02/2015 OFFICIAL PARTNER OF DESIGN BUSINESS ART TECHNOLOGY 02 4 197050406909 GAME DESIGN ANALYSIS BLIZZARD-INTERVIEW KI-PROGRAMMIERUNG THE MAKER OF AMNESIA DISSECTS HOW THE EXPERIMENT HEARTH- HOW A STRATEGY GAME FROM 1990 THE HORROR IN ALIEN: ISOLATION STONE BECAME A GLOBAL SUCCESS MADE SHADOWRUN MORE INTELLIGENT GDC RETURNS MARCH 2–6, 2015 SAVE UP TO $300 ON ONSITE PRICING BEFORE FEBRUARY 25, 2015 READERS,USE CODE GDC15MG TO SAVE EVEN MORE ON ALL ACCESS & MAIN CONFERENCES PASSES! 500+ SESSIONS DIVERSE EXPO FLOOR BUSINESS & CAREER DEVELOPMENT PARTIES, EVENTS & SPECIAL EXHIBITS INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL GAME DEVELOPERS CHOICE AWARDS GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE® MOSCONE CENTER · SAN FRANCISCO, CA MARCH 2–6, 2015 · EXPO: MARCH 4–6, 2015 REGISTER AT GDCONF.COM Editorial Making Games 02/2015 10 YEARS, BUT NOT A SECOND OF MAINSTREAM s you’re holding this issue in when Making Games was founded, articles your hands, it’s nearly time again about computer or videogames mainly focused Sebastian Weber for this year’s Game Developers on previews and reviews. A magazine that was is Managing Editor of Making Games Magazin. Conference in San Francisco, also aimed at developers was therefore not only an marking the 10th anniversary economic risk; nobody could tell whether the of Making Games. The concept concept would be a lasting one and whether Afor our magazine which saw the light of day enough authors would be prepared to supply under the title /Gamestar/dev was the result of interesting and exciting content. We still exist a cigarette break at said conference in the year to this day and that’s not least owed to you, 2005. Ten years later, the magazine which was our readers, and of course the many industry planned as a voice and a source of information pundits who, over the years, have contributed for the German gaming scene has turned into articles and shared their knowledge with the biggest professional developers’ magazine others. Many thanks for that: It was thanks to »It was thanks in Central Europe whose ever increasing Face- your help alone that we were able to leave the to your help alone that we book community is now to a large extent home editorial mainstream. were able to leave to English-speaking industry pundits. But – as you know – Making Games is no longer just Enjoy the latest issue! the editorial mainstream.« the magazine you’re holding in your hands; it also includes our internationally oriented Your Making Games Team webpage makinggames.biz, our job exchange and the company register Key Players which, in cooperation with the GDC, makes German industry representatives known all over the world. Abandoning familiar paths Bye Nicole, hello Dustin! In short: We could have easily added a post mortem of our own magazine as part of our This issue marks the end of an era since it is the last issue with the par- cover story »F*#k Mainstream!« where the ticipation of our longtime freelance employee Nicole Klinge. As Project developers of »Shovel Knight« (p. 12) and »This Consultant since 2007 she was not only the central contact for clients and War of Mine« (p.16) explain why they stuck ad inquiries, but also a driving force behind the success stories of Making to their unusual and disturbing game idea, or Games Talents, Making Games Job Exchange and Key Players. And last but where the boss of Wargaming demonstrates not least she was pretty much the heart and soul of the team. We owe a lot how rocky the road to becoming a big player to her and will miss her deeply! was (p. 22), and where an analysis shows why At the same time we’re looking forward to our new colleague Dustin Edmund McMillen’s games like »The Binding Reichl who will from now on take over Nicole’s area of responsibility and of Isaac« (p. 26) became so successful. Because provide guidance for all non-editorial inquiries. 3 Making Games 02/2015 INDIE SUCCESS WITH 8 BIT GRAPHICS AND NINTENDO The team of Yacht Club Games all quit their safe jobs to make their dream come true: They funded their very classic game Shovel Knight via Kickstarter and got more successful than expected. It all began with a Kickstart! David D’Angelo ll the following numbers and is programmer charts take only the first month To know what our current sales numbers at Yacht Club Games. after the release of »Shovel mean, you have to know where we started! Knight« into account and it On April 13th, 2013, we finished our Kickstarter was pretty nuts to see our little campaign, funded by our lovely, amazing fledgling Kickstarter all grown 14,749 backers for a grand total of 311,502 dol- up and in the wild during this lars. We also ran a concurrent Paypal donation Yacht Club Games is an independent studio in California, which just time. Believe it or not, besides the desire to period, where 935 backers reaching a total of released its first game – »Shovel Knight«! David’s main role at Yacht A make a great game, one of the reasons we 17,180 dollars also joined in on the fun. When Club Games is programming engine and gameplay, but since there’s wanted to leave our safe and secure jobs the campaign concluded, we asked all the back- just half a dozen of employees, they all take on a piece of everything behind and enter the indie world was to make ers to tell us what platform they wanted the from business and marketing to game design and implementation. Some past games David developed when working for WayForward the development process more accessible to game for .... and here are the results! include amongst others »Double Dragon Neon«, »BloodRayne the public – so that you all would have a better Surprisingly, Nintendo backers only provided Betrayal«, »Mighty Milky Way«, »Thor: God of Thunder«, »Batman: idea of how games are made and how to meas- around a third of the total support. We would The Brave and the Bold« and »DuckTales: Remastered«. ure their success. That’s our task today! have expected this number to be much higher Unfortunately, most developers aren’t permit- given how focused (at least inwardly) our cam- ted or aren’t willing to just give away sales expec- paign was around Nintendo platforms. Were tations or results! Fortunately, we’re not like most the naysayers right; do Nintendo indie games developers. Hopefully we can add more pieces to not sell well!? We’ll come back to this point the tiny pile of existing information to help out later when we discuss the full sales, but it’s other developers, journalists, enthusiasts, and probably safe to say that early on, Kickstarter Grandma Swamp-a-likes for the future. You all was still a PC dominated platform. are the reason this game even exists, and we feel So in total, we went into full »Shovel Knight« it’s our responsibility to let you know about every production with 328,682 dollars in hand for the detail that went into its construction. rest of development (keep in mind that 328,682 Alright, here we go! We’re going to be step- Dollars does not account for taxes, Kickstarter’s ping through the whole process from dream takeaway, fees, backers that dropped payment, to Kickstarter to release, sprinkling in our sales etc). That certainly is a large sum by itself, but numbers and some statistics throughout about not quite so when it comes to making a game! how our game has done from June 26th – July It may be surprising, but even a small 26th, 2014. Keep in mind, none of the numbers downloadable game can often cost upwards of we’ll share are precise as pinning down the a million dollars to make! We planned a game numbers can be tricky for various reasons. that was going to take five people more than We’ve given it our best shot! a full work week (six if you count Jake) for two 4 years (this schedule includes a year for the post-release payment and diligent enough to game, with an additional year for developing provide most of the sound and music in a very About stretch goal content)! That kind of game simply short time frame. With that cost mitigating is not possible on 328,000 dollars, and let’s measure, we’re now down to 1,200,000 dollars break down why! ... that didn’t help much! Shovel Knight Next we decided that, yes, this was a two Cost of development year game to make including the stretch goals, What does a game usually cost? How do you but we could probably squeeze it into a year if even figure that out? Well, it’s tough to be hon- we took those out and released them as free est, but a very standard metric is to determine updates in the future using the sales of the how many employees will be on the team, and game to fund the cost. In case you were won- multiply their cost by the amount of time the dering, that’s why we announced during the game is in development. This isn’t super accu- Kickstarter that the stretch goals would be post rate because in the game development world, release content. We were planning that far in we criminally underestimate each compo- advance! Ok, so we get to cut the budget in half nent’s time and effort. Typically we compen- by shaving off a year: we’re down to 600,000 »Shovel Knight« is a mix of classic action sate for this by overestimating the time, salary dollars now.