Colour blinded by War Twat?

Sometimes you have to love indie developers.

I recently commented to OddBob that not only was the frankly insane War Twat designed to destroy my eyesight, but that our resident mutant colour-restricted project manager couldn’t even see what was going on.

Instead of ignoring us nutters, he’s only gone and developed a version for the colour blind! Technically, it’s a high contrast version to be more precise. Now that’s what you call service. There’s also a good interview with the crazed creator by Aleks Krotoski over at the Guardian’s games section.

If you’ve not tried War Twat yet then get the real version from here. You don’t have to pay, it’s freeware. Or you can wimp out and just watch the video below.

Let me know your highest scores - I could only reach 433 then my head self-destructed. Go on, try it, then admit your score in public!

War Twat from oddbob on Vimeo.

Tags: freeware, indie, oddbob, war twat

LATEST: Shacknews is reporting the pricing as an error, however the debate is still very relevant as XBLA prices are definitely on the increase and I expect Castle Crashers to be 1200 or perhaps 1600 points personally.

A storm is brewing over indie games Castle Crashers and Braid. A Japanese website has published the proposed price points for these much anticipated titles, 1800 points and 1200 points resepectively. Meanwhile the blogs at Behemoth and Destructoid (amongst others) are filling up with riled users unsure what to make of it all, as you can see by the Destructoid image below:

The first thing to say is that I expect the Western price point of Castle Crashers to be 1600 points rather than 1800, but I can’t confirm that with any insider knowledge right now. I’m sure the matter will be cleared up ASAP, possibly even today.

So what’s the problem? Assuming 1600 points, that’s $19.99 for a top quality game. Here are some of the issues along with my take on them.

If I’m paying more than $10, I want a boxed copy and no DRM rubbish

There are two issues here. Firstly, it looks like it will take some time for console game buyers to get used to the idea of buying games without a box attached. PC users have been doing this for years, and at a standard price point of $19.99 (casual games and bigger indie games), so there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this model. Secondly, there is distrust of Microsoft’s DRM model. Console gamers are used to take/loaning discs to mates, and Microsoft currently provide no adequate method to deal with this, or to transfer ownership (for a fee perhaps). Also, if Microsoft stop supporting the system, you may not be able to play the game in future.

It’s too expensive for a download game

Not really. Castle Crashers is competing time-wise with the big games out there. Sure, it isn’t Halo, but so what? I’ll play Castle Crashers more than Halo, so what does it matter?

Developers are money grabbing because they know we want Braid and Castle Crashers

Indie developers struggle to get their games made, and are unlikely to get rich off them. In fact, they are just trying to make enough to develop their next game, with Microsoft et al wanting ever bigger, flashier titles.

Game development, particularly console game development, is extremely expensive. While a Flash game may take 2-6 weeks for 1-2 people, a console game - even on XBLA - may take 1-2 years and 4-8 people, as well as a lot of additional QA/localisation/hardware/rating/marketing related costs. You don’t have to be an accountant to see the difference. It’s very high risk and profits are hard to come by, especially for an understaffed, overworked indie with no corporate investors to pay for production.

Microsoft are charging me more than 1600 points = US$19.99 because I’m in Canada, UK, etc

Now this I am sympathetic with. As a developer, we base everything on the US rates because that’s what affects us. Microsoft charge more elsewhere because of sales tax and their own reasons. I suggest people write to MS to discuss that particular issue, but don’t blame the poor indie for a console pricing policy.

It’s only a simple brawler / platformer. I’m not paying more than $10 for that!

You know what? Give the games a go and if you think they are worth the money then buy them. If not, then leave them alone. Anyone who thinks a game should be priced by genre is rather foolish in my opinion. You don’t do this with film or music or television! Tetris and Dr Mario were super simple yet have taken more of my gaming hours than most FPS titles. It’s all about value for money, about entertainment.

In summary, console users are still very new to the whole download thing and the lack of a boxed copy still resonates as a problem. I think Microsoft (and Sony and Nintendo) should look at their DRM systems as I think there are ways to mitigate some of people’s concerns. Also, perhaps a boxed copy could be part of the deal with a little extra $$$?

However, give the games a go and treat them as with any other game you’ll buy. It doesn’t matter how much they cost, what the license is, who made them (indie or otherwise), retail or digital - if you like them enough then they are good enough.

For the record, I’m a huge fan of both games - although I’ve played Braid more than Castle Crashers as I have access to it - and I’m a fan of the talented and friendly people behind them.

EDIT: Great opinion piece on Gamasutra where 2D Boy (World of Goo) explains issues with XBox Live Arcade for indies.

In 1981, IBM launched their Personal Computer (PC). For many years it was only ever used as a business computer, with a few shareware games released. However, that changed in 1993 with the massively successful shareware title Doom. The next few years saw a massive boom in PC gaming.

I mention that brief piece of history because it is of great relevance to independent game developers in 2008. It is rarely referred to as such, but shareware is probably what you’ll be dealing with on the PC unless you are developing an on-line game.

The retail market is in a poor state, but the download market is very active, particularly in the casual space. Games tend to be based around the try before you buy model, whether limited by content, such as only the first level being free, or by time, 60 minutes gameplay for free by example.

PC - Pros

• Massive potential market.
• Mature and successful on-line market rather than retail based.
• Completely open download platform - no concept approval required; no restrictions of any kind.
• Huge variety of open source and low cost tools.
• Set your own price and sell where you want.
• Other revenue options, such as ad-based, micro-transactions, or subscription.
• Release your game whenever you want - no third party approval required.
• Immediate downloads for home/office web surfers.
• Generally lower cost of development.
• Easy to add additional content and updates at any time.
• PC boxed copy sales can be a useful extra source of revenue.
• Easy access to your audience.
• Massive on-line audience for web based games or MMOs.

PC - Cons

• PC hardware is variable, leading to unexpected problems on a number of machines. This is not to be underestimated.
• Lower profile than a console release.
• Rampant piracy. However, this could be debated forever so I’ll leave that discussion alone!
• Lack of a submission structure may lead to lack of development strategy if self-publishing or approaching publishers towards the end of a project.
• Lack of approvals mechanism often leads to much lower production values.
• Distribution platforms such as Steam and GameTap require approval from their owners and may incur exclusivity restrictions - if only with respect to other PC distribution systems and portals. Anecdotal evidence from developers is that such platforms are getting harder to reach as mainstream publishers are providing more content.
• Some resellers may take a large cut of the sales price, particularly true of many popular casual game portals.

Piracy is an issue, although evidence for the real effect on sales figures is shakey. Russell Carroll has written excellent articles on the matter over at Gamasutra. However, what isn’t arguable is that a good console download will usually sell many more copies than a good PC download, at least for indie games.

In terms of sales figures, expect around 10k sales if you do very well, 20-30k for a very significant hit, perhaps more if you have a track record and an audience.. Those are not big numbers, although they are big enough if your game is $20 and you receive 60-90% of the income which you will if selling through your own site, affiliates or Steam. Casual games can sell many more copies but the per unit revenue may be a lot less as many traditional portals do not pay high rates and have various customer bundling schemes.

It’s important to bare in mind that the vast majority of indie and casual games will be lucky to scrape past 2000 units. I’ll be writing an article on sales figures later this year, but you’ll find some hard figures here.

In my opinion, the PC is the best platform to get started with unless you already have experience of professional game development. The console learning curve is steep, and for most people it’ll be extremely difficult and frustrating to even get through the approvals stage. By all means aim for console, but keep a PC version in mind and in progress where possible.

A brief note on Mac and Linux based projects. They may well be worthwhile if you are doing PC, but it’s debatable otherwise. Both platforms benefit from an active user base and seemingly less piracy. Supporting the Mac can get your title more press attention too and that can be very important. Mac may increase sales by 10-25%, and Linux by a few percentage points. It will depend upon how the game is promoted and how it resonates with the audience.

If you wish to consider these platforms, I’d suggest using a cross platform library or engine.

EDIT: Great opinion piece on Gamasutra where 2D Boy (World of Goo) explains issues with XBox Live Arcade for indies.

Game Connection have announced a Level Up program for their European event. This means that five lucky indies can exhibit at Game Connection Europe for free. This is a great opportunity for any start-ups to meet publishers since GC provides you with a booth, a meeting system, and a ton of publishers looking to sign projects.

Tuna did Game Connection a while ago and signed three titles off the back of it, and also made several great new contacts. Burned deep into my memory is when Nintendo themselves came to see us, little old Tuna. We were gobsmacked (and happy that the liked Alien Hominid GBA!).

And that’s the point - indies attending GC can get in front of almost anyone.

For more information, visit the Game Connection site. Highly recommended.

Sony’s follow-up to the massively successful PlayStation 2, the PS3, included an on-line service to compete with XBLA. PlayStation Network (PSN) offered similar game download facilities as its main competitor, although without the Game Points and Awards. That, however, is changing with the constant firmware updates such as the recent - although buggy - 2.4 upgrade.

Like Xbox Live Arcade, the quality of download titles is rather mixed, but does include the excellent Super Stardust, Jonathan Mak’s indie hit Everyday Shooter, and - from Japan - the Pixel Junk series. Unfortunately, like with XBLA, the user interface leaves a lot to be desired, and firmwares thus far have not been without their problems.

Whilst I have no firm sales figures to hand, anecdotal evidence indicates that sales are some way off those of successful XBLA titles. That’s obviously a major consideration given the likely development costs involved.

PSN - Pros

• PS3 user base is expected to continue growing fast.
• PSN is a maturing system which Sony are continually updating.
• Sony are currently more open to new concepts than they have been in the past.
• Sony have been actively funding a number of projects (although some have been dropped before completion leading to problems for the developers involved).
• Lack of significant competition on PSN.
• Download games can be virtually any size.

PSN - Cons

• Barrier to entry: Sony restrict projects based upon a concept approval process. That usually means some lengthy document writing in their standard format and, like Microsoft, they really like to see demos and mock-ups.
• Barrier to entry: Development kits must be bought from Sony.
• Barrier to entry: You may be required to support networked multiplayer, and this can bump development and QA costs considerably. Sony’s supporting systems are not as well developed as Microsoft’s are at present.
• Barrier to entry: Development costs must account for TRC handling.
• As with the other platform holders, Sony control the distribution mechanism and may do as they please.
• Sony have to approve the project, both technically and content-wise.
• Once again, localisation and age ratings need to be considered.
• Development environment said to be improving, but the PS3 is considered a trickier beast to develop on than the other home console platforms, at least by some.
• Exclusivity restrictions possible.
• Sales seemingly lower than on XBLA.

With the PS3 selling well as well as the frequent system updates, I personally think PSN has a very promising future. Whilst apparent sales figures are a concern - and I don’t have solid figures to back that up in all fairness - as a system I believe it to be more open to indies than XBLA currently is. Remember that it only takes one or two hits for developers and publishers to follow each other like Lemmings, and PSN hasn’t quite grabbed people’s attention yet.

To register for PS3 development, you’ll need to visit SCE DevNet (the Licensing Information page).

I continue this series with an article about the good old PC, as well as Mac and Linux.

The Nintendo Wii. Apparently it became the fastest selling games console in British history. It’s certainly the first home console to cross demographics so effectively, with everyone from young children to their grandparents prepared to have a go.

Has that success come at a price, however? Anecdotal evidence is that the Wii is kept as a party machine, or for very specific games, such as Wii Sports or Wii Fit. That’s not so bad for Nintendo, but it is a concern for mainstream publishers and indie developers.

WiiWare is Nintendo’s answer to Xbox Live Arcade. It was only launched in May across most regions, and as such there is little data out there right now as to its success. The big worry is that many Wii users simply won’t know or care about it since the Wii may be seen more as a toy or party game than a console.

WiiWare - Pros

• An abundance of Wii units in people’s homes.
• Expect the games to be smaller than recent XBLA titles; that should mean cheaper to develop.
• Nintendo will let you get on with your product - the content is up to you.
• Nintendo claim to be more open to game concepts than Microsoft or Sony.
• You get to code for the WiiMote!
• Nintendo are promoting it to indie developers.
• The Wii is a reasonably easy piece of hardware to develop for.
• No requirement for a Wii exclusive.
• Can still get in early whilst there is a lack of competition (at the time of writing).

WiiWare - Cons

• Barrier to entry: Registering for development has been harder than indies expected. It may help to have a prior relationship with Nintendo or a game development track record. Like the other platform holders, Nintendo still have to approve the core concept although the process seems to be far simpler than with Microsoft or Sony, and with less content-related feedback.
• Barrier to entry: Development kits must be bought, although they are comparatively well priced.
• Barrier to entry: Development costs must account for TRC handling, although Microsoft and Sony are generally considered stricter.
• Right now, no one knows how WiiWare titles will sell.
• As with Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo control the distribution mechanism and may do as they please.
• Nintendo still have to approve the project, although content-wise they may be more open than the other platform holders.
• Localisation and age ratings are again a consideration and expense.
• The WiiMote is the only controller Wii owners are guaranteed to own and it’s not very good at being a regular joypad. This may make it more difficult to design a game for use across multiple platforms.
• Game size is very limited.
• Nintendo don’t allow their hardware in home offices, which conflicts with their pro-indie stance.

WiiWare is the new kid on the block and that makes it difficult to properly evaluate. On the positive side, games can be developed far cheaper and far quicker than for some competing systems. That alone makes it very attractive for independent developers. The home office thing is an issue, but I’d hope people can find ways around that.

I’ll end with some useful links; IGN have a good interview covering a few WiiWare issues with Tom Prata here, there’s a good developer-oriented blog post on BigRedPimp, and to register for development you should head for Wario World (yes, really!).

My next article in this series is about developing on Sony’s PlayStation Network for PS3.

EDIT: I’ll be updating this article shortly following Microsoft’s XNA / XBox Live Community Games announcement. Suffice to say, XNA is now a potentially fantastic route for indies to take, but it does depend how it is promoted to users. If they don’t ever see your games, they can never buy them however good they are. Also, where exactly does this leave XBox Live Arcade? EDIT END.

Originally available for the Xbox, XBLA was an integral part of the Xbox 360 at launch. This makes it by far and away the most mature of the console digital distribution platforms.

By all accounts it’s also the most successful. Figures on Wikipedia claim it to have a high attach rate and conversion rate, although true numbers are hard to come by if you aren’t under NDA with Microsoft. VGChartz attempt to estimate real sales figures but don’t expect them to be particularly accurate.

Titles on the system are a very mixed bag of indie games, poor retro ports, half-decent retro ports, casual games, and - increasingly - original titles and sequels from the traditional publishers you know and love.

From a user point of view, the biggest issue is the dashboard interface. Users are faced with long lists of titles making it difficult to find anything. That’s important because it means your game could disappear very quickly indeed, and it’s undoubtedly costing Microsoft users. The quality of many of the titles has also been hotly debated. Both of these factors have lead to the much discussed delisting policy of which I’m certainly not a fan.

Below are some of the pros and cons developers should be considering.

Xbox Live Arcade - Pros

• Established system with existing user base and proven sales record.
• The most popular console downloadable game environment.
• Successful indie games exist on the system, e.g. Penny Arcade’s Precipice of Darkness, N+, Alien Hominid, Eets and the Mutant Storm series.
• It is possible to do well financially if you’re game does well, and some of the above certainly have.
• Good development environment.
• Similar to PC platform allowing a PC version to be developed at low cost.

Xbox Live Arcade - Cons

• Barrier to entry: Microsoft restricts projects based upon a green light process. This can take months even with a good project, and perhaps most projects are turned down. That may be to avoid clashes with other titles, pre-existing PC release, lack of experience in the development team, or for any other reason they see fit. Being green lit is not an easy process and it can take a lot of work, proof of concept demos included.
• Barrier to entry: Development kits must be bought.
• Barrier to entry: You may be required to support the Live! service, and this can bump development and QA costs considerably.
• Barrier to entry: Development costs must account for TCR handling - that means following strict Microsoft rules for how things should work. If you’ve never done this before, you’re in for a shock. There’s an awful lot that can and will go wrong that you would never have thought of, or you think is unimportant or crazy.
• Microsoft control the release slots, payments, how your game is handled on the system - well, everything! Announcements such as the delisting policy show that they are quite prepared to change the rules.
• Microsoft have to approve the project, both technically and content-wise. The submissions and approval process can be unexpectedly lengthy, especially if you are self-publishing.
• Unicode localisation and age ratings are required. There are time and money considerations to both of these factors.
• Simply having a game on the system doesn’t mean it will sell, despite what people seem to think. You still need to market your game and it still needs to have an audience.
• It is unclear how pro-indie XBLA really is right now. It could end up being dominated by traditional publishers, and some will say it already is. Microsoft are pushing indies to XNA, a cheaper alternative.
• Self-published XBLA game royalty rates may be different for an indie compared to a regular publisher.
• Xbox hardware is reportedly not selling as well as Wii or PS3.
• Exclusivity restrictions are likely.
• Interface usability issues given the large number of games available.

XBLA is certainly a cut above the rest at the moment and has strong positives, but it’s future is unclear. If you can get through the green light process then you will probably be able to find funding or a publisher, but that first stage is much harder than you might imagine.

Developers without commercial experience should consider XNA before XBLA. Besides, a good XNA project could be successful in its own right and may also help with a future jump to XBLA.

More information on Xbox Live Arcade developer submissions can be found here.

The next article in the series can be found here, and this time it’s about WiiWare.

EDIT: Great opinion piece on Gamasutra where 2D Boy (World of Goo) explains issues with XBox Live Arcade for indies.

Choosing which gaming platform to develop for is a difficult decision, yet it’s one which many indie developers take too quickly. I’m going to share a few thoughts that I hope will help guide developers in the right direction, and that may provoke discussion amongst developers of all levels of experience.

A question I hear all the time from indie developers is:

How do we get on Xbox Live Arcade?

To which my answer is:

Are you sure you want to be on there?

That’s when they look at me with wild, ‘are you mental?’ eyes. They often don’t really have an answer - it’s just because they heard that it was popular. Don’t get me wrong - XBLA is a platform with a lot of potential and it can really work for indies. However, developers need to carefully consider what platform they want to develop on - companies live or die on this decision.

Over the next few days I’ll post up some pros and cons of XBLA, WiiWare, PSN and also digital distribution on the PC.

Follow me here where I’ll discuss the most well known of the platforms, Xbox Live Arcade.

My extensive experience within the game industry has been garnered through my management of an independent game development studio since the mid 1990s. This has included work across many diverse platforms; from mobile phone to XBox 360 and from Nintendo DS to PlayStation 3. I have handled both original IP and licensed IP from the likes of Atari, Disney, Revolution Studios, and Sega, including for ‘traditional’ games and ‘casual’ games.

I’ve spoken at events held by organisations such Game Republic and Casual Games North West. I’ve also taken part in specialist labs such as the wonderfully inspiring Crossover, which mixed leading figures from documentary and new media, and have participated within advisory groups for organisations such as Nesta.

My professional interests also cross over into mainstream digital media, television production, social networks, user generated content, ARGs, and mobile communication.

I am available as a specialist game industry consultant within the following areas:

• Aiding new and existing studios with business development.
• Advising indie developers, solo or teams, at any stage of game development.
• Helping tv producers, writers, directors, and production companies understand the power and benefits of interactive content, including social networks, user generated content, and Flash games.
• Advising investors and media companies considering entering the mobile or games market.
• Advising IP holders considering licensing their properties to the game industry.

For further information, please contact me here or by telephone: +44 (0)7771 524 632 (drop the 0 if you’re outside the UK).

Who am I?

I’m Alex Amsel and, for better or worse, newretro.org is the home for my articles about games and indie game development, as well as my rants and ramblings about films, toys, and pop culture.

I’ve been developing games commercially since 1995, but I’ve been writing them since I was an ickle 9 year old with a BBC Model B. I started independent developer Tuna Technologies in 1996 soon after leaving university with an AI degree, and we are still working playing to this day as you can see over at TunaSnax.

Old Tuna vs New Tuna

Tuna have worked on over 80 products, many of them well known IPs such as Atari classic Asteroids, Sega’s Virtua Tennis, and Disney’s 102 Dalmations. However, our work on the Gameboy Advance version of fabulous indie hit Alien Hominid only confirmed what, deep down, I already knew.

I Was Bored

In particular, I was bored of churning out average titles with little or no creative input when I knew we had so many crazy ideas and weren’t getting a chance to explore them. I realized that not only was I bored, but I’d become directionless, being steered along by the whims and fancies of publisher boardroom shenanigans. And there were lots of shenanigans it has to be said.

Go Indie!

The industry was changing, digital distribution was coming, and a true indie scene was bubbling under. It was time to take a risk on what I believed in. I decided to go back to my roots and get involved in creating original projects again, taking the time to learn about new ways of gaming and meeting creative people outside of the insular world of game development that many of us inhabit.

Going indie wasn’t easy, but now I’m involved in some truly amazing projects with a handful of excellent people both inside and outside of Tuna, all talented, focussed, and fun to work with.

The Future

My plan is to continue helping designers and developers innovate in a commercially viable way, without having to sell their soul or seeing their dreams dashed. Not everyone can succeed, but much can be learned and enjoyed simply by making the journey.

Why newretro.org?

There is something interesting about taking old ideas and finding new ways to explore them. That could be anything from porting retro games to new hardware, or creating a fully fledged console game where all the artwork is physically modeled and animated using classic stop motion techniques.

New Retro™ - the reworking of old concepts within a contemporary context. Sort of.