Anyone Can Do It!
(but few do)
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
About Me
• John Passfield
• Founder of Interactive Binary
Illusions, Gee Whiz! Entertainment,
Krome Studios
• Creative Director, Pandemic Studios
Early Years
Chilly Willy
• First game published 1984
• Team size: 1
Chilly Willy
Halloween Harry
• Second game published 1985
• Team size: 1
Halloween Harry
Halloween Harry
• Remade in 1993
• Highest selling shareware game
until the release of Doom
• Team size: 4
Halloween Harry
Flight of the Amazon
Queen
• Published in 1994
• Point and click graphic adventure
• Team size: 2.5
Flight of the Amazon
Queen
Zombie Wars
• Published 1996
• Sold on the internet (before our time)
• Team size: 4
Jaruu Tenk /
Spirit Board
• Screen Operas published in 2000
• Team size: 2
Krome Years
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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
• Produced titles for PSOne,
Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox and PC
• Team size: 10 to 60+
Boom Time
• Developed for Palm Pilot in 2001
• Team size: 1
After Krome
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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
• PS2/Xbox require 50+ people
• PS3/Xbox360 require 100+ people
• Small developer dead, right?
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
• Shareware was successful
• But had restrictions
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Internet was in infancy
People had to order over phone/by mail
Demos required retail versions
A lot of work!
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
• Failed advergaming product
• Released as “shareware” in 2001
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
• The PC “Casual Games” market has
saved independent developers
• 1-5 person teams are making money
• Happy times!
Example Casual Games
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Virtual Villagers
Tumble Bugs
Bookworm
Dream Day Wedding
Zuma
Solitaire
Monopoly
Carrie the Caregiver
Mystery Case Files
Diner Dash
Peggle
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
• Developed by Jenova Chen
fl0w
• Discovered by Sony
• Sold on the PS3 Network
Worms
• Developed by Team 17 in 1994
• Xbox Live version in 2007 for $10
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
• Combination of Bejeweled and RPG
Puzzle Quest
• Appeals to core gamer
Little Big Planet
• Developed by Media Molecule
• To be published on PS3 PSN
• Team size: 14
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
• Developed with PopCap framework
• Used TryMedia’s ActiveMark DRM
• Used free tools
TOOLS
ArtRage 2
ArtRage 2
• FREE – for limited edition
• USD $19.95 – full edition
• http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
Audacity
Audacity
• FREE
• http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Visual C++ 2005
Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005
Express Edition
• FREE
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/
Pro Motion
• USD $29.95 – lite version
• http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/
PopCap Framework
• FREE
• http://developer.popcap.com/
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
Brainiversity
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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
• Brain Training style game
• 4 brain categories
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Analysis
Math
Memory
Language
• 16 mini-games
• 8 stamp rewards
Check Out The Game
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 Answers
[email protected]
All images are copyright © their respective owners.
Talk is copyright © 2007 by John Passfield.