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The Art of Downloadable Game Development

Posted by Soulskill on from the get-used-to-it dept.

The Guardian's Games Blog looks at how the development of downloadable games has shifted over the past several years. As an example, they point to Capcom, its recent reinvention of the Mega Man franchise, and an upcoming game called Flock. Quoting: "[CEO Paddy Sinclair said], 'The first thing we realised was, it wouldn't be as easy as we thought. Luckily we're funded privately so we had the luxury of getting it wrong. It was very... educational. We learned very quickly that, no, you can't write a game in three months. We also realized we'd need a bigger team than just two or three.' 'The XBLA market has really evolved,' continues business development head, Chris Wright. 'If you look at the very early games they were simple ports — single-player, retro emulation titles, and you can kick those out very quickly. That market is disappearing. If you're going to do retro remakes you have to extend it, you have to add multiplayer. If you're going to do something new, it has to be bigger. We've got a team of 10-12 people working on this title. If you look back, it's what we would have had on PS1, and the game is probably of the same sort of size. It's not the huge budgets of a retail title, but it's not a trivial undertaking, either.'"

6 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. The "problem" of retro game development by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Most "retro" games have found a new home as flash games. It's pretty much logical that this technology would be used for it. Modern machines can easily handle that overhead (because what they have to "run" requires essentially the fraction of a percent of a current machine's power), downloading a game that had to fit into the very limited capacities of early consoles or early home computers takes only a few seconds, and for controls, well, many people are happy with keyboard input.

    So I dunno, is there actually a market that you could sell real "retro" games to?

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    1. Re:The "problem" of retro game development by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Market? No. Maybe you have not noticed the retro revival. It seems the whole industry is playing down or underestimating the tide of retro gaming. There are no "problems" with this activity. Only if you view it as a "market". But it doesn't apply to the demographic of young gamers that the industry follows, it applies to the generation that industry is losing, those who play casual games on handhelds and netbooks on the morning train to work.

      PC gaming has fragmented because of the high demands for graphics hardware, DRM, required internet connection. Most of the casual games I see played are not new. My brother and his mates play Elite a lot. I spent the last year enjoying Doom again. It's the only game I've played in years that gave me so much fun. Discovering the hundreds of thousands of levels and mods out there available for free has been an endless mine of entertainment. Most of these games are available as free versions like "freeboom" or the original disk images can be played via tiny emulators. When I get bored with Doom I'm going to relive many 80s titles for the C64 and Spectrum that I still miss.

      For "marketing" there's nothing new you can offer this group, or nothing that can compete with retro gaming because the authenticity is part of the experience and joy, and the games industry thrives on what is new, that's it's entire modus and rationale. (okay, there is one new AAA title I have my eye on. I buy a new game about every 5 years. But if it is crippled with DRM and phone-home nonsense I won't be getting it, reto games really give me everything I want, I'm not wowed by impressive graphics any longer, as a mature gamer I just want the pure distilled entertainment, which has largely been provided by the mod and level makers who came in the wake of the main games)

      The games industry is in danger of following the music industry not being able to compete with its own past and the fact that "cultural ownership" has shifted to the users. I know the industry likes to try RIAA type tactics, attempting to destroy the reto gaming market, erase the past, cripple ROMS and remove copyrighted files. But they are screwed, because the real value in retro games like Doom is the user generated content. Those hundreds of thousands of levels and mods are public, not owned by any company and not controllable by their lawyers.

  2. Re:Really? by NightRain · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Really? My XBLA downloads mostly consist of turn based board game remakes and the like. I don't think I've even demo'd a shooter on XBLA, let alone bought one...

  3. Re:Wii Retro by grumbel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The difference is that the PS2 also got tons of awesome games too, the Wii on the other side not so much. With the DS situation looks quite a bit better, but not exactly all roses either.

  4. Re:Game Storyline by grumbel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Telltale is running their whole business on adventure games and so far they seem to be doing quite fine.

  5. Re:good Gameplay more important by tebee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would a good game plot, overcome a lack of great graphics and features?

    I'm not sure about a good storyline, but good gameplay can win out over limited graphics and features.

    Probably the best example I can think of is The Kingdom of Loathing - http://www.kingdomofloathing.com/ - This needs way to many clicks to play and has stick figure graphics but the complex interaction of the various features make gameplay addictive.

    This, and the humor in the game, has attracted a large loyal following.

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