THE LEADING GAME INDUSTRY MAGAZINE voL 18 N o 5 MAY 2011 INSIDE: BRo WSER TECH MEGA- R o UNDUP XBLIG Postmortem Explosion: Cthulu Saves the World, Shoot 1up, Epic Dungeon, ZP2KX, Soulcaster II Game Engine Survey 2011 A Salute to Real Game Dev Heroes CONTENTS.0511 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 5 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 5 VOLUME CONTENTS.0511 DEPARTMENTS 2 GAME PLAN By Brandon Sheffield [EDITORIAL] Accepting Free-To-Play 4 HEADS UP DISPLAY [NEWS] The Video Game Crowdfunding Cheat Sheet, Silver Eddie Award, Strong National Museum of Play, and Gamestorm celebrates Paper Prototyping. 31 TOOL BOX By Darius Kazemi [REVIEW] Dominic Szablewski: Impact Game Engine POSTMORTEM 35 THE INNER PRODUCT By Vincent Scheib [PROGRAMMING] 20 XBOX LIVE INDIE GAMES The Future of Browsers The Xbox Live Indie Games service began as an experiment to let developers publish their games on consoles directly. Since then, a 43 AURAL FIXATION By Jesse Harlin [SOUND] number of standouts have emerged among the over 1,600 games. Here, STACKING Overflow we feature five excellent examples of the XBLIG spirit;C THULU SAVES THE WORLD, SHOOT 1UP, EPIC DUNGEON, ZP2KX, and SOULCASTER II. 44 DESIGN OF THE TIMES By Soren Johnson [DESIGN] By Robert Boyd, Nathan Fouts, Michael Muir, James Silva, and Ian The End of Games? Stocker 47 THE BUSINESS By John Graham [BUSINESS] FEATURES Build Your Own Buzz 7 GAME ENGINE SURVEY 2011 48 PIXEL PUSHER By Steve Theodore [ART] A lot has changed since our last engine survey in 2009, especially as Legal Age: Photoshop Turns 21 regards treatment of indies. Engine providers have seen the writing on the wall, and now incorporate smaller platforms, while still supporting 51 GOOD JOB! By Brandon Sheffield [CAREER] large-scale companies. Through extensive surveys, we attempt to discern Michael Dashow Q&A, Who Went Where, and New Studios what is most important to developers when choosing a new engine. By Mark DeLoura 53 EDUCATED PLAY By Tom Curtis [EDUCATION] OCTODAD 15 GAME DEV HEROES 56 ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT By Matthew Wasteland [HUMOR] In every game project, there are unsung heroes. There's the person that Gamified! fixes the "unfixable" legacy bug, or devises the concept that ultimately makes the game fun, or finds the visual theme that ties everything together. We set out to find these people, and to sing their praises. By Brandon Sheffield WWW.GDMAG.COM 1 GAME PLAN // BRANDON SHEFFIELD GAME DEVELOPER MAGAZINE WWW.GDMAG.COM United Business Media 303 Second Street, Suite 900, South Tower ACCEPTING FREE-TO-PLAY San Francisco, CA 94107 LEARNING TO FLOW WITH THE CHANGING TIDE t: 415.947.6000 f: 415.947.6090 SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FOR INFORMATION, ORDER QUESTIONS, AND IN THIS MONTH’S DESIGN COLUMN, First of all, a rotating roster around the queasiness some of ADDRESS CHANGES you’ll find Soren Johnson talking inspires players to try out us feel knowing we’re withholding t: 800.250.2429 f: 847.763.9606 about free-to-play game design. He characters they might otherwise convenience that could have been e: [email protected] recently completed work on DRAGON never touch. When presented with built into the game natively. FOR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION AGE LEGENDS, an F2P realization of some 72 characters at once, it’s www.gdmag.com/digital the DRAGON AGE world for Facebook. difficult to know where to start, and GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT EDITORIAL In the column he mentions several one is less inclined to experiment. >> I’ve been casually following the PUBLISHER successful implementations of In that sense, the designers have F2P industry for nearly as long as Simon Carless l [email protected] F2P design, wherein designers chosen to showcase all their it’s been around. I started paying EDITOR-IN-CHIEF must keep players interested and characters individually, because attention to the Korean industry Brandon Sheffield l [email protected] engaged on a moment-to-moment otherwise a good percentage of back in 2001, and the seeds planted PRODUCTION EDITOR Jade Kraus l [email protected] level, but also provide them with them may have gone unused. then have taken fruit worldwide. ART DIRECTOR compelling reasons to spend The game also rolled out these Free-to-play is quite simply one of Joseph Mitch l [email protected] money. The reason this topic is so characters gradually over time, the most lucrative business models, DESIGNER valid is that a lot of game industry making the rotation feel natural for if not the most, in games today. Jessica Chan PRODUCTION INTERN folks, myself included, just get plain long-time players. This has expanded to include much Tom Curtis old queasy when we think about I think that some of us feel greater Western appreciation, and CONTRIBUTING EDITORS creating games this way. designers of these games build looks to become a dominant model John Graham for online games here as well. Jesse Harlin a complete experience, and then Soren Johnson MONEY TALKS decide what they can chop out to I mention all this because these Vincent Scheib >> There’s a perception that the make people pay for. That’s not how games aren’t just being forced Steve Theodore Matthew Wasteland powerful metrics and feedback the most successful games are onto us by a bunch of executives. ADVISORY BOARD provided by these platforms designed, necessarily. They take a I’ve watched the industry grow, Hal Barwood Designer-at-Large turns designers into spreadsheet core experience that has the idea and these games are succeeding Mick West Independent Brad Bulkley Neversoft managers. Though it may feel that of payment integrated into it as it’s because players are paying for them. Clinton Keith Independent way on some level, it’s not totally designed. The preceding sentence They’re voting with their wallets Brenda Brathwaite Lolapps Bijan Forutanpour Sony Online Entertainment true, since you have to devise made me uncomfortable even as I and showing us that they like these Mark DeLoura THQ the systems in the first place, typed it, but all commercial games games. This is, in fact, something Carey Chico Independent then test them extensively. It’s are paid experiences somehow they want to play, and a payment ADVERTISING SALES like getting the ultimate feedback or other. Whereas many of us still method they feel good about. Those GLOBAL SALES DIRECTOR loop, and if your goal is to please make a game and sell it once, these who dissent and rail against this Aaron Murawski e: [email protected] players, there’s nothing better than games keep on selling—but the idea change are a vocal minority. t: 415.947.6227 instantly knowing whether your of selling our games to customers I would love to see more artistry MEDIA ACCOUNT MANAGER John Malik Watson e: [email protected] new system is a success. stands firm in both cases. and narrative design in the free-to- t: 415.947.6224 More than that, one of the It’s important to remember that play market, but we have to make GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, RECRUITMENT stickier issues is the (perhaps the best among these games really that happen. If you want to create Gina Gross e: [email protected] t: 415.947.6241 EAGUE unfounded) idea of paying to unlock are free. You could play L a narrative in a traditional setting, GLOBAL ACCOUNT MANAGER, EDUCATION the “fun” of the game. In LEAGUE OF OF LEGENDS for free forever, if you there will continue to be a way for Rafael Vallin e: [email protected] LEGENDS, for instance, the character had the time to invest. Almost you to make a comfortable living t: 415.947.6223 roster rotates weekly, and if you everything except the visual flair doing so. But really, those of us who ADVERTISING PRODUCTION want to specialize in one of them, items is purchasable with in-game don’t like this change, those of us PRODUCTION MANAGER you have to either pay real money to money, earned by playing over time. who want to preserve traditional Pete C. Scibilia e: [email protected] keep it unlocked, or play long enough This is just like the “unlocks” we’ve narrative and gameplay, it’s up to t: 516-562-5134 to save up in-game money to unlock been building in games for decades. us to make the F2P model work on REPRINTS that character. There’s nothing But the player never had to pay, and our terms. Customers want to play WRIGHT'S MEDIA inherently bad about this! But just they never pirated the software. this way. If we want to preserve Ryan Pratt e: [email protected] t: 877.652.5295 thinking about it makes me feel like In most cases, paying enhances traditional design, we are going to it’s “wrong.” My gut tells me that all the experience for players by have to meet them halfway. AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT characters should be available from making it more convenient, and Not all games have to be TYSON ASSOCIATES Elaine Tyson the get-go, and players should have that’s another troublesome point. free-to-play, but likewise, not all e: [email protected] LIST RENTAL Merit Direct LLC a choice of who to use. It makes me If the designers know how to make free-to-play games have to make us t: 914.368.1000 even more uncomfortable to know a game more accessible, more fun, uncomfortable. If we want to help that you can buy an item with real and more convenient for players, shape this industry, we've got to do money that helps you gain in-game why should that be behind the pay more than just complain about it! money faster.