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Some folks have been asking about Bruiser & Scratch, about what we're up to right now, and about what we're planning to do in the near and far future. Some folks are just complaining that I don't post enough. Given that there's no good way to answer all of this to each person individually, and that I'm pretty sure we can release the information, here's the scoop.
Bruiser & Scratch has been available on WiiWare for a while, and as expected, we haven't been blown away by sales figures. Partly, this is our fault for allowing the game to ship when it wasn't Crash Bandicoot. Oops. I know, I know, we should have made a chintzy 2D version of the game, cut the characters, cut the story, and basically shipped it 6 months earlier. We'd probably have gotten more sales because for some reason, people ignore shitty art when it's "retro styled", but it's flame-on if there's even a whiff of 3D going on. Also, if we'd released earlier there would be less puzzle game exhaustion on the part of the user base.. by the time we came out, there were more than enough puzzle games on WiiWare to go around. The initial reviews skewered us, and that's all she wrote.
So, what have we been doing in the meantime? Jeff and I have been working on Ghostbusters Wii with our friends at Red Fly, doing some heavy lifting tech work for an unannounced title at Red Fly, working on some of our own prototypes, and porting a really cute family-friendly game to the Wii for Conspiracy Games. All at the same time. So, pardon me for being a little lax on the updates.
One cool mention is a dear friend, Will Loconto, was nominated for Best Original Instrumental for The Heist this year at GDC by the Game Audio Network Guild Awards people. He helped us out on Bruiser & Scratch and is doing the remastering for our port work with Conspiracy. Very cool. He was up against Afrika and Little Big Planet, both of which swept awards this year, but to be nominated is quite the feat. Congrats Will!
And that pretty much wraps up our first quarter. On the off-chance you are a publisher looking for a small but talented studio to do a game for you, drop me a line. As busy as we are, I'll make time for you.
Hooboy... looks like some folks picked up on the last post and got the wrong idea. I want to first be clear to anyone who didn't realize I was taking a poke at ourselves as much as anyone else when expressing disappointment about B&S's performance. We made the game, and in a sense it was an experiment (I'll explain below), but there's nobody to blame for the final product except us. We built something from nothing and shipped it. Whether it was a blockbuster or not, I'm very proud of completing what I started. That's huge.
Anyone who kills themselves for a year or so on a project, of course, will want it to do well and is emotionally invested in the outcome, even if they're just an employee of a big company. To people who buy games, it's just another title on a list, but to the developer it's a piece of your life you will never get back. It's tough to explain to someone who isn't in the industry and hasn't had to make hard choices about how many years they have to invest in each endeavor, because so many games will stretch on for 3... 5... 9 years? And in the end, you hope it wasn't wasted. As a principal of a tiny studio, it's an even bigger part of your life because there's the ever-present guilt of seeing your family (and your partner's family) suffer to chase the dream.
And truth be told, if had the runway left to really polish the game (it's very expensive to fund a game--don't try this at home kids!), it would have been prettier and had a better UI and more gameplay modes and better rendering tech. But it is what it is. Nintendo allows re-releases of titles and if there was any spare time to put into it, I'd be tinkering with the game. Maybe someday... For the time being, we have to pay off our debts and keep clothes on the kids and the wives from leaving us.
As for the grand experiement gone awry, we drank the kool-aid. We were one of the early indie development houses to sign on with Nintendo to do WiiWare, and at the time, nobody knew what kind of crowd would surface to buy games there. It was very exciting, and to know there were 20 million or so Wii units in the world at that time meant that the market had incredible potential. So, we went forward with a design that I thought would appeal to the typical Wii user. In hindsight, to my horror, this was all wrong. The typical Wii user doesn't have any idea that the Wii can connect to the internet. The crowd that gravitates toward WiiWare is actually fairly hardcore, and a very small segment overall. In essence, we're trying to sell lemonaide in a biker bar. Heh.
In a way, I'm thankful we had the turbulence now while the stakes are still small (in absolute terms) and we can recover from it, learn what mistakes we made, and move forward from the experience a richer development house. There's two things that are important in games: shipping and sales. We got one thing right, and that's something. Now to work on the other.
Peace.
Going to the shops can seem so archaic can't it? What about that long walk back to the car, or that heavy plastic bag containing Nintendo's latest and greatest? Going outside, frankly, can be tiring business. The internet game delivery service that is WiiWare then, alongside its retro-styled brother the Virtual Console, is a godsend.
It simply provides cheap and enjoyable games for download, many of which are of outstanding quality. The thing is though, that it isn't just a boon for Wii owners - the folks making the games are loving it too.
Whether they're already massive developers or a couple of normal guys with an intriguing game concept and mischief in mind, absolutely anyone can create a WiiWare game. This is the primary reason that it's rapidly becoming something of a creative honeypot.
"Working to put a game out on WiiWare means not having to go through a publisher, which to me means getting stuff done much faster without having to siphon through the false promises and blatant lies that you often get fed." Explains Tommy Refenes, a man who describes his previous role in life as "slowly slowly losing my soul to corporate America."
He now makes up a third of the threesome developing Super Meat Boy. Once an internet flash game, the Mega Man-esque adventures of a boy made entirely out of meat has retro stylings that are familiar to all.
In fact if you want to check out the game in its original form then simply visit kongregate.com. "It's Nintendo!" explains Refenes by way of reference. "It's like developing a game for an old friend!"
Just a few weeks before release of the game, the third faction of Swords and Soldiers, the Chinese is finally revealed!
At long last the veil of secrecy is lifted! Emerging as the third contender for world domination is the CHINESE EMPIRE! Ruled by their child emperor, the Chinese care little for Viking barbecue feasts, or Aztec Vegetable growing contests. The Child Emperor tasks his subjects with gathering the the most exquisite toys from the corners of the world. Of course this will lead the Chinese empire onto a collision course with the other two factions.
To introduce the first Chinese unit: The Rocketeer
Strapping giant firework rockets to your back might not seem like a brilliant idea, but the Rocketeers will do anything to satisfy their emperor's appetite for new toys. Extremely volatile, the Rocketeers are always willing to deliver their beautifull but deadly payload to the opposition. As well as offering a ranged attack, Rocketeers deal damage with final breath, and always go out with a bang, giving the whole battlefield a festive glow!
To introduce the first Chinese spell: Arrow rain
The arrow is a very effective weapon in the Chinese arsenal. They are used to pick off single targets at a great distance. To confront the sturdy Vikings and the fast moving Aztecs, the Chinese have improved their arrows with some burning fire. So if you're fighting the Chinese faction, you'd better hope the heavens don't open. If they do, there's a good chance you're about to be showered with a barrage of flaming arrows.