blog: developer blog #9

Apr 28, 2009 Derek Smart

STATE OF PLAY

We’re making steady progress on the content side and only a few assets remain. We’re pretty excited about the work done on the first (of three) Terran marine revisions. Below are shots of the new Mobile Infantry Marine. I think he looks absolutely wicked. He should be appearing in the next patch update released later this week. So say goodbye to that Orange Guy you’ve come to know and love since the first title (Battlecruiser Millennium) that had first person 3D characters back in 2001.

Terran Mobile Infantry Marine1
Terran Mobile Infantry Marine2
Terran Mobile Infantry Marine3
Terran Mobile Infantry Marine4

I’ll release some shots and maybe a combat movie (if I have time) when he is added to the game dB.

WIDE BETA TEST

On April 17th, in partnership with IGN, we launched a wide BETA test. This was in addition to our own internal tests, members of our forum community as well as sites (e.g. Adrenaline Vault, Rock Paper Shotgun etc) we promised keys a while back. I can safely say that it has really paid off in a big way. We got a lot of feedback, bug reports, functionality suggestions etc. And yes, the inevitable wish list – which were summarily ignored and subsequently dismissed as being patently frivolous. At best. :D

The game’s changelog (this wide BETA test started with 1.16.09) has seen quite a bit of revisions, additions, bug fixes etc and I suspect that things will come to a grinding halt by the time we hit Release Candidate (RC) later in May when all the remaining assets are in.

As things stand, we are on track to deploy on June 9th, all things being equal. In fact, we’re already preparing to start active work on KnightBlade in July. Since that is a relatively simple and quicker game, we don’t anticipate it going beyond its Q1/2010 launch date.

ALL ASPECT WARFARE – ANGLE OF ATTACK

Yes, what was just an idea about two months ago, is now a reality.

Enough has been said about the dearth of good aerial combat shooters on the market. And no, I’m not going to rip on H.A.W.X again – except to say:

Dear Namco,

please hurry up with Ace Combat 7. We don’t care which platform.

ktnx bye

Lovingly

Your friends at 3000AD

That said, we’ve now completed Angle Of Attack, a pure aerial combat game that uses the All Aspect Warfare game engines, world etc.

Priced at a comfortable $19.99, don’t think twice about it, just buy it, m’kay?. It is a sci-fi aerial combat game, so don’t expect to be flying around on a fictitious planet in an F14 Tomcat. But, judging by the comments from air combat jocks who have played the full AAW game, you WILL have tons of fun if thats your thing. Judging by the comments from this sites poll (to the left), the BETA forums and emails, quite a few of you are very interested in an engaging aerial combat PC experience with no console disabling crap in it.

It is a much – MUCH – smaller game in terms of features, asset usage etc compared to the full All Aspect Warfare game. e.g. you only get to fly four fighters and one gunship, compared to the 40+ controllable assets in the bigger game. Also it only has two (of five) multiplayer modes, about 90% of the features disabled (since they are not required for aerial only combat) and only aerial/ground combat scenarios (all of which are different from the larger game). If you are really only interested in aerial combat, then this is the one to get. You can get both too if you want because they both have different scenarios.

Based on the gameplay, size and price point, this would have been a good candidate for XBLA, given the size and price point, but we’re just not going to bother. Life’s too short and I’d rather be writing code than running around with Microsoft for the next six months. Thats why publishers pay other people to do that. We can’t afford that luxury.

CONSOLE GATEKEEPERS AND THE LUDICROUSNESS OF IT ALL

Microsoft:

Everything you’ve heard and read about dealing with both Micrsoft and Sony on console game releases, is true. All of it. No rumours. No conjecture. No hearsay etc. They’re both a pain to work with in every sense of the word. Not at the personal level mind you, since most of the folks there are great, its just the whole “company” thing. The term “Dysfunctional Behemoth” comes to mind much too often when dealing with large companies that have more polices and regs in place that even those who actually work there, can’t even keep up with let alone get straight.

On the Microsoft side, apart from creating a Catch-22 situation wrt developers vs publishers, getting a game on XBLA is no less harder than a regular retail XBox360 title. Of course when you’re EA or Activision for example – and you’re selling millions of units – the lifeblood of the console’s revenue, you get a ton of passes.

Here’s the thing, even if you are an approved developer with dev kits and such, no matter how much work you do, it is all meaningless because you still need a publisher to get the product into retail. And you can’t get a publisher unless they are 100% certain that the game will in fact be “concept approved” by MS. And since devs can’t submit products for concept approval (you need a publisher for that), it is pointless working on a title without a publisher.

So you spend a year working on a PC/XB360 title without a publisher because, well, you don’t need one at that point. Then you go looking for a publisher for the project. They take a look at the project (some will like it, some won’t, some will have “similar games in development”) and you do the song and dance for months on end. Still working on the game during that time.

Then comes the time where the game – on the PC side – is almost done. Since publishers won’t take a title with a PC lead-in (and most want a multi-platform title anyway), you’re stuck with an almost finished product – (which you can very well release on your own) and no publisher.

So comes the time to pull the trigger. Do you cut your losses and release the PC version knowing that there and then you invariably kill any chances of the console version getting published or keep waiting to get a good console deal – and hope that Microsoft actually concept approves the title?

So you think, well while the publishers are up to their usual time wasting and unproductive antics, you’ll just think XBLA or PSN.

XBLA hits you with a price cap, a size cap, a ludicrious royalty scheme that guarantees you’ll never make an ROI if your game costs anything North of $100K (Tip: Never – ever – think of releasing your title on XBLA when you’re already $2m in the hole. Ever) and a 90% chance that your game gets lost in the totem pole high levels of crap thats on there.

Sony:

OK, I’m just going to come out and flat out say it. The arrogance that is the Sony corporate culture must be something that they have in their employment contract because at all levels of this corporation, arrogance is seemingly prevalent. No matter how good their intentions, Sony has consistently – at least since they unleashed the fiasco that was to become the PS3 – publicly displayed their arrogance. Not only to devs (we’re not Sony devs, so we don’t care really) but also to the very people who buy their consoles. Which, when you think about it, is primarily responsible for them flat out tanking in this console generation.

Sony after seeing their latest “push” to sign more devs to release titles on PSN, we started weighing the pros and cons of actually considering this move. Why? Well, for one thing, the royalties are more attractive and there is no price cap on PSN. Nor are the file size limitations anywhere worth being concerned about.

So, right about the time when we said “screw this” to the whole XBox360 vs XBLA shindig, we decided to apply to become approved Sony devs since thats the only way to get a title on PSN anyway. Nothwithstanding the fact that none of us back here at the brain trust had ever written a line of code for ANY Sony platform -let alone the behemoth that is the PS3. We just figured that we’d just do what most everyone with half a brain does. Outsource the port.

So after spending literally hours going through and sending them all the information. We get a nice rejection email from the man himself, Chris Eden, indicating that “Absence of financial information” was the reason and that we should re-apply.

Yes, apart from the fact that we did address the financial info required in the form – short of sending them our bank account statements, they didn’t approve it the first time around.

Of course the form only asks for “Current financial status and future projections” which according to the publicly available guidelines should include:

  • Business plan overview
  • Latest financial report or statement
  • Short and mid-term financial projections
  • Budget for any current projects or titles in planning

For a PSN game. From an independent developer – the very same folks they’re trying to get on PSN. Yah.

Re-apply? Me? I don’t bloody well think so. Thanks, but no thanks.

I *sighed*, thought about it. Then went to bed, safe in the thought that I wouldn’t have to write someone a check at some point to do what would ultimately amount to lots of work and headaches trying to get a PC/XB360 game ported to the PS3.

This is another example of why

a) There aren’t any games on PSN that you probably want. Hence the reason we figured that worse case scenario, we would make back our investment and turn a tidy profit just by showing up

b) Why Microsoft (with all their own faults) – bless their misplaced hearts – have more titles on XBLA – which in and of itself is a double-edged sword. Lets not even go into that whole Community Games debacle. Instead, lets all just sit around and see how long before MS pulls the plug or makes it so that its just not worth it. Like, uhm, now

c) Why all you see on the consoles are the same tired old crap thats made by the same people who did the same darn thing on the PC platform over the years. But as I’ve said before, say all you want about EA, but at least they actually put their money where their mouth was and came out with several new properties. Most of you which you bastards flat out ignored. So who can blame publishers for regurgitating what works? The only winner is GameStop. They’re just dying to get their hands on your bad game trade-in and give you pennies on the dollar.

Basically, both of these platform holders have their pluses and minuses and across the board (like this latest one for example) but you really never know what to expect. Most ESPECIALLY with Microsoft.

When was the last time you had to send your financial information to IGN, Digital River, Gamers Gate, Yahoo, Amazon, Metaboli etc in order to offer your PC game for digital distribution? Never would be the right answer.

TAKING OUR [PC] BALL AND GOING HOME

So, on April 9th, I pulled the trigger and advised all my PC digital distribution partners that unless something worthwhile comes along we were going to go ahead and release the PC versions of Angle Of Attack and All Aspect Warfare on June 9th and calling it a day. Regardless of whatever potential console deals (of which there are three currently on going) we had in play, this ended up being the most sensible thing to do. Of course, this pretty much kills any chance of the same exact title showing on any console since that whole PC lead-in taboo would be in full force and effect.

We still – as we always have – believe that the PC platform remains on the cutting edge of technology and is the first line of offense for innovative games and ideas. Especially in emerging markets and territories where there are no consoles to speak of. The console, in comparison to the PC, is really nothing but a money making paradigm of sorts. Which, to be honest, is the whole reason we pursued this title for XB360 in the first place. With PC piracy on the rise, it is a particularly tough call to not go for a console (at the very least XB360) title if you can afford to do that and have the expertise to pull it off.

Further to this decision to pull the trigger on the PC version first, our BETA trials with a new and innovative DRM scheme, Byteshield pretty much convinced me that zero day (or any day for that matter) piracy for this game is going to be non-existent. We didn’t have a single complaint about its use in the game. In fact, quite on the contrary. Apart from some 64-Bit OS issues (user not running as an admin account), everyone was pretty comfortable with it and some even made it point to post about why “someone never thought of this DRM scheme before”.

Well, thats it for now.

Until next time!!

UPDATE: I’ve just been advised that the IGN Direct2Drive orders page is up. There is a 10% discount if you pre-order the game between now and its launch date.

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