Podcast Interview: Founder of Wadjet Eye Games

David, from Wadjet Eye Games, talks about starting an indie studio…developing games like “The Shivah” to the Blackwell Series…

You can download the podcast here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/wadjet-eye-games-podcast.mp3

or listen to it here…
http://www.indiegamepod.com/dewplayer.swf?mp3=http://www.indiegamepod.com/podcasts/wadjet-eye-games-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…

0:00 – 5:00
Wadget Eye Games

Works on casual adventure games. Inspired by the old Lucas Arts Adventure Games

Shiva
Took a month to finish

Released it for free. Then decided to sell it. Worked on improving the game, added some polish to the game.

5:00 – 10:00
Blackwell Legacy

Learned a lot more about team management.

Had little money to work with…

10:00 – 15:00
Have to look for team member loyalty…and have to let undedicated people to let go…
For the folks that stuck with him, they are getting paid more…

List of warning signs to let folks to let go…
cannot keep in touch with contact

As a team leader, needs to definitely touch base with them

So it’s not just them, you need to keep in touch with them

All use MSN…chat on MSN, etc.

Be friendly, etc. with folks working with you

Doing outsourcing …
doing it with local people.

15:00 – 20:00
Released the game and slept for a week

Be pleasant to people even when they criticize you

Be nice, because if you’re not…can come back and haunt you

Finishing the game is not the end

That is only half the battle…

25:00 – 30:00
Approached by Playfirst to do an adventure game for the casual game market

Benefits of partnering with Playfirst…
Immense resources
Whole staff doing art
Whole staff doing PR
Whole staff doing engineering

Can now make the games he wants to make

Now has extra money coming in so can fun Blackwell while doing the game

Game doing for Playfirst is NDA…cannot talk about release date either

30:00 – 32:00
Future of Studio…
Wants to get into publishing
Wants to help other people doing indie games

Top suggestion for aspiring indies…
Just start on a game, get it out there
Uses AGS (Adventure Game Studio) to make adventure games…

Podcast Interview: Dream Chronicles Developer…

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.