Game.Developer.2009.06-07.pdf
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Game Developer - June/July 2009
FEATURE:
TOP 50 DEVELOPERS REPORT
THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
Proton Pact
“Spectrally speaking, teaming up with Intel on the development
of
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
was the ecto-logical choice.
I can't wait until everybody has fully threaded games on their
desktop, because what's possible and what’s going to happen
in the game environment is going to blow peoples’ minds.”
Stay current on the latest software
developments in visual computing at:
www.intel.com/software/visualadrenaline
©2009, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the
U.S. and other countries. *Other names and brands are the property of their respective owners. Image courtesy
of Terminal Reality and Sony. Ghostbusters is a registered trademark of Sony Pictures LTD in the United States
and/or other countries. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association.
Mark Randel, CEO Terminal Reality
is putting on his best threads with Intel®
and crossing streams with confidence.
CONTENTS.0609
VOLUME 16 NUMBER 6
POSTMORTEM
DEPARTMENTS
34
CRYSTAL DYNAMICS' TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD
T
OMB
R
AIDER
: U
NDERWORLD
was originally planned as an "easy" sequel
to the previous game in the series, using the same toolchain—but
it never quite works out that way. Eric Lindstrom describes the
process, highlighting instances in which the team wasn't able to
avoid known problems.
By Eric Lindstrom
2
GAME PLAN
By Brandon Sheffield
[EDITORIAL]
The Personality Problem
4
HEADS UP DISPLAY
[NEWS]
Thinking After Dark conference report, GP2X Wiz launch,
GDC: T
HE
G
AME
, and more.
FEATURES
41
TOOL BOX
By Greg Snook
[REVIEW]
Blade Games World's Blade3D
6
TOP 50 DEVELOPERS
Our second annual Top 50 Developers report uses metrics such as
review scores, revenues, and reputation surveys to determine the
best and brightest developers that released games in the past year.
By Trevor Wilson
43
THE INNER PRODUCT
By Noel Llopis
[PROGRAMMING]
Mock Objects: Friends or Foes?
46
PIXEL PUSHER
By Steve Theodore
[ART]
Metagames
15
INFINITESPACE
Most MMOs use multiple shards to break up their game universes. EVE
O
NLINE
, by contrast, uses a single shard. Here, various members of the
team, from programmers to designers, share why they feel one shard is
the way to go.
By the EVE Online team.
49
DESIGN OF THE TIMES
By Damion Schubert
[DESIGN]
Tactical Transparency
51
AURAL FIXATION
By Jesse Harlin
[SOUND]
Thinking Outside the Booth
22
STAYINGPOWER
Microsoft researcher Bruce Phillips finds that players often quit
single-player campaigns before they're complete. Citing psychology
and exclusive statistics, Phillips proposes that "learning goals" can
help keep players from getting discouraged.
By
Bruce Phillips
56
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
By Matthew Wasteland
[HUMOR]
Ask a Pizza
COVER SOURCE ART: TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD ART TEAM
WWW.GDMAG.COM
1
GAME DEVELOPER | XXXXX XXXX
GAME PLAN
//
BRANDON SHEFFIELD
www.gdmag.com
Think Services, 600 Harrison St., 6th Fl.,
San Francisco, CA 94107
t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090
THE PERSONALITY PROBLEM
THE IPHONE’S APP STORE AS A MICROCOSM OF THE INDUSTRY AT LARGE
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND
ADDRESS CHANGES
t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606
e
:
gamedeveloper@halldata.com
EDITORIAL
PUBLISHER
Simon Carless l
scarless@gdmag.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Brandon Sheffield
l
bsheffield@gdmag.com
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Jeffrey Fleming l
jfleming@gdmag.com
ART DIRECTOR
Joseph Mitch l
jmitch@gdmag.com
SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Jill Duffy l
jduffy@gdmag.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jesse Harlin l
jharlin@gdmag.com
Steve Theodore l
stheodore@gdmag.com
Noel Llopis l
nllopis@gdmag.com
Soren Johnson l
sjohnson@gdmag.com
Damion Schubert l
dschubert@gdmag.com
ADVISORY BOARD
Hal Barwood Designer-at-Large
Mick West Independent
Brad Bulkley Neversoft
Clinton Keith High Moon Studios
Ryan Lesser Harmonix
Mark DeLoura Independent
ADVERTISING SALES
GLOBAL SALES DIRECTOR
Aaron Murawski e:
amurawski@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6227
MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER
John Malik Watson e:
jmwatson@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6224
GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION
AND RECRUITMENT
Gina Gross e:
ggross@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6241
COORDINATOR, EDUCATION AND RECRUITMENT
Rafael Vallin e
:
rvallin@think-services.com
t: 415.947.6223
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Robert Steigleider e
:
rsteigleider@ubm-us.com
REPRINTS
WRIGHT'S REPRINTS
Ryan Pratt e
:
rpratt@wrightsreprints.com
t: 877.652.5295
THINK SERVICES
CEO THINK SERVICES
Philip Chapnick
GROUP DIRECTOR
Kathy Schoback
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Cliff Scorso
AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
GROUP DIRECTOR
Kathy Henry
e
:
khenry@techinsights.com
DIRECTOR
Kristi Cunningham
e
:
kcunningham@techinsights.com
LIST RENTAL
Merit Direct LLC t: 914.368.1000
MARKETING
SERVICES MARKETING COORDINATOR
Laura Robison
e:
lrobison@think-services.com
UBM TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
David Levin
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Scott Mozarsky
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
David Wein
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER
Kevin Prinz
CORPORATE SENIOR VP SALES
Anne Marie Miller
SENIOR VP, STRATEGIC DEV. AND BUSINESS ADMIN.
Pat Nohilly
SENIOR VP, MANUFACTURING
Marie Myers
A FRIEND OF MINE RECENTLY
released
a game for iPhone by
the name of T
RIXEL
. It’s a fine
puzzle game, somewhat similar
to L
IGHTS
O
UT
, in which you flip
mismatched colored tiles to
match an existing tile image.
People who play it definitely
seem to like it. But visually this
game has almost no personality.
Certainly, the tiles are large and
colorful, there are power-ups
and collectables, and the audio
was carefully attended to. But if
you look at a screenshot and a
description, you would likely not
be compelled.
Another group of friends, the
folks at Capybara Games, put out
an iPhone game called C
RITTER
C
RUNCH
. This is a puzzle game as
well, similar to M
AGICAL
D
ROP
, and
starring a cute frog-thing that
eats cutely animated characters.
Now, I can’t really speak to which
of these two games is more
successful, but I can say that if I
look at a screenshot of each, one
compels me with characters and
bright colors, whereas the other
looks either a bit kiddie or a bit
math-oriented, depending on how
you feel about it (and in reality,
the game can get a bit hardcore).
Taken as a microcosm of the
industry, the iTunes App Store
emphasizes some larger industry
truths. In the case of something
so impulse-buy-oriented as
iPhone games, when a number
of free titles already exist, one
really needs a hook to succeed.
But then, hooks are necessarily
oriented toward certain audiences.
Some folks may really like the cute
characters in C
RITTER
C
RUNCH
, but
others may be completely turned
off. Both T
RIXEL
and C
RITTER
C
RUNCH
are good, and both lie within the
puzzle genre. So how do you get
people interested in T
RIXEL
, when
C
RITTER
C
RUNCH
is sitting next to it
in the virtual shelves?
Looking at the bigger picture,
console games are only on the
store shelves for a limited time,
before they’re shuffled away to
make room for something new.
They have very limited space in
which to get the interest of the
consumer who just wanders
into a GameStop looking for
something new to play, which
happens more than most of us
realize. Someone like you or I will
go to the store with a head full of
previews, trailers, screenshots,
story descriptions, and maybe a
few behind-the-scenes stories.
But the average consumer is just
showing up at a store, looking to
be entertained. These games need
to grab consumers immediately as
well, and have something the idle
browser can latch on to.
but they do need to do some
marketing themselves. I’m not
just talking about sending out
free review codes to folks you
might know in the media, though
that helps a lot. The reason a
personality-free game like S
UDOKU
is so popular now is likely because
of this kind of marketing—the
mom-oriented media got ahold of
it, and it took off.
What I’m talking about is
“marketing” in the actual planning
phase. If you want the game to
sell, realize you’re not just making
it for people who innately get it,
like you—you’re making the game
for people like that GameStop
customer. People who don’t
understand your game, because
they haven’t played it, and have
maybe never played anything
in the genre. For these people,
you need appealing screenshots
that make your game look like
something. You need a compelling
description, and possibly a demo.
That’s the kind of marketing
I mean—marketing at the base
level. Questions like “Who will
this appeal to visually? How
can I describe my game in three
sentences?” should be at the
front of your mind. The kinds of
questions publishers would ask,
if you had one. Show the game
to your mom, or your kid, or your
neighbor, and see what they think.
CASUAL CONSUMERS
»
I recently overheard a
conversation in a GameStop—a
late-teens customer walked in,
and found the box art for F
INAL
F
ANTASY
XII appealing. He brought it
to the cashier and asked what kind
of game it was. “An RPG,” was the
response. “Oh. What’s that?” “Um,
you know, a role-playing game.
You have a group of guys, and you
go on a quest, and you level up
and stuff.” “Oh. Is that fun?”
This anecdote just shows that
we can’t rely on the store itself
to sell our products. Developers
complain about releasing games
on Apple’s App Store amidst a
sea of other titles, with no way
to distinguish a title other than
getting featured by Apple. Well
shouldn't we be used to dealing
with that by now? The same thing
happens in retail. And indeed,
isn’t it better than a situation in
which your game drops out of
the store entirely after a couple
months, as with retail? And
there are no used games there
to cannibalize your actual sales
(though one could argue that free
games might take a chunk away).
So at this point it becomes
a marketing issue. I wouldn’t
say that independent iPhone
developers need a marketer,
MARKET IN FOCUS
»
A lot of companies and
developers want to reach larger
mainstream audiences, and the
iPhone takes all the elements of
the wider game industry and puts
a greater focus on it. The game
has to look pretty, but simple.
The concept has to be easy to
understand, but difficult to master.
It’s everything we’re doing for AAA
titles, but under a microscope. I
think there are a lot of lessons to
learn here, and the iPhone could
potentially be used as a test
market for larger concepts.
—Brandon Sheffield
2
GAME DEVELOPER | JUNE/JULY 2009
WWW.CMPGAME.COM
HEADLINE
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