Upcoming Releases from Unity 3D + Contest to Win Unity iPhone/Android License

Hey folks, Unity was nice enough to donate a free copy of Unity iPhone/Unity Android to the winner of the contest…you can find the contest details here…

Now onto the podcast…

Tom, product evangelist for Unity, discusses upcoming updates for the Unity product

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

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]OeJXt65pVIk[/wp_youtube]

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Free Seattle Casual Connect + Gamesauce Conference Videos…

Hey folks,

For those of you looking for some good game design/development content to watch/listen to during the day…Casual Connect and GameSauce have been nice enough to put videos of the conference sessions online…

Check them out here…
http://seattle.casualconnect.org/content.html

and

http://gamesauce.org/news/category/lectures/

Also, we got some great interviews at the conferences…they’ll start airing next week 🙂

Development of Rock Candy, A Student Indie Game…

Daniel talks about his student team project, Puzzle Bloom

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/rock-candy-games-gdc-2010-interview-final.mp3

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]YCr_dVVQI2Q[/wp_youtube]

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Development of the game, Vox Populi Vox Dei

Pablo talks about his game, Vox Populi Vox Dei

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/werewolves-gdc-2010-interview.mp3

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]cRxiO4cNPWo[/wp_youtube]

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Mobile Game Development + Win Free Unity iPhone/Android License

Hey folks,

Every 4 months, we’ll cover a “new theme” … an area of games that may be useful and interesting to experimental game developers. In the past, we’ve done things with Alternate Reality Games and Social Games…now we’re going to focus on mobile game development.

Every week, we’ll focus on topics related to mobile game design and mobile game development. By the end of the 4 months, the goal is to spec out the unique aspects of the mobile design space.

To kick things off, we’re announcing a Unity iPhone/Android basic game license contest. You can enter the contest by doing one of the following…
a) Write an article about mobile game design/development that will be posted on the blog…it can discuss a mobile game you’ve worked on
b) Do an on-show interview about your current/previous indie/mobile game
c) Help to get someone else interviewed for the show…if you know another game developer that preferably does mobile games and would like to be interviewed, help set that up 🙂

The contest will go on until October 7th, 2010. The winner will be announced on October 15th, 2010.

Enjoy 🙂

Development of Train Conductor, an iPhone game

Simon of Voxel Agents talks about their game, Train Conductor

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/voxel-agents-gdc-2010-interview.mp3

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]HztGEsZYL5Y[/wp_youtube]

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Development of the game, Vessel

Martin discusses his work on the game, Vessel

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/vessel-gdc-2010-interview.mp3

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]Rll-fDn-8YM[/wp_youtube]

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Development of the game, Boryokudan Rue

Josh, UCLA student, talks about their game, Boryokudan Rue

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/ucla-student-gdc-2010-interview.mp3

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]Yh2YYDcfT1Y[/wp_youtube]

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Requiring Higher Levels of Player Commitment AFTER Building Higher Levels of Player Interest

Hey folks,

I’m looking at various games online and on cell phones. I think it’s interesting to note that some games with similar themes have widely different levels of success. I think part of it is because many game developers require the high levels of commitment before getting the player interested in the game.

Sure successful games can require high levels of commitment…like, people are going to play StarCraft 2…and pay for it before checking it out.

But for many indies, why should a player pay for the game before getting an idea of whether it’s fun. Additionally, why should they have to create a login/provide an e-mail address…before getting to play the game. These all provide friction that get in the way of fun.

Here’s a design principle that I’ve seen work…
Require higher levels of player commitment AFTER building higher levels of player interest.

This means…developers keep things as lightweight as possible. Figure out the quickest and easiest way to get the player into a game…then once they show interest…like spending 10 minutes in a game…pop up a dialog that asks them to create an account, etc.

If they spend a few hours in a game, ask them to upgrade, etc.

Yes, there is no guarantee that they will register, etc. But now most people are so use to seeing login/register screens at the beginning of a game…that if you do the same…it’s not really indie…but cliche…and the game may even trigger a visceral “skip this” response.

To recap…raise the level of commitment/engagement (getting an e-mail address, creating a login, buying the game, subscribing, etc.) after each corresponding stage the player shows higher levels of interest/commitment.

Take care 🙂

IGF Mobile Game Of The Year, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor

David discusses their IGF mobile game of the year, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/spider-iphone-gdc-2010-interview.mp3

Or listen to it here…

[wp_youtube]l4FXN7W4Hzo[/wp_youtube]

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