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.