Podcast Interview: Some more Indie Game Developers from SF GDC...

Some more indie game developers + a student game developer (developer of Mayhem Intergalactic) talk about developing games for the Internet among other things...

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

or listen to it here...


Show Notes:
INDIEGAME DEVELOPMENT POD CAST SHOW
You are listening to Indie game pod cast show sponsored by curio soft kid’s game and the letter e visit the ww.indigamepod.com. Thanks again for listening to the show .this interview is inspired by quick meet up at the game developer’s conference.

HOST:
I m here at GDC and with me are two Indie game developers. How about you introduce you’re self?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Hi I am . I am a free lance game developer and next to me is Chris pelling also an Indie game developer.

HOST:
What types of Indie games do you guys develop?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
I have in the past three years developed retail tittles with a teem of three or four its me together with the sitting up long and we take roughly 8-9 months for a game with three or four people and yes we have been doing that for the last 4 or 5 years or something and we really like it.

HOST:
Are you thinking of staying in retail I mean this is whole trance suppose to be a digital distribution. Is this something that you guys consider?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Yes it is very lankly that the games that we are selling at this GDC is going to be our last retail title or at least last title last title that we make that is predominantly retail even the title we are doing right now is also available as a downloadable and as again the play station the web browser so we are definitely also feeling that! OH my God we are not going to make retail games anymore. Just hanging around this conference lately.

HOST:
Sure are you guys sticking up other things that actually laborites to internet as a platform? Since not just about single player. It’s not about single player games on the internet but its about I am not all sir. Are you guys looking for that kind of stuff?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
The online games can mean so much of like it could be a downloadable that you play against other people through other peoples it mean like a flash game. We are looking at most of that where like I guess everybody is looking at stuff like rune escape and plug cluppingwin and looking at OH my God looks at all the people playing those games. We got to do something like this well. So naturally we are I mean so us including we are looking at that but also at science like shockwave.com and congregate and just in browser games are also market that we are really interested in.

HOST:
Let me tell you about in browser games are you talking about stuff down in flash or THP stuff.

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
We actually develop a lot of stuff for the shockwave player. So that is mostly 3D action games and 3D adventure games and that’s really allot of other people are making consensive flash which is also great. So but we mostly are 3D games to deal .We mostly talk of the shockwave player.

Host:
A side from 3D the shockwave really offers a lot of benefits over flash it seems like flash is becoming a predominal platform for like Indie games on the web.

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
It is. I mean you really have to pick the technology on what you want to do. I mean you could also do the other way around. Unfortunately I also have to realize that if you do not have to do 3D that is flash is just a better option the shockwave I mean like years ago people say well yes you could do very only shockwave and its faster and action script is slow but flash cut up with all this stuff. It has video it has lightning fast.

HOST:
Freaking introduce 3D player?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
You know more then I do! I would say that there will be press breakfast with a announce director 11 which is tool that creates shockwave consense. I know there are a lot of people messing around with 3d and flash like the paper fishing guys but which buys the definition is indeed 3D and flash but it is got using action script to do actually the 3D transformations which is horribly slow so they are not yet really using 3D hardware to be able to do this for D. But I would definitely not be surprised if it they will be at 1 point at 3D engine to flash which would really rock my day.

HOST:
Nice! What are you’re favorite Indie games?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
You know the guys in retail. It’s a really embaracing question actually for me because I hardly play games its whenever we develop games my game designer tells me like yes well I wanted to be a bit more like a Zelda and I would honestly be like could you like show me a trailer of the game like whenever they use the game is an example I certainly done as a. S o I think lion rider is a stroke of genius and then what’s this game recently I am not sure if it got published but its on YouTube like crayon physics or something . I think that is a stroke of genius I owe that guy.

HOST:
That was huge actually.

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
I hope that guy makes a shit lot of money of that guy because its really. NO line rider is also an innovative game but there is also I think its crayon physics. Yes its in IGof this year so check it out.

HOST:
Welcome I am here at GDC. I have another Indie game developer. How about you introduce yourself?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Hi I am . My company name is Impansy ginger and I have made mayhem intergalactic which is at the students show case would be independent games this looks yes.

HOST:
Nice what kind of game is it?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
It’s a turn based strategy game setting space. Its very stream lined. Very simple. There is only 1 type of ship you have looks of planets and all he do really is just produce shifts a planet which happens automatically and then he moves ships from planet to planet to take over the entire map.

HOST:
Could you talk about the glomming process of balsam which you do any product typing or anything different?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Interesting sorry about that it was actually product type do not very little known game development system called byond that’s BYOND just to be confusing and so quintal type in this listening and put that on the nap and some people it and they really really like it and a little while after that a sort of I started thinking that I really wanted to start getting in this for money because it’s a portal type its free and so I felt what game can I make what’s the best game the most popular game that I have made and it was this so I believed in that 1 off the web thing . You know tied us about it because I won’t be able to buy the new one and I started to make a new one and I thought OH yes he knows after about the three months the game was done and I mean done in you know quotes and it took about another 18 months after that but actually be word selling and it was about 6 months ago. So you can tell it like 6 months.

HOST:
During that time did he pooped when you initially play the game I mean where they in a community or a form that where you could like found side is a mantasto?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
The product type was in all community was BYOND.COM. That really help full yes I got some people from their to better test new version downloadable version and it was going to be great task back community since I have been getting into the sort of Indie downloadable games kind of space I have been loosing contact with them and that means you know they are not so much invested in development anymore.

HOST:
Like you have other people or may be your forum that helps you co-develop your game?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
I don’t really have any forums something I am looking to develop a community around my games. I have contractors you know who do act sort of thing.

HOST:
Sure! You talked about you know it was done cut down in three months but it did not took 18 months actually get it done. Can you talk about why it took that long in some of the years you said that you may be you wish you would have known before it is time.

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Interesting question! Well the three months done is sort of like very rough I want to fetch it when its actually their. I felt like it was a done playable game but when I took a step back and when I looked to that and I realized there will be a tax in the court its all very nasty there are a lot of things which are not smooth you are going to need to know how to play the game before you are going to play the game and so. The process of over 18 months so just going through step by step fixing each part of the game one by one fixing the bugs was halted from fixing bugs and because I was actually doing this while in the university so I am student of national university and there was huge blocks of time during the terms I had to took class I couldn’t work on games so I say 18 months but really I was not working on that all that time and the three initial months we were just doing a period of Apollo days.

HOST:
Now as it is released. What are your goals and how are you marketing this game?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Well I am I have just racing the released on update which is a major milestone for me because I have been painting the game I have not you know released it and then say it okay pronto under it. I am developing it more and more and more as time goes on so major update out recently just before GDC just few days going back so now I am sort of at GDC figuring it out what I am going to do next and I think what I am going to do next is work on the game a little bit more I talk I want to do on and want to put it to mach this kind of thing after that I am going to stop moving on to other games particularly to the flash games because I think there is a long period that I have been working on this game and I have got seriously burned out several times I am burned out right up the moment its been a long argues process and somewhere along the line fun when I have to make in games I use to mess around making games free and that all was really fun that’s why I didn’t expected any profit from it now I am making downloadable game its 19.95$ you got into form and you are into your and you enter your credit card deal a thousand dollar and available to stop you have to deal excepting payments even if you are finding out credit card and stuff with someone else you know there will be bugs in your system you have to fix there will be customer support there will be patches there will be overt kind of stuff and having it downmotible and paid full upfront with the try by model it just add so much stuff I find out that I am not making games anymore I am fixing bugs I am doing customer support that does make any game there is nothing to do with making game I don’t want to be doing that its boring its crap you cant outsource it this is important that is done by the developer so what I am going to do I am going to get in flash games and I am thinking either just screw it make it free and I will get a real job o0r may be looking to add supported.

HOST:
Yes the add support model what do you think about that is that something that you are really working towards or do you think its going to be the same down notable?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Well I use to be really down on it quite recently in fact as looking to my heads I really do I go to extra ordinirary links to blocking out. So it’s sort of like I have done this great big about face like why am I putting ads in games that I make and the reason I s it’s a revenue stream which is so much easier everyone involved. People don’t have to quip out their credit card and into bother ad excepting credit card. I dint keep tracking fools register the games so I can send out the day’s student. I don’t nee d to worry about the rate conversion and piracy and sort of stuff it’s a so much simpler. People got to the page. The advertiser page using money and the play doesn’t have to think about the money they can book the ads as they want you know I don’t really care.

HOST:
What are your favorite Indie Games?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
I am going to put a huge plug here for a cuovierian which I actually just bought. It’s the most beautiful game I have ever seen big crops big blot amazing game acquire good bay now. I am not being payed to plug it its just awesome. Other games I bought in the past includes stars gate, moon pods doing some really good stuff and you know there was another game it was going to be mention but its fallen out of my head.

HOST:
SURE! Do you have any last suggestions for the Indie game developers who are going to make a game? There first game?

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
If they are making their first game. It’s going to take a work one as anything. Its tough, its hard you will get burned up it will suck. You will feel like quitting. Keep at it or if you think you should keep at it then you know may be something else but I don’t want to discourage anyone it gains as what you want to do then do it its not what you want to do? Then why the fuck?

HOST:
Thanks for your time.

(INDIE GAME DEVELOPER):
Thank you.

Take care,
Action