🙂

IGF Finalist interview: Tale of Tales’

Another quick interview from GDC 2008…

The developers of Tale of Tales talk about their game…

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/tale-of-tales-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/tale-of-tales-podcast.mp3

Show Notes:
Based on the Fairy Tale of Little Red Riding Hood…
But altered and a little darker.

Have an MMO called the “Endless Forest”

This is a “Short Horror Game”

Making a rich environment and dropping the player inside it…and not force-feeding the story

First two games made were very light.

No games out there to satisfy emotions they wanted…so they made this game to fulfill desire to
see games that cover emotions not yet expressed in other games.

Big challenges to game….decide on what to do and what to outsource to others.

Looking for folks that they don’t have to manage.

IGF useful for play testing a game

Things they will change baed on feedback at IGF…
Find better ways to communicate thing without text

Next Steps:
Improve the game

About to release another game. A small experimental game…called “The Graveyard”

Nuances of these types of games…
It isn’t a casual game, but do value casual gameplay
Casual Gameplay with Mature Content
Have fun ways to convey gruesome things without violence
It’s more about a psychological story that is in your head…so play with interactivity to inspire the
player’s imagination

It’s important that a work of art is about the player…so leave things open enough to interpret things for
their own lives.

Wants to take interactivity to enhance that

Suggestions for indies…
1) Make what you want to make
2) Make what’s inside you
3) A game is a conversation…try things out

IGF Finalist Interview: Fez

Another quick interview from GDC 2008…an interview with Some of Fez’s Developers

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/fez-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/fez-podcast.mp3

Show Notes:
Fez is a multi-dimensional platformer…
IGF Finalist

Won award for “Excellence in Visual Art”

Visual Arts inspired by Spirited Away

The top challenges while developing the game…
a) Optimization issues…ways to optimization of pixel rendering
b) Getting it done even while doing the project on the side

Expect to release the final version within a year.

Suggestions for indie game developers out there…
a) Make it…find the right people and get it done
b) Show it to as many people as you can, listen to them and act accordingly 🙂

Podcast Interview: Josh from the MIT Gambit Game Lab…

Another quick interview from GDC 2008…

Josh, a student at the MIT Gambit Game Lab…talks about creating experimental games.

Specifically, he talks about developing a Facebook game…

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/mit-lab-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/mit-lab-podcast.mp3

Show Notes:
0:00 – 5:00
Josh from Singapore-MIT Gambit Game Lab
An experimental gameplay lab
Focuses on interesting games that couldn’t exist in the market yet
Created a Facebook game
Has a resource management game
Having an ant colony and resource management
Did a paper prototyping

Design Process principles is…
“Fail Early, Fail Often”

Started with paper prototyping early on.

Wrestled with whether should have public or private information.

Tested people in the lab, classmates, etc.

Do a search for “Eat Wars”

5:00 – 10:00
Issues with designing for Facebook…
There are people with varying levels of commitment
Have to design for people and their friends

Need to design for multiple play styles

Have room now for players that are more aggressive and cooperative

Looking for ways for players to be more social

Get more points for convincing players to bring friends in

Accomodating people’s natural habits on Facebook

In the future…
May work on other game platforms
Looking into Flickr Games
Opportunities for different types of games is very exciting

Sychronous vs. Asychronous gaming…
Need to have a balance between letting folks advance and letting people grief their friends at 3 AM in the morning

Systems where you can plan ahead and moves at one time and it acts that way later on in the game

10:00 – 11:30
Favorite Game on Facebook…
Scrabulous
Parking Wars