Experimental Game Dev Interviews — The First Game Dev Podcast Ever
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  • Podcast Interview: Dream Chronicles Developer…

    Posted on June 25th, 2008 IndieGamePod No comments

    Miguel, from Kat Games, talks about developing adventure games for the casual games market.

    You can download the podcast here…
    http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/dream-chronicles-podcast.mp3

    or listen to it here…
    http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/dream-chronicles-podcast.mp3

    Special Thanks to PlayFirst for setting up this interview and a few other upcoming interviews…they provided excellent developers and allowed them to share some really useful information…

    Show Notes:
    Founder of Kat Games (www.katgames.com) and developer of Dream Chronicles 1 & 2

    Made an adventure game in the casual games genre

    Played adventure games in the 90s…those were more challenging.

    Had to find a way to make a new adventure game that is simple enough for the
    casual gaming audience

    Went through PlayFirst

    Before they pitched the game, had a prototype done in Director

    Challenge was how to make an adventure game that was easy to start and fun enough to keep people
    playing.

    People compare hidden objects with adventure games.

    Design Suggestions:
    Make sure there is little text
    Make sure there is eye and ear candy
    Have an uplifting experience from the first click

    Had extensive play testing when developing the game

    Avoided text by making every level self contained

    Had to make sure the story elements were split properly to appeal to Casual Game audience…

    Playfirst helped them get solid Audio

    The studio is based in Spain…and PlayFirst is in San Francisco…so some challenges in working
    with PlayFirst.

    How PlayFirst helped the game:
    a) Offered Professional Usability Testing

    Did user testing through game

    Benefits of going through a publisher vs. self-publishing…
    Did self-publish previous games. But this case, the project was more expensive, so risk was higher.

    Hopes that current adventure games will expand the adventure game market for casual game players

    Feels adventure games are more gratifying than hidden object games. With adventure games, there is more of a hook.