2007 GameOn

Anyone Can Do It!: 

Anyone Can Do It!

(but few do): 

(but few do)

Supposed Cost of Entry: 

Supposed Cost of Entry "EA has teams as large as 200 people or potentially as large as 300" - Scott Cronce, chief technology officer at games giant, EA. (May 2005) “With the bill for some big budget games now reaching $10m, producers are facing costs of up to $20m a title.” - BBC News (May 2005) It looks like the PS3 and Xbox360 marks the end of the independent developer.

Don’t Believe Everything You Read: 

Don’t Believe Everything You Read

About Me: 

About Me John Passfield Founder of Interactive Binary Illusions, Gee Whiz! Entertainment, Krome Studios Creative Director, Pandemic Studios

Early Years: 

Early Years

Chilly Willy: 

Chilly Willy First game published 1984 Team size: 1

Chilly Willy: 

Chilly Willy

Halloween Harry: 

Halloween Harry Second game published 1985 Team size: 1

Halloween Harry: 

Halloween Harry

Halloween Harry: 

Halloween Harry Remade in 1993 Highest selling shareware game until the release of Doom Team size: 4

Halloween Harry: 

Halloween Harry

Flight of the Amazon Queen: 

Flight of the Amazon Queen Published in 1994 Point and click graphic adventure Team size: 2.5

Flight of the Amazon Queen: 

Flight of the Amazon Queen

Zombie Wars: 

Zombie Wars Published 1996 Sold on the internet (before our time) Team size: 4

Jaruu Tenk / Spirit Board: 

Jaruu Tenk / Spirit Board Screen Operas published in 2000 Team size: 2

Krome Years: 

Krome Years Championship Surfer Barbie Beach Vacation Extremely Goofy Skateboarding Sunny Garcia Surfing Barbie’s Sparkling Ice Show TY the Tasmanian Tiger Jimmy Neutron: Jet Fusion King Arthur TY the Tasmanian Tiger 2: Bush Rescue

Krome Years: 

Krome Years Produced titles for PSOne, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and PC Team size: 10 to 60+

Boom Time: 

Boom Time Developed for Palm Pilot in 2001 Team size: 1

After Krome: 

After Krome Sold share of the company in 2005 Joined Pandemic Studios Worked on Destroy All Humans! 2 Working on new Pandemic game Developing small games for myself

The Console Market: 

The Console Market PS2/Xbox require 50+ people PS3/Xbox360 require 100+ people Small developer dead, right?

Movie Analogy: 

Movie Analogy Current console thinking is: Games = Pirates of the Caribbean But not all movies are Bruckheimer blockbusters Sideways, Napoleon Dynamite, Borat Need to change your thinking about what a game is and can be

Looking Back: 

Looking Back Shareware was successful But had restrictions Internet was in infancy People had to order over phone/by mail Demos required retail versions A lot of work!

Things Have Changed: 

Things Have Changed In the 2000’s the web exploded People could download demos Digital Rights Management curbed piracy People not nervous about using credit cards online

Bejeweled: 

Bejeweled Failed advergaming product Released as “shareware” in 2001

Bejeweled: 

Bejeweled 10,000,000 units sold to date That’s a lot of money Ushered in a whole new ball game… …the Casual Game

Things Are Looking Up: 

Things Are Looking Up The PC “Casual Games” market has saved independent developers 1-5 person teams are making money Happy times!

Example Casual Games: 

Example Casual Games Virtual Villagers Tumble Bugs Bookworm Dream Day Wedding Zuma Solitaire Monopoly Carrie the Caregiver

Mystery Case Files: 

Mystery Case Files

Diner Dash: 

Diner Dash

Peggle: 

Peggle

Not Just PC: 

Not Just PC The console market has discovered “casual games” PSN for PS3, Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox360 and Virtual Console for Wii Independent developers aren’t locked out of console development

fl0w: 

fl0w Developed by Jenova Chen

fl0w: 

fl0w Discovered by Sony Sold on the PS3 Network

Worms: 

Worms Developed by Team 17 in 1994 Xbox Live version in 2007 for $10

Puzzle Quest: 

Puzzle Quest Developed in Australia Available on PC, DS and PSP Merges Casual Game and Core Game play mechanics This caters to a new category I call “Gamer Dads”

Puzzle Quest: 

Puzzle Quest Combination of Bejeweled and RPG

Puzzle Quest: 

Puzzle Quest Appeals to core gamer

Little Big Planet: 

Little Big Planet Developed by Media Molecule To be published on PS3 PSN Team size: 14

Word Shake Experiment: 

Word Shake Experiment Wanted to see how hard it was today Simple word game Began in 2004, shipped in 2005 Team size: 1 (plus art contractor)

Word Shake: 

Word Shake

Word Shake: 

Word Shake Developed with PopCap framework Used TryMedia’s ActiveMark DRM Used free tools

TOOLS: 

TOOLS

ArtRage 2: 

ArtRage 2

ArtRage 2: 

ArtRage 2 FREE – for limited edition USD $19.95 – full edition http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html

Audacity: 

Audacity

Audacity: 

Audacity FREE http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Visual C++ 2005Express Edition: 

Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition

Visual C++ 2005Express Edition: 

Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition FREE http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/

Pro Motion: 

Pro Motion USD $29.95 – lite version http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/

PopCap Framework: 

PopCap Framework FREE http://developer.popcap.com/

Alternative Frameworks: 

Alternative Frameworks Play Ground SDK (FREE) https://developer.playfirst.com/overview Irrlicht (FREE) http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/ Blitz3D ($100) / Blitz Max ($80) http://blitzbasic.com/ Torque Engine ($150) http://www.garagegames.com/ Ogre3D (FREE) http://www.ogre3d.org/

Here’s How I Used The Tools: 

Here’s How I Used The Tools

Brainiversity: 

Brainiversity PopCap framework Began November 2006 Less than 6 months development Developed nightly during “TV time” Signed to Oberon Media Team size: 1 With music by Mick Gordon

Brainiversity: 

Brainiversity Brain Training style game 4 brain categories Analysis Math Memory Language 16 mini-games 8 stamp rewards

Check Out The Game: 

Check Out The Game

You Can Do It Too!: 

You Can Do It Too! Never been easier to make games Everyone has a PC Lots of talent out there http://forums.indiegamer.com/ Heaps of excellent free tools Huge market (millions of PC owners) Easy to distribute and monetize http://www.trymedia.com/

Questions and Answersjohn@passfieldgames.comAll images are copyright © their respective owners.Talk is copyright © 2007 by John Passfield.: 

Questions and Answers john@passfieldgames.com All images are copyright © their respective owners. Talk is copyright © 2007 by John Passfield.