gdc-europe-2013
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Microsoft's Perry on F2P the wrong way
Today's winner of the most provocative post title award is this little ditty about Age of Empires Online. But hey, don't blame Massively! It's actually the title of a speech given by Microsoft's Kevin Perry at GDC Europe 2013. Gamasutra has posted video of the event, and it's well worth watching if you've got 45 minutes to kill and you're interested in what goes through a developer's mind as he thinks about continually evolving monetization schemes. Perry says that this particular speech is on its third iteration. It initially started out positive when he shared it with an internal Microsoft audience some time ago. He then reworked it based on newly collected data about the game for GDC San Francisco earlier this year. And then he reworked it again for GDC Europe based on even more data. If you're sensing a trend here, you're right: game devs often don't know how well their business models are performing at any given time. As Perry says, "it's an ongoing conversation." There are a few other choice quotes as well, including the notion that PvP players are small in number but "very, very loud" in terms of influence as well as the supposition that you can launch incomplete games under the F2P business model and "sort it out on the fly." This last bit isn't always true, Perry says, "especially for a large, branded title."
How SOE deals with bad seeds, in-game and out
At this year's GDC Europe, SOE's director of global community relations, Linda Carlson, talked about her management philosophy for a community infected by trolls and bullies. GamesIndustry.biz caught up with Carlson after the panel to further discuss this growing issue. Interestingly enough, Carlson also commented on how SOE monitors player behavior -- even outside of its games. "If we know who you are and you're abusing somebody on Twitter, we will ban your game account and we will not accept you as a customer ever again. It's not always possible to identify people [in that way], but we take that seriously." Carlson goes on to say, "A very influential player, high up in a huge guild -- we'll still ban them... In our games, if you are an exploiter we don't care who you are, how big your guild is, how many people you threaten to take with you when you go." Take a look at the entire interview for more on how SOE plans to deal with levels of negativity in its community.
How to make players sick in your virtual reality game
There is a great, undiscovered potential in virtual reality development. Sure, you can create lifelike virtual worlds, but you can also make players sick. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey and VP of product Nate Mitchell hosted a panel at GDC Europe last week, instructing developers on how to avoid the VR development pitfalls that make players uncomfortable. It was a lovely service for VR developers, but we saw a much greater opportunity. Inadvertently, the panel explained how to make players as queasy and uncomfortable as possible. And so, we now present the VR developer's guide to manipulating your players right down to the vestibular level. Just follow these tips and your players will be tossing their cookies in minutes. Note: If you'd rather not make your players horribly ill and angry, just do the opposite of everything below.
GDC Europe enjoys record attendance
GDC Europe, which occurred right before Gamescom, had approximately 2,250 visitors attend from 56 countries. This is an increase from the "around 2,000" attendees in 2012. The talk of the show was the uses of the Oculus Rift VR headset. We also went over some virtual reality challenges we picked up from the show during our final Super Joystiq Podcast episode of Gamescom (1:54:00 - Oculus Rift development considerations). Okay, there was also plenty of chatter about the Achtung Arcade at GDC Europe. GDC Europe returns next year from August 11-13, right before Gamescom 2014, which will take place August 13-17.
Secrets of Rætikon soars above the clouds and into our hearts
We all dream differently: The ocean is green to Bob and purple to Jane; Dave's teeth fall out and Carol's hair sheds from her head; Felix flies by flapping his arms and Martin floats above the ground effortlessly. That last example is a real-world tale from two friends, Broken Rules co-founders Felix Bohatsch and Martin Pichlmair, and it's the difference that sparked their coming title, Secrets of Rætikon. It's a single-player exploration game set in a flattened, vectorized landscape, starring a bird as it searches for glowing slivers that revitalize ancient machinery scattered around the mountainside. At Broken Rules, if there was a debate about which form of dream flight was more correct, it looks like Bohatsch won. The aerial mechanics in Secrets of Rætikon embody a sense of controlled chaos inherent in the natural flight of most birds. It's a balance of pressing one button to flap the bird's wings and gain speed and power, or pressing another to immediately curve down and dive, and then simply guiding the bird along wind streams or behind cave walls to find all of the shiny objects littering the world. The alpha version of Secrets of Rætikon already demonstrates a dreamlike quality with its art, gameplay and story, perhaps inspired by that initial spark. It's soothing and surprising, with the opportunity to be immensely challenging. While playing Secrets of Rætikon at GDC Europe, I was on cloud nine.
Seen@GDC Europe: How information flow has changed
In a GDC Europe session about the changing relationship between customers, publishers and media, Boris Schneider-Johne presented some interesting "then and now" slides. Schneider-Johne's 30-year career, which spans journalism to marketing, gives him the long view of the video game industry's information structure changes. In the first slide (pictured above), Schneider-Johne took the classic flow of interaction between the various actors in the video game industry in the pre-internet era. After the break, you can find the modern version, which he eventually gave up on because it's so convoluted. If you're ever wondering how/why messaging and interactions get so off-track nowadays, just go ahead and reference that second slide in the future.
Why Age of Empires Online failed
Since the beginning of this year, Age of Empires Online has shifted into stagnation and decline -- and done so intentionally. So why did Microsoft Studios decide to all but abandon the future of this game? In short, the title launched with far too little content, a bad business model, and couldn't crank out the goods fast enough to retain an audience. This resulted in a sharp drop-off from 100,000 players to 15,000 in a few months. Executive Producer Kevin Perry criticized the game's launch at GDC Europe, pointing at its skimpy features (including only two civilizations at launch) and bad public perception: "You don't get a soft launch for a branded title. Players come there for your brand. You only get word-of-mouth once. Whenever we got new players, they always came in with the overhead, 'but I heard this game sucks.' That hill was extremely difficult to climb." Even after tinkering with the game's cost, adding in more content, and figuring out ways to allow players to spend more money, the company ultimately realized that the players were mostly demanding new content which couldn't be generated to make a profit. "The content itself was too expensive to create," Perry admitted. "We did do a lot of things right, but they weren't enough to actually save the game."
Welcome to Gamescom 2013 from Joystiq and Engadget
GDC Europe and Gamescom 2013 kick off this week, and both Joystiq and Engadget are on the scene to gather all the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Oculus Rift and Sphero news that's fit to print. To kick everything off, join Joystiq Reviews Editor Richard Mitchell and Engadget Senior Associate Editor Ben Gilbert as they discuss what to expect from the festivities.
Seen@Gamescom: The swag bag assembly line
When you pick up your World of Tanks swag bag at Gamescom, which starts this Wednesday, you have these diligent people to thank. These bags don't fill themselves, folks!
Secrets of Rætikon dev: Console launch titles are too risky
Broken Rules doesn't want to develop another launch title for any console. Its most recent game, Chasing Aurora, debuted with the Wii U last year and that experience colored the studio's approach to developing its next game, Secrets of Rætikon. "We just won't risk another console launch," Broken Rules co-founder Martin Pichlmair told Joystiq at GDC Europe. "PS3 and Xbox 360 are not interesting anymore – when we launch, the new consoles are going to come out, and it's just too much of a risk. After the Wii U launch, we just don't want to risk another console launch. I think both of them will be fairly successful; I just don't want to bet the whole company on one of them succeeding. We can't do three ports at the same time and I don't want to make it a betting game." Secrets of Rætikon is a PC, Mac and Linux game in three chapters. The first chapter is due out this year; Broken Rules recently pushed back its internal launch window, bumping it to "after September" but before the holiday release rush, Pichlmair said. It may still hit the new consoles – after they launch – and Broken Rules is already in talks with Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. The studio's first game, And Yet It Moves, launched on PC, Mac, Linux and Wii, and has so far sold 500,000 copies. It's keeping the company afloat financially – with the help of a $200,000 grant from the Vienna government – while Chasing Aurora was more successful in terms of PR, not sales. Nintendo won't allow Broken Rules to share Chasing Aurora sales numbers, possibly because they're embarrassing, Pichlmair said.
Nintendo's Wii U Web Framework now allows for eShop purchases like DLC
Nintendo's Web Framework for Wii U now includes eCommerce support, manager of developer relations Martin Buchholz revealed at GDC Europe. When using the updated framework, developers can monetize their games after launch with items such as DLC. The Nintendo Web Framework allows developers to craft and prototype apps for the console using HTML5, JavaScript and CSS. The framework was announced at GDC in March, along with Unity support for Wii U.
Far Cry 3 creative director discusses JRPG-inspired Child of Light
As expected, Far Cry 3 Creative Director Patrick Plourde revealed a few details on his JRPG project Child of Light at GDC Europe. Described as a mix between Limbo and Final Fantasy 6, the game will feature both turn-based combat and side-scrolling gameplay. The Ubi Art Framework will be the foundation of Child of Light, the same engine used for Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. Child of Light will explore a woman's "coming of age" story, using fairy tale-like art inspired by artists such as Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac. While he didn't list which platforms the game will arrive on, Plourde noted it will be downloadable and will not be on mobile devices, nor will it be free to play.
GDC Europe 2013: SOE talks game shutdowns, The Matrix Online
Sony Online Entertainment's Linda "Brasse" Carlson took the stage at this year's GDC Europe to talk about SOE's approach to community management, and in the process delivered a little insight into how studios can (and should) approach shutting down MMOs with waning or nonexistent player populations. Carlson used Monolith Productions' The Matrix Online as an example, explaining that the game's population had dipped down to fewer than 500 players by the time the decision was made to take it offline in 2009. The breaking point where cost of maintenance just to keep the game up was ridiculous. Sometimes you just have to shut these games down. Determining when and how to sunset an MMO is never an easy task; Carlson noted that a studio should never "belittle the people who are deeply emotionally upset" about their favorite title shutting down. The talk wasn't all about shutdowns, however; Carlson also discussed Sony's community management philosophy, which includes showing empathy to players, protecting developers from abuse, and using the player-driven community council to make more educated and agreeable decisions about the future of its games. Gamasutra has a nice collection of quotes from the presentation, if you're into that sort of thing.
